SPECIAL REPORT
EDUCATION GUIDE 2016
WWW.HRMONLINE.CA ISSUE 4.2 | $12.95
VIEW FROM THE INSIDE
HR LEADERS HAVE THEIR SAY
PRIORITIES, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Cheryl Fullerton Corus Entertainment
PUTTING OUT FIRES The many options for successfully resolving workplace conflict
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Vanessa White Canadian Tire
Laura Hammond H&M
SHAPING THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE Are we entering a new era of HR service delivery?
Lori Casselman Sun Life Financial
GOOD BUSINESS SENSE What HR can do to help build a mentally healthy workplace
25/05/2016 11:22:39 PM
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UPFRONT
EDITORIAL www.hrmonline.ca SUMMER 2016 EDITORIAL
SALES & MARKETING
Editor Iain Hopkins
Business Development Manager Sarah J. Fretz
Senior Writer Nicola Middlemiss
National Account Manager Andrew Cowan
Writers Miklos Bolza Donald Horne Joe Rosengarten
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CONTRIBUTORS Cindy Tonkin Ben Whittier Barbara Benoliel
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Human Resources Director is part of an international family of B2B publications and websites for the human resources industry HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR AUSTRALIA iain.hopkins@keymedia.com.au T +61 2 8437 4703 HRD SINGAPORE hrdmag.com.sg HC AUSTRALIA ONLINE hcamag.com HRM NEW ZEALAND hrmonline.co.nz
Resilience: good for employees, good for business
C
onvergence, competition and commotion. Those were three themes to emerge from IBM’s recent white paper, “Insights from the Global C-suite Study: The CHRO Perspective.” To demonstrate these themes, the study cited examples of where the boundaries and barriers between previously separate industries are collapsing, as companies in one sector apply their expertise to others. These examples included electric car manufacturer Tesla, which is entering the power sector with a new line of zero-carbon batteries for homes, businesses and utilities. Another example is online retailer Alibaba, which is moving into video streaming. While IBM’s study focused primarily on technological upheaval as a key element of disruption, in truth we’re all coping with disruption on global, organizational and individual levels.
While it’s commonplace to talk about the impact that disruption has on organizations and society as a whole, less focus is placed on individuals And while it’s commonplace to talk about the impact that disruption has on organizations and society as a whole, less focus is placed on individuals. Imagine your business is being disrupted. What impact is that disruption having on employee health and well-being? Do employees feel pressure to perform despite dwindling resources? Do they feel they are fighting an uphill – or possibly losing – battle? More organizations today are tackling disruption at the individual employee level by offering training in resilience. From law firms to travel companies, organizations are designing and implementing dedicated programs to help employees cope with unrelenting change and the invariable pressure this change produces. No longer a nice-to-have, astute business leaders today realize such initiatives are good for business. Perhaps it’s time to consider something similar in your organization?
Iain Hopkins, editor
Copyright is reserved throughout. No part of this publication can be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the editor. Contributions are invited, but copies of work should be kept, as HRD magazine can accept no responsibility for loss.
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ISSUE 4.02
CONNECT WITH US Got a story or suggestion, or just want to find out some more information? twitter.com/HRMCanada
CONTENTS
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SPECIAL REPORT EDUCATION GUIDE 2016
UPFRONT 01 Editorial
Resilience is more than just a buzzword
04 Head to head
FEATURES
34
PUTTING OUT FIRES
16
Three top HR directors weigh in on everything from the increasing number of millennials in the workforce to the evolving nature of benefits administration PEOPLE
PROFILE
SAP’s Brigette McInnisDay reveals how her company is embracing diversity
32
What is global best practice in health and well-being benefits?
08 News analysis
The HR implications of a groundbreaking court case
10 Technology update
38
12 Employment law update
Why do top execs remain torn between big data and gut instinct? Ghomeshi-gate has come to an end – what, if anything, has been learned?
FEATURES 26 Tackling the root cause FEATURES
WHY PUBLIC HUMILIATION FEELS SO GOOD
Schadenfreude might offer short-term satisfaction, but it can have long-term ramifications for employees
40
A Toronto facility unlocks the key to lasting wellness
28 Mental health awareness
Why now is the time for employers to raise the bar on mental health
30 The future of workplace mental health
What can HR directors do to support proactive mental health strategies?
42 Bye-bye, human resources?
Will HR soon be a thing of the past – or is it just changing shape?
PEOPLE 46 Career path
How TJ Schmaltz jumped from law to HR FEATURES
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OFFICE POLITICS Office politics are a fact of life – here’s how to navigate them
2
06 Statistics
Exploring the many routes for resolving workplace conflicts
COVER STORY
HR LEADERS ROUNDTABLE
Making the leap from HR to CEO
48 Other life
Finding ‘paradise’ with David Creelman
HRMONLINE.CA CHECK IT OUT ONLINE
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UPFRONT
HEAD TO HEAD
Do HR professionals make good CEOs? More and more HR directors are making the leap to the big chair – but do they have the skills required of the role?
Dorothy Lazovik
Kevin Barwin
President Authentic Leaders Edge
Founding partner/group president Clariti/HRPA Ottawa “Today’s HR professional is collaborative, strategic and understands not only the world of HR, but the business needs of their organization. They can be instrumental in helping to create the link between business strategy and talent development. With the majority of financial resources spent on human talent, who better to lead an organization than someone who has led HR? HR professionals understand the business and the need for engagement, recruiting and retention. They manage talent development by understanding people, structures, systems and culture, and are proactive with senior leadership to deal with both positive and weak spots. Through their ability to listen, trust, sense, observe and collaborate, the HR function is actually a vital part of a modernday CEO skill set.”
“Of course HR professionals can make good CEOs. Anne Mulcahy was named CEO of Xerox in 2001, and more recently, Mary Barra became CEO of GM; both held VP roles in HR. As a personal brand strategist and transformational leadership trainer, I work with organizations that have HR professionals, without the celebrity status, who have also successfully transitioned into a role as CEO. The key in making this possible is for an HR professional to have business experience and expertise outside of the HR function. This isn’t exclusive to HR professionals; this would hold true for any leader within an organization who is looking to become a CEO. It is critical for a leader to gain experience in different areas of the business to be able to make decisions regarding the business on a broader scale.”
Susan Hodkinson
COO and HR practice group leader Crowe Soberman “HR professionals can make outstanding CEOs – if they acquire the skills and perspective that enable them to think broadly and strategically about the business they wish to lead. Strong HR professionals must, first and foremost, be strong business people [and] be able to answer questions such as: What makes the company profitable? What are our KPIs? Who are our competitors? What is our growth strategy? In many companies, knowledge in this area won’t be volunteered to HR leadership – the focused HR leader will nurture relationships that will make developing these insights possible. HR professionals seeking a broader role will seek out opportunities to take on projects that will stretch their capabilities and broaden their perspectives – on their own time if necessary.”
DOES HR HAVE WHAT IT TAKES? The key focus for CHROs is higher-level leadership abilities and strategy implementation skills. But how well equipped are CHROs to step into the CEO role? To investigate the CHRO role within the C-suite, HR researchers Ellie Filler and Dave Ulrich studied C-suite candidates across 14 aspects of leadership, grouped into three categories: leadership style, or how executives behave and want to be perceived in group settings; thinking style, or how they approach situations in private; and emotional competency, or how they deal with such things as ambiguity, pressure and risk-taking. Their conclusion: Except for the COO, the executive whose traits were most similar to those of the CEO was the CHRO.
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UPFRONT
STATISTICS
Health & well-being
HOW WELL ARE HEALTH INITIATIVES WORKING? Despite a strong commitment from employers, employees have not connected to employer-driven initiatives. Only 25% of workers in Canada say that an employer’s health and wellness initiatives have encouraged them to lead a healthier lifestyle – and engagement is only slightly better elsewhere in the world.
What are the global challenges and priorities for employee health and wellness benefits? THE LINK between an employee’s well-being and workplace performance is well established. Increasingly, organizations are looking to build healthy, engaged workers as a key to improving organizational productivity and financial performance. To cite just one example of the research done in this area, the 2016 Employee Health and Business Success Survey by Willis Towers Watson indicates that nine out of 10 employers globally feel that improving their organization’s
60%
Percentage of Canadian employers that have no H&P strategy and rely on government health and well-being programs instead
health and productivity [H&P] program is a core component of their organization’s overall HR strategy. In addition, the majority of employers across the globe expect their commitment to H&P to increase in the next three years. However, there are obstacles to overcome – not least of which are ad hoc approaches to health and well-being. In addition, lifestyle risks such as stress, lack of physical exercise, obesity, poor nutrition and tobacco use are among the toughest workplace challenges faced by employers.
74%
66%
Percentage of global employers that listed ‘improve productivity’ as their top priority for their H&P strategy
Percentage of employees in Canada who agree that managing their own health is a top life priority
US
33%
9 out of 10
Number of organizations looking to reassess their incentive designs in the next three years
Source: Willis Towers Watson, 2016 Employee Health and Business Success Survey
TOP HEALTH CONCERNS Both globally and in Canada (% in parentheses), employers named stress as the number-one health issue facing workers.
LINKS TO ABSENCE AND ENGAGEMENT What is the business impact of poor health and stress? Willis Towers Watson’s research confirms that higher levels of workplace stress result in higher absenteeism. In addition, healthy employees are more engaged. 5
Days lost to absence
% highly engaged 4.1
Stress
64% (85%) Unplanned absences
2
Overweight/obesity
45% (43%) Poor nutrition
31% (41%) Source: Willis Towers Watson: 2016 Employee Health and Business Success Survey
6
2.6
2.8
50% 47%
40%
40 3
30% (45%)
4.1
4
Lack of physical activity
53% (46%)
50
37%
36%
2.9 2.6
30 24%
20
1 0
10
Low workplace stress
Moderate workplace stress
0
High workplace stress
Global
Poor health status
Good health status
Very good health status
Canada Source: Willis Towers Watson: 2015/2016 Global Benefits Survey
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Canada
25%
Asia-Pacific
36%
Europe
19% Latin America
33%
Source: Willis Towers Watson: 2015/2016 Global Benefits Survey
REDESIGNING TOTAL REWARDS TO FOCUS ON HEALTH In 2014, Deloitte asked employers to identify the actions they had taken to redesign overall total rewards strategies/ programs within the past 12 months, or expected to undertake in the coming 12 months. Increasing health and wellbeing was identified as the number-one action across all regions. 43%
Increasing health and well-being initiatives Definition, mix of components and/or redesign of overall benefits strategy
38%
Alignment with organization strategy and brand
50%
40%
34% 32%
Differentiation by employee group (workforce segmentation)
21%
Differentiation by business unit
23%
Global Americas
14% 14%
Significantly reducing total rewards investment
8% 7%
None of the above – we have not undertaken any redesign of our total rewards strategy
18% 18%
0
10
20
30
40
50
Source: Deloitte 2014 Global Top Five Rewards Priorities Survey
HOW HIGH-PERFORMING COMPANIES SUCCEED Research from Willis Towers Watson indicates that high performers: 1 Offer prevention programs aimed at keeping employees healthy 2 Provide personal support to employees with specific health needs 3 Build and sustain a culture of health at the workplace 4 Align their H&P strategy with their employee value proposition 5 Provide a range of program choices informed by regular evaluation of their effectiveness 6 Use the latest technology (including wearables and apps) 7 Target communication to reach employees in ways they prefer Source: Willis Towers Watson: 2015/2016 Global Benefits Survey
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UPFRONT
NEWS ANALYSIS
Breaking new ground In what has become the most widely reported HR story of 2016, Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that miscarriage constitutes a disability – but what does it mean for HR? Nicola Middlemiss reports EVEN THE most contentious HR issues rarely attract the attention of industry outsiders, but when Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal chose to categorize miscarriage as a disability, the interim decision made waves across the entire country. “It’s precedent-setting and groundbreaking in the sense that it hasn’t previously been recognized but, in my mind, it’s about time,” says leading employment lawyer Priya Sarin. “I think it’s recognized in this decision, and it should have been recognized before, that the after-effects of a miscarriage on a woman can be quite debilitating – both physically and emotionally – and it’s something that requires time to heal from.” The case centres around Winnie Mou, a
constituted a disability, so her employer should have been obligated to accommodate her. MHPM Project Leaders, however, sought to have the case quashed, insisting the woman didn’t have a disability. “The preliminary hearing was held solely on the issue of whether or not she had demonstrated that she had a disability, so that required the tribunal to find whether or not a miscarriage constituted a disability,” Sarin explains. Adjudicator and Human Rights Tribunal vice-chair Jennifer Scott refused to throw the case out, agreeing that Mou’s miscarriage constituted a disability. “It also is not a common ailment, and it is certainly not transitory,” Scott wrote in
“It’s precedent-setting and groundbreaking ... it hasn’t previously been recognized, but in my mind, it’s about time” Priya Sarin, Whitten & Lublin Markham woman who claims she was fired from her job at MHPM Project Leaders for missing targets and being absent at work – both of which she says were caused by the combination of a previous injury, a miscarriage and her mother-in-law’s death. Mou filed a wrongful termination complaint, arguing that the personal trauma
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her decision. “It is clear from the applicant’s testimony that she continues to experience significant emotional distress from the miscarriage even today.” This is just the first step for Mou, who now has to prove that she was actually discriminated against on the basis of her disability or that her termination was in
relation to the disability. However, regardless of the case’s eventual outcome, the groundbreaking classification will stand. “The interim decision that miscarriage constitutes a disability is already out in the public eye, and this is the tribunal’s perspective on the issue,” Sarin says. Unsurprisingly, the unprecedented decision has sparked commentary far beyond Ontario’s borders, and Toronto-based Sarin says it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect other jurisdictions to follow suit. “Women will understand that they can request accommodation if they have been subject to the after-effects of a miscarriage,” she says. “If an employer fails to respect a woman’s request for accommodation, I would not be surprised at all if similar claims are brought to tribunals in other jurisdictions.
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HOW SHOULD HR BE REACTING? Miscarriage is still a taboo topic in many circles, which leaves the issue frighteningly under-discussed – but it’s far more common than many realize. According to pregnancy charity Tommy’s, as many as one in four women will lose an unborn baby. “You’ve got to think about what percentage of your workforce that is and how many of those women are going to suffer after effects,” says Priya Sarin, partner at Whitten & Lublin Employment Lawyers. Because HR professionals can’t expect to be made aware when an employee has suffered a miscarriage, all they can do is ensure the right policies are in place in case it does happen. “Employers are going to have to sit down at look at their HR policies and ensure that their provision for leave of absence or their disability leave is broad enough to encompass a scenario such as this,” Sarin says. “Policies need to be clear that they’re not only in relation to permanent illnesses. I would advise employers to review them or have them reviewed with a lawyer to make sure that they’re broad enough to capture this type of leave.”
“Given the similarities between human rights legislation across Canada and a trend towards recognizing more ‘temporary’ conditions,” she adds, “I would abso-
telecommunications companies, prohibits pregnancy-related discrimination. “The Canadian Human Rights Commission has previously issued policy guidelines
“It is clear from the applicant’s testimony that she continues to experience significant emotional distress from the miscarriage even today” Jennifer Scott, Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario lutely expect adjudicators to adopt similar reasoning in other jurisdictions when considering whether miscarriage qualifies as a disability.” In addition, Sarin notes that the Canadian Human Rights Act, which governs federally regulated employers such as banks and
that define pregnancy-related conditions to include ‘miscarriage or conditions arising as a direct or indirect result of miscarriage,’” she says. “The CHRC recognizes that some pregnancy-related conditions could also be considered a disability – this together with the HRTO decision would provide plenty of
fodder for adjudicators elsewhere to make a similar finding.” While employers may feel like they’re entering unfamiliar territory following this unparallelled decision, Sarin says many HR professionals might end up dealing with the issue without even realizing it. “It’s important to remember that an employer isn’t always entitled to know what an employee’s diagnosis is,” she says. “They don’t always know why an employee requires a leave of absence, and it should be sufficient for someone’s treating healthcare professional to provide a note that indicates that they are being treated for a disability and they are unable to return to work for ‘x’ period of time. I’ve been advising my clients to treat this as any other disability or Code-protected ground in terms of meeting the duty to accommodate their employees.”
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UPFRONT
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE NEWS BRIEFS Google HR admits analytics can’t build the perfect team
A specialist HR task force set up by Google to find the secret behind building the perfect team said even industryleading data and analytics couldn’t give them the answer. “We were dead wrong,” admitted people operations analyst Julia Rozovsky, who revealed she’d been expecting to uncover a reliable algorithm that could be used to form the best teams in future. ‘Project Aristotle’ analyzed data from more than 180 active teams at the company. Results showed that who is on the team matters less than how members interact, structure their work and view their contributions.
Ontario employers warned about web accessibility
Employers across Ontario are being warned to not overlook the importance of web accessibility when it comes to complying with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act [AODA]. The web accessibility requirements currently in place apply to ‘new’ websites; however, after January 1, 2021, all websites and their content must conform to AODA requirements. Under the AODA, a ‘new website’ is not only a website that has a new domain name, but also a website with an existing domain name that has undergone a significant redesign.
A quarter of Canadians trust robots over bosses
It’s fast becoming the norm across many industries to install robotic employees in place of humans, but it seems robots’ increasing prevalence doesn’t just threaten frontline jobs
10
– it could threaten HR positions, too. A recent study found that 26% of Canadian adults believe an unbiased computer program would be more trustworthy and ethical than human leaders and managers. “Who would you trust – a human with personal biases and opinions, or a rational and balanced AI?” commented futurist speaker Nikolas Badminton.
Is technology creating bad managers? The amount of information created in the world every two days is now equal to the information created from the dawn of time to 2003, revealed Eric Schmidt, then CEO of Google, in 2010. The result of this information overload is that leaders are often too distracted and fail to engage with their staff, according to leadership performance coach Mike Irving. “While technology has enabled employers to be switched on day and night, it can leave them feeling overwhelmed with an overactive mind,” he said. The result, he added, is a decline in managers listening to employees and a lack of empathy.
‘Digital humanism’ the next wave of technology The newest wave of technology will be focused on people, involving hardware and software that affects everyday life, whether it’s communication, entertainment, or more and better insight through big data. Betsy Burton, vice president of global research company Gartner, said the focus will be on ‘digital humanism.’ “This is the notion that people are the central focus in the manifestation of digital businesses and digital workplaces,” she said. Other major trends identified by Gartner for 2016 include automation and digitization of the HR industry.
Torn between data and instinct HR professionals notoriously favour gut instinct over hard data – but is that wrong? Big data may be changing the business landscape, but it seems Canada’s top corporate leaders are still torn on how to use it in their decision-making – that’s the revelation from one recent study. The poll showed that, of the 250 Canadian senior executives surveyed, 52% felt like they relied too heavily on data and analytics and not enough on their intuition, while 41% said the opposite. “We’ve seen an incredible uptick in the amount of data available to business leaders over the past decade,” says Salman Mufti, the associate dean and executive director of Queen’s Executive Education at the Smith School of Business, which published the study. “However, leaders are still learning how to best use that data to improve the efficiency and profitability of their organizations.” However, Mufti adds, successful business leaders recognize that data analytics and intuition are not mutually exclusive. “Even when we use data, intuition and experience are still critical in developing novel strategies to meet business challenges,” he says. “The additional data available simply allows us to test our assumptions, recognize new patterns when creating strategy, and make course correc-
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tions when strategies are not working out.” The study’s findings support his suggestion – leaders indicated that they rely on both intuition and analytics, depending on the business scenario. Data was identified as the driver behind the majority of strategic decisions (71%), whereas intuition was preferred when making decisions involving their teams (66%) and crisis management (65%). Interestingly, the majority of execs (56%) felt data-driven decisions led to better results, but an overwhelming number (78%) still agreed that a business leader must go with their gut when an important decision needs to be made quickly.
“Leaders are still learning how to best use data to improve the efficiency and profitability of their organizations” “Sometimes you can have too much or conflicting information, and it doesn’t always provide a clear direction on what to do,” Mufti says. “I think what the Smith School of Business Executive Survey results are showing is that business leaders are concerned about data paralysis and realize that sometimes – for certain types of management challenges – quick decisions are critical to an organization’s success.”
Q&A
Jason Corsello CEO CORNERSTONE ONDEMAND
Fast fact The Bersin by Deloitte 2015 HR Factbook says big companies are spending about 10% of their HR budget on new tools and technology
How tech is changing expectations How has technology changed the way employees expect to be managed? Companies are now serving the ‘trophy generation’ – the millennials who always need a pat on the back. The younger demographic has certainly changed the expectations of what management is and how we manage them. They’re also changing a lot of what we do in talent management today. L&D is becoming much more self-directed – instead of the company saying, “Go take this training,” the younger workforce wants to pursue the training they care about. They want to be developed in ways they care about – it’s not necessarily what the company cares about. From a performance management perspective, we’re all used to doing annual reviews, whereas today the younger demographic wants continuous feedback – they want to know how they’re doing at any given point in time, and they want to know how they can get better. It’s certainly becoming much more frequent, much more selfdirected by the employees themselves. So it’s definitely shifted from being employer-driven to being employee-driven.
How is technology helping HR leaders meet those increased expectations? It’s another way towards being more transparent – it helps facilitate a level of transparency and creates that level of engagement between manager and employee, which you do in a little bit of a different way today. Transparency is really the big driver that helps managers and employees get and stay on the same page.
How can technology improve employee performance and lift engagement levels? Where technology is headed today is we’re not doing this on an annual basis – we’re using technology every day. In the context of talent management, feedback from a manager should be an everyday occurrence – or if not every day, then it should certainly be a continuous thing. It’s really up to the employee and the manager to say whether it should be weekly, monthly or quarterly. Certainly technology helps drive and create a different way of how we manage performance and even engagement. One of the more recent trends in performance management and talent management is around pulse surveys. So really getting a good pulse on how your employees are feeling, getting a sense of the culture of the organization – for example, are your high performers happy or not happy? That’s important because you get to measure and marry culture with performance.
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UPFRONT
EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE
Ghomeshi-gate comes to an end Jian Ghomeshi’s headline-grabbing trial ends with an apology, in spite of a not-guilty verdict
Justice Timothy Lipson, the judge presiding over the case, and Ghomeshi’s own lawyer stressed that the apology was not an admission of criminal behaviour or guilt. However, when setting the terms of the peace bond, Lipson said Borel had “reasonable grounds” to fear he could harm her in future – as part of the deal, he must have no contact with her of any kind for the next 12 months, must not possess any weapons, must keep the peace and must pay $500.
“The relentless message ... was that his whims were more important than my humanity or my dignity”
Jian Ghomeshi’s long, drawn-out legal ordeal finally ended in mid-May after he apologized for his “sexually inappropriate” behaviour against a former CBC employee. “I now recognize that I crossed boundaries inappropriately,” Ghomeshi said before an open court. “I enjoyed a position of privilege in my job at the CBC as the host of a program I loved,” he continued, adding that he “did not show the respect that [he] should have” to
NEWS BRIEFS
co-worker and accuser Kathryn Borel. Borel, a former associate producer on Ghomeshi’s show Q, had accused the nowshamed star of grabbing her by the waist and pressing himself “back and forth repeatedly into her buttocks” while they were at work. “That conduct in the workplace was sexually inappropriate,” Ghomeshi admitted. “I realize that there is no way for me to know the full impact on her personally and professionally.” Despite Ghomeshi’s regret over his actions,
Human Rights update pleases vegan activists The Ontario Human Rights Commission recently revised the definition ‘creed’ – a protected category under the Code – to include “non-religious belief systems that, like religion, substantially influence a person’s identity, worldview and way of life.” The move has been welcomed by vegan activists, who argue employers will now be legally obligated to accommodate their needs. “That could mean that employers would be compelled to provide vegan options at on-site cafeterias, for example,” said employment lawyer Laura Williams.
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After the trial, Borel issued a statement, slamming the CBC for its handling of the issue. “When I went to the CBC for help, what I received in return was a directive that, yes, he could do this and, yes, it was my job to let him,” Borel said. “The relentless message to me from my celebrity boss and the national institution we worked for was that his whims were more important than my humanity or my dignity.” The deal marks the end of the fifth and final sexual assault charge Ghomeshi has beaten since police launched an investigation against him in 2014. More than 20 women came forward with allegations of being slapped, punched, bitten, choked or smothered by the radio host.
Case proves value of well written contracts
An Alberta case has demonstrated the power of a well written employment contract after an eight-week notice was upheld for a longtenure employee. Bernice Stangenberg was dismissed from her position as a support specialist without cause, receiving the minimum payout set out in provincial legislation, despite her 17-year tenure. Stangenberg sued for wrongful dismissal, but the court considered the termination clause to be “clear, express and unambiguous,” and dismissed her claim.
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Q&A
Chris Andree Partner
The legal lowdown: retracting a job offer
GOWLING WLG
Fast fact In the 2011 case Davis v Toronto (City), the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal found a withdrawn conditional offer of employment was discriminatory because the decision was made based on a disability; they awarded the rejected candidate $10,000
Can a job offer be legally rescinded after the candidate has accepted? The relationship between employers and employees is a contract – and, as it would be with any other kind of contract, once the contract is formed, neither party can unilaterally make changes to the contract. Both parties are bound to whatever the deal is, and if the employer is trying to rescind a job offer – assuming that it’s already been accepted – that has the potential to create liability for the employer because it is effectively a breach of contract.
And that’s true even though the actual employment contract isn’t in effect yet? In Canada, the concept that we talk about is anticipatory breach – by that we mean the contract hasn’t yet been executed by the person commencing their employment, but notwithstanding that, the employer has indicated that they’re going to breach the contract by not allowing the individual to start. Therefore it’s called an anticipatory breach, rather than allowing them to start and then terminating them at that point.
What about if the candidate lied on their application? Like any good legal answer, it depends. One of the
Federal court clears up confusion over ‘workplace’
The Federal Court has provided clear guidance on what constitutes a workplace for the purposes of health and safety inspections. The issue was raised after the Canadian Union of Postal Workers claimed letter-carrier routes should be inspected in addition to Canada Post’s Burlington-based depot. While a health and safety officer initially agreed, an appeals officer later reversed the decision, explaining that the obligation to inspect does not apply to any place that the employer does not control.
ways that we help our clients address these kinds of potentials is we include in that offer the right to do a background check and to make the offer and the acceptance conditional on the employer being satisfied with the background check. In that circumstance, what we’re doing is we are creating a term of the contract by saying, “Here are our rights to do a background check before you commence your employment, and if we find that we’re not satisfied – whether it be a former employer’s reference or there is a criminal background or the person does not have the credentials they say they have – the offer may not go ahead.” Those would all be circumstances where, if properly crafted, the employer can rely upon that term.
So what would happen if you don’t have such a clause and find out the candidate lied – can you rescind the offer? In a situation where you don’t have a clause, you make an offer, and then you subsequently find out – whether it’s before the individual has started or shortly thereafter – that they have been dishonest in their application, it is more likely that the employer in that circumstance would terminate the contract for just cause by saying, “You have not been honest with us, and we can’t start a relationship where you’ve lied, and so we’re going to end the relationship now.”
Wrongful resignation prompts $35k payout
Employers aren’t the only ones who have an obligation to give reasonable notice – that’s the message from Ontario’s Superior Court after it ruled that one worker owed more than $35,000. The 10-year veteran resigned in favour of a competitor but failed to carry out his notice period after the company refused to accept his calculation of commission owed. The company struggled to find a suitable replacement, and a court eventually found that it had lost revenue to the tune of $35,164 as a result.
Victoria Police pays $20k to employee
A police officer who campaigns for the legalization of drugs was awarded $20,000 after the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal found his employer had attempted to obstruct his off-duty activities. Constable David Bratzer said the police department had tried repeatedly to hinder his participation with the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, including barring him from attending a harm reduction conference and speaking at a federal Green party event.
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25/05/2016 4:43:12 AM
{
59% OF EMPLOYEES LIVE WITH A CHRONIC HEALTH CONDITION.1
BY 2020, 50% OF THE GLOBAL WORKFORCE WILL BE MILLENNIALS.2
}
WORKFORCE CHANGING THE
IS
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EMPLOYEE NEEDS AND EXPECTATIONS ARE CHANGING TOO. 86% of employees expect employer support for psychological health, and 84% expect support for physical health.3 ARE YOU READY? A strong foundation depends on the right strategic approach. Sun Life’s Integrated Health Solutions offers a comprehensive approach to address the physical, mental and financial health needs of employees.
INTEGRATED HEALTH SOLUTIONS Working together for a healthier future. Contact us to learn more or visit sunlife.ca/IHS 1 2 3
2016 Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey PWC, “Millennials at work, Reshaping the workplace,” November 2011 2015 Sun Life Financial Canadian Health Index
Life’s brighter under the sun Group benefits are provided by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, a member of the Sun Life Financial group of companies.
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FEATURES
COVER STORY: HR ROUNDTABLE
HR LEADERS ROUNDTABLE HRD invited three industry-leading HR directors to a roundtable event, sponsored by Sun Life Financial, at Toronto’s exclusive Spoke Club. From the increasing number of millennials in the workforce to benefits administration, our panel discussed a wide range of topics with refreshing candour and honesty ABOUT OUR SPONSOR A market leader in group benefits, Sun Life Financial serves more than one in six Canadians, in more than 17,000 corporate, association, affinity and creditor groups across Canada. Sun Life Financial’s Integrated Health Solutions [IHS] offers complete support to address employee physical, mental and financial health needs. Through a strategic approach to health and absences, and a comprehensive service offering to support organizational and employee health, we help employers meet the needs of today and build a healthier future. Our core values – integrity, service excellence, customer focus and building value – are at the heart of who we are and how we do business. Sun Life Financial and its partners have operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. Life’s brighter under the sun.
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HR DIRECTORS are experiencing many fresh challenges this year. The changing demographic of the workforce, the rise of digital technology, and the need to build supportive and collaborative cultures are all creating tests not faced by the previous generation of HR leaders. HR is being forced to redesign its approach, develop new skill sets and change the way it’s perceived in the organization. Never before has HR had such a significant impact on organizational success. The rising number of millennials in the workforce is forcing organizations to rethink and redesign how they operate. Millennials expect more from their careers than previous generations. They want to do meaningful, rewarding work and see constant career progression, and they want all of this at an organization that aligns with their values. Coupled with the fact that Baby Boomers are either retiring or working into their 70s, this is creating a whole new aspect to the HR function. Increasingly, HR leaders are playing a leading role in the overall employee experience.
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PARTICIPANTS
Cheryl Fullerton EVP of people Corus Entertainment
MODERATOR
Vanessa White VP of HR Canadian Tire
BIGGEST CHALLENGES IN 2016 Cheryl Fullerton: 2016 is a year of immense change for Corus Entertainment. We’ve just closed on the deal to purchase Shaw Media, so we’ll be fully focused on bringing these two great organizations together and creating the right operating model, leadership team and getting the best talent in the right places. As the people experts in the organization, it’s all about helping make sure we can maximize performance through a time of immense change. Vanessa White: It’s about managing, and I’d love to say staying ahead of, the pace of change in the organization, but at Canadian Tire that’s almost an impossibility. That’s the biggest challenge for my team this year – staying ahead of the change and trying to help people through it. We’re trying to help people think about how to leverage each
Laura Hammond Country human resources manager H&M
other as they all are going through peaks and valleys of change in the businesses that they support. Another big challenge for us from a change lens is that much of the change we’re going through has a technology backbone to it. So, we’re trying to figure out how to do organizational change management in a really different way than we’ve done before. Laura Hammond: At H&M, change is almost constant, and we’ve just announced that we’re going online in Canada in 2016. Our employees are very young. We’ve got a lot of people between 18 and 30, many of whom are part-time and don’t necessarily see retail as a career option. So, we’re looking to develop the leaders of tomorrow and also look at who our sales advisors and floor managers of the future are, to best serve our customers. What is it that they need to know about integrating the store experience and the online experience? And what is it that the customer now expects if they leave their home to shop in a physical bricks-andmortar store?
Lori Casselman AVP of Integrated Health Solutions Sun Life Financial
“How can we accelerate development and educate employees on the career options available and why taking certain steps is important?” Laura Hammond, H&M
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FEATURES
COVER STORY: HR ROUNDTABLE
Millennials want to do everything else on their smartphones, so why not manage their benefits package?
“As you think about evolving benefits and financial wellness, you have to keep going back to your first principles” Cheryl Fullerton, Corus Entertainment
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BENEFITS AND BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Benefits administration is a constantly evolving area for HR leaders to manage. In order to ensure their benefits suites remain relevant to the various groups in the workforce, HR is having to re-examine the benefits model. Are millennial employees satisfied with the same benefits suite as Baby Boomers? And what demands are the aging workforce putting on benefit providers? HR leaders need to discover how to deliver relevant products and services that maximize investments through effective wellness, disability and pharmaceutical benefits. The changing demographics of the workplace are also impacting how benefits should be administered and redeemed.
LH: It’s something that we look at every year, and I wouldn’t say at H&M there’s been any major change. But we do often think about how we can better serve our employee population. One of the things that we know, employing largely millennials, is that 54% of that population will have some sort of mental health issue in their lifetime, so that’s an issue that I take personal interest in. I also want to try to look at ways that we can build programs in the workplace to be preventative instead of reactive to that sort of health challenge. But certainly, the right mix of benefits is something that we’re consistently looking at. In retail, being such a physical work environment, you’re bending and pulling in ways that may not necessarily be natural. I think a lot about benefits tying into workplace health and safety, and how can you set up that preventative aspect for employees? We recently had a contest to drive sales where the prize for the winning workplace was massages. The employees loved it, but it also led me to think about whether it’s something we could offer more regularly to all employees. Would that drive down our number of workplace injuries, because employees are taking better care of their physical health? VW: What the needs are going to be is ever-evolving. We haven’t even scratched the surface on the variety and different types of benefits that people are going to be looking for, especially with more and more millennials entering the workforce. Within our family of companies, there’s some strong cultural things that exist. When you think about Sport Chek, there’s the deep
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FAST FACTS ABOUT CORUS QUAY, THE TORONTO HEADQUARTERS OF CORUS ENTERTAINMENT Located on Toronto Waterfront
“It’s about managing, and I’d love to say staying ahead of, the pace of change in the organization” Vanessa White, Canadian Tire affiliation to sport; when you think about Canadian Tire, it’s all about active families. It’ll be important for us to think about benefits in a way that complements our customer base and feeds into the needs of our employees, to make sure that, from a brand perspective, we’re well represented internally to our employees as well as externally to our customers. CF: The real power for anything we do is when our solutions are completely aligned with our organizational purpose. So, as you think about evolving benefits and financial wellness, you have to keep going back to your first principles. Think about what your organization exists to do and whether there’s a natural linkage in how you present yourself to the world. It’s going to have so much more power when it comes to people selecting to be with you.
MANAGING HEALTH FROM A WIDER PERSPECTIVE LH: We’re noticing more store managers and leaders coming to us with questions about how to manage employees who are having a challenging time from a mental health perspective. We’ve realized that many people are not equipped to answer
questions or direct someone to the right resources. We’re going to be shifting our attention towards health promotion through our employee communication networks. For an organization like ours, we also have to do consistent work around ergonomics to make sure that the workplace is set up to help people do their work, minimize injury and keep employees physically well to do the job in a comfortable way. CF: I see the impact of a space like our building on Corus Quay [see box above]. It’s light, open and has indoor and outdoor workspaces. There are gathering spaces that allow people to connect and be together in different kinds of ways. It’s part of building health – healthy people, healthy relationships and mental health – through the environment, how you lead in that environment and giving flexibility to staff on where spend their day, because it doesn’t have to be at a desk. It’s about you, the organization as a society, and how you support your people. It all comes back to culture. VW: Health assessments can help individuals, and us as a company, to recognize what’s important to them in terms of managing their own health. It’s helping us understand what the physical environment can mean to someone’s health when we get it into space planning and designing work environments. It’s about taking the holistic
Constructed in three years and officially
opened in September 2010 Houses 1,000 employees Over 100 collaboration spaces Building features three public art installations created by UK-based artists Troika All material and furniture choices were filtered through low-emissions, low-impact and sustainable criteria Workstation walls and panels are low and allow for natural light Staff can work where they want, when they want Views of the water from the interior and views into the building from the public promenade
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FEATURES
COVER STORY: HR ROUNDTABLE
“I don’t think you should outsource anything unless you’re ready to do it” Vanessa White, Canadian Tire
view of the employees’ experience in the workplace. Having sources of information that help us understand what we can do to help employees be more successful in the workplace – that’s huge.
CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS VW: With more millennials joining the workforce, we’re seeing a different value system. They’re very loyal and they work really hard, but their sense of life value is different from what we’ve seen before. Companies are going to have to get innovative around the benefits they offer. Millennials want to be able work and be affiliated with a company, but they also
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want to be able to go and travel for a couple of months at a time. The whole way that work ‘works’ is going to change a lot in the next 10 to 15 years. LH: We’ve got some wildly talented sales advisors who come to us on a parttime basis, who we can see as store leaders, whether it be a department manager, visual merchandiser or store manager. But they want to skip to being head of the public relations department or working in marketing. So, we’re trying to do a lot of education around the importance of putting in the time and taking the steps necessary to secure your knowledge of the business and your confidence in yourself, so that when they do get to the manager level or corporate position, they have all of the skills necessary to be a success. How can we accelerate development and educate employees on the career options available and why taking certain steps is important? We then need to support them on that journey so they don’t get frustrated and fall off [their career path]. CF: I’ve been thinking a lot about millennials lately because they make up such a large part of our incoming workforce. But there’s also this great alignment, when it ties to purpose, because there’s a lot of desire amongst the Boomer population to leave a mark on their industry and their company. I think there’s a huge opportunity for organizations to tap into these two huge populations for alignment in performance. Many millennials are still in the researching and learning phase, so wouldn’t it be cool to be able to pair those legacy seekers [Boomers] with the big ideas [millennials] and have that partnership around, “This is what you want to do; well, this is how you can do it.”
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EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
MANAGING MULTI-GENERATIONS CF: I’ve come to the firm belief that if you dig into millennials and what that means, we’re all millennials. Everything we say that characterizes that generation, and what they want from the workplace, is the same thing that everyone wants. Frequent feedback, flexibility, doing meaningful work, the ability to progress their careers, connections with people – these are things we all want and have all wanted. It’s just perhaps that our parents’ generation didn’t feel empowered to speak out, and our children feel empowered to do so. That’s the only real difference. The issue to me is that perhaps the bulk of people in senior leadership didn’t grow up feeling empowered to do that. VW: Not only do millennials have the guts to ask for it, they’ll actually make decisions based on those things first. That’s a fundamental difference – even if some of our generation would have asked for those things, would we have turned down a great job with a perceived to be great company based on some of those things? Millennials will; they’ll target a company based on their value system. In a previous workplace, we started to dig into the systems and programs we put in place in the HR group that were attractive to millennials. We found these the systems and programs were very much aligned to the things that were motivating employees who were in the back half of their career. So, the closer you are to the front and the end of your career, the more that things like flexible hours, doing meaningful work, working in a different location – all of that mattered on both ends. From an HR perspective, it’s good news because we don’t have to be developing two different sets of programs to meet the needs of both groups.
“Treat the people elements of the business strategy the same way you do any other business strategy” Cheryl Fullerton, Corus Entertainment There’s workforce analytics that we need to start doing because, in the situation where someone has been in an industry or a company for a long time and then leaves, we don’t know if one person could come in behind them and do that work as effectively. Or does it require one and a half people? There’s a cost associated with people leaving, and we just don’t fully know it yet.
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND ITS IMPACT CF: People clearly select places to work because it fits them. The culture, the norms and the way people behave are aligned to their organization’s purpose; it’s how people are going to thrive and win. Quite frankly, performance is all about people being able to thrive and win, and that relies on the extent people can be mentally, physically and financially healthy. Everything you do that feeds into the culture, the norms of behaviour and the connection between people can either hurt or enhance someone’s personal health.
An engaged employee is more productive, takes fewer sick days and is less like to show signs of presenteeism. Data shows companies with a higher percentage of engaged employees are more likely to be profitable. Meaningful engagement is paramount in any attempt to improve business results. Global levels of employee engagement continue to trend upward since the Great Recession. Global employee engagement: 62% North American employee engagement: 66% (almost back to pre-recession levels) European employee engagement: 57% Perception of good career opportunities is the top engagement driver globally – positive perceptions surrounding this driver have fallen three points, to 44%. Perceptions of career opportunities are most positive in India, Canada and Latin American markets. Other top engagement drivers: reputation, pay, employee value proposition, innovation. Around half of the global population is dissatisfied with these key aspects of the employee experience. Less than half of global employees (46%) think they are paid fairly for what they contribute. Source: Aon Hewitt’s 2015 Global Trends in Employee Engagement
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FEATURES
COVER STORY: HR ROUNDTABLE
THE CANADIAN WORKFORCE
“Performance is all about people being able to thrive and win, and that relies on the extent people can be mentally, physically and financially healthy” Cheryl Fullerton, Corus Entertainment
MILLENNIALS
Born: 1981-2000 Age in 2016: 15-35 Population in 2015: 9.5 million Percentage of labour force: 37%
GENERATION X
Born: 1966-1980 Age in 2016: 35-50 Population in 2015: 7.2 million Percentage of labour force: 31%
BABY BOOMERS
Born: 1946-1965 Age in 2016: 50-70 Population in 2015: 9.5 million Percentage of labour force: 30%
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VW: Think about some of the iconic brands out there. I don’t think people are aspiring to work at Apple necessarily because they love their iPhone. It’s not the product; it’s the brand and how closely that brand is linked to the employee experience, the product experience and the customer experience. That’s why people want to work there, because through everything they see about the company, they have an expectation of what it’s going to be like. I heard someone say recently that you’ve nailed it on employee culture when you can take out all reference to your company name in your policies and handbook and someone reading it stills knows, without doubt, what company that information is about. When you nail that, you’ve got the right people doing the right work for the right purpose. It’s something that’s resonated with me. I don’t think we’re there yet, and I don’t know a lot of companies that are, but it’s a pretty neat idea. A big challenge is how to keep your culture evolving. Because the same way that we have to keep brands and customer experience evolving, we have to keep culture evolving, too. In the past, you were more able to say, “This is who we are,” and you could stick with that. Every employer now has an interesting challenge in front of them of how to keep culture growing
and moving as your business grows and moves. That’s going to happen at a pace like nothing we’ve ever seen before. LH: For us, in terms of our culture, we’ve always known we have something really special. We’re a brand that was started in the 1940s in Sweden, and we’ve grown rapidly across the world. We have a beautiful set of seven values that guide us in everything we do, but the challenge we have around culture is how to get business leaders who are fairly young, and maybe very well equipped from a commercial standpoint, to lead with that vision around culture and how they let it live in their store. For us, it’s really been important to work on leadership, how we communicate messages to our employees and how we recognize them for the work they do. We need to trust that the leaders in our stores are able to keep that culture alive in a way that works for their employees.
HR SERVICE DELIVERY Being aligned and tightly integrated with the business is must for any progressive HR
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FEATURES
COVER STORY: HR ROUNDTABLE
“We need to trust that the leaders in our stores are able to keep that culture alive in a way that works for their employees” Laura Hammond, H&M
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department. In order to achieve this, HR needs to transform the services it provides and the delivery models through which it provides them. The business leaders of tomorrow are vastly different from the leaders of yesterday, and HR needs to become an expert in identifying, attracting and developing the workforce of the future. But is HR equipped to meet the needs of a changing employee base? VW: HR teams need to stop thinking of themselves only as HR. You’ve got to think of yourself as part of the business. I try to stress this with my team all the time: You need to know your businesses objectives better than your own. If you do, we’re going to be just fine. Whatever industry you’re in, digging in deep and really understanding that will drive success for you as an organization from an HR perspective. LH: One of the best pieces of advice I got
early on was that even if you don’t have a specific project requirement, take occasional meetings with vendors who are working in really interesting spaces in HR to see what the trends are and if you can get any free advice. Seek out opportunities to link with different HR leaders to understand their pressure points and how there may be synergy in things that they’ve tried. VW: One of the things I love about being in HR is that, even across very competitive industries, the challenges are largely the same. We’re all facing the same things, whether we’re in retail, entertainment or any other industry. This is what I find the most valuable. Also, going to conferences is really important, but not the ones that sharpen your technical skill. For me, it’s about going to conferences that get you thinking differently and learning more about people. That’s the kind of stuff you need to go out and cultivate, that deep understanding of people, rather than systems or processes. CF: Of late, I’ve had two big focuses. One has been to really connect with a lot of CEOs, chief marketing officers and chief strategists, because when you talk to those people, they go immediately to culture, the pace of innovation and finding the right talent. I’ve been spending a lot of time with those kinds of communities because it’s helping me figure out how I can be the great people person in my organization. My second focus was to immerse myself in the world of Twitter so that I could live in the social world and understand it. I realized the types of people you can connect with instantly, all over the world: these amazing, quirky, different people with great insights. It’s been amazing to expand my mind and my connections in a way I wouldn’t have been able to do elsewhere. That’s been my big source of learning over the past year.
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TOP HR PRIORITIES
92%
of HR leaders rate organizational design as a top priority
OUTSOURCING
VW: I don’t think you should outsource anything unless you’re ready to do it. I spent part of my career in outsourcing as a provider, so I absolutely know that providers can bring tremendous value. On the operational side of HR, there’s not much that couldn’t be outsourced. But you must have strong systems and processes in place before you go down that road so that you know exactly what you want from your service provider. Your service level agreements with outsourcing providers have to be really tight. It’s got to be a strong relationship, and you have to pick an outsourcing provider whose values match your own, especially if outsourcing something that’s part of the employee experience. It’s got to be seamless, the same as if you’re outsourcing a piece of your customer experience. You have to apply the same diligence and lens to it as you would if you were outsourcing a piece of your bigger customer-facing business. CF: If you do outsource, don’t keep duplicate staff on – you have to let it go. There are a lot of companies that don’t let go enough – they keep on too many staff, don’t get the cost benefit and actually cause a lot of issues for people in the middle. LH: When I came onboard at H&M, we did outsource quite a bit of recruitment because of how our team was set up. Since then, we’ve taken it all back in-house and really reduced costs. Now that we have a talent acquisition partner who has the trust of our business leaders and understands our store and corporate environment, the quality of hires is so much better, and we’ve retained those hires longer.
HR AND BUSINESS PLANNING CF: For a number of years, I’ve felt the benefits of having a well-articulated people strategy for the organization. Treat the people elements of the business strategy the same way you do any other business strategy. Clarify the business focus areas and then build three-year plans on initiatives that are tied to those. Without that, you will spend your time doing whatever pops up the loudest. I can’t overestimate the benefit of having a plan like that. VW: You’ve got to have your plan. Whether that’s an overarching plan or a plan by each business or each individual leader, you’ve got to stick to the plan and work it. It allows you to go back to the business on a regular basis to say, “This is what we agreed to, look at the progress we’re making, and look at the impact it’s having.” Then the business starts to see the value you bring in a different way. We need to spend more time on strategic business work and also spending time in the business, so that those plans keep getting better and more aligned, because there’s never enough time for that. I always wish I had more time with my own team, developing, coaching, mentoring and helping them. LH: How do we marry our priorities with those of the business so that we’re working hand in hand with our campaigns? How can we ensure initiatives come in at the right time? That’s been a good learning curve for me. People go into HR because they’re naturally helpers and they want be supportive. In my first year, I was distracted by so many things, so I now I really think about how I can add value to a conversation, and if I can’t, should I be involved?
39%
of HR leaders say their companies are in the middle of a restructure
6%
say their companies are planning to restructure in the coming 12 months
89%
rated the need to strengthen, re-engineer and improve organizational leadership as an important priority Source: Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2016 survey
RECRUITMENT REVOLUTION The rise of digital and social media has transformed the way HR teams recruit talent. Via tools like LinkedIn and online job boards, HR teams now have the ability to bring recruitment processes in-house and eradicate the need for costly external agencies. LinkedIn’s 2015 Global Recruiting Trends report found that using social professional networks is the most effective way to find high-quality talent. The report also found social networks to be the fastest-growing source of successful hires, showing a 73% increase over the past four years. The study revealed that, in 2014, only 16% of Canadian hires were made through staffing agencies, while 36% were made using a professional social network.
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•
SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
MENTAL HEALTH
Tackling the root cause A fresh approach to the treatment of mental health, trauma and addiction is helping Canadians in need of care achieve lasting wellness WHEN MARK RIVKIN co-founded Cryptologic, a company that pioneered online gaming and secure online transaction processing, he was riding the crest of the wave. Rivkin was a young, successful entrepreneur who had co-founded a breakthrough tech company. But beneath the surface, things weren’t going so well. In 2003, after nine years with Cryptologic, Rivkin decided it was time to take a break. “I had a few years of semi-retirement, during which I really lost my purpose,” he says. “I started using substances to numb out the reality of what was happening. I was abusing substances as a coping strategy.” While struggling with his addiction, Rivkin discovered Passages, a holistic treatment centre in Malibu, California. “I did a treatment program and experienced a complete transformation,” he says. “My wife at the time had never seen me so present, so calm and free from stress and anxiety.” Rivkin’s peace lasted for around 18 months. He discovered that the root causes of his addiction – anxiety and chronic stress – are lifelong issues. As helpful as the inpatient setting had been, Rivkin was starting to recognize the need for aftercare programs, especially in Ontario, where options were severely limited. He developed a personal aftercare program, bringing together a team consisting of his family physician and other practitioners. The results were extremely positive. “In 2012, I decided to build an aftercare centre that could help fellow Canadians experiencing issues that I’d dealt with in the past,” Rivkin says.
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Taking action In 2014, Rivkin opened Helix Healthcare Group, taking inspiration from Passages to tailor treatments for those facing mental health, trauma and addiction issues. Now operating two centres, in Yorkville and Midtown Toronto, Helix offers a range of services, including individual psychotherapy, naturopathy, acupuncture, massage, sound healing, yoga and process-oriented group work. The centres’ programs treat problems by identifying their root psychological cause. “We work psychotherapeutically with
manifest itself in a full-blown addiction or psychological breakdown.”
Where do employers fit in? Rivkin says employers have a responsibility to help their staff tackle stress. “Teaching your employees how to de-stress with relaxation techniques and mindfulness is extremely important,” he says. “It will help to improve the productivity of the entire workforce. If we can let employers know that they can benefit financially from investing in the education of their employees, we can make a difference.” Helix has provided a series of education days to law firms, during which therapists spoke about the benefits of mindfulness, yoga and sound therapy. “We also educated on the importance of recognizing stress and its signs, because it’s extremely important for employers to tackle it head on,” Rivkin says. “The best time to help somebody is before they need it. Once someone has gone down the path of addiction, the recovery time and cost involved in getting them back to health is enormous.” Rivkin looks back on the past two years with great pride. “It‘s been fantastic – we’ve
“Life is stressful, but we need to learn how to get into rest and repair states ...” Mark Rivkin, Helix Healthcare Group people, but we also teach them how to remain in a calm state of mind,” Rivkin says. “Life is stressful, but we need to learn how to get into rest and repair states, because stress causes all sorts of things, including disease and mental health issues.” The link between chronic stress and overall well-being is well documented. Stress can have devastating impacts, both physiologically and psychologically, and the World Health Organization recently referred to stress as the “epidemic of the 21st century.” “We want people to know that there’s a better way of dealing with stress,” Rivkin says. “Being proactive in dealing with chronic stress often means it doesn’t have to
helped thousands of people,” he says. “We opened up as an addiction treatment centre, but we’ve evolved into a space that can help anybody who’s dealing with chronic stress, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, pain management, anxiety, depression or loss of purpose. We’ve seen phenomenal results.” Helix Healthcare Group introduces a scientifically proven approach to creating new, healthier pathways in the brain to address the underlying root causes of anxiety, stress, depression, pain and addiction. With offices in Yorkville and Midtown Toronto, Helix Healthcare Group believes that as you move from awareness to action, you can build an empowered life. For further information, visit www. helixhealthcaregroup.com or call 416-921-2273 (CARE).
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SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health awareness: The time is now Statistics show that more Canadian employees than ever are being affected by mental health issues. HRD outlines how employers can take an active role in the psychological well-being of their workforce PHYSICAL HEALTH & safety has been at the forefront of organizational policy for the past two decades, and major progress has been made. The vast majority of Canadian employees now work in environments that offer better physical safety than 30 years ago. But it’s now time for employers to develop strategies and create cultures that help to protect the mental well-being of their employees.
Meaningful mental health programs don’t just help employees; they’re also proven to improve productivity, reduce absenteeism and boost the bottom line. “A lot of employers measure engagement, but we know that self-reports of engagement are often related to an intrinsic motivation of many employees to do a good job,” says Mary Ann Baynton, program director for the Great-West
“Mental illness is part of the human condition, and because we can talk about it and identify it earlier, we can often change the outcome from one of disability and stigma to one of effective treatment and support” Mary Ann Baynton, Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace Although awareness continues to grow, Canadian organizations need to strive for continuous improvement. For the majority of organizations, the journey toward creating workplaces that foster mental wellness and are completely free of stigma is just beginning.
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Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace. “Even those employees who are self-motivated struggle when their energy is depleted due to stress, frustration or low morale. Protecting the psychological well-being of employees means protecting the energy of employees. It is directly
tied to well-being, but it’s also directly tied to productivity and creativity.”
A focus on the brain With the rise of automation and digital business, the majority of the workforce is no longer employed in manual labour jobs. As a result, most jobs now place strain on our most important muscle: the brain. “Injuries to the brain from stress at work can increase the likelihood that depression or anxiety will shift from a condition that many live and work with to a disability that requires time off,” Baynton says. “Employers must be mindful of the impact that the workplace processes, policies and interactions have on the psychological well-being of employees if they want to maximize potential and minimize disability and absenteeism.” There can be multiple benefits for employers who take proactive steps to address mental health. These conscientious employers will be
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wants to be supportive, to the frontline supervisor and manager, all the way up to employers who want to consider policies and strategies that will work.”
A holistic approach
more likely to attract and retain top talent and avoid grievances, human rights complaints and civil actions. “You can also improve productivity and organizational excellence while reducing costs associated with grievances, conflict resolution processes and turnover,” Baynton says. “And, of course, there is a human benefit as well – you are likelier to have healthier employees who are, on average, more loyal and committed to doing good work for you. This benefit can trickle down to families and communities as well.” With some practical organizational changes, any employer can begin to shift their workplace culture to one that supports, nurtures and empowers staff. Baynton believes that training frontline supervisors and managers to effectively address and resolve workplace issues such as performance, conflict or workload is an important first step. “Another is to build resilient teams,” she says.
“Resilient team-building focuses on problemsolving and social support among the team, but this same strategy can indirectly help build more resilient individuals. Another idea is to introduce the concept of healthy break activities. Step one is to encourage all staff to take their breaks. We know this ultimately results in improved performance, and it helps keep health in balance.” There are a number of professionally developed resources available to employers who want to grow their understanding and knowledge of mental health issues. “So many resources are available through the Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace at no cost to anyone. They are available on-line 24/7 at WorkplaceStrategiesforMentalHealth. com, without even a need to sign in,” Baynton says. “These resources range from information for the employee who may be experiencing a mental health concern, to a coworker who
Baynton believes the benefits of an effective mental health strategy far outweigh the upfront costs. But, she says, a strategy is only as good as the outcomes it produces. Rather than developing a stand-alone mental health strategy, organizations need to embed psychologically safe practices into their policies, procedures and day-to-day interactions. “A great tool to help with this is called ‘Elements & Priorities Towards a Psychologically Safer Workplace,’” Baynton says. “It was developed with the Mental Health Commission of Canada and is also available at no cost on the Workplace Strategies for Mental Health website.” Breaking down the stigma around mental health has been crucial in giving those affected the confidence to speak out and seek help. As with any medical condition, the earlier you tackle a problem, the easier it is to have a full and speedy recovery. “Mental illness is part of the human condition,” Baynton says, “and because we can talk about it and identify it earlier, we can often change the outcome from one of disability and stigma to one of effective treatment and support.” Baynton sees a future in which emotionally intelligent leaders – who are able to confidently identify and resolve workplace issues efficiently and respectfully – are increasingly valued by organizations. “I envision awareness of the impact workplaces have on the psychological health and safety of employees becoming commonplace,” she says. “Along with an improved awareness of how to get well and stay well, these factors will help employers maximize the potential and energy of all employees, which will help them in maintaining their competitive advantage in a global economy.” The Great-West Life Centre for Mental Health in the Workplace provides public resources, including tools, resources and support for research and initiatives aimed at improving workplace mental health for all Canadians. These resources are available to anyone, free of charge, on the Centre’s website: www. workplacestrategiesformentalhealth.com.
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SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
MENTAL HEALTH
The future of workplace mental health – an integrated approach HR directors play a crucial role in contributing to mentally healthy workplace environments. HRD asked Dr. Marie-Hélène Pelletier, assistant vice president of workplace mental health at Sun Life, about how approaches to psychological wellness have evolved and what tools are available to businesses that want to be more proactive MAKING A strong commitment to safeguarding the mental health of staff has myriad benefits for a company of any size. Effective strategies can help to grow an organization’s mental health literacy and break down the stigma that still surrounds psychological health. HR leaders should be aware of the resources and tools available to help them address mental health issues in the most appropriate way. HRD: Why is it so important that organizations make a strong commitment to the mental health of their employees? MHP: Finding great employees is tough. Now, when they join an organization, there are many benefits to supporting their overall health, including mental health. We know employers can have a material impact there. We also know that mental health challenges are associated with, on average, 30% of disability 1, so this is an opportunity. HRD: What are the benefits for employers who take workplace mental health seriously? MHP: Taking mental health seriously means
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focusing efforts on both workplace culture and programs that support mental health, which are key components of the National Standard on Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. Organizations that do this, among other things, experience better retention, fewer
to meet a goal – so the impacts are not as substantial. The Conference Board of Canada released new research in February examining employer-sponsored mental health benefits and programs in Canada. It found that only 39% of Canada’s employers have a mental
“Employers who want to take action in this area want to know that they’re taking the right actions for them, based on their own data and best practices” Marie-Hélène Pelletier casual absences and disability, and can gain an enhanced reputation as a great place to work, which is a key perspective for millennials. HRD: What are the risks for employers who don’t have mental health strategies in place? MHP: Most organizations value mental health to some degree. In the absence of a strategy, organizations tend to implement some (or many) tactics that are not organized effectively
health strategy in place.2 For those without a strategy, risks include higher instances of shortand long-term disability, more missed time from work and more presenteeism. HRD: What changes have been seen in mental health approaches in recent years? MHP: One game-changer has come from the Mental Health Commission of Canada via the National Standard. The National Standard
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gives employers an incentive, a language and a path towards better mental health in the workplace. Another big influence changing the workplace is demographics – specifically, millennials. This demographic, ranging between ages 25 and 35, is projected to comprise 50% of the global workforce by 2020.3 They’re more likely to talk openly about mental health, have different expectations from their group benefits and have higher expectations from their employers compared to other demographic groups.3 That’s a good thing because it points to an openness to what employers may offer. Just to add a bit more, the 2015 Sun Life Canadian Health Index reports that 31% of millennials have either experienced, or are experiencing, a mental health issue such as depression, anxiety and substance misuse.4 This is compared to the national average of 20% from all survey respondents.4 A third evolution, which has likely come with increased mental health literacy and value of research, is increased focus on evidencebased treatment such as cognitive behavioural therapy [CBT]. HRD: How does Sun Life help its clients with workplace mental health? MHP: Mental health at Sun Life is part of integrated health. Our first approach is the bigger picture, and we’ll tailor a strategy with each client based on where they can have the most impact. There’s usually a mental health component, and in some cases, efforts go there first – depending on what makes most sense given the quantitative and qualitative information available. We first assist with strategy, because this is typically how goals are met, and it allows for the selection and prioritization of the actions that help reach the goal. Our clients benefit through our Workplace Mental Health Risk Assessment and Consulting services, developed in response to client needs and wants. Aligned to the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s National Standard, our program is part of our Integrated Health Solutions, an enhanced service and the first of its kind in the industry.
THE FUTURE OF WORKPLACE MENTAL HEALTH Technology and innovation to support mental health in the workplace. “Advancements seem to appear
1 every day,” Pelletier says. “For example, new apps to support mental health with a shift towards mobile
and online resources, increased ability to collect and manage big data, advancement of medical technology and lifestyle devices, health, and how we choose to consume information around health – all are changing rapidly.” More legislation. “That future state shows a shift towards greater legislation around mental health
2 standards – for example, the expansion of coverage for ‘mental stress’ under BC’s workers’ compensation legislation, and Ontario’s PTSD legislation for first responders. There’s been progress, and we know more work is needed.”
3 Stigmas are eroded. “Societal stigmas around mental health have evolved, and individual organizations
can probably do more at the grassroots level. Programs like workplace peer support and anti-stigma campaigns are important for the future of workplace mental health.”
4 Holistic, integrated approaches will become the norm. “More organizations and individuals are
integrating their approaches and their structures to focus on a comprehensive, integrated approach to health, which includes addressing the physical, mental and financial health needs of employees. The way demographic, health and economic trends are merging is pointing in that direction, and I think it’s a good one.” Workplace mental health services are also part of a complete integrated health approach that can give our clients specialized assessment and support for organizational health, disability, health and wellness, and mental health. The Workplace Mental Health Risk Assessment is a proprietary online tool, designed to help employers understand how they fare compared with the 13 factors identified in the National Standard. The tool was developed in consultation with Dr. Arla Day, a world-renowned researcher in workplace mental health. HRD: What were the drivers behind the creation of the new tool and services? MHP: Our clients were a key driver. In our conversations with them in recent years, we picked up on their desire to take action even though they’re already at capacity. Another driver was our observation that mental health is significant for both organizations and individuals, and there is good research to point to next steps. It’s critical for us to be at the forefront to help individuals and organizations, and we want this to be anchored in data and best practices. All of this led to the creation of the assessment tool and consulting services. HRD: How can the assessment tool and consulting services benefit employers?
Will it help them to align with the National Standard? MHP: Employers who want to take action in this area want to know that they’re taking the right actions for them, based on their own data and best practices. Many also want to ensure that they align with the National Standard. This helps to do both. And, our assessment tool is recognized by the Mental Health Commission of Canada for its alignment with the National Standard. HRD: What other tools, resources and solutions can help employers? MHP: When it comes to mental health tactics, examples of actions to consider include manager training, peer support programs and workplace wellness, and HR programs. One way or the other, our support will be strategic, data-driven and customized. 1 Smetanin, P., et al. (2011). The life and economic impact of major mental illnesses in Canada: 2011 to 2041, RiskAnalytica, on behalf of the Mental Health Commission of Canada 2 Conference Board of Canada, Healthy Brains at Work, February 2016 3 PwC, “Millennials at work, Reshaping the workplace,” November 2011 4 Sun Life Canadian Health Index
Aligned to the National Standard, Sun Life’s Workplace Mental Health Risk Assessment and Consulting Services help clients to effectively assess the current state of psychological health and safety practices within their organizations so they can better understand their risks and priorities and then take appropriate action. For further information, visit www.sunlife.ca/IHS.
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PEOPLE
PROFILE
A role model for diversity The leader of SAP’s largest organizational unit, Brigette McInnis-Day, chats with Miklos Bolza about her efforts to tackle workplace diversity for both women and the differently abled WHEN IT comes to pushing boundaries in HR, few go as far as Brigette McInnis-Day, the EVP of human resources at SAP. Heading up the company’s largest organizational unit, she has been instrumental in bringing forward key strategies on the cutting edge of recruitment and development while concurrently managing a global workforce. In her 20 years in the industry, McInnis-Day has worked in all types of firms, from startups to large global organizations. At SAP, she moved up the career ladder by seizing every opportunity, no matter how difficult. This attitude led to exciting new challenges – including taking on a new role while 8.5 months pregnant in a country where she didn’t speak the language. “I made the move to Germany with two small children,” McInnis-Day says. “Although it was challenging, it was extremely rewarding, not only on a professional level, but also for my own personal development.”
Growing women leaders
“In the corporate world, we need to work to remove the stigma of the word disability. We should work to create an environment where disabilities are viewed not as a negative description, but instead as a trait”
The gender gap in leadership is one issue McInnis-Day is passionate about, and she seeks to tackle it through a multi-year approach. “At SAP, we are committed to having women in 25% of all managerial positions by 2017 and are tracking very well against this target,” she says. To bring more women into senior positions, SAP’s succession planning ensures potential leaders can be
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promoted from within. Executive sponsorship is also an effective way to ensure women get the opportunities they need to move up. SAP also has implemented the Leadership Excellence Acceleration Program [LEAP] to target high-potential women. By helping participants build brand visibility and political savvy, the program has achieved a 35% promotion rate in 18 months. But McInnis-Day isn’t resting on her laurels. ”We have made tremendous strides toward bridging the gender gap, but we still have work to do. We cannot be complacent.” This means that staff at all levels must be willing to make the necessary changes, she adds. “Welcoming gender diversity into the workplace is a shared responsibility for everyone.”
Welcoming autistic talent
SAP also tackles diversity in the workplace by actively recruiting differently abled employees. This issue was deemed so important that SAP’s chief diversity & inclusion officer, Anka Wittenberg, made disability one of the key pillars of the firm’s people strategy. “Making diversity a priority is imperative – not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it is critical to the future,” McInnis-Day says. SAP’s main cornerstone of this objective is the Autism at Work program, which was established four years ago. The company’s goal is to have 1% of its workforce made
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up of people with autism spectrum disorder [ASD] by 2020 – consistent with the percentage of people with ASD in the general population. When the program launched, Wittenberg commented: “They are employed not in spite of the fact that they are disabled, but because of the strengths they bring by being autistic. People with autism excel in any repetitive task that requires a lot of attention, as well as roles in communications, compliance, project management – and HR.” McInnis-Day says the program helped to increase the pride of SAP’s current employees and also attracted more people to the firm. SAP works with local recruitment firms and governments to help make its workplace ASD-friendly, break down bias within the workforce and offer staff benefits tailored to those with ASD. The firm is also working with wider stakeholders and customers in the hope that they will follow this lead. “In the corporate world, we need to work to remove the stigma of the word disability,” McInnis-Day says. “We should work to create an environment where disabilities are viewed not as a negative description, but instead as a trait. When someone says ‘I have a disability,’ we should interpret that to simply mean that individual works differently than we do.” When bringing the differently abled into the workforce, it is critical to do so for the right reasons, she adds. “We know that individuals with disabilities are underrepresented in the workplace, but why is it important to ensure they are included? We should not want to include them just to meet compliance standards.”
Juggling a global workforce “One of the biggest challenges is that you can’t grow people fast enough,” McInnis-Day says in reference to her global responsibilities. “We have 22 tier-three leaders growing benchmarks for the company and solving these sorts of key issues.” One of SAP’s primary aims is to attract and retain employees through a robust rewards package. “We’ve set up a plan to prevent staff from being poached by our competitors,” she says. “To do this, we revamped our rewards package in less than a year.” Technology is also essential in managing a global workforce. After two and a half years in the role, McInnisDay now can identify every fast-tracker and quickly fill talent gaps through high-tech solutions such as the SuccessFactors platform. “For instance, if we need roles in India, we can look at the prerequisites and choose those who are most suitable. It’s much easier to cultivate our workforce.”
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FEATURES
WORKPLACE INVESTIGATIONS
Putting out fires: Workplace conflict resolution While it’s tempting to automatically take the legal route to resolve workplace conflicts, there are other options, including workplace investigations and mediations. Iain Hopkins asks one expert what’s involved A YOUNG woman in her early 20s has filed a formal complaint with HR. She claims her manager, a man in his mid-40s, has sexually harassed her. She applied for a job but was passed over, and she claims her boss made sexual advances towards her. Taken at face value, these are very serious allegations. HR, aware they have certain obligations to look into such matters, hires an external workplace investigator. The investigator first interviews the woman (the complainant). During the interview, she reveals the manager kissed her in front of her colleagues. It suddenly sounds even more damning for the manager. The investigator then interviews the manager (the respondent). He says yes, he did publicly kiss her. So this allegation is now not in dispute – it’s established as fact. However, the investigator needs to flesh out some context. On further investigation it’s revealed that the kiss occurred at a company BBQ, and all the women at the event were kissed on the cheek by the manager. Witnesses are interviewed, and several of them claim the woman and the manager are having an affair. How do they know? They go to lunch together and laugh a lot. That’s not evidence, says the investigator; it’s hearsay.
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It’s then revealed the woman received a parking space – in a company where parking spaces are rare and highly sought after. Furthermore, the manager was known to go down to the space every day with pink chalk and draw a heart on the parking space. It’s not looking great for the manager. However, the investigator has been called in to look into the claim about the job opportunity the complainant missed out on. The investigator looks at performance appraisals, the job posting and the hiring process. She discovers that another woman eventually landed this job – she had five more years of work experience and a master’s degree in the particular subject matter area. It was quite credible for this woman to get the job over
Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre and principal of AEG Dispute Resolution Services, witnesses every single week. She has investigated conflicts that have erupted as a result of countless root causes, but she suggests most conflicts can be summarized in two words: different expectations. “What I see happening in workplaces is that relationships break down, conflicts erupt and disputes break out because people have different expectations around how they should be treated, different expectations around the job that should be done, different expectations around how long it should take, and so on,” she says. “There are also formal expectations and informal expectations. The challenge is how to get everybody on the
Grant has investigated conflicts that have erupted as a result of countless root causes, but she suggests most conflicts can be summarized in two words: different expectations other applicants, including the complainant. In addition, the respondent himself was one of five people on the interview panel. After establishing further facts and taking all the elements into consideration, the investigator finds the manager did not sexually harass the woman. A report is written by the investigator reflecting this. However, it doesn’t end there. The investigator’s term of reference was to look into the complaint made by the young woman. That has been done – but the organization has a different problem. They don’t want a manager favouring certain employees and giving them things they’re not entitled to. In the end, the manager is disciplined, but not due to the sexual harassment claim.
Why conflict flares The above example is one of countless cases that Anne Grant, regular lecturer at the
same page for most, if not all, of the time.” For Grant, the decision for HR about whether they will undertake a formal investigation or whether they’ll undertake a mediation-type investigation is all about reconciling those expectations. “Oftentimes it’s not clear what is expected,” she says. “The classic one is when someone comes in and says, ‘I’ve been harassed by Fred.’ But they also said when they went for coffee, they were harassed because someone stepped in front of them in the line and gave them a dirty look. So what are our definitions? What do we mean by harassment? What is our expectation of how we should be treated? We have a great deal of awareness of people’s rights – but sometimes we don’t have the conversations about how we apply those. So we end up not being sure what does and what doesn’t constitute bullying behaviour, to use just one example.”
WHERE DOES HR GO WRONG? Anne Grant outlines what often goes wrong when HR professionals attempt to resolve conflicts themselves. They haven’t tried to resolve the issue.
1 “To be fair to HR, often the problem doesn’t get to the department’s door until it’s a raging brushfire. The HR department could have easily been involved at the spark stage, but nobody clued them in to the extent of the problem. One of the challenges is they’re only as good as their line managers in the org bringing them the problem.” They appear to be biased one way or
2 another. “Sometimes HR departments have reputations in organizations as being proorganization as opposed to pro-people, which is in fact totally incorrect. In a unionized workplace, for example, HR can take on a ‘them’ reputation – as in ‘us and them.’ The organization and HR supports itself, and the union supports the workers. The workers sometimes don’t look kindly on one of the ‘other party’ intervening.” Lack of consistency in applying policies
3 and procedures. “An investigation can be
extremely polarizing. In one department, they might instantly launch an internal investigation, but in another department, they might simply sit the two people down and handle it that way. Other times people are simply not aware of the policies or procedures in place.” Lack of resources and support from
4 senior leadership. “I’ve seen organizations where the HR director is treated almost like a second-class citizen even though they’re sitting on the biggest budget of the entire organization, which is the salaries of all the employees. Sometimes there’s a lack of support at the higher level to allow HR to get in there and make changes. Other times leaders have that need for credibility to come from someone outside the organization, even though HR may have been quite capable of handling it themselves.”
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FEATURES
WORKPLACE INVESTIGATIONS Formal and informal investigations Under the umbrella term of ‘workplace investigations’ are formal and informal methods to resolve conflict. There has been a significant shift in recent years in expectations around human rights, occupational health & safety, workplace harassment and bullying policies. In the past, Grant suggests, there was little choice but to undertake a full formal investigation whenever breaches of these standards were alleged. Today, best practice dictates that workplace policies should have both a formal and informal process for handling disputes. Grant estimates that 25% of her time is now spent on formal investigations, and she suggests that it’s important to differentiate between formal and informal investigations. For example, a manager running a department receives a customer complaint that the service they received was less than stellar. Another department has complained they’re not getting information in a timely manner. It’s a problem. As a manager, the usual first step is to undertake less formal
WHAT IS A TOXIC WORKPLACE? Anne Grant’s definition of a toxic workplace is one where the dysfunctional behaviour of those in the workplace is having a negative impact on the services or product that the organization produces. It’s moved beyond “a tiff between Fred and Alex” and is now at the point where customers aren’t being looked after, patients aren’t being cared for, roads aren’t being plowed or information isn’t being passed between security guards. “It’s more often than not on the systemic side than on the individual side,” Grant says. “It can involve all layers of an organization, from the front line right up to the top.” Other characteristics of a toxic workplace include: Behavioural issues. “It doesn’t have to be overly aggressive behaviour; it could be passiveaggressive behaviour,” Grant says. “It could just be they’re not talking to each other. It could be malicious gossip, or things not being reported up the proper chain of command.” Management issues. This includes not just confusion about the chain of command, but perceptions of favouritism, and also the ability of managers to have difficult conversations. “We have managers who have been promoted into the position because they’re technical or clinical experts, but they simply don’t know how to manage people,” Grant says. “They don’t know how to have that tough conversation with Alex or Fred. The rest of the team sees this and concludes that it’s obviously OK to act like Alex or Fred because nothing happens when they act out.” Structural and operational issues. “We’ve seen a tremendous amount of amalgamations and restructures of businesses as they join together or merge. Yet they do so without a clear transition plan. Such a plan might help people understand the new organization’s expectations. They’re not being communicated in a clear way, or there’s this global set of values that look lovely on the website, but people at the front end don’t know how to apply them in their particular context. It becomes meaningless.”
Best practice dictates that workplace policies should have both a formal and informal process for handling disputes fact-finding. Although the two terms tend to be used interchangeably, Grant prefers to distinguish between ‘fact-finding’ and ‘investigation.’ “Fact-finding is finding information to solve a problem – it might be a grievance, a customer complaint or an issue such as staff turning up late to work,” she says. “Every manager will do this.” A formal workplace investigation is different. All Canadian employers are obliged under occupational health & safety and other legislation to find out what has happened and fix the problem. Therefore, the first reason most organizations will opt for a formal
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investigation is to display compliance with legislation. “If someone comes forward and says, ‘My human rights have been violated,’ the employer can’t say, ‘You’re crazy,’” Grant says. “They have to investigate. They firstly have to find out what happened. This is not dissimilar to the less formal fact-finding.” She cites an example. The complainant says A, B and C happened. The respondent says X, Y and Z happened. The investigator interviews witnesses. They corroborate that B and C happened. The investigator looks at some emails and other documents, which show that Z also likely did happen.
“We’re working with the balance of probabilities here as opposed to the ‘criminal beyond a reasonable doubt’ process,” Grant says. “So the investigator now has enough evidence to say that B, C and Z happened. That’s not to say A, X and Y didn’t happen, but they don’t have evidence.” With B, C and Z likely to have happened, the investigator now needs to apply a set standard to it – the standard might be the Human Rights Code, it might be organizational policy, or something else. “Do these facts demonstrate a breach or not? So the organization needs to demonstrate that compliance,” Grant says. However, apart from compliance, there’s usually an interest in-house in dealing with a conflict or issue. “If Fred is running around bullying people, we’ve got to sort it out,” Grant says. “However, if we’re going to rely on our investigation to punish Fred, to discipline him, to discharge him, then we better
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have something in our hand. We can’t just say, ‘We didn’t like the look on his face’. So it’s not just to comply with health & safety laws; the employer also needs to ensure they have evidence for whatever action is taken as a result.” The action could go either way: The investigation might show that Fred didn’t bully anybody; the investigation has supported the organization in not taking corrective action in relation to Fred. On the other hand, if it’s shown that Fred did bully someone, the investigation supports the organization disciplining him. This also highlights a key difference between an investigation and a mediation. A mediation is without prejudice. It’s off the record and not intended to be relied upon down the road. An investigation is a ‘with prejudice’ process. This process is intended to be relied upon to show compliance, to demonstrate to shareholders and to the powers that be that a matter was investigated. “It may be that we established nothing was happening, or that we corrected the situation. It’s intended to be relied upon to show we respect the workplace and care about health & safety, and so on,” Grant says. Although Grant undertakes both mediations and investigations, she can’t do both in the same situation. She says the terms of reference are critical for deciding which option is best. The key question is: Why are we doing this? “If you want to do this to make the workplace a warm and fuzzy place and don’t want to single out either Alex or Fred, then maybe a mediation is the one you want,” she says. “But if you want to slap Fred’s hand and say, ‘Your behaviour is outside the expectations of the society, of the legislation, of the organization,’ then you need to determine whether the alleged activity occurred or not, and it’s a different process.”
might almost be considered a form of group mediation. In these cases, she will go into an organization to undertake an assessment of a poisoned work environment. It might involve extensive interviews with a large group of people – perhaps a single department. She listens to what people are saying to uncover the root cause of the toxic environment. She will then convene the whole group to talk about what people need to do in order to have the workplace they want to have.
“What do we mean by harassment? What is our expectation of how we should be treated? We have a great deal of awareness of people’s rights – but sometimes we don’t have the conversations about how we apply those” Anne Grant, Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre and AEG Dispute Resolution Services “This is another difference between an investigation and a group mediation,” Grant says. “If Alex makes a complaint about Fred, the investigation remains confidential. We don’t run around the organization sharing the results. Whereas if I’m trying to restore a department, I do share the results, but we’re not blaming any individual.” It’s common for restoration work to follow an investigation – the logic being that once an investigation has been done and it’s established that someone has breached (or not breached) a standard, action needs to be taken to revitalize the team. “The problem is sorting out the rest of the department,” Grant says. “The damage has been done, and there’s a honeymoon period when Fred has left. But then someone else steps in, and everyone goes back into abused employee mode.”
Reports and recommendations Workplace restorations There is a third option: workplace restorations. Grant spends a further 25% of her time on workplace restoration work, which
sional standard, a final step is for the investigator to produce a report summarizing the findings. This report may include recommendations for fixing the problem; however, these recommendations are actually best kept separate from the summary report. Using the opening sexual harassment case as an example, Grant says the complainant may come back to the employer and disagree with the findings; she’s taking it to arbitration. The employer ends up putting the
Remembering that the role of an investigator is firstly to establish if allegations are true by establishing facts, and secondly, whether these facts constitute a breach of a profes-
investigator’s report in front of the arbitrator. Grant asks if any employer would want a report – produced by someone not familiar with the company – making suggestions to an arbitrator on how their business might be improved. “My advice is that if your investigator has lots of ideas about how things can be improved, they should not put it in the investigation report,” she says. “Even if it’s internal, so I’m a head of HR doing the investigation, I’d keep it separate.” Grant, who has been resolving workplace conflicts for almost 22 years and is trained as a lawyer, says the workplace investigation side of her business has grown in the last few years. The reason for this is largely because in Ontario, and more widely in Canada, there are increasing legislative requirements to investigate incidents. “And even though many organizations have the internal capacity to do this,” she says, “sometimes there’s a conflict of interest, or sometimes it’s too high up in the organization and they need a third party to come in.”
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FEATURES
WORKPLACE PSYCHOLOGY
Why public humiliation feels so good Why do we take pleasure in seeing others feel bad? Walden University’s Barbara Benoliel outlines schadenfreude in the workplace and how HR can minimize its impact SCHADENFREUDE – loosely translated as taking covert pleasure in the discomfort of others – is a complex concept. It is the kind of feeling you get when you see, for example, your manager’s nephew, who recently made VP, not appear at a very important meeting with a key client because he overslept. It is a feeling of just deserts combined with the
public humiliation a form of entertainment, which has brought our secret pleasure into the public domain and lowered the bar on the idea of what civility is in our society and the workplace. What we used to keep to ourselves, gloating privately, we now share via Twitter. This can’t be good for morale. While there has been a philosophical
Applied in the workplace, schadenfreude is a short-term means of providing employees an emotional lift Barbara Benoliel , Walden University discomfort of seeing another human being shown up for their human weakness in public. Schadenfreude differs from irony or empathy in that it is a visceral feeling of pleasure in observing someone else’s debasement in public. Up until recently, over the past few hundred years, public humiliation or public shaming was considered uncivil, and our secret emotional pleasure response to seeing someone in a compromising position was in fact just that – secret. Then reality TV came along and made
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interest in the idea of taking pleasure in the distress of others, only recently has the study of the feeling been done scientifically. Some have equated the feeling to a sign of being evil; others have said it is a signal of a corrupt society. More recent research seems to confirm it is only human nature.
Embarrassment as entertainment There is a history of setting up others for a fall in entertainment, going back almost to the start of TV. The first Candid Camera show in the late
1940s set up hidden cameras to catch unsuspecting individuals in compromising situations, which were then revealed to them, and we observed their response and embarrassment, and the uncomfortable – yet somehow satisfying – squirming sensation in observing others in that kind of distress. The additional emotional value of schadenfreude is the overwhelming sense of safety and survival it provides: You have personally escaped. It reaffirms our sense of identity and community. Schadenfreude specifically centred in the workplace as part of entertainment is a more recent phenomenon. One of the best examples of the practice is a TV series called The Apprentice, where viewers could watch an individual be publicly fired for some judgment of their poor performance. Applied in the workplace, schadenfreude is a short-term means of providing employees an emotional lift: If I can’t get a pay raise, a rise in
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SCHADENFREUDE AT WORK How does schadenfreude flourish in the workplace? There are many ways managers can both consciously and unconsciously contribute to it: xCalling x out employees’ errors in front of others xAllowing x gossip that is undermining someone to go unchecked in the company ‘grapevine’ xHaving x ‘in groups’ and ‘out groups’ in the workplace xPositioning x closer to some employees than others xCompetitive x evaluations where selected employees are ‘chopped’ or alternatively rewarded for performance that demonstrates competitive advantage to others in the company xProviding x employees with public performance appraisals xMaking x a big show of performance ‘stars’ who take advantage of others or are less cooperative in their work to reach that elevated status xMaking x employees compete for limited resources, so some are winners while others watch
self-esteem in a positive comparative analysis to my diminished coworkers will substitute. The schadenfreude effect is universal in the workplace, as it deals with status and workplace justice – power and positioning that exist in every organization. But workplace environments where there is a highly competitive internal culture are more susceptible to higher levels of schadenfreude, and as a result, employees may experience higher levels of anxiety and stress related to their feelings about internal operations than to the competition in the market itself. All of these are examples of environments that invite employees to differentiate and identify others as worthy of potential public shaming. Some actually view schadenfreude as a means of distributive justice that serves a perverse, quasi-beneficial purpose of bringing employees together – for example, hardworking employees joining together to share
their satisfaction when a coworker they feel is not worthy of a promotion is getting ‘what they deserve’ when they subsequently fail publicly. Schadenfreude can allow employees to bond by sharing their experience of relief and pleasure, but it should also be a concern when it makes employees worried about their own safety.
’Distributive justice’ It is important to keep in mind that the emotional relief and positive value of schadenfreude is short-lived and quickly replaced with a sense of narrow escape, personal discomfort and underlying fear. Think about how you internally squirm in the presence of someone being publicly humiliated. The need to escape from the discomfort in the environment can trigger a sense of helplessness and distress in the long term.
Organizations looking to minimize the negative effects of schadenfreude should pay attention to their internal distributive justice: • Ensure promotions are for legitimate and transparent reasons • Provide rewards that are justified, clearly defined and attainable by all meeting the criteria • Ensure there is shared support and recognition for contributions by employees working toward the same goal For the sake of the long-term health and well-being of employees, schadenfreude doesn’t belong at the table, and is best kept on our list of secret human vices – or at least limited to latenight TV.
Dr. Barbara Benoliel is the academic program coordinator at Walden University’s Barbara Solomon School of Social Work and Human Services. Her research interests include human and social services, criminal justice, and health services. Dr. Benoliel is also a professional mediator and president of the company Preferred Solutions Conflict Resolution, where she specializes in conflict management systems and alternative dispute resolution in organizations.
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FEATURES
OFFICE POLITICS
Seven things your CEO won’t tell you about office politics Subtle or blatant, office politics are bound to occur in every organization. Cindy Tonkin provides an insightful guide to navigating political pitfalls at work
OFFICE POLITICS. You want to think they don’t exist, but they do. When I tell clients that I help others navigate the rocky shoals of the politics in organizations, a very large percentage of them say, “I don’t play politics.” The very woman who first engaged me to train her staff in political acumen told me she didn’t play politics. And yet politics are important. Very few people believe they are playing, but they are. There are so many injuries, a flawed leaderboard and retired ballplayers ready to jump back in and get their hands dirty again. It’s a game we can’t help but watch.
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Here are seven things your CEO won’t tell you about office politics – and seven things you are better off knowing.
1
They are everywhere
Politics are everywhere. They exist because we care. While movies and TV would have us believe the contrary, people who care don’t just breed happy families and kind workplaces. They also breed unhappy families and unkind workplaces. The issue is in caring. I’m not saying you shouldn’t care. You should. You just need to be in an organization
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where what you care about is aligned with what other people care about. Take Fran, for example. Fran is all about efficiency. She is fighting for a better, more efficient tomorrow, because we can afford to do more if we are efficient. Maxine and Fran are always at loggerheads because Maxine cares most about worker participation in decision-making. Where that isn’t efficient, she and Fran either clash or run political plays so they don’t have to clash. In this case, politics are a way of avoiding conflict, but they end up causing conflict, too. If there is more than one agenda, then politics are the result.
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Even not playing is playing
All those young innocents who say they won’t play, or don’t play, are either oblivious or being used as pawns in someone else’s game. Maybe you can stay off the field of politics. But when you don’t know where the field starts or ends, or what the game is, then you are picnicking in a big green field where a rough game of rugby is in progress.
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5
Not all the important people have titles
The CEO has coffee with the head of marketing every morning. The head of accounts is the marketing guy’s sister-in-law. The receptionist plays squash with the CEO’s administrator. People are connected. Titles matter, but so do connections. Connections are how we build agreement on what we care about, and what we care about is what counts in politics. Not every important person has a title.
Just because they’re your boss doesn’t mean you can trust them
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Your boss’ values, what they care about and how that lines up with what you care about is what makes them trustworthy. Remember that our values change over time. If there’s a choice between feeding their family and feeding yours, most bosses will choose their own.
We all play
Anyone who is pleasing a client, looking after their boss or getting a colleague to help them on a deadline is playing politics. It’s just that sometimes we think we are being kind or doing the right thing or doing a good job. Playing politics is caring about your job, your boss, your reputation, your products, the quality of your customer experience and the quality of your work. So we are all playing politics when we care.
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rules make your organizational culture. Contravening the unwritten rules is how you make a political faux pas.
The unwritten rules matter
Every organization has unwritten rules. Rules such as no one listens to anyone who doesn’t outrank them. Or research is king. Marketing trumps sales. Sales trumps warehousing. We say we have an open-door policy, but the door’s always closed. These are unwritten rules because no one needs to write them down. The unwritten
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Politics can be used for good
You can influence people to do great things, such as hire someone who needs a job or get new computers for your team. Influencing to get things done and to help people and teams perform is all part politics. Politics are how we get things done. When you know the game, you can play along or get off the field. Playing along can be very useful if you want to get things working. Politics get a bad rap, but they’re a tool. Just use them for good and not for evil!
Cindy Tonkin is the consultants’ consultant. She observes politics from the outside and sees a lot of things you may not think about initially. Visit cindytonkin.com for more insights.
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FEATURES
FUTURE HR
Bye-bye, human resources? Articles about banishing HR from the corporate hierarchy appear regularly – the most famous was 2005’s “Why I Hate HR” in Fast Company. Ben Whitter takes a different but no less thought-provoking tack. Far from approaching an end, he finds that HR is only just beginning to reach its full potential THE NEVER-ENDING debate about the future of HR took another major twist when Airbnb, a company that has revolutionized the shared accommodation travel space and is valued at $25.5 billion, recently announced that they are redefining their HR function in terms of what it is and what it does. The company appointed Mark Levy as their new global head of employee experience to oversee and connect everything to do with their ‘workplace as an experience’ vision, which is central to their culture and customercentric approach. You know better than I that this debate is not new within HR. It seems like one epic battle between those on one side and those on another, while the observers in the middle are simply waiting for a seminal moment or announcement on who won so they can quickly go about implementing the next model once they have attended the relevant conference or workshop. Others, though, don’t wait. They get on with creating a brand of HR suited to and built within their business and context. It then makes a huge difference to business performance. This split is also reflected across the business world. In some organizations, HR has been elevated to the top table – to the
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CEO’s number two in some cases. In other instances, companies are busy downgrading HR to an administrative function, while organizational development in its own right takes the strategic spot or is fused with HR in some fashion. The range of titles, services and functions varies, but it is all chipping away at the same challenge. In “People Before Strategy: A New Role for the CHRO,” published in the Harvard Business Review, consultant Ram Charan, along with Dominic Barton, global managing director of McKinsey & Co., and Dennis Carey of Korn Ferry International, presented a view that sets out to re-evaluate the chief HR officer role. There continues to be fierce resistance to established models of HR, which does add some weight to the argument that HR needs a rebrand and a renewed focus.
Dissent from within Quite frankly, the debate has tended to be a circular argument going around and around. What’s more interesting is the extent to which it has and continues to be driven from within the profession, which has only made the very real gripes about HR stronger. Does this suggest an identity crisis within HR?
HR AT AIRBNB
Airbnb’s San Francisco office
The essence of the ‘workplace as an experience’ is where all the elements of work – the physical, the emotional, the intellectual, the virtual and the aspirational – are carefully orchestrated to inspire employees. Mark Levy’s scope of responsibilities reflects this expanded vision. He is responsible for not only typical HR functions such as recruiting, talent management and development, HR operations, and total rewards, but also a range of new areas that create the ‘workplace as an experience’ vision. This expanded scope of responsibilities includes such functions as facilities, food, global citizenship and the talents of a group of individuals called ‘ground control,’ who focus on bringing the Airbnb culture to life through workplace environments, internal communications, employee events, celebration and recognition.
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The new era starts now I’m an optimist, but I’m certainly not alone in thinking HR and organizations are on the verge of a major moment in their history together. In fact, it’s happening already. As a timely example, Levy’s new role as global employee experience officer at Airbnb combines traditional HR functions of recruiting and talent development with marketing, real estate, facilities, social responsibility and communications. That’s quite a platform, but that’s not the HR success story here. What is clear is that this move quite visibly positions the employee experience, not HR, as critical to the business (see chart below). This is absolutely right, in my view, and gives practitioners the confidence and belief to know that HR is no longer a support function within the business, because the employee experience, to a large extent, is the business. I can see the repercussions now in how we develop, grow and accredit HR people within our profession. It is the employee experience that is the clear winner, and as an HR guy, I like what this says about the future workplace once other sectors start catching up – and they will catch up.
The range of titles, services and functions varies, but it is all chipping away at the same challenge Perhaps. But perhaps the field is also getting restless as our many practitioners and colleagues realize they are ready to play more instrumental roles within organizations. The best HR leaders I know have been labelled as mavericks at one time or another because they’ve built something that went against the norm, they’ve challenged the status quo, and they’ve seen beyond the perceived limitations of their function and
therefore extended well beyond it. They bring meaning to the workplace, and it runs through everything that affects people. The other thing they do is obtain a clear mandate from the top to create the best employee experience possible, which is a big advantage – as people like Laszlo Bock (VP of people operations at Google), Libby Sartain (former VP of people at Yahoo/Southwest Airlines) and others like Airbnb’s Mark Levy can vouch for.
THE WORKPLACE AS AN EXPERIENCE Physical Food/workspace environments Aspirational Transparency
Virtual Collaborative technologies
Creating optimal employee experiences
Emotional Global citizenship & purposeful work
Intellectual Recruiting/talent development Source: Future Workspace, 2015
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FEATURES
FUTURE HR
HR AT NETFLIX Patty McCord was the chief talent officer at Netflix between 1998 and 2012. She was integral to shaping a unique but highly effective approach to talent management within the company that relied on several key pillars, four of which are summarized below. • Hire, reward and tolerate only fully formed adults “If you’re careful to hire people who will put the company’s interests first, 97% of your employees will do the right thing,” McCord says. “Most companies spend endless time and money writing and enforcing HR policies to deal with problems the other 3% might cause. Instead, we tried really hard to not hire those people, and we let them go if it turned out we’d made a hiring mistake.” McCord adds that “adult-like behaviour” is aligned with open discussion with bosses, colleagues and subordinates. • Tell the truth about performance Many years ago, Netflix eliminated formal performance reviews. “We had held them for a while but came to realize they didn’t make sense,” McCord says. “They were too ritualistic and too infrequent.” Instead, HR asked managers and employees to have conversations about performance as an “organic part of their work.” When Netflix stopped holding formal reviews, informal ‘360-degree reviews’ took their place.
There is no question that the transition from ‘HR thinking’ to ‘employee experience thinking’ will be a challenge for companies to come to grips with as many other organizations join the race to refocus their HR efforts on the employee experience. Instead of asking why this is happening, I think the bigger question is why it is taking so long for
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• Managers own the job of creating great teams According to McCord, managers should always be thinking forward – never settling for what they already have. “I ask managers to imagine … what their team is accomplishing six months from now,” she says, asking two specific questions: - What specific results do they see? - How is the work different from what the team is doing today? “Nowhere in the early stages of the process do I advise them to think about the team they actually have,” McCord says. “Only after they’ve done the work of envisioning the ideal outcome and the skill set necessary to achieve it should they analyze how well their existing team matches what they need.” •Good talent managers think like innovators first – and like HR people last “Too many [HR professionals] devote time to morale improvement initiatives,” McCord says. “At some places, entire teams focus on getting their firm onto lists of ‘Best Places to Work.’ During 30 years in the business, I’ve never seen an HR initiative that improved morale.” She advises that “instead of cheerleading,” HR departments should think of themselves as business people with knowledge of what’s good for the company.
employers to act on the basic truth that it is employees who deliver the value to customers and keep them coming back for more. But not every company sees it that way, and not every company has a CEO like Brian Chesky (Airbnb), Larry Page (Google), Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn) or Mark Parker (Nike) – all of whom are currently enjoying through-
the-roof 2015 approval ratings alongside top employer rankings on the likes of Glassdoor, largely delivered by their people-centric approaches and wholehearted support of creating leading, forward-thinking and progressive workplaces. That ‘people thing’ – they take it very seriously, because in this economy, they both want to and have to. It is critical to their success. How easy would it be for you to follow Airbnb and company in creating a function dedicated to the employee experience that brings together multiple functions (or silos if they are starting to hinder collective progress) that all play a major organizational role and gets them all aligned and driving your business forward? If you’re at the top of the pile, easy, right? If you’re lower in the HR pecking order or a middle manager, it’s potentially not so easy, as you’ll need to work your ideas up and across the chain, a process that could take a short or long period of time, depending on your particular circumstances. Focusing on the employee experience appears to be common sense, but as many out there will tell you, it isn’t commonly applied, and if it is, there are always inevitable challenges within the status quo. Is it easy to refocus HR on the whole employee experience? Maybe, maybe not. But for the HR profession and organizations in general, the journey is going to be well worth it.
Ben Whitter leads the organization and people development function at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China [UNNC], which was the first Sino-foreign university to open its doors in China. In the top 1% of universities worldwide, UNNC is an award-winning university with a truly global perspective. This article first appeared on Whittier’s LinkedIn page.
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Where does psychological health and safety fit into your priorities?
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PEOPLE
CAREER PATH
THE SPICE OF LIFE From law to HR, Terrence (TJ) Schmaltz’s career has been full of variety
Schmaltz’s early career aspirations of joining the foreign service led him to study political science and history in the nation’s capital. He worked for three years in various roles on Parliament Hill, from Senate page to legislative assistant, and finally for the Senate law clerk. That role, supporting the Senate’s in-house counsel team, was the catalyst for applying to law school
1996
WORKS IN PARLIAMENT
2004
BALANCES TWO ROLES Schmaltz maintained a part-time law practice while also working full-time as an HR manager within a unique and challenging environment: maximum-security prisons
“I made the decision to shift from practicing law to being an HR professional, and I have never looked back” 2006
TAKES A FIRST STEP INTO A SENIOR LEADERSHIP ROLE Working for BC’s largest retailer as director of employee relations and OH&S for BC Liquorstores, Schmaltz was not only relied upon as a subject-matter expert in labour and employee relations matters, but also led a large team of HR professionals. He became actively involved in supporting organizational strategy and regularly filled in for the head of human resources
2014
TACKLES CHRO ROLE IN A RAPIDLY GROWING COMPANY Two years ago, Schmaltz took on the lead HR role at Impark, one of the largest parking management companies in North America, which boasts nearly 3,000 parking facilities and 7,000 employees. In addition to serving as the CHRO and overseeing all HR and payroll functions, Schmaltz also leads Impark’s Culture Project
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2002
BECOMES A LAWYER IN VANCOUVER Schmaltz took his first step toward HR when he passed the BC bar and became a labour and employment lawyer in Vancouver “My time representing a wide variety of clients and understanding how to translate legal advice and strategy into something that would meet the practical needs of the business become the foundation for my work as an executive and an HR professional”
2005
JOINS BCIT AS A PART-TIME LAW AND HR INSTRUCTOR Fuelled by a love of the law and a genuine interest in sharing experiences and shaping emerging HR and business professionals, Schmaltz became a part-time instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s School of Business, where he continues to teach a variety of law, business and HRM courses to this day “After teaching within one of BC’s most comprehensive HRM programs, I continue to be inspired by the individuals who choose this field of study. The generation of emerging professionals will be the ones that will help elevate the HR profession to the next level”
2009
MOVES TO THE CHIEF HR ROLE FOR CANADA’S WEALTHIEST MUNICIPALITY As head of HR and payroll services for West Vancouver, Schmaltz and his HR team supported 19 distinct businesses with 1,200 employees who were represented by six different collective agreements. Jessica Hudson, who served as executive director of HR for nearly five years, says of Schmaltz: “At ease around the executive table, TJ always found time to be my coach and mentor. TJ’s ability to multi-task was inspiring, as was his keen ability to see beyond the immediate issue and focus on the larger labour management implications”
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PEOPLE
OTHER LIFE
TELL US ABOUT YOUR OTHER LIFE Email editor@hrmonline.ca
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Number of years Creelman has been going to The Cameron House
11
Number of artists living above the music venue
$20
Average amount Creelman spends on a night out at Cameron
THE MUSIC OF LIFE David Creelman helps HR leaders address important new issues in human capital management by day; by night, he takes care of his own humanity in ‘paradise’ AS A BREAK from business, David Creelman likes to go to The Cameron House, a Toronto venue that sports the motto ‘This is paradise.’ “It’s a little club that gives local musicians a loving place to play,” says Creelman, the CEO of Creelman Research. “As one patron said, ‘Everyone just goes quiet when the band starts.’” Creelman goes because, at heart, Cameron House isn’t a commercial venture. Instead, musicians are welcomed, and music
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fans can get up close and personal with their idols – amidst an eclectic interior space and brightly painted murals. “Compare that to my business life where no one seeks paradise, just a high ROI,” he says. “I remember seeing [country pop artist] Emily Weedon lead a wake in honour of [Toronto music pioneer] Handsome Ned, 10 years after his death. His mom was there. That’s community taking precedence over commerce.” Creelman loves musicians like Whitney
Rose, Kevin Quain and Jadea Kelly – and one very unusual game. “I enjoy Corin Raymond’s rubber chicken tossing contest – something that never happens in the office,” he says. “And I remember that when the power went out halfway through Whitney’s show, no one was perturbed; the band simply went acoustic. The show went on – better than ever. It reminds me that life goes on better than ever when we do what we do at least in part for love, not just for money.”
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416.946.0722 | @rotmanexecutive advisor@rotman.utoronto.ca
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Last Call for Nominations! Deadline is on July 8th
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