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THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM Is eldercare the new childcare?
HR’S NEXT GENERATION ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: HR AWARDS 2015 WINNERS REVEALED!
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EDITORIAL www.hrmonline.ca WINTER 2015 EDITORIAL Editorial Director Vernon Clement Jones Editor Iain Hopkins Senior Writer Nicola Middlemiss Contributors Jill Gregorie Donald Horne Copy Editor Dean Askin
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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
Are you ready for digital disruption? “IF YOU like this job, here’s a couple more you might enjoy.” We’re used to such messages on Spotify, linking us to other, similar music – but what if the same could be applied to your recruitment processes? Or, what if employees, having discovered a more efficient way of working, could upload a video or document to HR, have it approved, and then have that video or document assist in the training of their peers – a wiki approach to learning? Finally, what if you could, by promising accelerated learning courses, encourage employees to fill out their own ‘talent profiles’, thus giving you knowledge of their career aspirations, motivators and – yes – frustrations? Could you potentially use that data to identify flight risks? Digital disruption is changing the way business is being conducted, and HR is included in this all-pervasive revolution. As Professor Paddy Miller of the IESE School of Business, and acknowledged authority on leading innovation in global organisations, says: “Entry barriers go down, customers and employees feel empowered, old ways of generating and capturing value crumble and new ones are discovered.” If you haven’t already, it’s time to think about the impact digitalization will have on your business. When will digitalization transform your
Digital disruption is changing the way business is being conducted, and HR is included in this all-pervasive revolution customers, your industry and your company? Will digitalization pose a threat of disruption to your business or offer an opportunity to leapfrog the competition? Does your current workforce have the skills to enable this opportunity to take root, or will you be hampered by a lack of talent with these skills? Perhaps the end-of-year period is the time to take stock and do some forecasting. On that note, on behalf of the entire HRD and HRM Online team, I’d like to wish you all a safe and happy Christmas. Thank you for your support in 2015 – see you next year.
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 3.O5
CONNECT WITH US Got a story, suggestion or just want to find out some more information? twitter.com/HRMCanada
CONTENTS
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UPFRONT 01 Editorial
Digital disruption is set to shake up just about all facets of business – how prepared are you?
06 Stats FEATURES
HR FORECAST:
INCREASING CLOUD Technology innovations may be changing the way businesses operate, but HR has been slow to embrace all the possibilities
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International assignments can be a valuable retention tool for employers to utilise, but just how mobile is the global workforce?
08 News analysis
How hard increasing eldercare in Canada hits employers depends on their corporate coping strategies. Nicola Middlemiss reports
10 Legal insight
What are the legal ramifications when an employee’s off-duty conduct crosses the line?
PEOPLE COVER STORY
04 Head to head
RISING STARS
Who made the grade in HRD’s 2015 Rising Stars list?
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Should large organizations publish information on their gender pay gaps?
FEATURES
THE SKY IS THE LIMIT
Corrinne Armour outlines how self-imposed mental limits inhibit optimal workplace performance for everyone on your teams
50 Profile
Iain Hopkins chats to Diane Gherson, IBM’s global head of HR
62 FEATURES
HRD MEETS THE KING OF CULTURE SPECIAL GUIDE
2015 CANADIAN HR AWARDS Find out who won on the industry’s night of nights
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Stan Slap has instilled his peoplefirst management ethos into organizations all over the world. He chats with Nicola Middlemiss
HRMONLINE.CA CHECK IT OUT ONLINE
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BRING OUT THEIR BEST.
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Talk to a Manulife representative or visit ManulifeHealthandWealth.ca to learn more.
* Manulife/Ipsos Reid Health and Wellness Study 2014. Manulife and the Block Design are trademarks of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and are used by it, and by its affiliates under licence.
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UPFRONT
HEAD TO HEAD
GOT AN OPINION THAT COUNTS? Email editor@hrmonline.ca
Should large organisations publish information on their gender pay gaps?
Linda Speedy CHRO KPMG Canada “Reporting gender pay gaps on the surface seems like a simple step to drive gap reduction. But a significant number of valid factors play a part in pay-planning decisions – performance, competency and market factors to name a few. Identifying comparable jobs alone is loaded with challenges in analyzing compensation data. There is, however, value in transparency if only to help us investigate and challenge ourselves about why things are as they are. To make communicating gaps meaningful, the methodology and reporting would have to be complex. The resulting data point may be interesting to reflect upon. But organizations pursuing more inclusive cultures should consider a suite of initiatives to get there.”
Richard B Johnson (Law Corporation) Barrister and solicitor Kent Employment Law “In short, no. If two individuals are performing the same tasks, they should receive the same pay. Otherwise, the employer risks potential human rights complaints. Gender-based pay disparities shouldn’t exist within an organization, so employers would be wise to focus their immediate efforts on correcting any pay inequalities. Beyond that, it’s never a good idea for an employer to flag illegalities in its practices. Instead, it should correct the illegal practices when they’re discovered. If I’m representing an employee with an allegation of gender discrimination, I’d most certainly use the company’s own reports of genderbased pay gaps as ammunition against it in litigation.”
Allison Salmon HR director Kimberly-Clark “I do, like many others, believe gender parity is our generation’s issue to solve. In the workplace, this looks like many things, including pay. We should approach this holistically, looking not only at the outcome – the pay gap in this instance – but also the causal factors that got us here. At K-C we debated for many years whether we should have metrics in place for diversity. We’ve had them now for several years. I’m proud to say we are making a difference in this space. We know numbers and data drive awareness, and awareness drives action. This is a great opportunity for HR to lead this space and influence with their leadership team. We need to be clear on the right questions to ask and to whom, and then importantly put in place strategies and timelines to do something about it.”
GENDER PAY EQUITY When HRM Online asked readers whether the gender wage gap was a myth, 18% said “yes”. Another 12% said they didn’t know. An overwhelming 70% said “no, it’s a universal truth”. Clearly, a majority of HR professionals recognize the gender wage gap is a very real issue. Numerous factors affect the disparity. But statisticians estimate discrimination accounts for 10% to 15% of the gap. However, with significant global firms such as KPMG and PwC now reporting gender pay gaps, is corporate Canada at a turning point?
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Innovation is essential for success in modern workplaces. With that in mind, connect the dots. What you create is up to you.
Effective leaders see the potential in everything. At Royal Roads University, we’re looking for people like you for our Professional and Executive Development courses. Learn more at royalroads.ca/HRDirector
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UPFRONT
STATISTICS
A global workforce
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International assignments can be a valuable retention tool, but just how mobile is the 2015 workforce? ONE OF the hottest policy debates in Parliament is over the federal government’s rules on allowing non-Canadians to come into the country temporarily for work – an issue that touches on both immigration and employment. What does the world think of Canada as a work destination? According to the 2015 HSBC Expat Explorer Survey, Canada ranks sixth globally for expat experiences. The survey asks expats for their views on three key areas: economics, experience
74%
of companies require a clear statement of assignment objectives before funding an international assignment
85%
of companies with a short-term assignment policy cover daily living expenses
TOP 5 REASONS FOR TAKING AN INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENT International assignments can present great career opportunities for employees, and can fill skills and competency gaps for employers. Here are the top five reasons for taking such assignments:
and family. Canada ranked particularly strongly in terms of tolerance (first), integration (fifth), career progression and quality of life (seventh). Less appealing was disposable income (27th) and wage growth compared to the expat’s home country (14th). Here’s a snapshot of trends for the global workforce, based on surveys by Brookfield Global Relocation Services, Ernst & Young and PwC.
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building international management expertise/career development launching new endeavours technology transfer
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TOP 10 MOST EXPENSIVE GLOBAL CITIES Just as foreign-exchange costs create headwinds for many multinational organizations, currency fluctuations – driven by economic and political unrest – are contributing to the cost of expatriate packages for those on the front line of globalization in their organizations. Mercer’s 2015 Cost of Living Survey finds factors including instability of housing markets, and inflation for goods and services, impact significantly on the overall cost of doing business in a global environment.
the average expat assignment costs up to four times more than what a local employee would cost
While each employer has its own criteria for selecting international assignees, the vast majority view this as a way to reward – and hopefully retain – high-potential employees. Top criteria for selecting international assignees high-potential employees previously expressed a willingness to go on international assignments had rare skills had a previous international assignment had a cultural ability or skills
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filling a managerial skills gap filling a technical skills gap
1.5–4.0 x
the number of host locations per organization predicted by 2020 (a 50% increase from 1998)
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20
40
60
80
100
40
60
80
100
Key candidate competencies assessed during selection flexibility/adaptability technical skills leadership skills cross-cultural communication family suitability
0
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TOP 10 Luanda, Angola Hong Kong 3 Zurich 4 Singapore 5 Geneva 6 Shanghai 7 Beijing 8 Seoul 9 Bern, Switzerland 10 N’Djamena, Chad 1
2
146
12
3 59
140 126
207
203
16
7 8 6
204
205
London New York City 31 Sydney 119 Vancouver 126 Toronto 140 Montreal 146 Calgary 12
2
16
10
4
1
206 31
The least expensive global cities – bottom 5 203 Skopje, Macedonia 204 Tunis, Tunisia 205 Karachi, Pakistan 206 Windhoek, Namibia 207 Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
HOW LONG IS THE AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT? Just as important as the assignment is the return home. KPMG reports there has been an increase in the number of organizations implementing re-entry strategies for returning employees. Internal career planning/job placement strategies towards the end of the assignment are the most popular options. 50 40 30 20 10 0
6 months to 1 year
1 to 2 years
2 to 3 years
3 to 4 years
4 to 5 years
More than 5 years
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UPFRONT
NEWS ANALYSIS
The aging elephant in the room How hard increasing eldercare in Canada hits employers depends on their corporate coping strategies. Nicola Middlemiss reports EARLIER THIS year, the Canadian population made history – for the first time, there are more senior citizens than cherubfaced children. This might sound like a testament to modern medicine. But Statistics Canada’s revelation actually spells disaster for our already over-stretched health care system. How will it possibly cope when a recordbreaking number of aging Canadians need chronic care? Simply put, it won’t. Friends
issue, Henderson founded the Long Term Care Planning Network. The early crusade started small in 1996 but has grown to become one of Canada’s leading resource centres for aging and long-term care planning.
If society feels it so too will employers Providing care to an old, sick or disabled loved one is something very few want to prepare for
“Employers who do not recognize this issue will see their employees between 50 and 65 losing tremendous productivity and losing their own health” Karen Henderson, Long Term Care Planning Network and relatives will be forced to step up and take the place of professional carers – all the while maintaining, or at least attempting to maintain, their own careers. “Families will be pulled apart because kids will be forced to look after their parents when they have children of their own,” warns longterm care consultant Karen Henderson. “Then they might not have the money to help support their parents and there’s going to be huge stresses on these families.” After a 14-year personal experience with the
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but in reality, the issue is going to affect a lot of people. A recent Statistics Canada survey indicated more than eight million Canadians provide care to a chronically ill friend or relative and 60% of regular caregivers are also in paid employment. It’s a worrying discovery Henderson says will hit employers hard. “Anyone who is a family caregiver is under huge stress and when they’re at work,” she told HRD. “You’re using the phone, you’re
researching, you’re trying to find answers, your stress levels are huge and you’re not productive.” The facts support Henderson’s suggestion. A 2012 survey found 43% of caregivers had arrived late, left early or took time off during the day to care for their loved-ones. This figure jumped to 54% when those providing care did so for 20 hours or more. “Employers who do not recognize this issue will see their employees between 50 and 65 losing tremendous productivity and losing their own health,” warns Henderson. “They’re going to be absent from work, they’re going to ask for leaves of absence, they’re going to quit and you know that it costs more to hire and retrain than it does to keep a current employee.”
Is eldercare the new childcare? Toronto-based Pat Irwin took a similar route to Henderson, founding ElderCareCanada after a personal experience with the issue. She says there’s still a stigma around the subject despite its wide-spread prevalence. “Eldercare is where childcare was 25 years
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AGE ISN’T ONLY A NUMBER With a squeezed health care system unable to help, friends and relatives are increasingly shouldering the care burden of Canada’s 5.7 million seniors. • more than eight million Canadians have provided care to a chronically ill friend or relative • most caregivers (28%) are catering solely to agerelated needs • one in 10 caregivers spend 30 or more hours a week on caregiving • 60% of regular caregivers are also employed • 28% of caregivers find providing care stressful • 19% of caregivers said their own physical and emotional health had suffered as a result of their responsibilities Source: Statistics Canada
“Eldercare is where childcare was 25 years ago. It’s not a dirty little secret but it’s something that employees are using subterfuge with” Pat Irwin, ElderCareCanada ago,” she says. “It’s not a dirty little secret but it’s something that employees are using subterfuge with.” Irwin claims before companies became increasingly supportive towards childcare, employees would often take sick days to look after their kids. Today, employees are taking sick days to look after their parents. “This has got to come out of the closet,” she stresses.
Taking action According to Irwin, eldercare should be the next big issue on everyone’s agenda and the first step to tackling it is identification and education.
“I would suggest that an employer identifies who the carers are in their workplace,” she says. “Possibly set up a forum or focus group to find out the most stressful elements and what would help them the most.” From here, education plays a crucial role – from information fairs and resource libraries to consultations and lunch-andlearns. “You might have an information day about childcare; that’s great. Education is great – but more and more we’re going to need them about eldercare,” says Irwin. “Education is critically important because people don’t know what services there are
– and why would they? This is all new but these services can really offload employees.” Both women insist eldercare initiatives offer a host of benefits to employers, from increased engagement and productivity to improvements in retention and recruitment. “If you can help your employee put some really sustainable plans in place then you’ve retained her, you’ve retained her skills, the investment you’ve made in her, and the intellectual property that she brings with her and her experience,” says Irwin – “she’s also incredibly loyal to you.” Henderson agrees. “Companies that educate their workforce and offer long-term care planning support can expect to gain healthier, more productive employees,” she says. “They can expect to keep employees because the sensible employee knows that down the road they’re going to have this issue and they can expect to attract employees because many know they’re going to bump into this problem.” Irwin suggests it’s “a powerful gift” if you help your employees help their own families age well. “If you want to give back to society and you want to be a good corporate citizen but also if you want to be one of the best companies – this kind of thing really sets organizations apart.”
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FEATURES
LEGAL INSIGHT
’Tis the season to get sued While it might be time to celebrate after a tough year, employers must also be aware of holiday-party liability. Susan Crawford reports
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HOSTING A holiday party is a great way to thank your employees for their hard work and to celebrate your company’s successes in the last year. However, if a holiday party gets out of control or doesn’t reflect your workforce’s ethnic/cultural diversity it can create unforeseen liabilities – particularly where alcohol is involved.
The law on social host liability In 2006, the Supreme Court of Canada weighed in and confirmed a social host of a party – unlike a commercial host such as a bar or restaurant – doesn’t owe a duty of care to guests or third parties such that they would be required to prevent a guest from driving while intoxicated. In Childs v Desormeaux (“Childs”), the defendants hosted a New Year’s Eve party. After consuming alcohol at the party, a guest was involved in a head-on collision that killed one passenger in another vehicle and seriously injured three others, including the plaintiff. The plaintiff sued the driver, the hosts of the party and their home insurer. The Supreme Court found the party hosts couldn’t reasonably foresee the accident and the plaintiff ’s injury, and in any case had no duty to act. Social hosts don’t have such a duty, unless they’re in a situation where they can foresee harm to guests and their relationship to their guests falls into one of the following three categories: 1. the social host invites guests to participate in an inherent risky or dangerous activity the host creates or controls 2. there’s a relationship of supervision or control between the host and the guest 3. the host exercises a public function or engages in a commercial enterprise Although in Childs the Supreme Court didn’t address the potential obligations on employers when providing alcohol to employees at work functions, the decision suggests employers are likely to be held to a higher standard than social hosts when alcohol is served at company-sponsored events. Employers may require employees to attend holiday parties; are required to maintain a safe working environment for employees; and are in more of a relationship
TOP TIPS As a best-practices guide, these suggestions will help your organization plan and hold a safe, inclusive holiday event: 33 Hold an alcohol-free event. This is the lowest-risk option for employers. 33 If you decide to provide alcohol at the event, speak to employees before the event about the risks of over-drinking. 33 Employees should also be reminded this is a workplace function and they’re expected to behave in a way that’s not harassing, discriminatory, intimidating or otherwise inappropriate. 33 Holding a morning (brunch) event rather than an evening event at which alcohol is served may reduce the consumption of alcohol. 33 Don’t provide free and open access to alcohol. 33 Provide non-alcoholic drinks as an option. 33 Avoid serving alcohol if your event includes physical activities, or serve the alcohol after the physical event is completed. 33 Don’t serve alcoholic beverages to under-age employees, or staff already visibly intoxicated. 33 Have food available throughout the party, and accommodate diverse palates. 33 Provide alternative transportation for employees, ie., taxi chits. Encourage employees before the event to leave their vehicles at home and take advantage of the alternative transportation you’re providing to get to and from the event.
33 Arrange for a nearby hotel to have rooms available for employees unable to get home. 33 Stop serving alcoholic beverages at least an hour before the party’s over. 33 Be respectful of the different cultural and belief systems among your employees when planning your event. Make sure the date of your event, your menu and activities reflect your workforce’s religious and ethnic diversity. 33 Where your workforce is culturally diverse, consider creating a holiday planning committee of representative employees. Then plan your event around the many religious holidays celebrated around this time. 33 Consider inviting your employees’ families to accommodate those who may be unable to leave young children at home. 33 Allow employees to opt out of your holiday event without a consequence or negative connotation. 33 Make sure the venue’s accessible to those attending your event. 33 Consider creating an electronic-free event at which use of cell phones and other mobile/recording devices is limited. This will help ensure your event and your employees don’t end up on social media.
“Employers may have a duty to protect employees who are intoxicated and third parties who may be injured by employees” of supervision or control with employees than mere social hosts might be. As a result, employers may have a duty to protect employees who are intoxicated and third parties who may be injured by employees. As employers start to plan their annual holiday events, now’s the time to keep these tips top of mind to reduce the likelihood of human rights complaints; harassment allegations; or claims for social host negligence if an employee ends up being seriously injured after leaving your event. A well-planned, inclusive holiday event will not only foster a positive climate in your
workplace but also will go a long way in reducing the chances of your company ending up with a costly piece of litigation in its Xmas stocking! Wishing you and your employees a safe and festive Holiday Season. Susan Crawford is a founding partner of CCPartners LLP. As a trusted advisor, Susan provides strategic advice and opinions to employers on a full range of labour and employment law matters, litigates before employment tribunals and courts and conducts third-party workplace investigations.
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UPFRONT
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE NEWS BRIEFS Why HR should be wary of cyber security
Once the domain of IT, cyber security has now cemented itself as an HR issue and it’s no surprise – in a recent survey, business professionals pointed to employees as the biggest potential risk. The 2015 First Advantage survey saw a variety of professionals, including HR leaders and C-suite executives, share their thoughts on internal and external security threats. Surprisingly, some 60% said employee background screening is the most important security control that can be put in place to protect an organisation – ahead of firewalls and anti-malware programs. When asked about the importance of background screening of new employees in preventing security risks, 57% said it’s “extremely important” and 98% agreed it was at least “somewhat important.”
A new tracking frontier
Personal data collection has long been used to boost productivity but could tiny microphones – embedded in each employee’s own lanyard – be about to change the face of office culture? A Deloitte team in Newfoundland, Canada adopted the pilot project during office renovations. All the data is collected anonymously and each employee is assigned their own confidential ID – this way, they can compare their own behaviour against that of other participants without fear of reprisal.
Humanoid robot earns a promotion
British company Engage Works made headlines after making a humanoid robot its chief morale officer – and praising it for having “the human touch.” The robot – named Norris – is part of a
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team that handles the showcasing of new technology. “We decided it was time to upgrade Norris to CMO due to the significant contribution he has made to the Engage Works team,” said the CEO of Engage Works. The multilingual, humanoid robot was obviously pleased with its fasttrack promotion. “I will be celebrating with a few screwdrivers,” Norris said.
Employees aren’t protecting work devices
According to a report by British technology researchers Vanson Bourne, 44% of companies believe one or more of their senior managers have lost a mobile device, laptop or USB in the last year. A significant 93% of those devices contained work-related information. A third of companies had no formal policy in place that would protect devices with encryption or passwords. An alarming 38% said anyone who found those devices could easily access confidential files and documents.
How Gen Z wants to communicate
A new survey has revealed some surprises about how Generation Z (those born 1990–1999) wants employers to communicate with them. The Robert Half survey of 800 American university students shows young adults and 20-somethings of Generation Z don’t think highly of e-mail, texting or messaging apps. Instead, 74% specified they prefer faceto-face communication. “Snapchat and Instagram might be the way Generation Z connects with their friends but a preference for digital communication doesn’t necessarily transcend to the workplace,” the report found.
Leading on the digital frontline New research indicates that 31% of companies are investing more than 15% of revenue into technology investments. What else are they doing to ensure they lead in the digital world? In its 2015 Global Digital IQ Survey, PwC surveyed almost 2,000 businesses worldwide to get a pulse of where, what and how organizations are spending on technology. The vast majority (86%) of CEOs felt it was crucial to champion the use of digital technologies. Are they walking the talk? Yes. Some three-quarters of business and IT executives feel they’re getting the investment they need in digital technology – a significant uptick over the last two years. In 2013, just 57% said their CEO champions digital, compared with 71% in 2014 and 73% this year. The number-one priority for this investment globally was revenue growth, followed by a goal to improve customer experiences and increase profits. But how are executives championing digital investments? PwC found there were 10 key attributes present at companies with high Digital IQs. Among the attributes are: having a CEO champion; having digital leaders set strategy; being proactive with cybersecurity; and consistently measuring outcomes from digital investments. Speaking to HRD, Greg Doone, digital
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strategy leader at PwC, shed some light on how the role of HR is being impacted by digital changes. “One of the drivers of digital transformation is employee frustration around tools and the lack of human-centred design for internal tools,” Doone says. “Quite simply, we have been through a mobile device revolution, which is increasing the ease of using workplace systems. Take ‘bring your own device’ initiatives as a significant change we’ve seen in the last couple of years – they are driven by the fact that it’s so much easier to use personal tools than the ones traditionally provided by company IT departments.” He adds, the gaps are increasing between
“Showing that your business is agile internally will engage users – internal employees should be treated like customers in this respect” workplace systems and employee skillsets and demands. “Traditional processes are being improved by the ability to use a mobile or digital device,” Doone says. He also advises that speed is a huge element to showing employees that companies are moving forwards. “Showing that your business is agile internally will engage users – internal employees should be treated like customers in this respect,” he says. According to Doone, part of improving Digital IQ is encouraging the behaviours that create a good digital outcome for business. “This could be supporting a formal change strategy, but is more effectively done through allowing the culture around prototyping and agile development to evolve,” he says. “Success is about changing traditional mindsets and cultures. Find your organisation’s bright young things, and your older employees who are open to new systems, and allow them time together to develop. It’s amazing how much this can achieve.”
Q&A
Karen Williams
Keeping track of technology
Chief product officer HALOGEN SOFTWARE
Fast fact The HoloLens will launch at the end of the first quarter of 2016. The headset is a piece of hardware that has tech observers predicting it’s the first serious move by Microsoft into wearable technology. The price reflects its pioneering nature – the Development Edition has a price-tag of $US3,000.
What’s been on HR’s agenda in 2015? HR solutions today and for the foreseeable future will support multiple areas of the business as it relates to talent management, such as attracting, engaging and retaining top talent, rather than acting as software working independently without any connectedness to the business. We know today that technology can facilitate better relationships between managers and employees, and drive performance to a new level. This is becoming increasingly important because there’s a growing trend toward manager and employee-driven HR processes rather than HR being the main driver. To support managers and employees with this effort, there’s a real benefit to HR solutions connecting across multiple devices, making it easier to manage employee performance and provide timely coaching and feedback regularly.
Has HR’s initial reluctance to embrace the cloud dissipated? The initial reluctance to embrace cloud-based solutions wasn’t just an HR concern – it was driven at the enterprise level. The main concern was putting critical information, such as an employee’s personal information or customer data, on the cloud. With industry standards for data privacy and security in place to ensure the safety and security of the data in the cloud – such as the American Institute of CPAs SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, adoption levels have shifted over time. Organizations get peace of mind with data security standards and regular audits demonstrating compliance.
What’s happened with predictive analytics in 2015? One of the biggest areas available for HR is measuring the impact of performance strategies and having the ability to proactively monitor and report on areas of talent management. Predictive analytics can help identify learning opportunities, leadership development, and manage high potential employee(s) based on analyzing engagement and performance data. Understanding this critical information arms HR with critical information to be able to approach managers and other stakeholders and set an action plan to connect with high potentials on their path into the future.
Many top organizations such as Accenture and Adobe have reimagined their performance-management processes this year. How has technology helped this become reality? Performance management shouldn’t be a once-a-year event. Ongoing coaching and feedback should be a continuous process engrained in an organization’s culture. Technology can act as a platform to support this ongoing process in which managers and employees can track feedback, and coaching and development conversations as they take place.
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UPFRONT
LEGAL UPDATE
Rethinking standards that used to be good enough What HR professionals should take away from a landmark BC case about disability accommodation
The British Columbia Supreme Court recently struck down the highest damages award ever seen in the province for a human rights complaint. While the case centred on an expelled medical student, a leading employment lawyer says HR professionals should take note.
activity disorder and non-verbal learning disorder – had been struggling to meet the requirements of a program at the University of British Columbia. However, he claimed his dismissal was actually down to the institution discriminating against him on the basis of mental disability. The tribunal made several awards to compensate Kelly. These included $75,000 for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect. The figure is more than double the previous watermark of $35,000 in similar cases of discrimination involving mental or physical disability. The $75,000 was later found unreasonable. But the court was also hesitant to comment on what an appropriate amount should be, leaving open the possibility the award could still exceed the previous record of $35,000.
The case
Why HR should care
Dr Carl Kelly – who has attention deficit hyper-
Kelly was a student rather than an employee.
NEWS BRIEFS
Disability audits coming in Ontario
Large employers in Ontario should prepare for audits by the Province ensuring Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act requirements are being met. As of Jan. 1, 2016 companies will have new obligations under the Act’s Integrated Accessibility Standards. One is that during recruitment companies will, upon request, have to make disability accommodation information accessible by providing or arranging accessible formats and/or communication supports. They’ll also have to notify employees, the public and applicants about accommodations.
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However, employment lawyer Nicole Byres of Miller and Thomson says the situation mirrors one many HR professionals may find themselves in at some point – when it comes to accommodating employees to the point of undue hardship. “The Human Rights Tribunal and now the courts are saying that you have to go further than you ever had to before,” Byres notes. “What you thought was good enough isn’t good enough – what you thought was standard isn’t the standard – you’ve actually got to do a lot more.”
“The Human Rights Tribunal and now the courts are saying that you have to go further than you ever had to before” The definition of “undue hardship” depends entirely on the individual employer, employee and situation. “What might be undue hardship for a company with five employees may be very different than an employer who has 5,000 employees,” Byres explains. “Even when it sounds like you’ve been over something like this with another employee before, always take a look at the unique situation.” “It’s got to be a real impact where there are no reasonable alternatives,” confirms Byres. “Then an employer is going to have to look at what they can do.”
Terminology results in expensive payout
The Ontario Superior Court recently found two plaintiffs converted to independent contractorfrom employee-status were entitled to 26 months’ notice totalling more than $120,000. The Keenans had sued Canac Kitchens, alleging no prior notice of termination when the company shut down. They had started in 1987 as employees but company management converted them to “independent contractors” – or so it thought. The court looked at five factors including ownership of tools. It concluded the Keenans were dependent contractors.
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28/11/2015 4:23:05 AM
Q&A
2015 in review Ralph Nero Partner, Labour, Employment & Human Rights Group Leader FASKEN MARTINEAU
Fast fact New legislation going before the British parliament will make it mandatory for companies with 250 workers or more to publish information on gender pay gaps, including bonuses. While Canada has pay and employment equity legislation, as yet there’s no obligation to publish gender pay gaps.
There have been a number of landmark human rights cases in Canadian courts this year – is this indicative of what’s to come for the employment law landscape? An issue we’ve increasingly seen in 2015 is an expansion of remedies in terms of damages being awarded by human rights tribunals for human rights violations. There was a key case in Ontario recently [O.P.T. v. Presteve Foods Ltd] where there were damages awarded of $200,000, which is quite high compared to what the old Human Rights Commission and the original Human Rights Tribunal were doing. Another example is in the area of family status accommodation. We’re seeing an increasing number of cases where employees are looking for accommodations due to family circumstances – whether it’s a sick parent or issues with childcare, etc. There’s recognition that for these family status accommodation issues the employer is going to have to address them on an individual basis.
The Temporary Foreign Worker Program has undergone innumerable changes in recent years – can we expect further changes in the near future? I think we can definitely expect further changes; in fact, there’s a new administrative monetary penalty regime coming into force on Dec. 1 that will penalize noncompliant employers of temporary foreign workers. Employers found non-compliant as a result of an inspection or audit can be banned for up to two years from the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. It’s a new regime so it’ll be interesting to see how it all fleshes out, but obviously the penalty is going to be affected by factors that would include the type of violation – for example, if there is a prior history of non-compliance, the severity of the violation and the size of the business. We
Push for more paid sick days
In November, 700 doctors from across Ontario filed a petition urging the Province to make a change in employment law. They want changes to paid sick-leave guidelines and to provisions requiring employees provide sick notes. The doctors insist the lack of paid sick days for employees in Ontario is causing a public health risk. At least 145 countries, and 23 jurisdictions in Canada, provide paid sick leave to employees. But Ontario is bucking the trend. Instead, companies with at least 50 employees must offer 10 unpaid days of emergency leave.
could see administrator fines or long-term bans from the program – it just depends how all those factors work out. Employers should look to ensure they provide accurate information, maintain documents that need to be produced during an inspection, and they must also follow through with the job provided to the worker to ensure it matches the job terms and conditions previously specified.
Prime Minister Trudeau has also expressed his intention to legalize marijuana. With many employers already struggling to form clear policies regarding medical marijuana in the workplace, what would this development mean? It’s definitely going to increase the group of people who could potentially be using marijuana legally, so if you’ve got more people using it in general, you have more employees using it. It makes it more likely that employers are will have to deal with the reality that some employees may be entitled to legally use medical marijuana. We’ve already seen cases where employees are relying on their disability, which is why they have their medical marijuana licence in the first place. They’re saying: ‘because of my disability I must use this drug/medication.’ Therefore the employer must accommodate that disability. On the other hand, employers and different regulators say that health and safety must remain paramount. There are very significant penalties for employers in the case of a serious accident or injury – in terms of both workers’ compensation and occupational health and safety. Those are clearly factors an employer needs to continue to take into account, so it’s a definite area of potential conflict.
Obama calls for US recruitment overhaul
American President Barrack Obama has announced the US federal government is committed to supporting the “ban the box” initiative. It calls for banning compulsory criminal record disclosures during recruitment. In November Obama ordered federal agenices to ban the box on government job applications. Around 70 million Americans – one-third of the entire working-age US population – have some sort of criminal record. Obama also encouraged members of Congress to support the initiative and pass the “ban the box” bill, which is working its way through the Senate.
UK cracks down on CV discrimination
Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, confirmed several major British employers have pledged to adopt a new recruitment practice – one making job applications anonymous and eliminating any potential unconscious bias. “In other words, [they] make them nameblind,” explained the Tory leader. “That means those assessing applications will not be able to see the person’s name, so the ethnic or religious background it might imply cannot influence their prospects.” A bevy of top companies have already agreed to the proposal, including KPMG.
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28/11/2015 4:23:09 AM
SPECIAL REPORT
RISING STARS
Who made the grade in HRD’s 2015 Rising Stars list? WELCOME TO HRD’s inaugural Rising Stars list. We asked you, our readers, to nominate young HR professionals whom you believe are doing outstanding work. The result is a stellar collection of upcoming superstars. All are proven high performers with less than 10 years of HR experience who are adding
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value to their respective workplaces and the industry as a whole. Each of them is demonstrating clear career progression. These Rising Stars are enviously high-achievers executing exciting HR initiatives - and all of them will ensure the future of the HR profession is in steady hands.
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28/11/2015 4:23:29 AM
SARA ALMEIDA HR GENERALIST NANDOS CANADA
Sara Almeida might be the ultimate HR generalist. While she’s new to Nandos – she joined in April 2015 – Almeida has already made her mark. She started in a specialist role (recruitment) and had to be convinced to stretch her HR skills. Fortunately, Almeida’s manager and her team believed in her. “Sara has blown every initiative out of the water, with absolutely no previous experience on her initiatives,” says her colleague Heather Wyllie. A few of her achievements: Almeida has developed the company’s salary policy manual; enhanced the scholarship program; implemented the Nandos health and safety standards, and Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilites Act policies; and worked on training initiatives.. She’s launching an employee engagement survey to the Nandos franchise community and corporate restaurants. “Sara embraces every new initiative without hesitating, anticipates the requirements, isn’t afraid to show vulnerability and ask for help,” says Wyllie. In short, she defines a rising star.
KAITLYN APFELBECK (ANNAERT) HR MANAGER VOICES.COM
Kaitlyn Apfelbeck is a shining beacon of what dedication to continuous learning and hard work can achieve. Apfelbeck graduated in 2011 from Western University with a Specialization in Human Resources Management. Since then she has passed the National Knowledge Exam to pursue her Certified Human Resources Professional Designation (“a big milestone and proud moment,” she admits). She continues her workplace education through more than just organized professional development. Apfelbeck listens to what seasoned HR professionals have to say about their experiences, and takes advantage of the HRPA Information Hotline. Within the first year at Voices.com – a company that finds voice talent for advertising agencies, TV and radio – she accomplished some exemplary work, including almost doubling the number of employees to 88 from 45 through a highly effective recruitment plan. Despite her young age, she’s already giving back – she has mentored two international students over the past year and helped them land positions in the HR field.
ALICE LESMANA
HR MANAGER ASSOCIATED BRANDS
“Alice is on the path to becoming a great leader,” says Alice Lesmana’s colleague Jason Jacobs. “She’s able to achieve unbelievable results in a short period of time.” Although she’s new to Associated Brands – one of North America’s largest suppliers of private label, co-manufactured and food service dry packaged foods – Lesmana is already making an impact. She has added structure and proper procedure to all HR initiatives, has made hourly wage scale improvements, has introduced a vacation policy and made much-needed workers’ compensation improvements. She’s keen to keep her skills sharp as well. Lesmana has embarked on courses such as root cause analysis training and continues to be mentored by the company’s senior HR executive. She has four-fold advice for upcoming HR professionals: Firstly, have the integrity to always do what’s right; secondly, be ready to take up any challenge; thirdly, be willing to learn from other experienced HR professionals; and fourthly, get involved outside the workplace and give back to the community.
LUCAS DAOUST
HUMAN RESOURCES COORDINATOR TASEKO, GIBRALTAR MINE
Although a relative newcomer to his company, Lucas Daoust has transformed perceptions of HR – no mean feat in what can be a challenging management environment. Indeed, prior to his arrival, the operating departments didn’t always go to HR for support with employee issues when they arose. They preferred to go “after the fact.” Now, says colleague Robyn West, when an issue arises “one of the first things mentioned is going over to see Lucas and getting his thoughts.” This proactive approach has ensured consistency and support before there’s an issue. It has resulted in significant business outcomes, including metrics that really matter – for example, in addition to reduced absenteeism rates, the company has been recognized provincially for having the lowest accident-frequency rate. Labour relations have also improved. Daoust’s advice to other people starting out in HR? “Be open-minded and take a chance at a job with the greatest opportunity to learn, develop, and most importantly be challenged.”
www.hrmonline.ca
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28/11/2015 4:23:34 AM
SPECIAL REPORT
RISING STARS JANE WATSON
SENIOR HR BUSINESS PARTNER ONTARIO SECURITIES COMMISSION
Active volunteering within the HRPA Toronto Chapter’s mentorship program means Jane Watson is constantly exposed to the latest bright sparks in the HR profession. The program pairs mentors and protégés for career development and advancement. This interest in the future of her profession extends to Watson’s own development. She can regularly be seen at progressive, thought-provoking HR events and conferences that offer new, different thinking about HR practices and developments. These include HRevolution, Reinvent Work Summit, DisruptHR, and the HRPA Annual Conference. She’s also a keen blogger about all things HR (visit TalentVanguard.com). In fact, she has won an accolade as one of the “top 40 HR bloggers under 40” from The HR Blogger in conjunction with The Starr Conspiracy. She’s also adding value to her employer, including the rollout of an engagement survey, which for the first time will see results delivered in a highly transparent way. Watson provided input and consultation at the development stage of this initiative to ensure all Ontario Securities Commission client perspectives and priorities were considered.
OLIVIA ARISS
HR GENERALIST LEGEND3D CANADA
“I have taken on the challenge of tapping into our weakest link – the industries that often do not ‘believe’ in HR...as if HR professionals were Santa Claus.” As such, over the last four years Olivia Ariss has worked with small-business owners in food and beverage to reach what they thought would be unattainable goals. She has also been involved in starting up new mid-size international branches of organizations in the feature-film industry (her current work at Legend3D Canada). Ariss has witnessed why HR must be involved in all critical business operations, from supporting acquisitions, to setting up “greenfield” HR operations in start-ups, through to business closures. She has also had to occasionally get creative, since HR hasn’t always been funded appropriately to succeed. “I’m always seeking the next way to validate and strengthen HR’s presence in business and will only be satisfied when I introduce myself to a business professional in any industry and the first question I hear from them is not, ‘What exactly does HR do?’.”
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JABEEN BOGA
HUMAN RESOURCES RELATIONSHIP MANAGER TD CANADA TRUST
Among Jabeen Boga’s many career achievements is one that ruffles many experienced HR professionals: culture change. The “One TD” culture initiative was launched when Boga discovered internal employees weren’t being considered for opportunties within the organization because other divisions were unaware of their roles and what they encompassed. As a result, she researched comparable roles in other business channels for promoting transferability to other lines of business. This database promoted career development, retention and employee morale, resulting in 15% less turnover and 25% more transferability. Boga currently mentors three upcoming HR professionals and volunteers substantial personal time to a careeradvancement network for the HRMA Institute. This year-long commitment involves creating interactive content for customized career development workshops each month held for audiences of 25 to 30 HR professionals. As if that’s not enough, Boga also instructs the Diploma in Human Resources Program at Ashton College in Vancouver – an eight-hours-a-week commitment.
DAWN FARAHANI
PEOPLE SERVICES PROJECT MANAGER COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL
The winner of the 2015 Rising Star award at the Canadian HR Awards, Dawn Farahani’s achievements were considered – and ultimately recognized – by a panel of independent judges. Clearly, she’s doing something right. Farahani’s primary achievement in a year studded with them was acting as both project manager and key contributor to the implementation of a new performance-management system called Performance Check-In (PCI) across Canada and the US. Like many performance-review processes, the previous Colliers program focused on ranking employees’ performance based on prescribed competencies. It didn’t always include development or career conversations. PCI consists of regular, collaborative meetings between employees and their managers. It focuses on an employee’s current performance, and enables celebration of milestones/achievements in a timely manner. As well, using PCI results in ongoing discussion about an employee’s professional and career-development goals.
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28/11/2015 4:23:36 AM
RACHEL LEIER
HR MANAGER GATEWAY CASINOS & ENTERTAINMENT
The person who nominated Rachel Leier, Kartik Bharadwa, says the upcoming HR superstar is not just “book smart” but also “street smart.” And this killer combination allows her to connect with people at a very grass-roots level. It’s also possibly why Leier has moved through the ranks so swiftly from HR co-ordinator to HR manager at Grand Villa Casino Hotel and Conference Centre in Burnaby, BC. “It speaks greatly to her ability, poise and leadership,” says Bharadwa. “I see no reason why Rachel will not soon be a pillar in the HR community on a much grander scale.” For now, Leier is adding value to Gateway Casinos & Entertainment thanks to her intrinsic knowledge of a complicated collective agreement – one she’d only been exposed to for a short while. Prior to her work in gaming, Leier had little experience with a collective bargaining agreement, let alone the interpretation of one. Along the path to her current role, Leier has rebuilt and rebranded occupational health and safety initiatives. She has also been heavily involved in improving company-wide engagement.
ISAAC HEREDIA
CORPORATE HR AND TOTAL REWARDS MANAGER TOWN SHOES LIMITED
Already a finalist in the Rising Star category at the Canadian HR Awards, two initiatives headed by Isaac Heredia over the past 12 months have ensured his inclusion on this list. Firstly, Heredia has kept the HR department abreast of his company’s growth by introducing its first HR metrics report. The report included key statistics around headcount, turnover, and health and safety. It was delivered in conjunction with the company’s finance department, with limited resources. Secondly, Heredia introduced a Total Rewards Statement for the Town Shoes head office. When Heredia started with Town Shoes in 2013, he was aware that the company had made a significant financial investment in its people, and had introduced many other benefits. Heredia believed it was important for employees to fully understand this investment and its impact on them – hence Total Reward Statements, delivered at no extra cost to the company.
DAWN ALLEN
SENIOR HUMAN RESOURCES ADVISOR INTERGRAPH CANADA
Dawn Allen started work at Ingergraph, a global software company supporting the oil and gas industry, in November 2014. In the past 18 months she has been involved projects that would make more experienced HR practitioner envious. She played a critcial role in the implementation of the applicant-tracking system and onboarding module of Intergraph’s recruitment processes. The firm’s European operations later tapped into this experience. Allen was asked to help implement the software throughout Intergraph’s European business. As her industry adapts to changing market conditions, there have also been more challenging HR responsibilities in 2015. These include the tough tasks of organizational re-design and employee reductions. What’s the key to her success? “I’ve never been scared to have an opinion and watch for opportunities to improve the business,” she says. “The key has always been to identify opportunities early, ensure you have a solid plan prior to launch and be prepared for that plan not to work.”
STEPHANIE ALARIE
DIRECTOR, HUMAN RESOURCES AND ADMINISTRATION WEIRFOULDS LLP
A major focus for HR in 2015 has been the re-evaluation of performance management – specifically, in many cases, linking pay more effectively to performance. Stephanie Alarie cites this focus area as one of her key achievements over the last 12 months. During this time she completed a job evaluation and salary structure project for all non-lawyer jobs at the firm. In addition, she developed a meritincrease methodology formally linking pay to performance in an objective manner. It also better aligns the firm’s salary-planning approach with compensation best practices. The end result – enhanced transparency and positive feedback from employees. Alarie’s knowledge of legal-industry remuneration extends outside work: she’s a volunteer on the Toronto Law Office Management Association’s Compensation Committee. The committee administers – with the help of a third party – an annual compensation and total rewards survey for the legal industry across the Greater Toronto Area.
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28/11/2015 4:23:40 AM
SPECIAL REPORT
RISING STARS FRANCIS J D’SOUZA
HUMAN RESOURCES GENERALIST GATE GOURMET CANADA
They say the best learning takes place on the job, and if that’s true Francis J D’Souza has amassed it in spades. He started in the profession in 2009 as an HR administrator for the Vancouver unit of Cara Airline Solutions. D’Souza helped with the transition to Gate Gourmet when Cara was acquired in November 2010. Mergers and acquisitions can bring out the best – and worst – in people. Apparently for D’Souza, it was the former. He continued as an HR administrator under Gate Gourmet but glowing recommendations from managers and team members saw him quickly promoted. If there’s one defining trait colleagues note about D’Souza, it’s that “he’s always looking to learn and grow” and he “wants to bring more value to his position in HR and the people around him.” To that end, D’Souza has ensured he’s keeping his skills up to date by attending University of Fredericton seminars, and by completing the Certificate in Human Resource Management program at Simon Fraser University in October 2015.
ASHLEY KARPOWICZ
HUMAN RESSOURCES GENERALIST ONTARIO TEACHERS INSURANCE PLAN
Ashley Karpowicz has the verve and get-up-and-go to make her mark in the HR profession. She has been working in the industry for more than seven years, and in that time, she has become an advocate not just for HR in general, but also for the HRPA and new professionals entering the field. She has continued serving as a CKE Exam Proctor since 2010; has been a mentor in the HRPA Grand Valley Mentorship program; and also provides free resume, interviewing and job-search techniques to new graduates and recently landed immigrants. Karpowicz previously worked three years for the insurance firm, Crawford and Company (Canada). At Crawford, she held recruitment responsibilities and fostered the firm’s national charitable program, ‘Crawford Cares.’ For the past four years, she has been working at Ontario Teachers Insurance Plan (OTIP) as a HR generalist. Karpowicz focuses on OTIP’s recruitment brand, strategy, candidate experience and onboarding. She remains passionate about giving back to the community as well – she raises money for charitable causes through part-time modelling.
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AMANDA EXNER-JOHNSON HR MANAGER RED BRICK MEDIA
Any HR professional who has witnessed it first-hand knows what can happen within a company when it’s undertaking rapid growth. Policies, procedures and strategies can get outmoded – fast. And the original culture of what made the place special in the first place can be lost in the mix. That’s not the case at Red Brick Media, which is itself in an aggressive expansion mode. Amanda ExnerJohnson has been a key stakeholder in proactively developing the issues of rapid growth, while maintaining a professional and collaborative style. Exner-Johnson is lauded as a HR professional with the ability to adapt dynamically through virtually any scenario. “I can unconditionally say that I believe that Amanda is an integral part of building the team and environment of Red Brick Media and that she is dedicated to putting Victoria on the map as a city in Canada that’s creating amazing startups and deserves to be recognized as one of HRD’s Rising Stars,” says her colleague, Brad Williams.
TEAGHAN KULY
HUMAN RESOURCES ADVISOR MACDON INDUSTRIES
Teaghan Kuly may be the ultimate multi-tasker. In her short career, she has already seen a job switch from a purely administrative role (as HR assistant) to her current, more diverse role. The reasons for this promotion were simple: she’s good at what she does; she has a strong work ethic; and she has helped MacDon Industries with one of the toughest tasks asked of any HR professional - the implementation of a new HRIS. During the implementation project she assisted with the setup of testing environments, performed unit, string and integration testing and helped develop training materials and documentation. She has also developed dashboards to help senior leaders report on employee absences, discipline and grievances. Kuly also created a demographics dashboard for the executive team. Since the start of 2015, Kuly has taken on a disability management role. During the year she has cleaned up the green-card process and is working with a consultant to create a light-duty-job matrix. Next up is a revamp of the company’s return-to-work policy.
www.hrmonline.ca
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28/11/2015 4:23:47 AM
KRISTIN MCGEEHAN
MANGER OF LAWYER HAPPINESS COGNITION LLP
The term “going above and beyond” gets thrown around. For Kristin McGeehan, however, it may as well be part of her official job description. McGeehan has introduced many new and innovative HR programs to Cognition, a Toronto-based law firm. One example: for 50 of Cognition’s lawyers, she built a process for tracking their availability. It enables the lawyers to communicate their availability weekly. In turn, this keeps the business development team up to date when they’re speaking with clients. Motivated by her own dedication to health, McGeehan has implemented a wellness plan. Perhaps most significantly, she has drafted, pitched and executed an employee health benefits program. In addition, McGeehan has redesigned the firm’s recruitment process. Efficiency has been increased without losing the personalized touch required when handling applicants. This extends to onboarding: McGeehan ensures new recruits receive a personalized card from one of the co-founders along with a welcome package.
Photographer credit: Melissa D’Souza, Ripe Resolution
www.hrmonline.ca
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SPECIAL REPORT
RISING STARS ALISSA REYES
HR DIRECTOR STANLEY BLACK & DECKER
For someone who leads a team of six and delivers HR strategy and tactical solutions to a $250-million profit and loss statement, it’s remarkable to think Alissa Reyes completed a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration as recently as 2007. Following graduation she spent two years as part of Lockheed Martin’s HR Leadership Development Program. In that she gained functional experience in talent and organizational capability, equal opportunity programs, and compensation and benefits. Reyes really paid her HR dues when she accepted an offer from GE Aviation to provide HR site leadership support. A move to Grand Rapids, Michigan, saw her as the HR leader for a unionized operations site. Reyes led the United Auto Workers collective bargaining negotiations for the company, leading to an 85% ratification vote while meeting budget-simplifying contracts. In July 2015, Reyes joined Stanley Black & Decker as HR director for the North American automotive division of the Stanley engineered fastening division. For her first three months on the job, Reyes focused on developing an engagement program to decrease employee turnover.
ADAM SHAEN
ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT THUNDER BAY REGIONAL HEALTH SCIENCES CENTRE
With six years of experience in the HR field, Adam Shaen shows knowledge, poise and professionalism far beyond his years. In this short time, he has worked intensively in recruitment, labour relations and organizational development - all while maintaining experience in other areas of HR. In his current role, Shaen uses his strong critical-thinking and influencing skills to drive meaningful change in the organization. Over the last two years, this has been seen in the complete redesign of the employee engagement, reward and recognition. He has also been heavily involved in change management and leadership development strategies at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. Perhaps his greatest asset, says colleague Amy Carr, has been Shaen’s ability to effectively and quickly build coalitions aiding the implementation of these programs. And as any seasoned HR professional will testify, coalitions can mean success or failure for HR initiatives.
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KALIE WHITAKER
DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES MEADOWRIDGE SCHOOL
For the past eight years, Kalie Whitaker has been among the most visible proponents of HR in British Columbia’s independent schools. Not only has she served as an extraordinary role model to senior professionals, she also inspires staff beginning their careers. Coming from a background in finance, Whitaker saw the need for an HR department at Meadowridge School in Maple Ridge, BC – and set out to create one. She was also instrumental in forming a cohort of HR directors in the independent schools. Whitaker is often a resource for other schools when they’re setting policies, creating best practices or structuring plans. She has done everything from creating an RRSPmatching plan allowing up to 18% to be contributed to the staff member’s account; to providing personalized comprehensive summaries of pay and the range of benefits and retirement programs Meadowridge School has for staff. And yes, she even coaches sports teams and has volunteered for every major fundraising effort the school has put on. Whitaker is dedicated to supporting others while providing strong leadership at Meadowridge.
LISA SMITH-MAXAM
PRESIDENT AND CEO THE STAFF ROOM (TSR CANADA)
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act – in place since 2005 – is just one example of how HR and staffing consultancy The Staff Room has helped employers remain compliant. As of 2015, five standards have become regulations enacted by the provincial government. For Lisa Smith-Maxam – the most nominated person on this Rising Stars list – it’s just one of countless areas she and her team have advised on over the years. As both a HR professional and HR consultant, Smith-Maxam has a unique take on what businesses need from HR departments. She trains many college and university students, providing them with hands-on experience in the HR industry. Like so many HR professionals, Smith-Maxam gives back to the community by raising funds for such organizations as the Breast Cancer Society. “Lisa is not only good at what she does but also amazing at helping others getting to their goals in life and becoming successful, whether it’s work or life,” wrote one of her nominators.
www.hrmonline.ca
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28/11/2015 4:23:56 AM
JESSICA POLING
EMPLOYEE SERVICES MANAGER SEASONS RETIREMENT COMMUNITIES
From student intern, to benefits co-ordinator, on to employee services generalist and currently employee services manager. How’s that for career progression over just three-and-a-half years? Jessica Poling began, and continues, her professional journey with Seasons Retirement Communities – and it’s paying off with interesting, challenging work. Initiatives for 2015/16 focus on building and fostering positive relationships. The program builds on the concept of “10 rules to fuel your life, work and team with positive energy” from Energy Bus by best-selling author Jon Gordon. “It’s a foundation to better our dynamic and unique recruitment and orientation process; promote employee engagement and recognition; and help our teams fully understand how the importance of their roles truly impacts the big picture,” Poling says. The immediate future will see Poling and her HR colleagues implmenting new technologies so energy can be spent less on manual processes and more on looking after the people who serve and support Seasons Reitrement Communities residents. www.hrmonline.ca
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MIR full pa
SPECIAL REPORT
RISING STARS
ANDREW TIRELLI
MICHELLE MCRAE
HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER GENERAL ELECTRIC
TEAM LEAD (ACTING) ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE WELLNESS UNIT
For one so young, Andrew Tirelli has done more academic study than most (a Bachelor of Commerce, a Masters of Science, and he is a Certified Human Resources Leader). As well, Tirelli has gained international business exposure. Indeed, it seems he’s on a fast-track to the top. The international experience was thanks to a global assignment with General Electric’s (GE) Global Growth Operations division. Based out of Hong Kong, Tirelli managed organizational talent development for GE’s growth regions. He’s also a recent graduate of GE’s Human Resources Leadership Program (HRLP), a two-year leadership training program designed to develop professionals into HR leaders. (It helps that GE is globally renowned for its leadership programs – in fact, it regularly makes Aon Hewitt’s Top Companies for Leaders list.) Outside work, Tirelli volunteers with multiple organizations. He’s a mentor and coach for high-school students in the Junior Achievement of Canada company program; for university students in eVisors; and for fellow colleagues new to the HRLP.
The scope of Michelle McRae’s HR experience might shame more seasoned practitioners. In just nine years, she has built skills in compensation, benefits, workplace investigations, disability management, labour relations, organizational design, respectful workplace programs, wellness, and health and safety. That’s certainly some broad HR experience. She has worked with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) since 2011, and has been a member of the Ontario Public Service (OPS) in various HR roles since 2006. In 2015, she finds herself in a critical role: delivering programs and services related to positive mental health and well being for all OPP members. In a career already dotted with achievements, perhaps McRae’s most admirable effort is her assistance with attracting, selecting and retaining best-in-class OPS employees. She’s an OPS ambassador, sharing her story and unique experiences in the HR field. This includes attending colleges, job fairs and other co-ordinated events to meet with individuals and tell them about opportunities within the OPS, such as the Summer Experience Program and the Ontario Internship Program.
CITY OF ST. JOHN’S WELLNESS TEAM CITY OF ST JOHN’S
Sometimes it’s tough to single out just one high achiever, but the efforts of the City of St John’s Wellness Team – five indidivuals with varying levels of experience – deserves special praise. A five-year review of the City’s injury and illness statistics indicated its workforce was experiencing a progressive increase in both work- and non-work related injuries and illnesses. With the support of city council and four union groups, the City embarked on a change initiative. They: hired an employee wellness educator; formed a health and wellness team; opened an onsite health and wellness centre; implemented a six-step health evaluation process; and partnered with various community-based organizations to develop several wellness initiatives. These include smoking cessation, nutrition information sessions, employee fitness classes and pre-work stretching routines. The end result is something all organizations can endorse – a heightened awareness of personal health. L-R Sarah Hayward, manager, HR operations; Heather McDonald, safety advisor; Lynn O’Grady, program manager, employee wellness; Bryan Harris, employee health and wellness educator; Terry Burden, safety advisor
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28/11/2015 4:24:06 AM
Brough
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
LIBERTY GRAND | TORONTO SEPT. 17, 2015 www.hrawards.ca
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COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE WP AWARDS 2015
28/11/2015 4:24:44 AM
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Brought to you by:
THIS YEAR’S highly acclaimed Canadian HR Awards served as a welcome break in routine for an industry that spends more time rewarding others than acknowledging their own, often extraordinary, endeavours. The internationally recognized affair saw more than 600 of Canada’s most-talented leaders gather at Toronto’s Liberty Grand – one of the city’s few traditional ballrooms – to enjoy a night of well-deserved veneration and top-class entertainment. “It’s an excellent event,” attendee and labour lawyer Lorenzo Lisi told HRD. “You can see from the popularity and how it’s gained over the years that people want to be here. That’s probably the highest compliment you can get.” Lauded as the “Oscars of the HR industry,” the Canadian HR Awards is now in its second year. This year, the lead sponsor is KPMG. The company’s national HR leader explained why the firm is so proud to support the industry gala. “We work with HR professionals across the country every single day and we like to be able to have this opportunity to honour them, to honour their achievements and to honour
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their profession,” says Laura Croucher, national leader, people and change solutions. A total of 19 awards ranging from individual accolades to company-wide honours were given out on the night. Perhaps the most notable one went to DST Consulting’s Philip Wilson. He picked up the Queen’s University IRC Award for Lifetime Achievement in the HR Industry. “It’s a wonderful acknowledgement from my peers, and it came as a total surprise,” he said on acceptance. “For 35 years, I’ve been giving to the profession and to the community, and maybe this is a way for the profession to give back to me. I’m really, really humbled by that.” A panel of six expert judges determined the lucky – or rather deserving – winners: Bonni Titgemeyer, managing director of The Employers’ Choice; Janice MacPherson, vice president, operations with the Human Resources Institute of Alberta; Robyn Bews, chief strategist of WORKshift; Tom O’Neill, assistant professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology;
Greg Conner, executive director of human resources at BC Transit; and Paul Juniper, director of the Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre. And the worthy winners are…
www.hrawards.ca
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28/11/2015 4:24:50 AM
The Cotton Candy Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Best Reward & Recognition Strategy
Brought to you by:
“It confirms that we’re doing the right thing and that we’re moving in the right direction when it comes to rewards and recognition. It reinforces the work that we’re doing and how important it is” STACEY HARRIS Human resources program consultant CIBC Mellon
WHEN ASSET-servicing solution provider CIBC Mellon launched the company-wide MyRecognition program in 2014, they did it with a bang – or rather a band, a marching band to be exact. President and CEO Tom Monahan led the musical septet throughout the building, surprising employees with on-the-spot recognition and a cheery rendition of “Ghostbusters.” CIBC Mellon’s program empowers employees at all levels to publicly recognize their peers for demonstrating company values and working towards corporate goals. “The program can be used just to say a quick thank you for help with a presentation or it can be used more formally to nominate employees for peers’ choice awards or
for our president’s leadership award,” explains Muna Al-Joulani, assistant vice president of HR corporate programs at CIBC Mellon. The company told HRD approximately 90% of employees are active in the program, sending more than 7,000 recognitions in 2014. “We are proud to earn this award, which recognizes CIBC Mellon as a Canadian leader in delivering meaningful and effective rewards and recognition for employees,” says Sue Simone, senior vice president, human resources and corporate communications. “Recruiting, retaining and motivating talented employees is critical to achieving success, which is why we continue to invest in making CIBC Mellon a place where great people want to be.”
AWARD SPONSOR Cotton Candy provides an affordable yet highly versatile internet-based software system companies of all shapes and sizes use to keep their employees motivated and engaged. Employees earn points for their performance results, strategic goals or workplace achievements. Then they exchange these points for a huge selection of exciting brandname merchandise including electronics, power tools, and health and beauty products. How will your company benefit? Employees become wholly engaged because they feel their commitment and contributions are valued and appreciated. Relationships between employees, managers and executives strengthen and improve. Call 1-866-366-9766 or visit cottoncandy.ca for more details.
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“As a leading provider of employee and ... partner rewards and recognition programs, it’s a perfect partnership to align with HR Director” KATE STEELE Senior account executive Cotton Candy
FINALISTS CIBC Mellon Big Viking Games Delta Hotels and Resorts LoyaltyOne Nurse Next Door Sierra Systems Group Inc.
COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE HR AWARDS 2015
28/11/2015 4:24:55 AM
The HRD Magazine, Readers’ Choice Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Best Industry Service Provider
Brought to you by:
“It’s a public acknowledgment of the work we do within people services across the country ... people usually associate KPMG with audits ...” LAURA CROUCHER National leader, people & change solutions, KPMG
WITH 90% of the company’s customers coming from repeat or referral business, KPMG’s People Services is a much-trusted multifaceted provider – helping organizations drive business and innovation through a number of core services including; behavioral change management, organizational design for performance, talent management, HR strategy and function optimization, workforce intelligence, and workforce global mobility services.
“HR service providers play a critical role in ensuring HR practitioners can fulfil their strategic objectives, while having experts close to hand” IAIN HOPKINS Editor, HR Director Magazine
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“We can take organizations’ biggest and most complex HR transformation challenges and work with them to find the right answers, execute on them and capture the benefits,” says KPMG. “We can cut through complexity.” With the solid belief no one understands HR and business better than it does, KPMG insists it’s a team made of business professionals with a deep understanding of people issues and the ability to measure the impact of HR so it can achieve and sustain a competitive advantage. Maureen Berry, Canada Health Infoway’s executive director of HR, supported KPMG’s initial nomination. She agrees the company has more than earned its accolade. “KPMG, Laura Croucher and her team have consistently, over many years of engagement,
provided outstanding, high quality products and services, ranging from HR strategy, learning and development and talent strategy to organization design,” she says. “They deserve this award, without question.”
FINALISTS
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KPMG People Services Capri Insurance - Intercity Insurance and Financial Services CoRecruiters
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Hicks Morley
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HireGround Software Predictive Success Corporation TidalShift
AWARD SPONSOR Human Resources Director magazine concentrates on the real issues and challenges facing the HR professional and the industry, with in-depth features and analysis of what really matters. HRD features high-level case studies, international and local profiles, and interviews with HR directors and industry leaders from around the globe as well as leading newsmakers in the field. Content goes beyond industry standard, offering highly engaging, timely, relevant, innovative and entertaining articles. HRD has positioned itself as the magazine of choice for the country’s most influential HR decision-makers.
www.hrawards.ca
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28/11/2015 4:26:31 AM
The Kids & Company Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Best HR Strategic Plan
Brought to you by:
“HR and strategy is a difficult thing. It’s hard to see and it’s very subjective so to have it recognized is important us and for the industry as a whole” ELEANOR TOWNSEND HR director, Empire Communities
SAYS ELEANOR Townsend, director of human resources at Empire Communities, “We were so grateful to be a finalist in the category of Best HR Strategic Plan, then to win the award amongst such a prestigious list of finalists was a true honour.” The integrated community home builder entered the awards this year as a result of efforts and initiatives launched in 2014 and the positive impact they’ve had on the 350 employees and the company as a whole. Townsend told HRD the team’s ability to deliver a five-year HR strategic plan in just three years contributed to the company’s nomination and eventual win. “Our team of passionate, dedicated, hardworking HR professionals and an organization that supports us every step of the way
helped us achieve that,” she asserted. “Most importantly, our success today and our future success at Empire Communities is a true reflection of the commitment and
FINALISTS Empire Communities All Weather Windows BlackBerry Bombardier Canadian Tire Corporation Ontario Public Service, Treasury Board Secretariat, HR Policy and Planning Branch Tabor Village Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Health Human Resources
AWARD SPONSOR Kids & Company – proudly Canadian – has been offering high-quality and flexible child care since 2002. Kids & Company works directly with familyoriented organizations to develop progressive dependent care options that help address employees’ work-life balance and productivity challenges. Through a membership, top-tier companies from a variety of industries can offer in-centre child care (full-time, part-time and emergency back-up only), in-home nanny care and in-home eldercare to their suite of employee benefits. Visit us at kidsandcompany.com.
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investment by the owners of Empire. This award represents the owners’ recognition that their people are a core factor in the company’s success.”
“There are some really pressing issues out there for employees – childcare, eldercare – Kids & Company offer those services and benefits to corporate clients so it’s important for us to be part of this and share it” LINDA STARR Director of sales and marketing Kids & Company
COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE HR AWARDS 2015
28/11/2015 4:42:21 AM
The Cisco Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Most Innovative Use of HR Technology
Brought to you by:
“We’re a people-focused organization – all of our decisions are people first so this is just a reflection on what we do internally and externally” MANU VARMA People person Traction on Demand
TRACTION ON DEMAND’S designated People Person, Manu Varma, admitted the company was “very humbled” to win the award for Most Innovative Use of HR Technology. “It is truly a testament to a group of people working together to leverage technology and people simultaneously,” she told HRD.
“Cisco sees technology as an enabler for how HR connects, collaborates and innovates with employees. As such, Cisco is delighted to sponsor the HR Technology Award” DAVID HEATHER
“At Traction we are trying to be disruptive, and fundamentally change the ways that businesses do business,” she continued. “Candidates are often left out in the cold in the recruiting process, so we wanted to really change their experience, while also adding value to the business process on our end.” To address this need, Traction on Demand built a cloud-based app the company claims treats candidates the same way someone would treat a lead in a marketing funnel – keeping the company branded and the candidate warm during the process. “Behind the scenes, we are actually scoring the candidate on their behaviour,’ revealed Varma. “From a business standpoint, I have seen so many ineffective ATSs that are inflexible
and don’t add any value. Our HR team really looks to be innovative and also be high touch. Not losing “the person” when implementing technology. People first. That is our driver.”
FINALISTS Traction On Demand BC Oil and Gas Commission CIBC Mellon CompuVision Systems Loblaw Companies MD Financial Management Protegra Sierra Systems Group Tata Consultancy Services Canada
AWARD SPONSOR CISCO is the worldwide leader in information technology that helps companies seize the opportunities of tomorrow by proving amazing things can happen when you connect the previously unconnected. Cisco products and services are supplied in Canada by Cisco Systems Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems. For more details visit cisco.com.
HR director, Cisco
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28/11/2015 4:25:20 AM
The IBM Gherson Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Next Generation Employment Initiative of the Year
Brought to you by:
“It’s such an incredible honour, our graduate training program is the work of so many people and we are continually amazed by what our undergrads can do and what value, energy and innovation they bring to our company” MARGARET MCBEATH Assistant program manager, human resources Amec Foster Wheeler Nuclear Canada
ASSISTANT PROGRAM Manager Margaret McBeath told HRD, “It was a great honour to be nominated and to win the Next Generation Initiative of the Year Award. “We were in great company and thrilled to have our new graduate trainee program recognized for its innovative and unique qualities.” According to McBeath, Amec Foster Wheeler’s program allows new graduates to “gain diverse experience and exposure in the company through structured work rotations (including site rotations), intensive mentorship, and high-quality training during their first two years of employment.” The initiative’s designed to attract high-calibre graduates with leadership potential and the program provides both an
FINALISTS Amec Foster Wheeler Nuclear Canada AltaGas Fortinet Technologies (Canada) Hydro Ottawa RBC Saskatchewan Telecommunications Corporation
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experiential and practical learning platform. “The program has run for 13 years and has been extremely successful in attracting top graduates and fostering the required compe-
tencies, confidence, and professional skills for accelerated career growth and to ensure the strategic growth of the company,” McBeath says.
“This was a unique opportunity for us ... to give back to the community that supports our Smarter Workforce business, and ... to be able to showcase so many ... innovative companies” DEBBIE LANDERS General manager, Kenexa and Smarter Workforce IBM
AWARD SPONSOR IBM has a one goal – to help grow your business. We understand this is no small task, but we’re not a small-thinking company. We’ve worked hard to create talent-management solutions that help solve big problems. This is why we’re proud to be your partner for building a Smarter Workforce. We look at it from two angles – empowering people and transforming businesses. A Smarter Workforce brings together talent, culture and work to ensure a best-fit and engaged workforce for developing deeper client relationships and driving measurable business outcomes.We deliver solutions across the entire employee lifecycle that are backed by behavioral science, analytics and a combination of content, technology and services. Visit www-01.ibm.com/ software/smarterworkforce/.
COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE HR AWARDS 2015
28/11/2015 4:25:26 AM
The Personalized Prescribing Inc. Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Best HR Communication Strategy
Brought to you by:
“For us this is about capturing the heart and soul of our organization, building commitment and together we win, that’s what it’s about” JIM REID Senior vice president, HR and CHRO Rogers Communications
SAYS SHANNON Hall, communications manager, employee experience at Rogers Communications, “At Rogers we’re working hard to build a winning culture by investing in and developing our people.” “We want our employees to be engaged and passionate about what they do, so we’re constantly working to improve their overall experience,” she adds. “One of the ways we’re doing this is by changing our work environment into a social, collaborate and choice-based space where the employee’s decide what works best for them to get their job done.” Hall told HRM winning the award was a “huge honour” and acknowledged it validates
the team’s efforts towards putting employees first. “Employees are our most valuable resource after all, and investing in them continues to be a top priority,” she says.
FINALISTS Rogers Communications Air Canada BroadbandTV Cambridge & North Dumfries Hydro National Energy Board Tata Consultancy Services Canada Thompson Creek Metals – Endako Mine
AWARD SPONSOR Personalized Prescribing is a Canadian health benefit provider that increases the effectiveness of your company’s drug plan with pharmacogenetic testing. Our Personalized Prescription Plan (P3) is a unique employee benefit that provides your employees and their dependents with affordable pharmacogenetic testing designed to personalize their prescription drugs. P3 enables doctors to prescribe the right dose of the right drug to the right employee on the first try. Your company can benefit from P3 by saving money on medication waste, reducing disability claims, reducing employee absenteeism, and increasing both employee productivity and morale.
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“It’s a great opportunity to be aligned with such great companies that are surrounding us. As we hold communications to its highest standard at Personalized Prescribing, we are a proud sponsor of this award” DR MICHAEL PROUSE Director of operations Personalized Prescribing
www.hrawards.ca
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28/11/2015 4:25:28 AM
The Accompass Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Best Employer Branding
Brought to you by:
“It’s hard to put it into words but it’s a confirmation and an honour – we deeply believe so much in empowerment and care of our people so it just lets us pause for a minute and lets us realize that we did something good” JOHN STIX President and workplace culture warrior Fibernetics
JOHN STIX, president and workplace culture warrior told HRD, “I felt utterly shocked when I heard our company was named for Best Employer Branding. That was quickly followed with excitement and a feeling of genuine pride for all of us as a team.” Stix says Fibernetics takes great care and pride in the way the company treats employees. It’s dedicated to being a peoplefirst organization. “Investment in empowerment and cohesiveness have proven to be game-changing for our organization overall,” he says, adding the company’s “I’m in” mantra is the “emotional connection” binding everyone together. “It stems from that moment in time, when as an entrepreneur, you share your dream and
you can see others understanding and believing and wishing to share in that dream,” he told HRD. “We are completely honoured that we won and we know our future as a united team at Fibernetics is incredibly bright.”
FINALISTS Fibernetics Corporation Calgary Co-operative Association Clark Builders Keg Restaurants Molson Coors Tigris Incorporated Traction On Demand
AWARD SPONSOR Our company began in 1997 when a small group of like-minded professionals came together. From the beginning, we strived to take a more hands-on, personal, proactive approach to our clients and their businesses. Every time clients had questions, we looked for ways to help. In 2002, we began advising on investment and retirement programs; in 2007, we launched our compensation and incentives practice. Today, we address the full range of strategic, financial and regulatory issues surrounding our clients’ programs. We’ve sought out colleagues who exhibit a rare combination of very deep expertise and an instinctive talent for personal service. Start a conversation with us at accompass.com.
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“... our own employees and our own culture is so important to us and we just recently rebranded our organization with a focus on people and on clients so it seemed like a natural fit to recognize others in the industry for their rebranding initiatives” SARAH BEECH President, Accompass
COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE HR AWARDS 2015
28/11/2015 4:25:34 AM
The Venngo Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Best Employee Engagement Strategy
Brought to you by:
“My heart’s beating a million miles a minute, I’m going to say it again I’ve worked here 10 years and I couldn’t have done it without directors, general managers and all of the supervisors and our leadership team who jump in with both feet when we roll out an idea – it’s just so exciting” ANNE MARIE MALLEAU HR Director Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls
ANNE MARIE Malleau, HR director, says “Having Great Wolf Lodge, Niagara Falls’s name called as the winner was an amazing feeling. It is a true honour to win in this category as engagement of our pack members is at the core of our business.” Malleau also told HRD creating a fun and energized work culture simply wouldn’t be possible without the support and commitment of the company’s senior leadership team and general managers. “Year over year we continue to create programs and ideas that meet the needs of our
“The Canadian HR Awards are one of the best opportunities for Venngo to show our support for the HR community ...” PAUL WEISSMAN President and CEO Venggo
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pre-boomers to post-millennials,” she said – but energizing the entire 700- person wolf pack takes incredible creativity. “We are fortunate to have a physical environment at Great Wolf Lodge, Niagara Falls which provides the setting for considerable opportunities for unique engagement activities,” revealed Malleau. “I feel that pack member engagement is a dial that is 180 degrees – you are either 100 per cent committed to creating a dynamic engaging program or you are nowhere,” she stressed. “There is no stagnate position.” Malleau also asserts that organizations should be setting yearly goals to be innovative and challenging in terms of engagement strategies. “If not – in my experience – you are on a
AWARD SPONSOR
downward momentum that seems to move exponentially,” she told HRD. “The good part is, when all the pieces are in place, the benefits are well worth the effort and it feels great.”
FINALISTS Great Wolf Lodge (Jim Pattison Group) ADP Goodlife Fitness Nisga’a Lisims Government RLB LLP Rogers Communications Sutherland Global Services WilsonHCG Shoppers Drug Mart
workperks
Venngo is Canada’s leading provider of private and fully managed group discount programs. We have created a national network, and proprietary technology platform that has been purposely built to manage and provide discounts to your employees as a special value-add and engagement tool. WorkPerks by Venngo is about helping employees save money – every day. Some of Canada’s top companies have more 80% employee participation in their WorkPerks programs. by
www.hrawards.ca
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28/11/2015 4:25:35 AM
The Queen’s University IRC Award for
Lifetime Achievement in the HR Industry
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Brought to you by:
“It’s a wonderful acknowledgment from my peers and a total surprise. For 35 years, I’ve been giving to the profession and to the community, and maybe this is a way for the profession to give back to me. I’m really, really humbled by that” PHILIP WILSON Director of corporate services DST Consulting Engineers
MOST RECENTLY stationed at DST Consulting Engineers, worthy winner Philip Wilson has worked within the walls of several major Canadian enterprises – including CAE Electronics, Northern Telecom and CIBC – but the industry vet still felt privileged upon accepting his accolade. “I was honoured to receive this prestigious award in front of my peers, family and friends and wish to thank Queen’s University IRC, HRD Magazine and KPMG for their sponsorship of the Lifetime Achievement in the HR Industry Award,” he said, soon after the event. “The gala was truly amazing and I was humbled by the grandeur of it as I entered the room.” Wilson went on to say the award marked an important time for HR professionals across Canada – “I believe it is truly an exciting time for all human resources professionals,” he told HRD. “HR is fast becoming recognized as absolutely essential in facilitating organizational and business success. It really is our time as professionals! We need to ‘grab the bull by the horns’ and prove once and for all that we belong in the C-suite.”
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Wilson also emphasized the importance of supporting one another in an industry which often receives its fair share of criticism. “I have partnered with many great people who have coached and mentored me throughout
my career,” he said. “As a result of this experience I realize how important it is to give back to the profession and to support our human resources community.”
“It celebrates ... achievement in our profession which has made so much progress in the last 30 years because of people like Philip” PAUL JUNIPER Director IRC, Queens University
AWARD SPONSOR The Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre (IRC) is a leading provider of premium professional development programs in labour relations, human resources and organization development. IRC programs are designed for busy practitioners, delivered by subject matter experts, and grounded in adult learning principles. As a result of continuous practitioner-focused research and more than 75 years of experience, we’ve identified the core competencies every organization development, human resources, and labour relations practitioner needs to be successful. Each of our IRC programs focuses on one of these essential skills. For more details visit irc.queensu.ca.
COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE HR AWARDS 2015
28/11/2015 4:25:40 AM
The WMC Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Best Talent Management Strategy
Brought to you by:
“This is such wonderful recognition in response to the development of a program that was specifically targeted to older workers and those retired from the organization so it was a multi component program and so much went into it” KEN LEWIS Human resources advisor Hydro Ottawa
SAID CHRO Lyne Parent-Garvey to HRD, “We are thrilled to have been recognized with a 2015 Canadian HR Award and to see Hydro Ottawa’s retiree and older worker engagement strategy, Prime Time, highlighted as a best practice within the human resources profession.” “This recognition has put a spotlight on our significant effort in developing a program that responds to business challenges arising from an aging workforce and the demands of future skilled and specialized labour requirements, together with the need for an effective knowledge management and transfer strategy,” she continued.
Parent-Garvey told HRD the Prime Time program plays a vital role in ensuring the later stages of employees’ careers are positive experiences. “This enables us to retain employees and their knowledge for a longer period of time because they are continuing to contribute in a meaningful way and have been made to feel valued and aware that their expertise is something that is respected by colleagues and the organization,” she explained, adding that the atmosphere has a trickledown effect and provides a positive environment for the next generation of employees.
“Western is all about change through people and a lot of practices are around ... supporting ... capability in organizations” GRAHAM HERBERT Director and owner Western Management Consultants
AWARD SPONSOR
FINALISTS
Western Management Consultants (WMC) is where you’ll find respected management consultants and executive-search advisors – driven by a consulting culture of uncommon resources, exceptional value, quiet confidence and consistent results – who’ve been providing independent, highly objective advice and delivering inspiring results for clients for more than 40 years. WMC is a trusted source of enduring business solutions because we understand that the success of each new engagement starts with an open mind and flexible approach, builds through mutual support and encouragement, and culminates in positive change – for our clients and ourselves. To learn more, visit wmc.ca/team/graham-herbert.
Hydro Ottawa’s Prime Time Program
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Calgary Co-operative Association Colliers International Habanero Consulting Group Maple Leaf Foods McCarthy Tetrault LLP Pythian WeirFoulds LLP
www.hrawards.ca
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28/11/2015 4:25:43 AM
The HRM Online Award for
External HR Consultancy of the Year
“Recognition always feels good and peer recognition is really special because the HR community understands what excellence in our field means”
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Brought to you by:
Author, speaker and personal finance consultant Lesley-Anne Scorgie accepted the External HR Consultancy of the Year Award on behalf of Debby Carreau.
DEBBY CARREAU Founder and CEO Inspired HR
CEO AND Founder Debby Carreau told HRD, “Inspire is thrilled to win the External HR Consultancy award. Recognition always feels good and peer recognition is really special because the HR community understands what excellence in our field means.” The external consultancy boasts a unique business model Carreau claims is disrupting the consulting industry. “We took a big risk in changing how we operate our business and it has paid off,” she revealed. “Clients today are no longer willing to pay for fancy offices, overeducated and underexperienced MBAs, or large teams to solve relatively simple issues,” she continued. “They want authentic, long-term relationships; lean teams to work with them, not directing them; and, most importantly, they want value, not flash.”
FINALISTS Inspired HR Clear HR Consulting Salopek & Associates Verity People Solutions Vertical Bridge Consulting
Carreau and the Inspired HR team realized it made business sense to abandon their dedicated office space, giving up their downtown locations and moving instead into home offices and onsite client offices. “We embraced cloud technology, telecom-
muting, flex work and client-based schedules to meet 24/7 client needs, and we engaged a contingent workforce for specialized projects,” she explained. “At the end of the day, we focused on process, communication and service delivery, not infrastructure.”
“As HR’s scope continues to widen, it’s vital we recognize the consultancies helping SMEs access creative people solutions that were once the prerogative of major corporations” NICOLA MIDDLEMISS Senior journalist, HRM Online
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Human Resources Management Online is a free information resource for all HR Professionals and related industries. The combination of up-to-the-minute daily breaking news from around the world, industry forums, innovative multimedia and resources makes Human Resources Management Online the perfect vehicle for any company looking to market its products to HR professionals.
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COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE HR AWARDS 2015
28/11/2015 4:25:50 AM
The Winds Of Change Consulting Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Best Health & Wellness Strategy
Brought to you by:
“I think our emphasis on mental health and mindfulness has been a real factor in how our employees feel supported. As a small non-profit it means a great deal to us. We’re really excited to win” CATHERINE GORDON HR director David Suzuki Foundation
SAYS HR director Catherine Gordon, “As a non-profit the David Suzuki Foundation was delighted to be recognized for our efforts on employee wellness and focus on creating a mentally healthy workplace.” The foundation is a signatory on the Charter for Canadian Employers Supporting Workplace Mental Health and was one of the first organizations to sign up to be part of the Mindful Employer – a not-for-profit social enterprise launched in appreciation for the employers across Canada that strive to support employees with mental health concerns. “We participate annually in the Not Myself campaign and share their resources on Managing Mental Health issues with staff,” Gordon told
HRD. “To supplement these initiatives we have on-site weekly yoga and meditation in Vancouver and have hosted Compassion Cultivation Training designed to develop the qualities of compassion, empathy and kindness for oneself and for others to help promote inner resilience.” The organization also hosts free lunch-andlearns on topics such as depression and arthritis; creating balance in your life; and boosting your positive outlook. “The wellness program provides a way for the David Suzuki Foundation to show our ongoing commitment to supporting employee and workplace mental health and we look forward to continuing to grow in this area,” says Gordon.
AWARD SPONSOR Our mission at Winds of Change Consulting is simple: create balanced individuals at work who are able to handle their work environments with ease through mindfulness practice. By bridging the gap between ancient wisdom and modern practice, we arm executive leaders and team members with new tools and techniques that will improve their ability to communicate, lead, innovate and handle stressful situations. Mindfulness is about how you live your life day to day; how you make decisions; and how you impact the world around you. Ultimately, it’s about creating a balanced individual who works and lives a meaningful and purposeful life all the time. We introduce mindfulness through strategies that touch on every aspect of wellness, from psychology and behaviour to mental and spiritual health.
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“Health and wellness is an integral part of an organization’s legacy ... Nurturing the people is the key to building an organizational legacy” JIVI CHEEMA Corporate mindfulness consultant Winds of Change
FINALISTS David Suzuki Foundation The City of St John’s Digital Extremes Interior Health & Northern Health International Fitness Holdings LP Klick Health Ming Shine National Leasing TeraGo Networks
www.hrawards.ca
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28/11/2015 4:25:55 AM
The Directors College Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Best Learning & Development Strategy
Brought to you by:
“It’s confirmation of all the good things we do, that we’re on the right path, that we’re building something, having an impact and making a difference as a team” STEPHANIE CHOQUETTE Leader of organizational development MD Financial Management
MD FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT earned the Best Learning & Development Award for its unique learning culture that is anchored in leadership, flexibility, collaboration and personal agency. The company told HRD, upon joining MD each member has a personalized life path, creating the conditions for professional and personal growth with balanced work-life integration. “Supported by coaching and robust technology, the MD team members are able to learn and share knowledge,” the financial management firm says. “This results in a strong and vibrant internal team member experience. The thorough approach to employee development is also a competitive people strategy that MD Financial says creates a client-
focused environment that is a fundamental driver to moving the business forward. “We believe that by building a strong culture of leadership and learning, an unparalleled client experience will follow”, says Michelle Masson, executive vice-president of organization experience.
FINALISTS MD Financial Management Assurant Solutions Canada Cisco Systems Halogen Software Pelmorex Media PotashCorp University of Alberta Organizational Health and Effectiveness
AWARD SPONSOR The Directors College is the original university-accredited corporate director education program in Canada. We are formed by a joint venture between The Conference Board of Canada and the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. Our programs go beyond theory to prepare you for the real world. We arm you with the knowledge and insight you need to be an effective board member, and provide you with the credibility that will inspire confidence and leadership. They say strong leadership can’t be taught. At The Directors College, we beg to differ.
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“Nominated companies and winners of The Directors College Award for Best Learning and Development Strategy exemplify the principle on which we are built, the Gold Standard in governance – inspiring confidence, courage, and leadership amongst their teams” PAUL FORGUES Managing director The Directors College
COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE HR AWARDS 2015
The Beyond Boardrooms Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Canadian Rising Star of the Year
Brought to you by:
Sheri Langer and Mark Lang (right) of Deloitte International accepted the Canadian Rising Star of the Year Award on behalf of Dawn Farahani.
“It is a great honour to be the winner of the 2015 Canadian HR Rising Star of the Year Award. I was in so much shock and excitement when I discovered I was nominated and even more surprised to win such a prestigious award!” DAWN FARAHANI People services project manager Colliers International
DAWN FARAHANI couldn’t make it to the awards evening but in fairness, she had a rather more pressing event to prepare for. “The gala event was in Toronto, and being nine months pregnant there was no way I would be able to fly there from Vancouver,” she told HRD. “I felt a little disappointed but I knew my colleagues would attend on my behalf and celebrate our nominations.” Farahani was walking home from work when she got the call a little after 7 pm on awards night. “I stopped in the middle of the street in downtown Vancouver jumping and crying in excitement!” she says. Farahani’s win stemmed from her crucial role in implementing Performance Check-In (PCI) across North America. PCI is the latest performance-management program from
Colliers International. PCI was rolled out at the beginning of 2015 replacing “our very traditional annual performance program.” That one focused on competencies-based employee performance “and didn’t always include developmental or career conversations.” With PCI, however, there regular collaborative meetings between employees and their
“...our end objective is to help people be their best” RICK PATRICK CEO, Beyond Boardrooms
AWARD SPONSOR The new Beyond Boardrooms My Rewards Unlimited (MRU) is a professionally managed employee recognition and rewards program designed for businesses of any size or structure. It’s an online points-based recognition program that creates positive culture in an organization. This leads to higher morale and increased productivity. With MRU, there’s minimal administration from your end and virtually endless choice of employee rewards. Visit beyondboardrooms.com.
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managers. They discuss performance, goals and career development. Farahani says feedback about PCI “has been extremely positive.”
FINALISTS Dawn Farahani, human resources project manager, North America, Colliers International Ana Ivanic, HR and operations manager, Big Viking Games Anna Summers, global HR business partner for global financial crime, HSBC Bank Canada Isaac Heredia, manager, corporate HR and total rewards manager, Town Shoes Jane Watson, senior human resources business partner, Ontario Securities Commission Mariana Oseguera, HR manager, Amaya Software (formerly PYR Software) Michael Burzynski, e-learning designer and developer, First National Financial LP Michelle McRae, team Lead (acting), wellness unit, Ontario Provincial Police Kurtis Poirier, assistant director of human resources, Platinum Investments Stephanie Alarie, manager, human resources, WeirFoulds LLP Taren Krawetz, senior human resources generalist, Canadian Institute for Health Information
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28/11/2015 4:26:04 AM
The MaxSys Staffing & Consulting Award For
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Most Effective Recruitment Strategy
Brought to you by:
“This is an exciting award for Island Health. It’s heartening to hear that we’re inspiring other organizations to reflect on ways they can connect with Aboriginal communities in a spirit of partnership and inclusivity” ROD O’CONNELL Prairie wealth management,strategist, talent acquisition and retention Island Health (Vancouver Island Health Authority)
ISLAND HEALTH’S aboriginal employment strategy is a multilayered approach to promoting and developing sustainable employment within the aboriginal community. “Our strategy considers benefits for every generation and involves a commitment to get to know the people we work with,” says Rod O’Connell, strategist, talent acquisition and retention. “Through our grass-roots, proactive focus on education, information and success – and on aboriginal youth – we encourage individuals to discover careers that promote physical, emotional and economic wellness,” he continues. “We’re always looking at the bigger picture.” The initiative includes an aboriginal career coach who provides interview advice and helps
“It’s an opportunity for our company to give back to the industry that has been so good to us” BRYAN BRULOTTE President and CEO MaxSys Staffing and Consulting
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applicants create effective resumes. As well, a dedicated aboriginal employment team sends out new job postings twice a week, alerting potential employees to Island Health opportunities. “Employment advisors also work in communities across the Island, providing on the ground, grass-roots connections with community members, health officials and elected band representatives,” says O’Connell. “These interactions build trust with the community, making it easier to promote health careers and Island Health as an employer of choice.” In addition to the company’s hand-on approach, Island Health awards two $500 aboriginal employee scholarships and – in partnership with the First Nations Health Authority – hands out 12 individual $1,000
scholarships to aboriginal students in post-secondary programs. Progress is already discernible – in April 2012, just 199 Island Health employees self-identified as being of aboriginal ancestry. By the end of this past August, however, that number had increased to 520.
FINALISTS Island Health (Vancouver Island Health Authority)
Absolute Software Amaya Software (formerly PYR Software) Canada Health Infoway Loblaw Companies TeraGo Networks Voices.com (Interactive Voices)
AWARD SPONSOR MaxSys Staffing and Consulting is a national industry leader. We have more than 2,500 consultants operating in 12 cities across Canada. Since 1993, we’ve been providing quality contract and temporary help services to the private and public sector. We offer all the experience, quality and professionalism that you have come to expect from a national firm. As the winner of numerous business awards, MaxSys is recognized as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies. MaxSys is also an ISO 9001 quality firm. As an employer, MaxSys abides by and is respectful of all employment and Human Rights regulations.
COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE HR AWARDS 2015
28/11/2015 4:26:11 AM
The Beneplan Co-Operative Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
HR Team of the Year
Brought to you by:
Fewer Than 500 Employees In Canada
“It’s recognition for the efforts and work we’ve demonstrated to the managers and employees of our business. We try to partner with them to provide solutions that make sense for our business and recognize individual effort” MORGAN JOHNSON Manager, employee potential and relations Artis REIT
SAID TRICIA Veness to HRD, “It’s an incredible honour to receive national recognition for the hard work and dedication that the HR team has put forth in 2015.” “Winning this award is acknowledgement and validation that the HR team is focusing on producing the people programs and practices that make Artis REIT an employer of choice,” she continued. Veness also stressed that collaboration within the HR team is crucial to success as well as having C-suite backing and support from all Artis employees company-wide. “I hope that winning this award is extra motivation for my team to continue to provide our high level of professional service to the business,” she added.
“It’s an interesting way to get our name out there and to honor people who have done a good job in their fields” VINCE PRINCIPATO Benefits consultant Beneplan Co-operative
FINALISTS Artis REIT Arc Productions Empire Communities
AWARD SPONSOR
Hughes Petroleum Ltd
The Beneplan Co-operative is a member-owned buying group for employee benefits. Beneplan is the only provider in Canada who refund premiums on fully-insured benefit plans when claims are low. Beneplan also provides the lowest rates in the industry due to its size and relationships with insurance companies. For more information, visit beneplan.ca.
Info-Tech Research Group KUBRA Platinum Investments Ltd Pythian RLB LLP
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28/11/2015 4:26:14 AM
The Aird & Berlis LLP Award for
Canadian HR Champion CEO of the Year
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Brought to you by:
“It’s a meaningful recognition of the commitment that our CEO has to the HR function – he’s made it part of the companywide strategy to make people and culture a competitive advantage and this is evidence of that” NORM SABAPATHY Executive vice president of people The Cadillac Fairview Corporation
STRESSES JOHN Sullivan, CEO of The Cadillac Fairview Corporation, “Many factors contribute to a company’s success, but I’m convinced that in today’s volatile global economy, the greatest advantage comes from people.” “Being awarded Canadian HR Champion CEO of the Year is meaningful recognition of Cadillac Fairview’s ongoing commitment to people and culture, and I was honoured to accept this award on behalf of the company’s passionate and
FINALISTS John Sullivan, The Cadillac Fairview Corporation
dedicated team who are the driving force behind Cadillac Fairview’s success,” he added. Executive Vice President of People Norm Sabapathy said Cadillac Fairview’s values state that people are core to the company’s success. “Making this real requires a commitment from
the top of the organization and it’s significant to see John acknowledged for being a strong and visible leader in this regard,” he added. “John has been and continues to be a true champion of HR and the difference it makes in organizational success.”
“... Because we work with HR all the time, the labour and employment group recognizes that and we feel it’s important that the community recognizes it too”
Brian Scudamore, O2E Brands Bruce Dinan, Town Shoes Darlene Bailey, WCG Services Evan Siddall, Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation Frank Kollmar, L’Oreal Canada John Stix, Fibernetics Corporation Peter Crockett, County of Oxford Peter Tarnawsky, Sturgeon County Rick Watkin, KUBRA
LORENZO LISI Partner, Aird & Berlis LLP
AWARD SPONSOR Located in the heart of Toronto’s Bay Street business district, Aird & Berlis LLP comprises a diverse group of more than 150 of Canada’s most talented lawyers. The firm provides a wide range of legal services for the banking, corporate/commercial and corporate finance sectors; the energy, environmental, and insolvency and restructuring sectors; the litigation, municipal and land-use planning sectors; and the real estate and tax sectors. For more details visitairdberlis.com
Syed Hasan, ResponseTek Networks
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COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE HR AWARDS 2015
28/11/2015 4:26:18 AM
The McLean & Company Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
HR Team of the Year
Brought to you by:
500 Employees Or More In Canada
“It’s really awesome to be recognized and I think we’re really lucky that the people we work with, not only in our team but in our company, are amazing” STEPHANIE SINGH HR business partner Pelmorex Media
SAID VICE President of People Anna Petosa, “This award is a testament to the meaningful, impactful work this HR team has delivered over the past year.” “The Pelmorex HR team really gets ‘it’,” she told HRD. “They understand the importance of aligning the HR strategy with the business strategy. They recognize that having a deep understanding of the business units they support will enable them to provide the people strategies necessary to propel the business. They embrace the fact that they are an extension of their business units.” According to Petosa, it’s all these factors combines that allowed – and continue allowing – the Pelmorex HR team to provide meaningful contributions to the achievement of the company’s strategic imperatives. “I’m so proud to work with this team
every day,” she adds. “They are so deserving of this recognition and I’m thrilled to celebrate this win with them. In the words of our Founder and CEO, Pierre Morrissette, ‘Surround yourself with great people, listen to them, and fabulous things will happen.’”
“We believe HR is on the rise in terms of its importance in the organizational arms race for talent and people who are able to capitalize on it the most are the people who will succeed in business” JAMES ALEXANDER Vice president, McLean & Company
FINALISTS Pelmorex Media HR Team
AWARD SPONSOR McLean & Company is a research and advisory firm providing practical solutions to human resources challenges through executable research, tools and advice that have a clear, measurable impact on your business. Our research team uses a rigorous process that identifies and hones best practices; creates practical tools, templates and policies; and supplies clients with the insight and guidance of our subject-matter experts. For more information, visit hr.mcleanco.com.
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The County of Wellington Goodlife Fitness Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre Town Shoes Toyota Canada
www.hrawards.ca
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28/11/2015 4:26:21 AM
The KPMG Award for
BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
Canadian HR Leader of the Year
Brought to you by:
“It’s validation that you can be innovative in your people practices and you can be a best place to work and don’t have to be a cutthroat organization – you can actually love who you work with” SHERRI WRIGHT-SCHWIETZ Head of talent and story ATB Financial
ATB’S SHERRI Wright-Schwietz said she was both humbled and thrilled to claim the prestigious Canadian HR Leader of the Year award – something she insists was only possible thanks to the culture within her company. “I am fortunate to be part of a progressive culture that respects challenging status quo and innovation,” the head of talent and story told HRD. “For years we’ve been this provincial company doing amazing things – but at a national level, we’re the best kept secret,” she continued. “So for us this is a very prestigious win and symbolic for
my team who have worked so hard to think and do differently.” Wright-Schwietz also revealed the program she’s most proud of – the Workplace 2.0 initiative. “It’s all about creating a flexible work environment for team members, including when and where they do their jobs,” she explained. “If working from home is what suits their lifestyles
more, we encourage it.” She added: “I often get asked, ‘What’s in it for the company to have employees work from home?” and my response is always, “Everything.” Wright-Schwietz is overjoyed with her accolade. But, she says , the HR world has taught her not to rest on her laurels. “This award ignites my energy to continue to challenge one-size-fits-all thinking.”
Sherri Wright-Schwietz, ATB Financial
“We work with HR professionals across the country every single day and we like to be able to have this opportunity to honour them, to honour their achievements and to honour their profession”
Pia Collins - Coast Hotels
LAURA CROWTHER
Jason Winkler – Deloitte
National leader, people and change solutions, KPMG
FINALISTS
Melissa Fisher - Hughes Petroleum Carmen Sicilia - McGill University Patricia Farrington - Ontario Provincial Police (Ontario Public Service) Dee Dee Milner - Symcor Inc. Adam Rainey - The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Sandra Hentzen – TransLink
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AWARD SPONSOR KPMG has offices in 33 locations across the country. The firm’s more than 700 partners and 5,600 employees provide crucial services to many of the public and private business, not-for-profit, and publicsector organizations in Canada. KPMG provides Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. We work closely with our clients, helping them to mitigate risks and grasp opportunities. Our clients include business corporations, governments, and public sector agencies and not-for-profit organizations. For more details visit www.kpmg.com/ca/.
COMMEMORATIVE GUIDE HR AWARDS 2015
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SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
BENEFITS
BENEFITS ADMIN:
Saving time and money Every HR director is looking to boost team productivity, and benefits administration is no exception. HRD asks one expert how technology is changing the game Increasingly, that work is being transferred to the insurance carrier. Sun Life Financial helps its clients and their HR teams to administer employee benefits through its AdminPlus program. Marilee Mark, vice president of market development, sat down with HRD to outline the program that meets employees where they’re most used to accessing information – online and on the phone.
SENIOR HR professionals are now moving away from the functionary roles that once defined the occupation. In fact, they’re happily taking on more of a strategic partnership within their organizations, including leading the C-suite in a conversation about the need to grow employee engagement and to build top-
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level talent. Still, the everyday tasks around the administration and management of employees need to get done. As HR continues to do more with fewer resources, they’re looking for ways to cover some of the day-to-day administrative tasks, including those centred on benefits programs.
HRD: How is AdminPlus helping HR? What assistance does it provide? Marilee Mark (MM): We developed AdminPlus to allow HR teams to leave the administration of their benefits plans to us, to the degree they choose. We assign an AdminPlus consultant to every client for aligning our services with their specific needs and providing access to all of the benefits plan, administration and legislative expertise within Sun Life that they require. AdminPlus assists HR teams at every stage of plan membership. For example, we distribute benefits welcome kits to new employees, help them enrol in their plans, and designate beneficiaries. We help existing employees with life changes, such as adding a new dependent to their plan, as well as answering their questions. We keep beneficiary records up to date, and even validate over-age dependents – both time-
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consuming responsibilities for an HR team. These are tasks that must be done in a timesensitive way, but they really take a HR team away from the strategic work they need to do. We recognize the importance of a benefits plan to the employment experience. We’ve also made AdminPlus a very personal experience for employees – much like dealing directly with their own internal HR team. With the addition of innovative technology, we’re able to provide an excellent self-serve platform to employees too. HRD: How do we get a new hire introduced to AdminPlus and what does an HR professional have to do? MM: We’ve developed a process that recognizes how important the welcome experience is to a new employee. It’s been very well received by both clients and their employees. When a new employee joins, we receive a notification, through a regular file feed or other designated format. That triggers the welcome process. We contact the employee, send them a welcome package to explain their benefits plan and how to enrol. If the employee has any voluntary benefits (and most do), we’ll personally call the employee to welcome them to their plan and answer any questions immediately. At the end of the day, AdminPlus ensures that the whole process – enrolment, beneficiary designation, introduction to the plan – has been managed efficiently and easily. HRD: Employee self-service has become standard for much HR technology. Is that the case with AdminPlus? MM: Yes. When a new employee comes on board, they expect the ability to self-serve. An employee can simply sign in to their Sun Life benefits site and, let’s say, make a beneficiary change, or manage a major life event – such as a change in marital status. Self-service really is important, but this is self-service with assistance when employees need it. On an ongoing basis, the AdminPlus team is also available to provide employees with a helpful,
personalized benefits experience whenever it’s needed. HRD: Can you speak to AdminPlus’s technology base? MM: An important advantage for employers and employees is working with an insurance carrier who already handles their data. The Member Enrolment Tool for AdminPlus, the recordkeeping system and the claims system,
choosing, what they’re using, how they work their way through benefits selection, and how they make changes. But it’s even bigger than that: we’ll look at claiming patterns, utilization of claims, regional patterns. Providing such information to HR can help them set their strategy for benefits, and even set up programs that are going to increase the engagement and productivity of their employees. That’s the value of big data.
AdminPlus ensures that the whole process – enrolment, beneficiary designation, introduction to the plan – has been managed efficiently and easily are all integrated. That means there’s no lag time when an employee adds a new dependent, for example. It means that when they contact our AdminPlus Benefits Admin Centre, they speak to a representative who has their plan details, coverage and claims history at their fingertips. It really is a fullyintegrated technology platform, which enhances the quality of an employee’s experience. HRD: There’s a lot of talk about utilizing big data more effectively in HR. How does AdminPlus utilize member data to help HR? MM: The use of big data and employee data is really important today, particularly to simplify the enrolment or administration of benefits plans. As the insurance carrier, we already have the data for the employee, and when they’re re-enrolling in their plan, their benefits plan selection history is made available to them when they’re making selections. This helps guide the employee through making the right benefits choices for them. There’s also certain aggregated data – the analytics – that we’ll be introducing to help employers and employees make decisions. That could be based on what employees are
HRD: There are constant legislative tweaks and regional differences when it comes to benefits. Does AdminPlus account for those differences? MM: As a benefits provider in Canada we stay on top of changes at both the provincial and federal levels. Sun Life monitors legislative changes and differences nationwide, to help ensure plans are compliant and deliver an excellent employee plan experience. We make accommodations for those changes in the way that we pay claims, answer questions, and set up plans, and we keep employers informed of the impact of legislative changes, as well as what’s on the horizon. HRD: Could you generally sum up the advantages of AdminPlus for employers and employees? MM: AdminPlus is much more than benefits administration. As a natural extension of employers’ HR departments, we treat their employees as if they were our own. Employers appreciate the fact that they can “leave it to us” to manage the day-to-day administration while they focus on more strategic business initiatives.
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PEOPLE
PROFILE
Following a passion She oversees about 380,000 employees in more than 170 countries. IBM’s Diane Gherson takes time out to chat with Iain Hopkins about her enduring love of workplace technology and how the tech pioneer is reinventing itself ASK JUST about any successful business person for their number-one piece of advice and invariably the answer comes back: do something you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life. Diane Gherson, senior vice president of human resources at International Business Machines (IBM), may balk slightly at the never-work-a-day part of that maxim, given the long hours she works, but there might just be something in it. Gherson has an enduring love of and fascination for technology – especially the impact it has on work. It’s therefore fortuitous she has ended up in the most senior global HR role at IBM. She was fortunate to be at the MIT Lab for Computer Science in the early 1980s, “when all the great thinkers on technology, organization and change had converged there – along with the hackers.” “We were using the ARPANET – later called the internet – and Emacs text editor, the first version of word processing,” she says. “Now, at IBM, all these years later, I’m again at the forefront of technology change, building cognitive computing into the way we hire and how we match employee skills and interests to open roles.” However, with predictive analytics still in its infancy, Gherson is currently most excited by the use of social and mobile technologies to engage people in how the company is run: crowd-sourcing ideas, testing new program concepts and continuously engaging in
dialogue. “Gone are the days of rolling out a new HR program and waiting a year to revise it based on feedback,” she says. “Employees can be actively involved throughout design, and then make it better through iterative releases. Through participation, employees feel a stronger sense of ownership and connection with the company. They are less like consumers and more like cocreators of HR programs.”
“Analytics is not rocket science, but it is more important than ever for HR professionals to have some background in statistics”
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A focus on big data
Not surprisingly, Gherson is also passionate about the possibilities presented by big data. She suggests HR is “perfect” for big-data analytics, simply because “we have so much unstructured data.” IBM uses analytics in just about everything it does – for example, proactive retention of employees likely to leave, managing skills, and assessing workforce climate. “Early on, we used analytics to identify propensity to leave, and these algorithms have yielded a self-funded program over the last five years, with net savings of almost $US300 million,” Gherson says. “Because skills are so important in our industry, and because they are so dynamic, we are using analytics to infer skills in the workforce based on Linkedin and other resumes, public blogs, project goals, sales pipelines and other unstructured data available in our internal social business platform [called IBM Connections].” IBM also analyzes [internal] social chatter to take a pulse on the level of employee engagement.
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A SYSTEM THAT CAN LEARN Given that 80% of all data today is ‘unstructured’ (news articles, research reports, social media posts, photographs and enterprise system data), IBM has developed Watson, a cognitive technology platform. Watson uses natural language processing and machine learning to reveal insights from large amounts of unstructured data. In the business world, Watson can: - answer your customers’ most pressing questions - quickly extract key information from all documents - reveal insights, patterns and relationships across data Gherson is on record saying Watson plays an important role within IBM, acting like a talent magnet for people with a certain entrepreneurial mindset: “ … For people with big data and cognitive science skills, Watson is a place that feels a lot more like you’re going to a start-up.”
Some HR professionals may worry about such transparency and employee empowerment – but Gherson urges HR professionals to upskill so they can make the most of this “unstructured data’.” “Analytics is not rocket science, but it is more important than ever for HR professionals to have some background in statistics,” she says.
Tough times and new challenges According to Bloomberg, IBM’s employee count shrank 12% in 2014 as the 103-year-old technology giant reinvented itself into a more nimble competitor. IBM divested parts of its portfolios and associated operations. As other tech pioneers are finding, reinvention as a cloud competitor requires a different mindset. Gherson’s biggest HR challenge for 2016 is technology-dependent: a new company-wide performance management system. IBM is co-creating the system with employees, using agile design principles and methodologies. More than 100,000 people have participated in its development. “We ended up with a system without a single performance rating – a radical change for us. The real focus of the new system is feedback – and my challenge is to ensure we create the conditions for great feedback.” Downtime Gherson has 12 to 14 meetings a day, sometimes including formal meetings with her peers and her CEO. She typically doesn’t get to read her e-mails until the workday is over. How does she relax? “I’m pretty disciplined about not looking at my mobile on Saturdays,” she laughs. “That’s my day to catch up with the family, bike, shop, cook or read a good book.”
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SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
CORPORATE WELLNESS
Healthy body, healthy mind, healthy business Employers have embraced physical wellness initiatives, but it’s psychological wellness that’s now gaining traction. How can HR tap into this growing trend? MOST OF us don’t fully understand the intricate design of our brains and bodies. As a result, we’re operating at a fraction of our full capacity. On a personal level, this might be holding you back in terms of your career and life success. Multiply this across an entire organization and the gap between performance and potential performance widens exponentially. There are tangible benefits from wellness initiatives – but what are employers doing to integrate initiatives for both psychological and physical well-being into employee benefits? Diet Studies prove poor diet contributes to the likelihood of depression and anxiety disorders. Conversely, a diet of vegetables, fruit, lamb, beef, fish and whole-grain foods was associated with a 35% lower risk of having depression, and a 34% lower risk for anxiety disorders. “Eating a healthy diet shares much with exercise in that it’s often associated with improved physical health, but not necessarily improved mental health,” says Dr Marie-Hélène Pelletier, the director of workplace mental health for Sun Life Financial, citing a recent study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. “But like exercise, our diets can also have a significant impact on our mental health.” Statistics from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health reveal that more than 500,000 Canadians miss work each week due to mental health issues, with full-time employees identified as the most stressed group of any in Canada.
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While it may be trite to say “you are what you eat,” it’s true, Dr Pelletier says. “Many other studies offer similar results – showing that the old adage ‘you are what you eat’ may in fact ring true from a mental health standpoint,” says Dr Pelletier. “And what they are finding is that a good diet will lead to a decreased risk of mental health issues; it acts like a protective factor, and while not a treatment, it can be used in conjunction with treatment.” Shape up! The economic burden on employers from claims, absences and lost productivity is an eye-popping $20 billion per year, according to a recent Towers Watson report. Canada-wide, mental health issues cost the economy a staggering $51 billion per year. The billions of dollars in lost productivity show a small investment in wellness programs can be money well-spent, says Alana Free, vice president of human resources at GoodLife Fitness. “All of our research has shown that having a wellness program is one of the smartest things they can do,” says Free. “The key is all in the implementation of the program and the quality of it. You must have a defined strategy and it has to be incorporated into the full company and not operate as a silo.” Free cites the Sun Life-Ivey Canadian Wellness Return on Investment Study, Phase 1. It shows workplace wellness programs can save $251 per employee each year.
Vacations are important “Over the years, we’ve noticed some recurring reasons as to why Canadians aren’t taking full advantage of their allotted vacation time,” says stress and wellness expert Beverly Beuermann-King. “Commonly, it’s because things such as looking after family and focusing on their careers have taken priority.” The annual Expedia Vacation Deprivation survey revealed the most common reasons employees cite skipping vacation days as: •heavy work schedules (32%) •saving for other obligations or paying off debt (29%) •personal and family schedules (24%) And Canadians are feeling the effects – more than half (52%) said they’re vacation deprived in comparison to 48% who said the same last year.
TOP TIPS FOR BUSINESS identify “wellness champions” in senior roles promote positive wellness behaviours with targeted, evidence based workshops track wellness factors throughout the year to assess risks and celebrate success train team leaders to promote and facilitate wellness across their teams have an integrated corporate wellness plan and measure its effectiveness have fun with it! Source: Christopher Paterson, managing director of ALCHEMY Career Management
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TOP 10 TIPS FOR INDIVIDUALS 1 get a complete body diagnostic from an integrative doctor to understand your nutritional needs 2
get moving every 45 minutes
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connect with positive people face to face
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book a mini break away
5 remove smart technology from the bedroom and replace it with a good alarm clock (no snooze) 6 wake up at the same time each morning and get your body to some natural light 7 find that hobby allowing you to unplug and unwind 8
share your plan with someone
the more stressed you are, the MORE you do these things, not less 9
10 set a reminder to review your plan once weekly for six weeks Source: Christopher Paterson, managing director of ALCHEMY Career Management
Sixty-six per cent say it’s because they didn’t get enough vacation days this year while 34% say it’s because they don’t get to take all their vacation days. The survey also revealed more than one million Canadians haven’t taken a vacation in more than 15 years. More than 1.4 million have never been on vacation. “While investing in our jobs and family is important, so is investing in our physical and mental well-being,” says Beuermann-King. “In fact, taking time off for yourself can often result in improved relationships with others and greater productivity.” Psychological injury “As a psychologist and a workplace mental health specialist, I see first-hand the toll that mental health issues are having on Canadian employees and employers,” says Dr Pelletier. Yet Ken Buckley, CEO at Healthworks, says organizations are slowly realizing oneoff interventions aren’t sufficient to prevent psychological injury. “Forward-thinking organizations are developing whole wellness frameworks to build positive, open cultures where
employees feel that their mental health is supported and protected,” says Buckley. “Employers are beginning to understand that there’s limited benefit in improving individual employees’ health if they’re working in an unhealthy organizational culture.” Buckley adds that although there are “pockets of industries” with an overdemanding culture, workplaces are increasingly looking for strategies to build a healthy culture. “These can start small and grow incrementally,” he says, “but they need to be genuine and supported from the top down.” Removing the stigma Fear of being stigmatized or issues of denial mean employees often delay declaring mental health problems to their employers, says Susan O’Dowd, vice president of human resources and commercial services at the Hospital for Sick Children. “In order to address the ‘stigma,’ employers should actively educate staff/managers on psychological health and safety and promote the services that are in place to help employees who
are dealing with mental illness,” says O’Dowd. For employers, the bottom line will come first – and getting employees back on the job is paramount. But early detection can preempt an employee from needing that absence from the start. “There is an assumption that a mental illness requires an absence from work. This is not always the case,” says O’Dowd. “Early and effective intervention and workplace support can keep an employee at work and prevent a health absence.” Collaborative and proactive intervention by disability case management staff is essential. It’s also important for the employer and manager to maintain contact during an employee’s absence, she says. “Often managers may not know what to say to an employee,” O’Dowd notes. “It helps to provide managers with direction on what to say.” It’s important for the employer and manager to develop a clear return-to-work plan, involving the employee and the other team members, says O’Dowd. This is essential for better understanding what information the employee wishes to share with colleagues.
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SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
CLOUD TECHNOLOGIES
HR forecast: Increasing cloud Technology innovations may be changing the way businesses operate, but HR has been slow to embrace all the possibilities. Now’s the time to get on board to ensure HR remains an integral part of the business agenda
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SEVERAL KEY elements of HR technology – social, mobile, analytics and cloud-based – are introducing significant changes to the way companies manage their talent. Their combined, cumulative effect has had a massive impact on the contribution talent management can make to business performance. It’s this factor that HR should be concentrating on in their ongoing quest to be treated like true business partners. “That is one of the big ways that we are seeing clients take advantage of cloud technology,” says Madeline Avedon, associate partner, talent, reward and performance for Aon Hewitt Canada. “If you think about it today, the number of organizations that have very siloed task-management practices, how
and aggregation of data,” she says, “especially for the evaluation of the effectiveness of these programs, and the investment in talent. Taking an organizational view of these practices and their people, and having that at their fingertips. Those are big messages that I’m looking at.” What makes cloud technology so exciting is that it’s designed from the employee end rather than solely from the HR perspective. “When you think of who some of the leaders are – organizations like Workday for example – they are getting to do a ‘do-over’ on how the employee wants to experience HR and experience technology, and they’ve built those technologies from a user’s perspective,” says Jeff Williams, executive vice president,
“When you say it’s an HR issue, nobody wants to talk to you. But when you say this is a critical business issue, then all of a sudden you have everybody’s attention – and you are back in the boardroom” Madeline Avedon they evaluate performance, and how they look at talent from a development perspective, might be inconsistent across the organization or maybe not even working across the organization.” These can be brought together with cloudbased technology, she says, allowing organizations to create consistent processes. “It allows for centralized data warehousing
outsourcing at Aon Hewitt. “A great example is in the area of recruiting, as it is designed for a candidate and a manager experience, rather than an HR tracking experience.” By giving up the notion of what Williams calls “pet customizations” and why your own HR processes should be different, you can turn yourself over to the technology provider on some of those processes.
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SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
CLOUD TECHNOLOGIES
“BOILING FROGS”: HR LEFT OUT OF THE DIGITAL LOOP? Paddy Miller, professor of managing people in organizations at the Institute of Higher Business Studies (IESE) Business School, sat down with Human Resources Director to discuss why HR should be more heavily involved in tackling digital disruption. “As we develop digital solutions and innovative ways of meeting customer needs, we can do it with fewer and fewer people. That’s a problem. That’s a major crisis … for HR. “It’s like the boiling frog syndrome. You know, HR hasn’t noticed that the water’s boiling yet. But it is, so how do you get out of that?” The main issue stems from the fact that many traditional HR functions, which previously required a lot of people, can now be done with very few, Miller says. To start talking about this kind of digital transformation, he suggests HR tackle two key areas: • Producing digital leadership by recruiting, training and developing people to drive the digital strategies within the organization. • Creating digital disciples in the rest of the workforce, ensuring everyone has their hearts and minds behind the transformation. “I think you need to reinvent yourself a little bit as an HR person. I think you have to go back to the drawing board and say, ‘There are a lot of loose concepts here – we lack process, we lack training to get people on board.’ HR should be providing all of that and they’re not at the moment,” says Miller. “That allows you to focus on what really is going on with your talent, the analytics around your talent, the experience that your talent is having,” he says. “Rather than trying to design an ironclad custom process out to that employee.” The mobile explosion The explosion of mobile technology has changed the way we do business – and for those looking to collaborate on HR issues, or even in terms of transparency of HR processes, it means simplifying what was a difficult and sometimes mysterious process. “What we’re seeing around adoption of mobile technologies is that there are certain types of transactions and interactions that absolutely make sense on mobile,” says Williams. “No longer do I have to do something complicated to find out what my net pay is; I can click a couple of buttons on an app on my phone and voila! I know what my net pay is this period.” Really this is about streamlining processes and accessing information from anywhere. “The ability to keep processes moving, to
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simply and in a visualized way understand what you’re doing; and to be able to do that from anywhere,” Williams says, “we’re seeing take-up in that.” While mobile hasn’t become the be-all and end-all for HR transactions, there are certain types that really lend themselves nicely to it. “I think relative to where we were three or four years ago, there is a tremendous step up of availability and adoption,” says Williams. Such technology also empowers business partners and people leaders to have real-time access to answer their questions, allowing them to have more ownership and accountability on their people and their people data. “No longer do they have to call up HR and say, ‘give me a list of your high performers,’” says Avedon. “These are things they can look at. They might not be doing it on their iPhone, but they can certainly access this data where and whenever they want. And they can do more predictive things now too if they want, such as determining which high performers are likely to leave.”
And it’s tomorrow’s high performers that are already here today: the millennials. They’re driving the adoption of cloud and mobile technologies. “It is almost a given with the millennial generation that you are going to be able to access all of this information as easily as quickly as possible, it’s going to be interactive, and it’s going to look like YouTube. Any question will be answered at a moment’s notice,” says Avedon. “The technology firms recognize that, and from an HR perspective, it is being able to manage that very savvy user within an organization alongside the not-sosavvy and those who are looking for HR procedural manuals – the more traditional worker.” A little slow on the uptake? Canadian business has been rapped for being too slow to embrace digital technology. Sam Sebastian, managing director of Google Canada, told business leaders at a meeting of the Vancouver Board of Trade that digital-savvy operations outperform their competitors in every industry. “They have higher revenues, productivity, better market valuations,” he says. “They just do better.” But he sees a resistance to change in Canada. Only half of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) have their own websites and less than a third use cloud computing. “Canadian businesses need to be embracing these tools,” says Sebastian. For Williams, it may be more a case of Canadians being cautious by nature; they’re reluctant to jump in with both feet to use new technologies. “My experience is that adoption across a number of technologies has been slow, and not as ‘all-in’ as some of our American friends,” says Williams. “When you see what Obama did with cloud and the US government – that was a bold move. We haven’t seen that so much in Canada. I would suggest cloud adoption in Canada is probably two to three years behind our US counterparts.”
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However, he does point out that change is coming quickly now. “The question two to three years ago was ‘if ’ with cloud; today that has changed to ‘when,’” he says. “There isn’t a customer today where there isn’t a meaningful dialogue going on about cloud, what the jumping in point should be, and how much and when.” “We tend to be very thoughtful about new infrastructure and new technology,” agrees Avedon. “While US organizations were moving towards shared services and outsourcing parts of their business, it took a little while for Canadian companies to move in that direction. I don’t see it as being any different. We tend to be about 18 months to two years behind the US in general.”
of the organizations we deal with, it just isn’t a key issue anymore. “We’re not seeing the ‘data nationalism’ that you’re seeing in pockets of Europe,” agrees Williams. “There are a couple of specific jurisdictions in Canada where the public sector is prohibited from having their data, places like Nova Scotia and British Columbia.” Looking to the future Avedon sees two major points that HR departments should be focusing on. “We’re all using our iPhones, and we’re accustomed to having everything in real time. We’re constantly getting updates on our apps without any warning – there’s no big announcement, it is just sent to you, you
“There is a sea-change afoot – not only in the technologies that enable all of this cloud stuff, but in the way organizations think about their people as consumers of HR, and thinking of them as assets of the organization” Jeff Williams Contributing to this is the fact that these technologies are coming out of the US. Canada doesn’t have as many homegrown versions here, leading to a wait-and-see attitude. Is privacy still a concern? Insofar as privacy laws playing a role in delaying the deployment of new technologies, that’s no longer the case. “Maybe two or three years ago there was quite a bit talk about wanting to keep it in Canada and not get into the Patriot Act. Today, I’ve held conversations with clients about that not being an issue or a reality anymore,” Avedon says. “Security is a very big focus of these technology firms, and they’ve done a very good job at communicating how important it is. Most
acknowledge it, and you go with the flow,” she says. “I think that ability to change and acknowledge change has to be wellunderstood in HR. We are empowering the organization to access this data so you can do your work more productively. “The other piece of that is sometimes it makes sense to have an available, mobile technology – but it’s not about that,” continues Avedon. “It’s more about the way in which you can access it, and how it’s organized on the system. I think the change management piece is what HR departments really need to get their heads around, and I think that is going to be more and more important; as there is constant upgrades and constant change once you are onboard with the cloud and are committed to the system.” “These are issues that are at the front of
FOUR INDUSTRY-CHANGING TECH DISRUPTIONS FOR HR IN 2016 A recent report, ‘HR Technology for 2016: 10 Big Disruptions on the Horizon’ (written by Josh Bersin, the principal and founder of Bersin by Deloitte), looked at the top advancements HR should be aware of in the coming year. Here are the top four:
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HR applications will continue their shift from being simple tools for the HR team to becoming more integrated systems designed for employees and other users. These will be designed to offer a more consumer-like experience to staff.
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Mobile apps have moved to become the world’s primary technology platform and 2016 will be no different. Just about anything falling under HR can be redesigned as an app. Breakthrough areas expected to occur include platforms for engagement and feedback.
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Enterprise resource planning (ERP) vendors will become credible, effective providers of HR technology. They’ll offer fully integrated solutions combining aspects such as recruitment, learning and performance management.
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More HR apps and software packages will be purpose-built for the cloud. There are already a great deal of new providers emerging with systems designed for payroll, learning content, time tracking and more that can be stored and accessed from anywhere. the house, that we’ve been wrestling quite hard with,” says Williams. “I think that HR is catching up; we still hear across the board from CEOs that talent is, if not number one, it’s number two on their agenda.” Developing the capability to handle and analyze this data will be a major concern for HR departments; someone with a curious or insights-driven approach will be required to manage it, adds Avedon. “It’s no longer about HRIS reporting,” she says. “It’s more about what sort of workforce insights can we develop through this, and how can we show the value in our investment from a people perspective.”
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FEATURES
MINDFULNESS
THE SKY’S THE LIMIT We all know about unconscious bias but what about the Pygmalion Effect? Or the Golem Effect? Corrinne Armour outlines how selfimposed mental limits inhibit optimal workplace performance SELF-IMPOSED mental limits can kill careers. Mental limits affect motivation and personal performance, and don’t allow for leadership based on openness and curiosity. They limit the potential seen, and therefore nurtured, in others. They limit the capacity of teams to achieve optimal performance. As a
the results we need,” or “I’ll never be good at that,” do they realize their impact on the situation? Without examining your beliefs and understanding how they may be creating self-imposed mental limits, you’re at risk of buying into a false picture of potential – for yourself, your teams and your organization.
The Golem Effect means people perform poorly when expected to. For example, if a leader expects an employee to fail, that will likely be the outcome leader, changing your mind is the key to changing results.
You see with your beliefs, not your eyes Beliefs create conditions in which people live. While beliefs can support the seemingly impossible heights of great achievers, they can equally sabotage the simplest of goals. Beliefs colour how you see the world and how you live in it – they create your self-imposed mental limits. When leaders lament, “It’s hard to get good people,” or “This team’s not capable of getting
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Three ways self-imposed mental limits inhibit performance
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What you get is what you expect
The Pygmalion Effect1 is a psychological principle describing people’s propensity to live up to high expectations placed upon them. When translated to leadership, this creates a self-fulfilling prophecy in those you lead. When you expect someone to rise to the challenge, and you support them to do so, they will perform. The Golem Effect produces the same but opposite effect: people perform poorly when
expected to. For example, if a leader expects an employee to fail, that likely will be the outcome. The upshot for you? You get what you expect when it comes to developing performance in others. What you hold possible sets the frame into which others can grow, and your self-imposed mental limits can serve to lift or reduce their performance.
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A fixed mindset limits growth
Adopting a fixed mindset2 limits achieving optimal performance. •Fixed mindset – The belief that skills, talents and capabilities are predetermined and finite. They can’t be developed – there is talent or there isn’t. •Growth mindset – The belief that talents and abilities can be developed – there is potential to foster new skills. Leaders who adopt a growth mindset believe they (and others) can, and will, improve with learning and experience. They see failure
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Leadership with self- imposed mental limits Daniel has no people skills, and if watched closely, he’ll provide enough evidence to terminate him on grounds of poor performance.
Daniel will rise to the role with support and coaching.
Daniel doesn't have people skills and there’s nothing to be done about it. There’s no one with the skills to teach him; he must be moved.
With opportunity and actionable feedback, Daniel will develop the ability to relate well to people. Even small incremental improvements will result in the gradual development of a good skill base. This is also an opportunity to heighten your leadership skills by working with him on this challenge.
The DunningKruger Effect
As a skilled leader who can judge people on performance, it’s clear Daniel lacks capability in his role.
Daniel may not realize the extent to which he’s overestimating his ability to connect with others. This can be communicated to him.
Ingroup bias
Having come from a great team, it would be better to persuade one of them to come here. They could learn quickly and would do a good job.
While it would be easy to bring in someone from a previous team, the ingroup can be expanded to include Daniel.
Confirmation bias
Daniel isn’t good with people. He ruffles customers’ feathers; he never gets it right.
The tendency to “see” Daniel’s weak points will be replaced with focusing on what he does well.
Golem/ Pygmalion Effect
Fixed/growth mindset
as an opportunity to grow and learn, and are willing to take risks and push boundaries. Leaders with a fixed mindset experience an urgency to prove themselves. Success depends upon protecting their fixed qualities and concealing their deficiencies. They avoid situations where failure is likely, or even possible. When failure occurs, the focus is on rationalizing the failure rather than learning from it.
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Unconscious bias
Unconscious biases are the stereotypes that shape your thinking. You’re faced with billions of pieces of information at any time, and you use stereotypes – both conscious and unconscious – to make generalizations so you don’t have to analyze all that data from scratch. Here are just three unconscious biases that could be limiting potential in yourself and those you lead. • Confirmation bias is selective thinking
Leadership with openness and curiosity
and filtering. It results in favouring information confirming your preconceived ideas and supports your hypothesis. • Ingroup bias is the tendency to give preferential treatment to others perceived to be members of “your group” (people most similar and/or well known to you). • The Dunning-Kruger Effect is the tendency for people with low skills to overestimate their ability in social and intellectual settings, while experts will underestimate their abilities.
Meanwhile, back in the workplace You are frustrated with Daniel, who you “inherited” six weeks ago when you took on this new role. Daniel has been leading a customer-facing team for eight months yet he doesn’t warm to customers – or anyone. You suggested he work on his interpersonal skills and you recommended a training course, but there has been no visible change. Contrast two ways your thinking could impact Daniel’s performance and your success as a leader (see boxout above). While this may sound like an artificial comparison, I often see examples of one or more of these self-imposed beliefs playing
out in this way. It’s a short cut to reducing your performance and the performance of those around you.
Expand your mental limits to expand performance What can you do to encourage optimal performance at work? 1. Expect and encourage the best to leverage the Pygmalion Effect. Be clear on judgments, expectations and beliefs you hold about yourself and your people. 2. Adopt a growth mindset to fast-track your growth and potential, and to develop those around you. 3. Develop an awareness of unconscious bias and how this impacts your decision-making and your ability to unleash your own potential and the potential of others. Sources: 1Rosenthal, R. & Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. 2
Carol S Dweck PhD, Mindset: The new psychology of success, 2006, The Random House Publishing Group.
Corrinne Armour is a leadership speaker, trainer and co-author of Developing Direct Reports: Taking the guesswork out of leading leaders. Contact her at corrinne@corrinnearmour.com.
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ONE-ON-ONE
SHERRI WRIGHT-SCHWIETZ
Best of the best HRD chats to the Canadian HR Leader of the Year about ‘Workplace 3.0’, the age of discuption and the benefits to be gleaned from big data AT SEPTEMBER’S glittering Canadian HR Awards, ATB Investor Services’ head of talent and story, Sherri Wright-Schwietz, picked up perhaps the most revered trophy of the night: the Canadian HR Leader of the Year. HR Director sat down for an in-depth one-one-one with the Alberta-based winner. HRD: If you could give your younger self, or someone entering HR for the first time, one piece of advice – what would it be? Sherri Wright-Schwietz: Stop thinking you know everything and should be a VP by the time you’re 30. You actually have no clue how much you don’t know. Be humble and understand how much there is for you to still learn and that only time, age and failure are going to teach you all you need to know. Be confident that if you work hard, your good work will be recognized when it’s the right time. Be open to feedback, and try to incorporate that feedback to see if it actually does make you better. You might be pleasantly surprised. HRD: Is there anything exciting in the pipeline for your HR department? SWS: I’m lucky enough to be leading a project to design the workplace of the future. We’re calling it Workplace 3.0. ATB Financial has this amazing team that looks at big data all the time. They provide us with innovative insights and ask brilliant questions that force us to think completely outside the box. One of the ways we’re doing this is by using their research as a filter to better understand what the demographics of our
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future workforce might look like. For example, in the past, HR and leaders “felt” women liked flexibility more than men due to the need for life balance. Guess what the data says? Both genders equally value that. Surprised? Many are. Another great question with some implications would be, what is the generation distribution of the future and how does the workplace of the future take into account the needs, beliefs and values of boomers to digital natives? Then what does technology look like in the future? Travel? Physical space? Are we living on other planets, not just in other
promotions didn’t go my way and I felt it was because there was someone blocking me, or someone undermining me. But when it comes right down to it, I didn’t have a skill, a vantage point or maybe even a connection with someone to make those things move forward. It was my job to be successful. It was my responsibility to earn that promotion. Stuff happens. Budgets get cut. Bosses get fired. You have to be equipped to navigate all of those situations. You and you alone. I can be the best leader I know how to be to clear the way for my team, but in the end it comes down to their passion, their drive, their skills and abilities. I can’t promote or support something that isn’t there. HRD: What’s your biggest industry worry or concern right now? SWS: We are watching disruptors coming into all industries that are game changers. Will banks even deal in dollars and cents in the future? Will retailers still need bricks and mortar to sell out of? Will we go to a person face-to-face to get advice? All these disruptors make me wonder what the implication will be on people. All those can make jobs go away. So what jobs and careers are created from them?
“Stuff happens. Budgets get cut. Bosses get fired. You have to be equipped to navigate all of those situations. You and you alone” countries? Have we finally gotten rid of organizational hierarchies and ebb and flow in and out of work “just in time”? It’s this kind of thinking that will help us better understand the future workforce and design a workplace to best suit the needs of future generations. HRD: What’s the biggest professional obstacle you – or your team – have faced and how did you overcome it? SWS: This could also be my answer for question one as it’s really advice and 20/20 vision when one looks back and reflects. It’s so hard to admit to oneself, but honestly, I have been my biggest obstacle. I can remember so many times in my career when projects or
What are the skills and knowledge of the future that we’ll need? How do we in HR be disruptors instead of becoming extinct? It’s up to us to help people find purpose and passion and happiness amid all this uncertainty. HRD: What’s the proudest moment or achievement of your HR career so far? SMS: The announcement in Toronto in September when they said my name for Canadian HR Leader of the Year. It meant so much to me, as it validated the hard work of the whole team back in Alberta. We are a regional financial institution trying to be innovative and forward thinking and this brought that to the forefront.
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FUTURE FORECASTING: HR IN 2016 AND BEYOND Organizations are starting to rethink the format and structure of their HR functions. HR consultancy PageUp see it going in one of three ways.
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HR becomes extinct. This could occur if many of the functions traditionally done in HR, such as transactional work and talent management, is devolved to line functions and employees and managers take them over, supported by technology. All the technology that HR is using becomes business line technology. Other areas requiring specialist skills are outsourced.
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Automation of the backend sees HR morph into something new. This revolves around the question: What does a human need to do that technology can’t? HR turns into more of an internal consultant. It’s an advisory and coaching role, helping managers to unleash talent and optimizing talent pools, and becoming talent strategists.
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HR incorporates business acumen, data science skills, marketing skills. These skills dictate what is included in the HR team. It’s not necessarily about L&D and recruitment; it shifts away from those functions – which could be performed at line level – and moves into workforce planning and the strategic positioning of the organisation. HRD: What is the most rewarding thing about being in HR? SMS: We support people’s whole career life cycle. The good, the bad and the ugly. What my team and I design and innovate actually affects people’s happiness. We can go to bed at night knowing we helped people be the best they can be and live their best life. Their whole life. HRD: How do you predict the industry will change, if at all, over the next five years? SMS: Our clients will want more and more future predicting data analysis. They’ll want more proactive ideas and solutions they don’t even know they want yet. We’ll be creating roles and looking for skills we’ve never thought of before. We’ll see roles that were traditionally HR – such as people change – moving into business transformation teams and roles that weren’t HR – such as analysts and high performance coaches – become part of HR.
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FEATURES
CULTURE
HRD meets the king of culture Armed with a unique and undeniably effective approach to culture, high school drop-out Stan Slap has instilled his people-first management ethos into organizations all over the world. Here, he talks to Nicola Middlemiss about book deals, building trust and using business as a conduit for humanity 62
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“I DON’T consider myself a role model for a well-planned life,” admits Stan Slap when asked how he achieved his phenomenal success despite dropping out of high school. “It all turned out okay but that’s more serendipity than anything else,” he insists. “It could have gone bad.” The suggestion that everything turned out okay is a ludicrous understatement – since starting his namesake organization SLAP 25 years ago, the San Francisco-based management consultant has conducted business in more than 70 countries; earned superlative praise from some of the world’s most respected corporate leaders; and signed a three-book deal with British publishing house Penguin. The latter, Slap says, is one of his biggest achievements. “I’m a huge reader and writers are heroes to me,” he reveals. “The ability to take a few dozen letters and turn them into these transportational works of art is always something I’ve been stunned by and I just really wanted to do it myself.” A people-first approach Slap acknowledges his best-selling books are far from the fictional masterpieces that have captured his attention since he was a kid. But they’re a refreshing alternative to the typical stuffy management books. Slap’s books offer a much-needed glimpse into what businesses could look like if leaders dared to shake up their priorities and put people first. “I believe that the lack of humanity in business is a global issue and it affects everybody,” Slap says, when asked why he decided to write a business book rather than pursue his personal passion for fiction. “No matter how many clients we took on, we couldn’t get through the scale we needed to so the book was a tool to get to that scale.” Everyone has to start somewhere It’s clear Slap is on a mission to change the status quo of global corporations, so I asked him how it all started. “For me, the worst thing that one human being can do to another – short of actually killing somebody – is to make somebody feel
small,” he begins. “So the passion that started to drive my company in the early days was the notion that nobody should be diminished by business, working in it or buying from it.” While colleagues shared his compassionate ethos, the same couldn’t be said for everyone. “Everybody in my company loved that idea so I naively assumed that every other company would love it too,” he laughs. “I’d go to these meetings with clients and say; ‘You know what’s really important here – nobody should be diminished by business, working in or
All roads lead to culture SLAP carved out its consulting niche by starting with a proprietary definition of what a culture is; then figuring out how it operates; and finally identifying the biggest potential gain for an enterprise in regards to its manager culture, its employee culture and its customer culture. “Culture is the most overused and often least understood concept in business,” asserts Slap. “Our expertise is in understanding how the three cultures in business actually work
“I believe that the lack of humanity in business is a global issue and it affects everybody” buying from it,’ and I’d get this immediate, intense, rabid disinterest. They’d be like ‘Okay, yeah that’s beautiful. Now back to these numbers.’” This lukewarm reaction led Slap to focus solely on culture. “I realized that if I was really going to change the standard, I’d have to find something that was of compelling interest to people – and that’s what led me to culture because culture is where the humans gather in business,” he explains.
then maximizing their commitment to the enterprise.” “I knew that if I could reposition these three cultures back to the enterprise as newly precious workable assets – the enterprise would protect them,” he explains. “An enterprise will instinctively protect anything that’s an asset – especially if it’s just been presented as newly squeezable – and you can’t protect these three cultures without protecting the humanity they represent.” The biggest challenge, Slap says, is getting
FOCUSING ON EMPLOYEE CULTURE Slap’s latest book, Under the Hood: The Stunning Power Hidden Inside Your Employee Culture is his second literary offering. It focuses on the importance of establishing a positive employee culture. Here, HRD asks about the biggest challenges this poses to HR professionals. “Understanding what an employee culture really is, that’s probably the greatest challenge to HR professionals,” reveals Slap. Despite acknowledging the difficulty of truly understanding an employee culture, Slap insists much of the issue is down to smoke and mirrors. “There’s so much mythology and misdirection and superstition and generalized academic babble about what a culture is,” he complains. “It’s an independent organism living right inside the enterprise and its motivations are fundamentally different from that of the company it works for – but they can be aligned,” he insists, “and when they’re aligned that’s when you get maximum commitment.” This theory of commitment is what many leaders miss in their attempts to create a positive company culture, asserts Slap. “The definition of a great culture is not a happy culture – the definition of a great culture is a committed culture,” he explains. “Once it’s seen that way, as a business performance issue, that’s when you are on the way to taking it seriously and treating it with the respect it deserves.”
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FEATURES
CULTURE THREE BIG QUESTIONS
THREE BIG CULTURES
You left home at 16 and never finished high school – how would you say that influenced you? I think it gave me an appreciation for the importance of character and a very well chosen community of people. I was on my own and had to figure a lot of stuff out and I think it just gave me different parameters to what I look at – because everything I did had big consequences and there wasn’t necessarily going to be any coverage for that so I really had to think through the implications of things. Despite your unconventional start, did you always expect to achieve big things? I can’t claim that kind of retroactive self- awareness. Really it was kind of a guided missile. I was always – even as a little kid – unusually fascinated by business. Just the act of commerce and business as a conduit for humanity always fascinated me. While some kids were looking at baseball – and I did that too – and sports and this and that, I always had this thing for business. Did I think I was going to be successful at it? There’s no way to answer that question without sounding like arrogant snot. I figured that I would do something – whether it would get me praised or jailed, I don’t know. You’ve done business in more than 70 countries, is there somewhere you enjoy working the most? Each country has got its own attractions. A lot of the developing countries are great because you’ve got the ability to mint their perspective from the get go – the right way to look at business. Then there are a lot larger countries – some of the Asian ones – where there’s just such a tremendous desire and an eagerness to learn. In Asian culture, the sense of longevity and humility that a lot of companies have is just such a delight. In Norway, their definition of trust is just phenomenal – it’s distinct from any other country that I know of. You start with trust, you start with that equity that you are trustworthy as an individual, as an enterprise, as a government entity – but if you ever burn that trust you might as well leave the country. other organizations to realize the true value – and power –company cultures hold. “The problem is that if you don’t understand what a culture is, you don’t understand the manifestations of real cultural impact,” he says.
Slap says some organizations still falsely categorize culture as “soft and fluffy,” so everyone feels confident to assert their misguided opinions – even if they’re not experts. “A lot of the challenge is, without making
“The passion that started to drive my company in the early days was the notion that nobody should be diminished by business, working in it or buying from it” “You wouldn’t understand leadership, you wouldn’t understand strategic execution and you wouldn’t understand branding – all of those things are purely cultural play.” Everyone has an opinion… Many HR professionals are well aware of the vital importance a culture can play. However,
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somebody feel like an idiot when they’re very accomplished, gently but firmly rewiring the definitions of culture and helping them realize what’s really possible,” he explains. Despite quantifiable evidence of his success and gushing testimony from the likes of Apple, Ebay, Facebook, Google, HSBC, Microsoft and many, many more, Slap says some
1. Manager culture: “The biggest issue for the enterprise is the gaining of emotional commitment – a company can gain financial commitment, intellectual commitment and physical commitment but those combined aren’t as important as emotional commitment,” warns Slap. “Emotional commitment will translate as managers taking on a company’s success as a personal crusade. Sometimes you get that in the early garage days or in times of tremendous pain or gain but you need self-sustained emotional commitment for prolonged success.” 2. Employee culture: “It doesn’t matter how well strategies are planned, it’s how well they’re implemented that counts and that success depends entirely on your employee culture,” stresses Slap. “Ultimately, the employee culture has the power to make or break any management plan. 3. Customer culture: “The biggest compliment that a company can be given is if its customer culture company brands it,” says Slap. “This means you have transferred sustainability of your company to your customer and they advertise themselves for you.
organizations still stubbornly resist change. “I would say that, without naming them, the toughest companies to work with are the ones that operate with a fundamental contempt of their employees and customers,” says Slap. “Either that, or the ones that are just trying to divert attention from previously committed heinous acts, when they’re not really repentant.” “We don’t do that anymore,” he adds. “Those were very early mistakes we made in the company but we have great radar for that now.” Of course the bad seeds, Slap says, are few and far between. “There’ve been a lot of beautiful moments we’ve had in companies where you can see the epiphany come together and say: ‘My God, we can actually treat humans with empathy and respect and make a ton of money from doing it!’ “Those are beautiful. We’ve turned around a lot of companies, we’ve saved a lot of companies, we’ve helped companies scale without losing their soul and we’ve been responsible for legendary performance improvement in companies,” he says. “I’m in business to make the business case for humanity because if we lose it in business, we’re all doomed,” he adds. “If we save it company by company, manager by manager, then we save ourselves.”
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