BC HRMA was proud to sponsor the Big Sisters’ 16^th Annual Spring Lunch Fundraiser held at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in early May.  The sold out event raised $55,000 and featured a keynote address on leadership by Bonnie Brooks, president of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

The highlight of the event, however, was a personal and heartfelt testimonial by alumni Little Sister Darci. She shared her emotional story, her perspective on the intrinsic value of mentorship and the importance of positive female role models to vulnerable girls like herself.

Big Sister Michelle with Little Sister Darci and MC Lynda Steele. Image courtesy of Lani Hyde Photography, May 2012

When explaining the relationship with her Big Sister Michelle, Darci said “I value all her teachings. I have learned about strength, respect and self-expression. She has taught me life skills and confidence so I can see for myself how I can reach my full potential. She has pushed me to grow and go far and that’s where I’m headed. I never knew that about myself before.”

“Girls need positive role models to get out of the cycle and to feel like they have power over themselves and their lives. I don’t want my daughter or nieces to feel like they’re weak or unimportant,” she said. “Without this program I probably wouldn’t have known that there was an outlet. I probably wouldn’t have graduated from high school or started college but that is what I am doing now.”
Darci received a standing ovation for bravely sharing her story in the hope of benefiting future ‘little sisters’ such as herself. Darci is a true ambassador for the Big Sisters organization and the spirit of mentorship.

Many Little Sisters suffer from low self-esteem, social isolation, and a lack of enriching experiences as a result of poverty, family distress, abuse, loss or other life challenges. Just having someone to listen to them, have fun with them and tell them they are special can have a tremendous impact on these young girls. The Big Sister’s Organization believes that the benefits from the relationship formed with a caring, supportive woman helps girls build self-esteem and confidence to make positive life choices.

There are currently more than 100 young women on a waitlist for a mentor and, thanks to the Spring Lunch, 28 young women will be matched with a Big Sister or Study Buddy tutor and be able to experience a life-changing friendship that will empower them to reach their full potential.

Read Darci’s full speech, watch “The Power of Mentoring” video or visit www.bigsisters.bc.ca  for more information or to make a donation.

Erin Engstrom is the conference and events manager at BC HRMA. When Erin isn’t working, she can be found cooking for friends at an impromptu kitchen party or racing her kids between the pool, rink and pitch. Erin never stops—but that’s because she’s afraid that she would be too tired to jump back into the race of her wonderfully chaotic life. e.engstrom@bchrma.org.

As the recipient of the 2012 Vancouver Island Region BC HRMA Student Scholarship, I was fortunate to attend all three days of this year’s BC HRMA conference.  Each day was jam packed with world-renowned speakers, relevant businesses at the tradeshow, and plenty of time for networking with some of the most talented HR professionals in the industry.

Whenever I sat down for lunch, coffee, or a snack, I was welcomed by a variety of people from different companies and backgrounds.  Each person gave me tremendous advice on my own career aspirations, such as suggestions for different HR positions that I might be interested in pursuing, training courses that employers find valuable in their organizations. They also shared thought-provoking insights on the most recent speakers.  Having the opportunity to brain-storm with so many different professionals allowed me to talk about my own company and gain further understanding on some of our most challenging issues, such as talent management and recruitment strategies. I am currently a third year, part-time student striving to complete my business administration degree with a major in human resource management and I am a human resource manager with The Home Depot.

One of the themes of this year’s conference was People, Passion and Profit, which was a good reflection of the speakers and overall buzz in the room.   Some of the “must see” speakers were Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO; Jeremy Gutsche, creator of Trendhunter; and Dr. David Rock, leader in “Neuroleadership”.  Although you might not think these speakers relate to the HR profession, each of them tailored their message to be inspiring and forward thinking in our discipline.

One of the most valuable messages I took away from Jeremy Gutsche was that “if you only portray yourself as average, that’s all you’ll ever be.”  To me, this message relates both to myself and my company.  Rather than benchmarking to our competitors, we should strive to be excellent and innovative.  Also, instead of looking to see what the minimum experience, education or skills for a career path is, look to exceed expectations and be terrific rather than just meet standards.

Although those in attendance were mostly senior HR professionals, I would highly recommend that students and entry-level professionals attend the conference.  There are so many opportunities to network with future employers or just interact with practitioners who have multiple years of experience.  I found the conference extremely valuable and a really fun couple of days.

Thank you to BC HRMA for giving me the opportunity to attend the conference, and I look forward to seeing some familiar and new faces at next year’s conference!

HR has not traditionally been known for its propensity towards ‘early adoption’ and while HR has come around to game-changing technology like email, cell phones, the internet, the Human capital side of the organization tends to lag behind other innovators in the business world. Whether stymied by legal fears, swayed by gloomy stories from their peer networks or simply because of technophobia HR has always taken a more cautious approach to new technologies.

However, lagging behind is no longer an option in this time of unprecedented change in the workplace. Today’s array of technology resources  are so simple to use and readily accessed that everyone can use them ? transforming how, where and with whom we work. These technologies now directly impact and indirectly define the workplace with which HR is entrusted. HR can no longer afford to look at technology as anything other than both a reality and an opportunity to achieve the goals of their organization.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“The talent management world is being rocked by emerging social learning practices that leverage the wisdom within us all,” said Chuck Hamilton, social learning & smart play leader, IBM Center for Advanced Learning. “Our new social technology thinking is the glue that bonds the HR organization to its key business drivers, meaning HR can now be the enabler of game changing crowds everywhere.”

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, YouTube: business is increasingly, for lack of a better word, socialized. Today, we talk about “social” media and “social” business because we need to have a name for this new way of conducting ourselves. Most likely, five years from now ‘social’ will drop from the vocabulary and these tools will be recognized as just media that helps us do business.

As a profession, HR is facing a tsunami of technology issues it could have barely dreamt facing 10 years ago, all of which are impacting business, culture, employment brand and organizational strength.  Social media interest becomes a social business mandate at this point.

“Social business is the blueprint for the transformation of an organization—bridging the external communication initiatives with internal operations and change management, which creates shared value for all stakeholders – customers, partners and employees,” explained Michael Brito, SVP, social business planning at Edelman. “And, human resources should serve as the enabler and change agent for such transformation to occur. “

While chief information officers (CIOs) are immersed in the technology 24-7, HR has an opportunity to add a valuable employee perspective through tools and an social best practices to help transform the organizations. This all starts with raising the HR professional’s personal level of Digital IQ.

Price Waterhouse Cooper defines Digital IQ as an assessment of “how well companies understand the value of technology and weave it into the fabric of their organization. Growing your organizational Digital IQ entails more than merely adopting the latest tools or having a large IT budget—it is about integrating technology into the way a company plans, innovates, measures results, interacts with customers, and ultimately creates value.”

So what kind of issues is HR being bombarded with that require  a greater level of tech savvy? Here are seven important topics that ten(or even five) years ago, we would never have thought would enter into an HR professional’s daily conversation.

1. Mobility: We are  leaving the age of the tethered consumer and the tethered employee. In 98 countries of the world, cell phone penetration exceeds 100 per cent of the population. Every possible aspect of communication has already been impacted and will continue to do so. Leveraging mobile in every aspect of the employee life cycle will be paramount.

2. Social Media: The lines between personal and professional, communication internally and externally, as well as what to do and how to react when things go sideways, are all hot topics right now: Understanding which platforms make sense, how to listen, what to listen for, how to measure, how to monitor, how to train employees at all levels to use it in a business context is now a critical skill.

3. Social Business: A generic definition for “social biz” is a company or business that leverages social communications and the social graph to accomplish a business goal: sales (chatter, Salesforce), talent management and retention (UpMo), team collaboration (yammer), recruiting (JobVite), performance management (Rypple, Worksimple) … to name a few. Right now all this is so new, one of the challenges for HR is how to help raise the digital IQ of the whole organization- externally and internally.

4. Cloud Computing & Business Intelligence: How can HR and the companies they work in leverage applications that are cloud-based? This will influence how flexible, collaborative and nimble an organization might be. The landscape of traditional HRIS is changing drastically; we need to understand what  expertise is  required to navigate these waters?

5. Multiple Personal Devices: The effects of a 24-7 plugged-in culture have yet to be fully evaluated, but there are certainly a host of HR issues on the radar ?
some are positive while other issues mayraise red flags. Mobile apps, texting and emails pushed to smart phones increase the need to be responding immediately to communication. What is that plugged-in cultural norm doing to our lives outside of work? Is it enhancing them because we are not tethered to a desk or depleting them of time to pause and process the flood of info?

6. Content Curation: HR is experiencing a flood of information. It will be critical to have an effective means of filtering necessary and relevant information. A new term in the digital space is ‘curation’? suggesting you are going have vast collections that you need to curate. For recruiters, the ability to sort through loads of information, including applications from various platforms and employment data, will be a skill worth honing. Even within an organization, how content can be accessed, processed and used will be critical to productivity. Simply opening the floodgates and having MORE is not the answer. Can HR play a bigger role in the management of information?

7. On-demand self-service: More than ever, HR is faced with a growing appetite for on-demand, tailored learning and information. Whether it be company orientation, sales training, or benefits program details, employees want bite-sized learning content that is accessible to them as needed, ? content that adds value, solves a need or answers a question on demand. HR need no longer be the bottleneck where programs and communication get held up.

By taking an interest and setting aside time to increase their own digital IQ, HR leaders position themselves to stay abreast of the monumental changes sweeping our workplace.

There is a quote I love in The Business Wisdom of Steve Jobs: “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back towards the technology – not the other way around.” If you replace the word customer with EMPLOYEE, then I think you have a pretty compelling case for why HR should care about understanding the technology around them: to design the best employee experiences possible.

As for the future? Dan Pontefract, head of learning and collaboration, TELUS said, “The future of HR is to act as the simultaneous translator of social business intelligence for the organization. If HR doesn’t get in front of defining & embedding new behavioural norms & expectations of social technologies into the workflow of business operations, it may result in an unproductive workforce downstream.”

Tech tools will not CREATE a culture, but if your organization values creativity, innovation, and collaboration, and recognizes the value of feedback and the importance of “connection to team and fellow colleagues”, these resources will enable HR to impact the people who impact results. Jump in! What are you waiting for?

For those interested in all things Innovative with HR feel free to ask to be included in the closed facebook group Innovative HR run by Christine McLeod, CHRP or visit http://www.impact99.ca to find out about Canada’s only HR “Connected Workplace” conference.

Can you recall much of your terrible twos?  No?  Me neither.

The reason for the question is, in a strange and very human way, that phase of our lives bears a passing similarity to the unconscious tantrums we can throw when asked to change.

Often—well more than often—we just don’t want to change.  In a sense, we take a psychological stance that can look a great deal like ‘stamping our feet until we get what we want.’

Understanding why we do what we do, when we do it, has been a 25-year collaborative research career for Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey, Harvard psychologists and authors who are redefining change leadership by exploring the hidden ways we impede progress in our own, and our organizational lives.

In their 2001 book, How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work, they encouraged us to solve the perplexing gap between what we intend for ourselves, and what we are able to accomplish.  They examined our inner landscapes, bringing to light emerging theories on adult learning that help us change the way we work through the language we use.

In their most recent work, Immunity to Change, they go deeper to challenge our hidden assumptions and mental models that keep us stuck; then introduce a practical learning tool to help us unlock the potential in ourselves and our organizations.

When it comes to change: desire and motivation aren’t enough
You only have to read the Immunity to Change book jacket to be reminded that desire and motivation alone won’t necessarily ensure the success of a change initiative — even when it’s a matter of life or death.

“A recent study showed that when doctors tell heart patients they will die if they don’t change their habits; only one in seven will be able to follow through successfully.”

Their work reveals how our individual beliefs — together with the collective mindsets within organizations — naturally combine to create a powerful, protective response which ‘immunizes’ us to change.  By revealing how this mechanism — this immunity to change —holds us back, they give us the keys to unlock our potential and finally move forward.

At the heart of their work is an ‘Immunity Map’, a learning tool that makes our ‘invisible assumptions’ visible and enhances our ability to ‘see’ into ourselves and to ‘act’ more effectively.

As with many life-changing journeys, mapping our immunities starts with a fearless inventory of what is and isn’t working.

The Immunity Map – knowing what is really worth changing
My first Immunity Map was created during a 3-hour workshop with Dr. Kegan at an International Coaching Federation Conference.  There were 200-plus of us in the room — a mix of those who were familiar with his work, and those to whom it was an unknown but intriguing framework.

Those three hours were indelible — and here’s why.

Once he had outlined the foundations of his research and taken us through the Immunity Map, it was time for us to get real.  “Ask yourself this question,” he said. “Given the challenges I face now, and those I am likely to face in the future, if I could make significant improvement on just one thing (in my work life or private life), what would be the single most valuable thing for me to get better at?”

“Pick one thing,” he’d asked.  Just one, I thought!

What’s interesting is that I was able to quickly list five things I wanted to stop putting up with and start dealing with more effectively.  This is where Kegan upped the ante by asking us to find an accountability partner.

Then he laid out some ground rules for our new dyads.  As the listener, our role was to be present and curious.  As the speaker, our role was to decide how much we wanted to share.

When I went over my five improvement goals with my accountability partner, I connected with the one goal that turns out to matter a lot to me and that if it were different, would change pretty much everything.

By the end of the workshop I understood what was making me anxious, what I’d put in place to immunize myself (protect myself) from the big-time-bad things I’d assumed would happen if I did do something differently, and… well, you get the picture.

My takeaways?

1. I had some pretty firmly held (well hidden) assumptions that kept me ‘safe’ from change
2. I can see how growth and change is possible once invisible assumptions become visible making way for new connections and meanings.
3. It helps to have a map to follow!

Does this work with teams and organizations as well?
Yes say Kegan and Lahey.  In working with organizations, they recommend that the leader have some skin in the game if they want their team/organization to change.  They’ve shown that when a leader has a personal experience of discovering their ‘immunities’ they’re able to shift from merely sponsoring the work (in their organization or on their team) to being able to champion it from an authentic place when the inevitable push-back surfaces.

Good news for HR and change agents who so often find themselves asking, “Why is it so difficult for us to bring about lasting changes we genuinely, even urgently need?”

Donna Howes, CHRP, CEC, is principal of Humanity at Work and Vice-President of the BC Organization Development Network.

The BC Organizational Development Network invites you to Do Our Minds Really Have a Mind of Their Own? on June 14 and Exploring & Uncovering the Immunity to Change on June 15. Both learning events are in Vancouver and feature Robert Kegan in Vancouver June 14 and June 15. Register online or contact info@bcodn.org.

The results of the 2012 HR Trends Survey shows strong similarities to those of the 2011 Trends Survey, demonstrating continued economic optimism with 22% of organizations expecting no change in revenue and 54% expecting a slight to significant increase.

At the same time, organizations are continuing to make adjustments to operate in an environment characterized by the need to adapt and be responsive to economic uncertainty with 26% of HR departments adding organizational restructuring to their areas of responsibility within the last 12 months – making this the most common addition to an HR function’s scope.

While organizations shift and make structural changes to help drive the revenue that they are projecting, they also see a need to ensure that the right people are in the right roles now and in the future, and they recognize that challenges exist with regard to this requirement.

HR Priorities: 2012
In the next 12 months, managing change will be a key area for HR as will increasing leadership capability. Leadership capability will be an area of focus critical to setting a strategic vision and executing a strategy that will continue to support business growth in the fast paced and ever changing reality in which organizations do business. Top priorities will also include a focus on staffing for present and future needs, managing performance, and building engagement. For the public sector, negotiating collective agreements will surpass all of these to be the top priority.

HR Investments: 2012
At the top of the list of HR areas that will see the largest increase in spending or time during 2012 is recruitment and selection (16%). A wise investment given that 48% of organizations are seeking to grow their workforce in 2012 – a further indication of a positive outlook for the economy.

Leadership development (11%), labour relations (10%), performance management (9%), and learning and development (8%), followed by engagement and succession were also among the priority areas for time and / or financial investments in 2012. These areas reflect those areas of concern for HR both now and in response to long term trends of concern such as the aging workforce and the gap between required and existing skills.

Commentary further stressed that organizations are moving to prioritize areas such as succession planning and workforce planning; optimizing recruitment practices and identifying new recruitment methods; and retention and development.

Critical to ensuring HR’s success in driving these areas of focus and / or change is to be resourced appropriately from a financial, staffing, and leadership support perspective. HR budgets are increasing in 30% of responding organizations, remaining stable in 40% and declining in 17%. Overall this represents budget stability and some optimism. That being said, it should be noted that when the data is analyzed by sector, the decline should be noted to be 25% in the public sector, and concern regarding reduced operating budget is of note for this particular group.

HR is aware of the need to build skills within themselves and their department. Of keen focus are skills related to recruitment and selection, effective onboarding, measuring and managing performance, facilitating learning and development (coaching, mentoring, facilitating, etc.), communicating effectively (including having difficult conversations), and understanding the business and managing change. The later will be of particular importance as HR will take on its priorities for 2012 while undergoing change themselves (65% of HR functions have changed in the last 12 months and / or are preparing to change in the next 12 months).

In 2012 HR has the opportunity to demonstrate change leadership and play a critical role in successfully supporting people in the business to understand their new realities, their performance requirements and their own performance, to be engaged, to learn new skills and close skill gaps, work with others in new ways, and support business growth.

A global citizen, Ian J. Cook, MA, MBA, CHRP (ijcook@bchrma.org) has chosen to make his home in Vancouver where he heads the growth of BC HRMA’s research and learning services.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what then is the value of a medium that can simultaneously tell a story, paint a picture, touch your heart, tap your toe and get stuck in your head forever?

I’m talking about songs of course. What if it was your song, telling your story, painting your picture, from your point of view? What if it was your tune you were dancing to?

And what if you helped create it?

That’s the idea behind ThemeShop – a guided songwriting experience for organizations and businesses to write their own theme song.

“Me, write a song?” you say. “I haven’t got a creative bone in my body, and you don’t want to hear me sing, and for that matter, that goes for Dave down in accounting too!”

Just the idea is enough to trigger self-doubt, terror possibly, skepticism certainly.

While no one has to sing, once we get going I never do have to sing alone. We start off slow – talking about your work, your organization, what it stands for, what your vision is, what a day looks like. We get so caught up in the process, that people forget to be afraid. In fact, when push comes to shove, which it generally does, they have pretty strong opinions about which word, which metaphor accurately describes the contributions they make in the work they do every day.

It’s no secret that music has been a powerful force for thousands of years: for building community, for creating harmony, for inspiring people. Maybe you didn’t know that there is a chemical called oxytocin which is released in the body under three circumstances – during childbirth, during orgasm and when people sing together. That might explain why everyone always lets go a little scream of delight when we finish recording the song we have created together.

ThemeShop uses music, yes, but even better, it uses songwriting. Why? Because the process of songwriting is one of the most powerful ways to gain deeper understanding and insight into your subject, yourself and the people you co-write with.

When you co-write, whether with two people in a room or 35, you have to create consensus about what you want to say. Before you can do that, you have to discover what you have to say. Songs need to make sense. Writing a song forces you to explore the topic and achieve clarity in your shared purpose.

People have to listen to each other. What does this organization mean to you? What difference do we make? How does Dave’s job in accounting fit into that? What sets us apart? What kind of music will feel right to communicate our vision and values to the wider community? What metaphor might inspire us and give the world a deeper understanding of where we are going, what we offer, what we have achieved so far?

The time frame for a ThemeShop is about 5 ½ – 6 hours with time for breaks and lunch. – This allows time to write the song, make a recording, and then allow for people to discuss the process – what they learned, and how they can carry this forward into their working life.

Obviously, creating a finished song in such a short time still requires intense focus. No one said it was always easy. I tell participants up front, “Expect some heavy lifting. We’ll have moments where we get stuck, searching for just the right line, the right word, and we’ll face those fears and doubts head-on. Just like real life.”

That said, we never give up. We’ll change tack, take a break and laugh (smiling is known to stimulate creativity). We’ll stretch and get some oxygen to the brain. Maybe even get a little oxytocin circulating.

And when we’re done, you’ll have more than a song of your own. You and your colleagues will have a stronger bond and see each other differently. You will have had a conversation that goes to the heart of the value of the work you do every day, a chance to hear other perspectives and to be heard yourself.

As for what you do with your song? Different people do different things.

InSightful Visions Eyewear plays theirs in their store and office, and had me record a studio version for radio promotion. Blind Beginnings – an organization that supports unsighted youth and kids, used theirs in their promo video; then they got together and sang it for the Masons as part of a presentation to get funding. The Masons were so moved, they signed up on the spot!

UBC’s Speech Science’s Aphasia Mentoring Project is using theirs to help create awareness of this disabling condition (people with Aphasia have lost most of their ability to speak, but we wrote a song anyway!) Their song “What I Mean To Say (May Not Be the Words You Hear”) has been adopted by a sister chapter in California.

You’ll hear Sechelt Rotary Club’s song when they’re flipping burgers at their kiosk in the park. COHA (Okanagan Hospice) released our studio recording on CD as fundraiser – sung by one of their talented volunteers. Living Big Retreats uses theirs as the welcome at their seminars and website home page to instantly let people see what it looks like, and feels like to attend.

The possibilities are endless, because you own your theme song. It’s yours to use as you wish. And even if it doesn’t get past hearing someone humming it at the water cooler, it’s still working hard.

Next time you lose sight of the big picture, and your place in it, it might just be the song that pops into your head, to lift your spirits and remind you of what you are a part of.

And when someone says “They’re playing our song” – they really will be.

Lowry Olafson tours worldwide and has released nine CDs of original songs. Businesses, government, and other organizations have commissioned him to create theme songs for their unique projects. Through his Canada Council-sponsored school songwriting program, From the Page to the Stage in One Day, Lowry has also written some 300 songs with over 7500 students across western Canada. For more information, please call 604.865.0888, email lowry@themeshop.ca  or visit www.themeshop.ca

The investment for leaders and organizations in developing and nurturing a culture of respect, has never been worth more to the workforce and performance success, than today.

A professor by the name of James Clawson suggests that respect for the individual is one of the cornerstones to the “moral foundation of leadership”. Respect is the means to the end, as respect provides strength for greater productivity through the purposeful missions of dignity, diversity, accommodation, inclusion, and engagement. Of course, the degree of productivity will be influenced by the united and comprehensive development of the foundation of respect, which involves two important characteristics:

1. Define the respectful workplace qualities, attitudes, and values. Respect has the ability to be a universal language, when we take the time to define respect together. Until we do this, respect may look differently to different people, and we will have the risk of being disrespectful, based on our different interpretations. And with respect, it cannot be a majority rules, as with true respect, everyone rules. Respect is no longer “treating people how you would like to be treated”, respect is “treating people how they would like to be treated”. We are different, and we may like to be treated differently. Once you take the time with a team and/or organization to define what respect will look like, feel like, communicate and act like, then you have started to build your foundation for progressing forward. This is where respect becomes more than just one word on a mission statement or job description, open to the interpretation of the individual. Give respect life, through collective meaning, as outlined and understood by the team and organization.

2. Approach respect as an action, versus a judgment, and determine the behaviours that will support the cultural competence of respect. There are many people that have a belief that respect must be earned, and with this belief, respect does become a judgment, where you are either open or closed to someone, depending on your level of respect for them. Typically, respect is the exact opposite, as respect can be about being open and non-judgmental. For people who are locked on to the belief of respect must be earned, we would encourage the following thoughts to be considered. Have you told the person how long it’s going to take to earn your respect? Have you told the person how to earn your respect? (i.e. Are people not living-up to your expectations, because you’re not even telling them what your expectations are?) Have you helped them earn your respect? (i.e. Assuming we are all fallible as human beings, have you helped them by forgiving?) Another belief around respect, perhaps on the opposite end of the spectrum from respect must be earned, is respect must be given, kept, and helped kept. Respect in action would be giving someone your respect, with the positive outlook that they will keep your respect, and if they are losing your respect, helping them keep it or get it back.

With respect as an action and the universal language defined, this sets us up for Dignity, supporting trust, understanding, value and recognition of each others’ worth. With dignity respected, this sets us up for Diversity, where we can be open to other’s differences, open with our own differences, which is all part of our identity and being real, authentic, and vulnerable. With diversity respected, this sets us up for Accommodation, where we have a willingness to help, adapt, and adjust, to foster a state of balance and harmony for the team. With accommodation respected, we have the glue between diversity and Inclusion, where we can now welcome, involve, and leverage those differences for goal achievement. With inclusion respected, this sets us up for Engagement, where people can contribute their talents, skills, and thoughts. And once we have engagement respected, this sets us up for Productivity.

When we learn what to be with respect, we will have a better idea of knowing what to do, and becoming who we are all capable of becoming with respect. Then the questions will be:

• When will what we know, change what we do?
• Are we willing to commit? To our own behaviour, to each other, and to our role in taking respect to the next level and greater potential for our team and organization?
• What’s our choice?

Respect can be a game changer for organizations.

Randy Kennett is presenting Diversity/Inclusion/Engagement: Practices for the Workplace in Victoria on June 7. For this and other professional development opportunities, please refer to BC HRMA’s online calendar.

Randy Kennett is a Senior Advisor with Edge Learning, Director with Hone Consulting, and an Instructor with post-secondary institutions. Randy provides advising and facilitation services for a variety clients (including non-profit, government, and businesses), continuing education programs, and the BC HRMA professional development program.

Despite spending more time working in 2012, respondents said they are enjoying their jobs more today, and the majority (65%) feel they have enough time to spend at home or on personal pursuits.

Overall, 71 per cent of respondents said they enjoy work more and believe they are achieving more than they did two years ago.  Compared with countries around the world, Canada ranks fifth in overall work enjoyment in 2012 behind Mexico (81%), Brazil (81%), India (80%) and South Africa (76%).

Achieving a good work-life balance is important to ensure growth and development in a country and helps businesses attract and retain top talent. And Canadian businesses are listening – with over 43 per cent of respondents reporting that companies are doing more to reduce the time employees spend commuting compared to 2010.

“More and more people are looking for an improved work-life balance and flexibility in the workplace,” says Wes Lenci, vice president of Regus Canada. “One such measure that is becoming increasingly popular is helping workers reduce tiring and unproductive commute time through the introduction of more flexible working practices.”

Additional findings from the Regus Work-Life Balance Index include:

• The 2012 Canadian Index score for Work-Life balance is 113, below the global average of 124 and lower than the United States (123), India (139), China (149), Brazil (151) and Australia (129)
• 71 per cent of respondents believe they achieve more and enjoy work more compared to two years ago
• 65 per cent  of business people say they are happy with the amount of time they spend at home or on personal pursuits
• 43 per cent of respondents felt companies are doing more to reduce the time employees spend commuting compared to 2010

The Work-Life Balance Index brings encouraging news that business people in Canada believe their work-life harmony is improving, confirming reports working hours remain below the OECD average (http://oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/canada/). Moreover, worries about job security have decreased from the start of the economic downturn in some sectors and a recent Regus Business Confidence Index confirms that Canadian business confidence is stabilizing.

The Regus Work-Life Balance Index
The Regus Work-Life Balance Index calibrates job satisfaction indicators and respondents’ views on their overall work-life balance with data on real-life practice such as working and commuting from a global survey of over 16,000 professionals, including 252 Canadian professionals, in more than 80 countries from the Regus global contacts database. The Index calibrates this data and is benchmarked against a base point set at 100 in 2010. The survey was managed and administered by the independent organisation, MindMetre, www.mindmetre.com

The reason for a criminal background check is inevitably to answer one question: Will this candidate be a security risk to my organization? While no one can tell for sure whether a person will have the motive or opportunity to commit a crime in the future, a person’s past behaviour is often a reliable risk indicator.

Criminal background checks have only been common practice among Canadian employers over the last decade, since 9/11, and many are still learning about the process and what to do with the results. What if the search reveals a “not clear,” meaning the job candidate might have a criminal record? In the interest of both the company and the candidate, employers must know their responsibilities under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Human Rights Code.

Protect the Company
No one wants to hire someone who will be a security risk to company property or a safety risk to the other employees.

“Hiring a person with a serious criminal record exposes your other employees, your company assets, your clients and quite frankly, your corporate reputation to a serious security risk,” says Dan Fallows, national director at Garda Pre-Employment Screening Services.

Under Canadian occupational health and safety legislation, employers have a responsibility to ensure a safe working environment. To knowingly hire someone who has a history of violent behaviour could be considered a breach of that responsibility. What if a company hired a carpet cleaner who ended up assaulting one of the staff? “In the U.S., that would likely result in a “negligent hiring” lawsuit, something not yet seen in Canada,” Fallows says. “But the same could happen here.” 

He recommends a few measures of due diligence before the criminal record search. “Have your policy to back you up, know the Human Rights legislation for your jurisdiction, and follow your policy,” he says.

Protect the Candidate
Employers may hire whomever they wish. That said, a decision not to hire someone purely because he or she has or may have a criminal record is discrimination under the Human Rights Code. Fortunately, the difference between discrimination and a legally responsible hiring decision is fairly straightforward: have a policy. If the company clearly states in a written policy how it will proceed with criminal background checks and deal with the results, there should be no confusion or suspicion of unfair treatment when the time comes to choose a candidate.

Each position carries with it various degrees of security risks. To avoid accusations of discriminatory practice, Fallows says, use the criminal record information only in a way that’s applicable to the position being applied for. “If the job involves working with others and the candidate has no history of violent crime but did something at age 20, such as trespassing, that really has no bearing on his or her ability to do a good job,” he says. “If the candidate trespassed 20 times in the last five years, however, that’s a whole other degree of risk.”

Don’t Miss Out on a Star Employee

Remember that a “not clear” could mean any type of conviction. So, before ruling out the candidate, employers are strongly encouraged to find out more – especially given that 10 per cent of Canadians have a criminal record (that’s roughly the population of Alberta).

Hilary Predy, associate vice president, Business Solutions at the Calgary office of Adecco Employment Services Ltd., says it’s never easy to say no to a potentially great hire, especially in a limited labour market. She routinely orders criminal record searches for job candidates, while always aiming for the best fit and seeing the person as a whole.

“We are always mindful that because a person has a charge in their past doesn’t necessarily reflect on their ability to do a job well,” she says.

At Adecco, once a result comes back no clear, staffing coordinators address it with the individual. Asked if he or she has anything to share that may be pertinent, it’s then up to the candidate whether or not to declare any past convictions.

Besides an important source of data, a criminal record search also serves as an honesty check. More often than Fallows would like to see, people say they don’t have a criminal record and then the search results say otherwise. “Why?” he says, “Because they simply do not believe anyone will check and unfortunately in a lot of cases they are correct.”

When is a Candidate a Security Risk? Read the supplementary article now.

Michelle Morra-Carlisle is a freelance journalist who has written extensively on HR matters. Dan Fallows is National Director at Garda Pre-employment Screening and is responsible for the overall operations and business development of the division. For more information about Garda please contact dfallows@garda.ca, 416.915.9500 x3770.

As a result of a 1999 court case in British Columbia, the Supreme Court of Canada came up with a process to determine whether or not there is a Bona Fide Occupational Risk. It was initially based on drug testing but could easily apply to criminal reference checks:

a)    You need to establish a rational connection

Is there a reasonable connection between the conviction and the position? You need to identify the general relation between the convictions and the role and responsibilities of the position to determine if it is rationally connected to the performance of the job. For example, a person with 22 assault convictions probably should not work as a janitor in a nursing home.

b)    Establish good faith

Did the employer adopt the standard in an honest and good faith belief that it was necessary to the fulfillment of a legitimate work-related purpose?

This step looks at the subjective element of the standard. Consider whether the standard was adopted with no intention of discriminating against an employee or group of employees. Just because you don’t like people who drink and drive does not give you a legitimate cause to use that information to deny a person a position based on a an impaired driving conviction in a position not associated with driving.

c)    Establish reasonable necessity

Is the rule reasonably necessary to the accomplishment of that legitimate work-related purpose?

In this step you need to examine whether the standard is reasonably necessary. After examining the elements of a position, the level of security risk and the seriousness of a criminal offence, is the denying of a person a position a reasonable necessity?

Here are some questions to ask in considering whether the standard is reasonably necessary.

• What level of responsibility does this position carry?
• Will this person work with others?
• Does this person have access to money or signing authority?
•  What are my clients’ risks?

Source: Garda Pre-Employment Screening Services.