Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER MARCH 2019 22 FEATURES Every month Canadian HR Reporter hits the desks of HR management decision-makers across Canada. Human resources professionals, more than ever, are under pressure to drive performance, increase productivity and streamline processes. To order your subscription call 1.800.387.5164 | 416.609.3800 www.hrreporter.com/subscribe Subscribe today for only $179 Order No. 20610-19 PM40065782 RO9496 September 5, 2016 INSIDE FIGHTING FRAUD Insurance fraud prevention requires a joint approach between plan sponsors and insurers CCHRA partners up Agreements with SHRM, CERC formalize relationships page 2 Pink hair Starbucks' relaxed dress code part of growing trend page 3 Mental health More integrated approach needed to help people page 13 page 15 ENFORCEMENT > pg. 8 Pokemon GO presents challenges for employers But risks can be managed eff ectively: Experts BY LIZ BERNIER POKEMON GO, the mobile game that's sweeping smartphones of the nation, has seen a meteoric rise in popularity. And just as the game has blurred boundaries be- tween public and private space, it has also blurred boundaries be- tween work and play. Many employees are taking the mobile game — among oth- ers — to work with them, and that has the potential to create issues for employers, according to Erin Kuzz, founding member of law fi rm Sherrard Kuzz in Toronto. Chief among the risks are safety and security concerns, and pro- ductivity challenges, he said. "When I turn my mind to the workplace issues that are raised by Pokemon Go and some of these related apps and games, two things are particularly glaring," said Kuzz. "Number one is the security is- sues where people are download- ing any kind of app or external game onto their phone, and that could be a phone that is used for work purposes — whether it's an employer-owned device or a BYOD (bring-your-own device) that's been approved for use in the workplace — it creates security issues." With Pokemon Go, there are counterfeit or non-genuine ver- sions that have been found to con- tain malware, she said. "When you have employees po- tentially exposing the employer's system to malware… it's an issue," she said. "Employers have to think about how they want to tackle this very quickly. "My advice would be to prohibit use of anything like that on a work device — because you just can't control what happens if someone downloads malware." Many of the risks are around cyber security, said Leah Fochuk, consulting services manager at HR consulting fi rm Salopek & Associ- ates in Calgary. "Because you sign up through Google, the app is really capturing a lot of sensitive data," she said. Companies that use BYOD of- ten deal in sensitive or confi dential information and defi nitely need to be aware of those risks. "Even when you're downloading it, if people are downloading the app not from offi cial vendors, the risk of introducing malware could potentially aff ect your entire net- work," said Fochuk. "On the IT side, there are some pretty big risks that would need to be managed." Also, there are potential safety hazards when it comes to distrac- tion or trespassing. "Players are practising distract- ed walking: eir heads are down, they're not necessarily seeing where they're going," said Fochuk. "As a company, you would hate to have something happen on your Ontario looking to make changes to labour laws Card-based certifi cation, precarious work, better enforcement among concerns BY JOHN DUJAY IN a massive undertaking, the On- tario government is looking to up- date not one but two labour laws with its Changing Workplaces Review. First proposed in 2015, the re- view would see the province's 1995 Labour Relations Act and 2000 Em- ployment Standards Act updated. "It's important our laws refl ect the realities of the modern econ- omy, and that's why we're consult- ing with people in communities across the province and reviewing our legislation," said Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn. Led by lawyer Michael Mitchell and former justice of the Ontario Superior Court John Murray, the review received more than 300 written submissions and met with various labour and employer groups. e co-chairs released an interim report in July. e 312-page report touches on a variety of issues relevant to em- ployers and labour groups. e Ontario Federation of La- bour (OFL) has been waiting quite some time for the changes, said OFL president Chris Buckley. "It's a springboard for a once-in- a-generation opportunity to bring sweeping changes to Ontario's employment laws and to make it fair for every worker across the province." If the exercise was to poke at as many of the issues as possible, it's achieved that goal, said labour and employment lawyer Craig Rix at Hicks Morley in Toronto. "What I see mostly in the re- port is a longstanding list of like- to-have proposals that have largely come from organized labour." Slap on the wrist for TTC's social media account Greater care needed: Arbitrator BY SARAH DOBSON THE Toronto Transit Commis- sion (TTC) found itself in hot water recently when an arbitrator ruled one of its Twitter accounts contributed to the harassment of employees and needed to be changed — but not shut down. In his decision, arbitrator Rob- ert Howe said social media sites operated by the TTC could be considered to constitute part of the workplace. And a number of the tweets on @TTChelps consti- tute harassment. "It is clear from the totality of the evidence that the TTC has failed to take all reasonable and practical measures to protect bar- gaining unit employees from that type of harassment by members of FIXED > pg. 6 INAPPROPRIATE > pg. 10 Pavlo Farmakidis (left), recruitment co-ordinator at Woodbine Entertainment Group in Toronto, and Mark Diker, senior manager of recruitment and talent planning, ran a job fair using Pokemon Go that attracted about 500 candidates. See page 18. Subscribe Today! CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-387-5164 ONLINE AT www.employmentlawtoday.com/subscribe Emplo y ment Law Today Canad a ian www.employmentlawtoday.com YOUR PROFESSION. YOUR NEWS. YOUR ADVANTAGE. TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT Next-gen training tools grow in demand Easy access, flexible, customized learning resonates with younger generations By Josh Squires T hese days, where are em- ployees going to answer everyday work questions? More than one-third are looking to Google and YouTube for help — rather than asking one of their colleagues, according to a survey by Docebo of 2,400 employees in the United States and United Kingdom. e folks at YouTube have rec- ognized this trend and are taking action to provide users with bet- ter learning solutions. While the video-streaming giant has grown into an informal go-to source for quick do-it-yourself lessons and how-tos, it is investing US$20 million in educational video content, ranging from cooking classes to science and technology deep-dives. e growing demand for on- line learning is apparent. For organizations big and small, YouTube is an opportunity for general learning. Howe ver, many employ- ers continue to train workers through traditional learning strategies. ese strategies are difficult to track, typically less engaging and can often be seen as dull or cumbersome — particu- larly among younger employees who prefer to consume content on-demand, with the flexibility to consume it on the device of their choosing, such as a smartphone or tablet. While people may be tired of hearing about the millennial workforce, the reality is that with- in five years, they will make up the majority of the global workforce. Training and education need to accommodate different learning styles. YouTube's investment in more learning-based content is an in- dication of how this generation — and its younger generation Z cohorts — expect to find their information. Learning needs to be acces- sible, on-demand, and on the devices they want. Additionally, social media has shown that all kinds of people want to be active- ly involved in their community and sharing their expertise and knowledge. ere is an urgent and com- pelling need to change the con- versation and change the way employers train and motivate employees. Strategic way forward Many learning and development (L&D) departments are grappling with the need to deliver more tar- geted and personalized learning that addresses the day-to-day challenges employees face. So, how can organizations im- plement strategies that sync up with the learning styles of their workforce? Consider these tips: Offer easy-to-access train- ing: Knowing that millennials are accustomed to having easy access to information through phones, tablets and computers, offering on-demand training satisfies a desire for instant, 24-7 access to flexible learning opportuni- ties available across a range of platforms. Support flex schedules: is is a benefit that millennials are in- creasingly prioritizing when look- ing for jobs. Fifty-one per cent of workers say a flexible schedule is the most desired non-monetary benefit their employer (or potential em- ployer) could offer, according to the 2017 Gallup report State of the American Workplace, using data from more than 195,600 U.S. employees, more than 31 million respondents, and insight from Fortune 1000 companies. Providing the opportunity to train remotely on digital platforms appeals to this de- sire for flexwork opportunities and, in turn, increases loyalty and retention rates among this demographic. Create customized learn- ing solutions: Millennials aren't interested in a one-size-fits-all training experience. The same way they expect retailers to cater to their individual preferences as consumers, they expect employ- ers to deliver benefits and learning options that are tailored to their roles, responsibilities and learn- ing styles. Through autonomous learn- ing, participants can build per- sonalized learning paths, track and monitor progress, and assess performance within a platform — without having to adhere to an instructor-led program. For these strategies to be suc- cessful, employers need a learn- ing platform that uses similar artificial intelligence (AI) algo- rithms that curate content, while simplifying the roles of L&D administrators. Telecom company sees gains In June 2017, a telecom company looked to change its approach to L&D — from a top-down, for- mal content strategy to a social- learning marketplace that would better suit a workforce that was continuously bombarded with personalized content they could engage with and submit their ex- pertise to. e organization wanted to le- verage the knowledge of its nearly 5,000 employees to conceptualize, create and deliver all of its corpo- rate learning content. In essence, the company want- ed to make employees the content creators YouTube is investing in to produce useful content that keeps people engaged by encouraging them to play a critical role in the overall L&D process. is was a significant depar- ture from traditional strategies, and allowed the company's L&D team to transform from train- ers into learning organization enablers. Doing so also allowed the com- pany to create more pragmatic, how-to and just-in-time learn- ing content similar to the content available on popular platforms such as YouTube. Using the AI and auto-tagging functionality within the Docebo platform allows for simple type- and-search functionality that makes the content available read- ily discoverable at the point of need. e company's social learning marketplace has grown steadily since its launch, starting at 188 monthly active users in June 2017 and increasing 171 per cent to 511 by March 2018. At launch, the marketplace was made up of 200 training materials but has since grown to 323 — a 61.5 per cent increase — demonstrating a clear interest among the company's employees to play a valuable and key role in developing learning content that drives the continuous im- provement of their respective departments. In essence, it's all about deliv- ering learning to employees with next-generation technology that mirrors the consumer technol- ogy they have come to know and love. Josh Squires is the Biassano, Italy- based director of enterprise solutions at Docebo, a software-as-a-service (SAAS) artificial intelligence (AI) platform. For more information, visit https://hubs.ly/H0gBDM60 or www. docebo.com. Credit: ImageBySutipond (Shutterstock)

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