Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

July 25, 2018

Canadian HR Reporter Weekly is a premium service available to human resources professionals that features workplace news, best practices, employment law commentary and tools and tips for employers.

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July 25, 2018 Published weekly by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. CUSTOMER SERVICE Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 customersupport.legaltaxcanada@tr.com www.thomsonreuters.ca One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Media Solutions, Canada: Karen Lorimer Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: Todd Humber todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com (416) 298-5196 Editor/Supervisor: Sarah Dobson sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7896 News Editor: Marcel Vander Wier marcel.vanderwier@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7837 Sales Manager: Paul Burton paul.burton@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9928 Circulation Co-ordinator: Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9585 Art Director: Dave Escuadro david.escuadro@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9358 ©2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (Thomson Reuters, Media Solutions, Canada). Non-traditional employment relationships more popular: CHRO Purolator invests in both short- and long-term employees BY MARCEL VANDER WIER Each year ahead of the winter holidays, Purolator's employee pool swells as the company anticipates a rush of deliveries across the country. To handle demand, the Mississauga, Ont.-based company hires more than 1,000 independent con- tractors, according to Ken Johnston, senior vice- president and CHRO at Purolator. "We almost double our front-line workforce for November, December," he said. "We need to hire more than 1,000 drivers and sortation employees." Retirees are increasingly becoming a great pool of talent, said Johnston. "ey're excellent, ready-to-go front-line work- ers for us, and they're happy to just work two months a year and make enough money in that pe- riod of time to pay for their holiday costs. It's a real win-win for us." To remain employers of choice, organizations need to recognize that an increasing number of workers are seeking non-traditional employment relationships, said Johnston, speaking at the Talent Management Summit held recently in Toronto. "ere's lots of really great, dedicated, engaged, motivated, capable talent working in the indepen- dent workforce, and they're going to be looking for competitive work, just like anyone else," he said. "What we've found is if we become a top em- ployer for short-term or independent workers, then they return, over and over again, and the best ones are looking to work with us." "We're investing in them with every expectation that they're not going to be solely dedicated to us," said Johnston. "at requires a shift in mindset for employers who are typically reluctant to invest in short-term employees — and we're saying, 'You have to.'" Coming to grips with the gig economy has been a major shift for Purolator, but one the company believes is imperative for its future success, he said. "It's still a fairly recent phenomenon in our busi- ness," said Johnston. "We had some pain along the way." Dealing with disruption Eighty per cent of Purolator's workforce is union- ized, traditional, long-term, full-time employment, he said. "at's not really changing drastically… We view independent work as a supplement to our core workforce, as opposed to a replacement." But the gig economy has proven to be "incredibly disruptive" for the 60-year-old business, which has more than 10,000 employees staffing 175 opera- tions facilities in Canada, said Johnston. e rise of tech-fuelled companies such as Ama- zon and Uber are driving the change, he said. "e outcome is that people who are participat- ing in these types of platforms are choosing to do so as a day-by-day arrangement, as opposed to any type of direct, permanent relationship. And they're doing it for multiple platforms at a time." Purolator has worked hard to "find different ways of dealing with talent," said Johnston, including overhauling the employee value proposition to be- come a "premium employer" in this new economy. Managerial acceptance of this shift had less to do with culture and more with adding options to the "employer toolbox," such as varied compensation models, including payment per delivery, he said. Inclusive tactics Purolator strives to invest in all employees, regard- less of contract status. at includes offering access to education, but also giving contract workers the option of remote work opportunities when pos- sible, said Johnston. "A lot of employers, we're finding, are excluding independent workers from access to company pro- grams and strategic development," he said. "We don't. We allow our independent workers to take full advantage of what it means to be part of the Purolator team, and we're finding that to be a real competitive advantage for us from a talent acquisition perspective." "We're still hiring (people) for a short-term pe- riod of time. But we want drivers that are not just driving their dad's pickup truck, but they're driving a Purolator-branded vehicle, and they're wearing a Purolator uniform, and being trained in our safety standards, our customer service standards." It's about employers adapting their policies, procedures and nature of employment to allow for things like increasingly flexible work hours, more work-from-home policies and "the understanding that people might want to take long periods of time off between significant projects," said Johnston. "en you'll really be able to tap into this type of workforce." e gig economy is here to stay, and it's up to employers to map out strategies to deal with the new reality, he said. "e gig economy… is not a way for employ- ers to take advantage of unemployed people," said Johnston. "In fact, if anything, it's putting us more on the hook as employers to really change the paradigm of employment and really think innovatively about how we attract and compete in the war for talent."

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