Student competition in Western Canada challenges students with HR cases inspired by real life
A high-pressure student case competition in British Columbia is providing an early look at the talent that will shape the HR profession in the coming decade.
The 2026 HRC West Case Competition, co-hosted by CPHR BC & Yukon and CPHR Alberta, brought 16 student teams from post-secondary business schools across British Columbia and Alberta to Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Melville School of Business in Richmond, BC, on March 6 and 7, 2026. Over a three-hour window, teams unpacked a complex, HR-centred business case and defended their recommendations before panels of senior practitioners.
ThriveSpire from Mount Royal University’s Bissett School of Business in Alberta captured first place and the $1,500 grand prize. The team — Nicole Sivertson, Brooke Jenkins, Jam Roda and Gabrielle Vadnais — topped a strong field that included HRInnovate from Bow Valley College in second place, HRmony Solutions from Acsenda School of Management in third, and Innocore from Douglas College in fourth.
An HR-focused case competition
The event is a deliberate bridge between HR theory and practice, says Quinne Davey, Senior Member Relations Manager at CPHR BC & Yukon and lead organizer of HRC West.
“It’s one of the only specifically HR competitions — there are other case competitions for students, but it’s all a general business,” says Davey. “The event started with the intention to really take that classroom learning and put it into practice and in a tighter scenario.”
Unlike general business case contests, HRC West is built around HR itself, according to Davey. She says each year’s case is written with guidelines to ensure that students must touch multiple areas of the Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR) competency framework in order to build a credible solution.
Case study reflects real-life HR issues
Those scenarios are informed by realities facing Canadian organizations. CPHR Alberta, for example, can draw on a pool of members who bring forward issues they have faced, or a real-life case generates the idea, which is then anonymized and turned into cases that are timely and relevant to “what’s happening now in the world,” says Davey.
The 2026 case, which included AI and workforce restructuring, pushed teams to handle the tensions senior HR leaders face every day: pressure to cut costs, the need to maintain psychological safety and culture, and the impact of decisions on brand and risk.
“It's preparing them for the bigger picture, because they take courses and different competencies of HR, but this puts them all together in one scenario — as an hr leader you’re not just making a decision about X, you also have A, B, C, and D to think about to help craft your decision,” says Davey. “That's a big part of why we have these competitions, is to make sure that, no matter what school you're at, you have this ability to address all those different competencies in one area.”
Competing priorities, trade-offs
For HR executives watching from the gallery or serving as judges, that design makes HRC West feel less like a student exercise and more like a compressed version of their own work: no single “right” answer, competing priorities, and trade-offs that can’t be solved by policy alone.
Davey says it was interesting to see how different students approached the case study. “It's not black and white, it's sort of finessing things,” she says. “I think the winners hit all the key points, they addressed all the key issues and what things they should be conscious of when they made their decision — the winners were selected based on being able to address those at a level that would be indicative of where they're at with their education and also what would be practical in a real-world scenario.”
HRC West itself has grown from a small Alberta-based event into a Western Canadian fixture. Davey said CPHR Alberta ran a modest inaugural competition in 2014 with five teams, before CPHR BC & Yukon joined the event in 2016. The field expanded to 20 teams in 2025, with 16 teams this year — which Davey says isthe practical maximum for the current one-day format.
Foundation of a good HR professional
For many students, HRC West has become a signature experience in their degrees, says Davey — and, for employers, it doubles as a live view of the next generation of HR professionals. “A lot of [the students] are third- and fourth-years, and I think the future is in good hands,” she says. “The students have come well-prepared in understanding the foundations of what a good HR professional is knowledgeable about.”
She also believes that competitions, internships, and other applied experiences are what turn that knowledge into readiness for practice.
With AI and other disruptions reshaping work, Davey expects HR’s portfolio to become even more complex, but she says she’s confident this cohort is ready to step up. The 2026 case itself required teams to wrestle with the implications of AI adoption and workforce change, and to present plans that balanced operational needs with people impacts.
Building the next generation of HR
For HR executives across Canada, HRC West is both a development lab and a recruiting ground – and a reminder that the profession’s future leaders are eager for a chance, says Davey.
“They’re eager to get out there and to put their practice in place, so I hope that a lot of organizations will continue to value HR and pave opportunities for the youth to come in and to get their feet wet and start off well with experiences,” she says.
The next edition of HRC West is scheduled for March 5 and 6, 2027, at Mount Royal University in Alberta.
How would you do in the competition? Here's a summary of the case study used at HRC West 2026, prepared by Angela Champ, MBA, CMC, CPHR.
Coverdyne Financial Services
Coverdyne Financial Services, a Canadian financial institution headquartered in Vancouver, is facing significant challenges as it seeks to reduce its expense ratio from 22% to 18% by the end of 2027. The company, which has been a consistent performer in the financial services industry and a recognized leader in employee engagement, is now exploring ways to embrace technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), to increase operational efficiencies and reduce its dependency on a large workforce.
The proposed plan includes raising transaction fees, eliminating paper statements, renegotiating real estate leases, and implementing an 8% workforce reduction (approximately 960 full-time employees). This downsizing will primarily affect management and senior professional roles, with a focus on the Vancouver head office. The company has never implemented layoffs in its 62-year history, making this decision particularly challenging.
Key challenges for the HR and executive teams include:
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Reputational Risk: Coverdyne has built its brand on being a stable employer with a family-like culture, which could be jeopardized by the layoffs.
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Employee Morale: With an employee engagement rate of 86%, maintaining morale and trust during this transition will be critical.
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Communication Strategy: Transparent and empathetic communication will be essential to manage the fallout and ensure employees feel supported.
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Logistics and Timing: The plan must be finalized and ready for implementation within six weeks, adding pressure to the HR team and consultants.
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Workforce Planning: The team must align the downsizing with proposed staffing ratios while considering the age and job level demographics of the workforce.
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Risk Mitigation: The company must address potential legal, operational, and cultural risks associated with the layoffs and automation initiatives.
Participants in the HRC West Case competition are tasked with developing a comprehensive proposal to help Coverdyne achieve its cost-reduction goals while addressing key challenges such as maintaining employee morale, managing reputational risks, and ensuring effective communication and timing. They must also consider the logistics of workforce reduction, the integration of AI-driven automation, and the long-term impacts on the company’s value proposition and culture.
The case highlights the tension between financial performance and employee engagement, as well as the complexities of implementing technological advancements in a way that aligns with organizational values. Competitors will need to balance the company’s financial goals with its commitment to being a top employer and maintaining its positive reputation in the marketplace.
This article is part of our Monthly Spotlight series, which in April focuses on training and development. Full coverage can be found here.
