Canadian HR Reporter

December 15, 2014

Canadian HR Reporter is the national journal of human resource management. It features the latest workplace news, HR best practices, employment law commentary and tools and tips for employers to get the most out of their workforce.

Issue link: https://digital.hrreporter.com/i/426584

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 0 of 23

pM40065782 Ro9496 December 15, 2014 INSIDE A POSE THAT PAYS OFF When it comes to raises, workers who post more sel es actually out-earn their camera-shy colleagues B.C.'s bravest red Arbitrator awards volunteer re ghter his day job back page 5 Executive Series What's in your CEO's wallet? Quite a bit, apparently page 10 Retaining talent How Citi Canada is keeping potential leaders on board page 13 page 4 Credit: Ilya Naymushin (Reuters) meNtorshIP > pg. 12 Should 'fake' veteran be fi red? Employer suspends Franck Gervais after Remembrance Day appearance BY SaRaH doBSon the CountrY had already been rocked by the shootings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, so when word got out that a "vet- eran" interviewed on TV during a Remembrance Day ceremony was not who he seemed, public disgust spread quickly. Franck Gervais appeared on camera in a military uniform, alongside his wife, talk- ing to the CBC. Four days later, he was charged with impersonating a decorated soldier. His employer, Potvin Construc- tion in Rockland, Ont., then an- nounced it had suspended the 12- year employee with pay until further developments: "It has been quite a shock for the company and Potvin Construction does not endorse the type of alleged behaviour Mr. Ger- vais has been accused of." But should he be fi red? Most lawyers would agree workers can be fi red for criminal activity out- side the workplace, said Shafik Bhalloo, a partner at law fi rm Korn- feld in Vancouver. But whether termination is appropriate de- pends on the nature of the job and the type of crime committed. If, for example, a school bus driver is convicted of drunk driv- ing, termination of employment may be justifi ed, he said. "But, in this particular case, I held hostage Social media hackers can do serious damage to employer brand, employee confi dence BY LiZ BeRnieR diGital StartuP EatSleep- Ride was preparing for a major tradeshow in Milan when CEO Marina Mann received a noti- fication that stopped her cold: Someone had changed the login information for the brand's Twit- ter account. A hacker had taken control of the account, changed the email and contact information, and started changing the company's profi le. e hacked account be- gan sending threatening messages to another of the brand's Twitter accounts, Mann told the Financial Post. It soon became clear what the hackers were after: A $9,500 ran- som in exchange for control of the account. EatSleepRide's experience is not an isolated one — instances of so- cial media hacking have risen dra- matically over the past few years, said Ray Kruck, co-founder and chief revenue offi cer for Nexgate, a social media brand protection fi rm in San Francisco, Calif. "Social media hacking is up over 340 per cent since 2011, and we don't see that rate decreasing in 2014," he said. Hackers are initiating a broad spectrum of attacks on companies and brands of all sizes — and while motivations for the attacks vary, it usually comes down to one thing, said Mark Nunnikhoven, vice- president of cloud and emerging technologies at Trend Micro in Ottawa. "Usually, it comes down to fi - nancial gain. Over the last two or three years, cyber crime has shift- ed to be a big business, so this is PAId > pg. 12 ProFIt > pg. 8 Many women not keen to climb career ladder One-half fear maternity leave, family obligations would have negative impact: Survey BY LiZ BeRnieR there'S Been plenty of timely debate over glass ceilings, wage disparities and the "motherhood penalty," but a Randstad Canada survey has highlighted one more piece of the gender equality puz- zle: Almost 50 per cent of women do not want promotions into se- nior leadership roles. Forty-eight per cent of women do not aspire to advance into se- nior or executive roles, accord- ing to the survey of 1,004 work- ing women in Canada, includ- ing employees, managers and executives. Nearly 30 per cent are unde- cided, with those from Atlantic Canada most likely to want a se- nior role and those from Mani- toba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia least likely to. At fi rst blush, the fact that 48 per cent of women don't want senior roles is surprising, said Faith Tull, senior vice-president of human resources at Randstad Canada in Toronto. But when you dive deeper into the reasons why, it becomes less so. "When we broke it down, we saw that younger people wanted it more than people in the 35 to 54 age group," she said — a full 47 per cent of respondents in that group did not want a senior role. Obstacles to advancement What's preventing more women from wanting promotions? In panel discussions across the coun- try, Randstad frequently heard one conclusion, said Tull. "It was really (about) the percep- tions that are built in organizations around women." Fifty-three per cent of women feared that absences due to family obligations would be a barrier for them when it came to advance- ment, and 51 per cent worried about the impact a maternity leave would have on their career advancement, found the survey. "(Women) also felt that the or- ganizations didn't embrace all the uniqueness that they brought to the table in their balance of work and family and external responsi- bilities," said Tull. " e deterrents are around the integration of their family life. So some of them think that they can't do it simply because of the 'RUDOLPH UNIT, COME IN' When Santa and his reindeer show up, we know the calendar has turned to December. But in Russia's Arctic regions, St. Nick won't always be holding the reins — police there are considering using the animals in addition to snowmobiles to track down criminals in remote areas. For more on the lighter side of the employment realm, see Weird Workplace on page 22.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Canadian HR Reporter - December 15, 2014