Seth Godin’s new eBook

KNOCK KNOCK, Seth Godin’s Incomplete Guide to Building a Web Site That Works.

Record-setting damages awarded

Here are some links to the Keays v. Honda Canada Inc. judgment:

• Three posts from Michael at Thoughts from a Management Lawyer
  • Reasonable Apprehension of Bias – A Tough Subject
  • Landmark Punitive Damages Award
  • More on Keays v. Honda Canada Inc.
• A copy of the text of the judgment at Lancaster House: labour law on-line.
• Some thoughts from Ogilvy Renault.
• Robert Smithson’s Legal Ease column from Monday, May 2, 2005.
• An article from HRM Guide.

Categories: Termination Wrongful-Dismissal Progressive-Discipline Performance-Management

Work-life balance

Catbert skewers work life balance in today’s strip.

JobQuality.ca has added a feature to its web-site that allows you to find information on work-life balance across Canada.

Over the next few months, we will add new regional data on work-life balance to this site. The data will be drawn from the groundbreaking research report Where to Work in Canada? An Examination of Regional Differences in Work Life Practices by Professor Linda Duxbury (Sprott School of Business – Carleton University) and Professor Chris Higgins (Richard Ivey School of Business – University of Western Ontario).

This series of select indicators explores regional differences in Canada on issues of work-life balance. These new indicators will help employers, governments, and other policy makers develop human resource, social, and labour market policies that address issues of particular concern in each region.

Key areas to be examined:

• The Work Environment
• Perceived Flexibility – Management Support – Organizational Culture
• Work and Family Outcomes
• Family Outcomes
• Organizational Outcomes
• Employee Well-being

Categories: Employee-Relations

Human Resources neuroses

H.R. fun from the Telegraph. Some of my favourites:

• Adult Consultancy Dependency: A regression to a child-like state on expensive management consultants who encourage that dependency. This leads to an inability to make decisions without consultants at hand.
• Creativity Finding Delusion: The belief that everyone is creative; that creativity is desirable in everyone; and that a few expensive courses can unblock and unleash creativity, even in health and safety experts.
• Narcissistic Organogram Condition: A delusion caused by fiddling around with the organisational chart in the belief that a) it is important b) anyone pays attention to it and c) one can promote HR by doing so.
• Teamitus: The insistence that everyone does and should work in teams. This involves commissioning sadistic ex-corporals to teach the benefits of interdependent teams on cold, wet Welsh hillsides.

Categories: Humour

Get fat, get fired!

Heath Row posted these links a couple of days ago at FC Now. We were discussing a similar issue in a recent harassment awareness session. There’s a class of mid-scale regional/national chain restaurants —e.g., Moxie’s, Earl, Milestones, etc— that seem to be staffed by young, slim, attractive employees. Do they deliberately discriminate against fat, ugly applicants in their recruiting process? Or, is beauty a BFOR? :^

Weighty Issues

Imagine: You could be fired for gaining more than 7% of your weight. The casino under fire for this questionable HR policy even weighed its staff to establish a “baseline” weight.

FC team members have previously touched on how beauty and height can help your career. But do you think someone should be let go because they put on the pounds?

Categories: Employee-Relations Policy-Procedures

How not to terminate

Work up to it in a group e-mail message.

Categories: Termination Wrongful-Dismissal

10 Tips For Taking Yourself Seriously

So Your Employees Do, Too.

Susan Heathfield is the queen of H.R. tip lists. In this article she extracts 10 tips from the book, “The Girl’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business: Candid Advice, Frank Talk, and True Stories for the Successful Entrepreneur”, by Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio.

Categories: Employee-Relations

Civility At Work: 20 Ways to Build a Kinder Workplace

by Tom Terez

It’s not always easy being nice. There are deadlines to meet, conflicts to settle, resources to share, promotions to go for—all of which can pit people against each other. What to do? Here are 20 practical ideas. If you believe that workplaces work better when people get along, scan this list and start living it.

1. Say what you mean, and mean what you say. There’s no substitute for authentic communication.

2. Be less inclined to give advice—and more inclined to seek it.

3. Resist the urge to jump to conclusions about people and their motives. Go to the source, get the facts, and then decide.

4. Identify the biggest redeeming quality of that person who’s always driving you crazy. Keep it in mind the next time the two of you interact.

5. When greeting a colleague, skip the mindless “How are you?” Ask a question that shows genuine interest.

6. Go out of your way to say thank you. Sincere appreciation is powerful stuff—it’s feedback, recognition, and respect all wrapped in one.

7. If you’re overdue in showing gratitude, make up for lost time. Contact everyone who’s owed thanks from you, and let them know how much you appreciate their help.

8. When credit and compliments come your way, spread them around to all who helped. And if you think you’re solely responsible for that honoured achievement, think again.

9. Promise only what you can deliver. If what you deliver falls short, explain why.

10. When things go wrong, resist the urge to assign blame. It’s the system that usually fails, so fix the system, not the people.

11. Widen your social circle. If you always go to lunch with the same group, invite someone new.

12. Give a gift for no reason. If you work with nature lovers, order some plants or flowers. If the group has a chronic sweet tooth, get some sweet dishes and keep them full.

13. When a rumour reaches your ear, let it go out the other.

14. Step down from the treadmill of daily tasks and have an inefficient chat with a colleague. If it’s someone you rarely engage in conversation, all the better.

15. Show interest in someone else’s interests. You may not be dying to hear about Pat’s passion for stamp collecting, but Pat will be thrilled you asked.

16. When you take a stand and later realize it’s the wrong stand, be honest enough to say so.

17. Involve more people in weighing options and making decisions. There’s incredible brainpower all around you, so why not put it to work?

18. If you tend to send e-mails to colleagues who are an easy walk away, give the computer a rest. Get up, walk over, and talk to them.

19. Try going a whole day without making judgments about people. Good luck—it’s tough!

20. Don’t wait for kindness to come your way. Gandhi had it right: We must be the change we wish to see in the world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tom Terez is a speaker, workshop leader, and author of 22 Keys to Creating a Meaningful Workplace. His Web site, http://BetterWorkplaceNow.com, is filled with tools for building a great work environment. Write to Tom@BetterWorkplaceNow.com or call 614-571-9529.

Copyright 2002 by Tom Terez Workplace Solutions Inc.

Categories: Employee-Relations

Recruiting Problems for US Armed Forces

U.S. Army offers shorter enlistment to recruits

The U.S. Army will allow recruits to sign up for just 15 months of active-duty service, rather than the typical four-year enlistment, as it struggles to lure new soldiers amid the Iraq war, a general said on Thursday.

Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, U.S. Army Recruiting Command head, also said this was “the toughest recruiting climate ever faced by the all-volunteer Army,” with the war causing concern among potential recruits and their families and the economy offering civilian job prospects.

link from BD

Categories: Recruiting

Workplace Harassment Resources (Canadian)

• Harassment: What it is and what to do about it—Source: Canadian Human Rights Commission
• Talking about harassment—Source: Education Wife Assault
• Violence in the workplace—Source: Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)
• Violence in the workplace prevention guide—Source: Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)

Categories: Occupational-Health-and-Safety

The 7 Forms Of ID Theft

David Fraser points to a Yahoo! article listing seven common ways your personal ID can be stolen. I use a gel pen all the time. I didn’t realize that was a good way to protect your cheques (point 4).

1. Stealing company data with your personal information. 2. Pretexting. 3. Dumpster diving. 4. Outgoing mail theft. 5. Account takeover. 6. Skimming. 7. Raiding your old computer.

Categories: Technology

12 Thoughts on Employee Terminations

Michael Fitzgibbon gives us 12 Thoughts on Employee Terminations—from a Canadian perspective—at Thoughts from a Management Lawyer.

His first thought, “You can’t eliminate risk you can only manage it,” resonates with me. When we receive a law suit, a standards’ complaint or a letter from a lawyer, a manager’s first reaction tends to be defensive. “We followed these steps… and that should protect us from being sued.” No, the purpose of process is not to prevent a suit, but to support the employer’s actions should the issue go to some form of hearing.

The optics of the termination are important, because those optics will influence the judge, if you’re challenged.

Categories: Employment-Law

North American Occupational Safety and Health Week

"Equip. Educate. Empower” is the theme of North American Occupational Safety and Health Week

Edmonton… May 1 to 7, 2005 is North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) week. Activities across Alberta will focus the attention of employers, employees, and the general public on recognizing and eliminating hazards in the workplace to prevent injury and illness.

“The safety week theme of ‘equip, educate and empower’ is very appropriate,” said

Mike Cardinal, Minister of Human Resources and Employment (HR&E). “Safety is a shared responsibility and everyone needs to know how to do their part to keep workplaces safe.”

Members of the public can help make Alberta workplaces safer by sharing proven ideas that have prevented injury or illness with local organizing committees. These tips on safety will be distributed to Albertans at events and at work. It may be just what is needed to save someone’s life.

The Work Safe Alberta initiative has achieved significant results in enhancing workplace safety in Alberta over the past few years. HR&E’s partnership with industry and labour has contributed to 10,000 fewer injuries each year in the province through such activities as:

* increased inspections of worksites across Alberta to ensure compliance with safety requirements * educating employers and workers about how to work safely * acting as a partner in the Partners in Injury Reduction financial rebate program, along with WCB-Alberta, for employers who have safety Certificates of Recognition * formally recognizing employers who are Best Safety Performers * formally recognizing people or groups for safety innovations

For event and contact information visit the NAOSH web site: www.naosh.org

– 30 – Media enquiries may be directed to:

Chris Chodan, Communications Alberta Human Resources and Employment (780) 427-5585

OR

Reinhard Dunse Provincial NAOSH Chair (780) 922-5809

Categories: Occupational-Health-and-Safety