Canadian HR Reporter

INSIGHT Vol. 27 No. 1 – January 13, 2014 PUBLISHED BY Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ©Copyright 2014 by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. CANADIAN HR REPORTER is published 22 times a year. Publications Mail – Agreement # 40065782 Registration # 9496 – ISSN 0838-228X Director, Carswell Media: Karen Lorimer - (416) 649-9411 karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com Publisher and Editor: John Hobel - (416) 298-5197 john.hobel@thomsonreuters.com EDITORIAL Managing Editor: Todd Humber - (416) 298-5196 todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com Senior Editor: Sarah Dobson - (416) 649-7896 sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com News Editor: Liz Bernier - (416) 649-7837 liz.bernier@thomsonreuters.com Employment Law Editor: Jeffrey R. Smith - (416) 649-7881 jeffrey.r.smith@thomsonreuters.com Health and Safety Editor, Payroll Editor and Videographer: Zachary Pedersen - (416) 649-9584 zachary.pedersen@thomsonreuters.com Labour Relations News Editor: Sabrina Nanji - (416) 649-9348 sabrina.nanji@thomsonreuters.com Labour Relations News Editor: Liz Foster - (416) 298-5129 liz.foster@thomsonreuters.com Website and Online Co-ordinator: Mina Patel - (416) 649-7879 mina.patel@thomsonreuters.com ADVERTISING Account Executive: Stephen Hill - (416) 298-5090 stephen.hill@thomsonreuters.com Account Executive: Kathy Liotta - (416) 649-9920 kathy.liotta@thomsonreuters.com Production Co-ordinator: Pamela Menezes - (416) 649-9298 pamela.menezes@thomsonreuters.com MARKETING AND CIRCULATION Marketing Manager: Mohammad Ali - (416) 609-5866 mm.ali@thomsonreuters.com Circulation Co-ordinator: Ellen Alstein - (416) 649-9926 ellen.alstein@thomsonreuters.com PRODUCTION Manager, Media Production: Lisa Drummond - (416) 649-9415 lisa.drummond@thomsonreuters.com Art Director: John Kieffer SUBSCRIPTIONS Annual subscription: $169 (plus GST) GST#: 897 176 350 RT To subscribe, call one of the customer service numbers listed above or visit www.hrreporter.com. Address changes and returns: Send changes and undeliverable Canadian addresses to: SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Canadian HR Reporter One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ❑ From time to time, we make our subscriber list available to companies and organizations whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you do not want your name to be made available, please check here and return with your mailing label. CUSTOMER SERVICE Call: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5082 (Toronto) (877) 750-9041 (outside Toronto) Email: carswell.customerrelations@ thomsonreuters.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com CHRR reserves the right to edit for length and clarity. January 13, 2014 CANADIAN HR REPORTER New year, new look for us Welcome to a new year and a new Canadian HR Reporter. By the time you've made it to this page, you'll have seen some of the changes we've been working on to make Canada's leading human resources and workplace publication even stronger. The wheels for this redesign were set in motion a couple of months ago when the editors sat down with our graphics and production department to outline the vision. We wanted the news section upfront to be more newsy, to have a look and feel similar to a national newspaper. We know from the input you give us through reader surveys, and in conversations by email and at conferences and events, that news is the backbone of Canadian HR Reporter and you value it. That will never change. The redesign starts on page 1, with a new nameplate for the publication. The changes to our logo are subtle but important. We essentially kept the same colour scheme — you'll still know what publication it is when it lands on your desk — but we tweaked the font and the emphasis. HR is now the dominant portion of the logo, in a darker blue colour, and we switched to a serif font. (We're using Warnock Pro, for you font nerds out there.) We've also moved the table of contents from the bottom of the page to the top, where we will showcase what we consider to be the four strongest stories in the publication that aren't on the cover. There's so much more to this publication than what makes it onto the cover — and we want to feature that more prominently. On page 4, you'll find our new infographics page. Page 4 has been home to the popular "HR By The Numbers" feature for years. We knew we wanted to keep it, Reader Comments box, the guest commentary and the Toughest HR Question feature. If you ever have an opinion on a workplace issue you'd like to write about, or an HR question for one of our experts to tackle, these pages are open to you. Just email me at todd. humber@thomsonreuters.com. Todd Humber Editor's Notes but we wanted a better way to provide a snapshot of all of the interesting facts and figures related to the workplace that cross the desks of our editors. I think we've done just that — creating a lighter page, with more emphasis on the numbers and graphics and less on text. We also wanted to provide a clear breaking point in the publication so you know, instinctively, when you are leaving the news section and heading into the features area. We started by changing its name from "Departments" to "Features." When we met with the art directors, our simple message was we wanted the news portion to look like a newspaper and the features section to look like a magazine. You can see that transition as you go from page six to page seven in this issue. The article on page 7 features a different font for headlines, and the layouts in the feature section will be more creative and have a more magazine-like feel. It's a logical split and in the issues to come, you'll see some creative layouts from our designer. On the Insight pages, our "oped" pages, we've kept it simple — retaining the five main elements on these two pages. Weird Workplace is a relatively new (and fun) addition to these pages, so we left it untouched. Same goes for the lead art and creative designer for Carswell Media, and Lisa Drummond, manager of media production for Carswell Media. It was a gratifying process to go through, and it was all done with you — the reader — in mind. We have been covering the world of human resources in Canada We wanted to provide a clear breaking point in the publication so you know, instinctively, when you are leaving the news section and heading into features. The publication you're holding in your hands is the result of a lot of hard work by a very talented team, but a spotlight needs to be cast on the work of John Kieffer, the graphic designer who made our vision a reality. His fingerprints are all over this redesign and we owe him a big thank you for putting together a well-thought-out and cohesive publication. A tip of the hat also to William Hunter, for more than a quarter century. It's a responsibility we don't take lightly and we're proud to be an independent voice and the paper of record for the human resources profession and employers across Canada. It truly is a privilege to write for you. We hope you like the redesign and we look forward to continuing to cover the working world in 2014 — and beyond. READER COMMENTS Although Rob Ford is an elected official, he is still an employee/ representative of the corporation/city of Toronto, isn't he? And presumably he's subject to the requirements as set out by Bill 168, an act that amended Ontario's health and safety legislation to deal with bullying and harassment in the workplace. There are countless examples (pictures and videos) of the mayor bullying and threatening people — many during recent council meetings. It's another example of how his leadership fails not only the city but anyone in any organization who has to deal with bullying and harassment. His behaviour opens the door for bullies to simply say, "If he can do it, so can I." What a shame. — Bridget Carter, commenting on Todd Humber's blog "A complete failure of leadership. " Join the conversation online. Comment freely on any blog on www.hrreporter.com. WORKPLACE THE 14 EIRD WAITRESS SERVES UP MISTRUTH BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — A waitress who allegedly faked an anti-gay note on a restaurant receipt is out of a job. Dayna Morales, 22, worked at the Gallup Asian Bistro in New Jersey. In November, she posted a photo of a $93.55 receipt on Facebook that had no tip and was scrawled with "I'm sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle and how you live." It went viral and the restaurant received tips from all over the world in response. But there was a hitch: The family of four who ate at the restaurant and had a bill of $93.55 had indeed left a 20 per cent tip — $18 — and were able to back that up with their credit card statement. A spokesperson for the restaurant told CNN the results of its investigation were "inconclusive" but a "joint decision" was made to end her employment. A VERY, VERY LONG COMMUTE LONDON, U.K. — A British worker, frustrated with the high cost of housing, has calculated it's actually more affordable to live in Spain WHEN FLYING, THE MOST ANNOYING TRAVELLER IS… NEW YORK — Anyone who has flown, for business or pleaK sure, knows there are plenty of annoyances on an airplane. But the award for the most annoying type of fellow air traveller goes to the "inattentive parent," which beat out the rear-seat kicker, aromatic passenger and boozer, according to a list from Expedia.com. It was compiled from a survey of 1,001 Americans who had flown on an airline in the past five years. and take a two-hour flight to and from London every day than it is to live in the city. In a blog post, Sam Cookney, 30, said the cost of renting a one-bedroom flat in West Hampstead, plus a transit pass, is 1,979 euros ($2,893 Cdn) per month. In Barcelona, he could rent a place in a nice part of town for 680 euros ($994 Cdn) and take a two-hour flight from Barcelona to London for 34 euros ($50 Cdn) per trip, plus 23 euros ($34) in transit from the airport each day. Assuming he commutes four days per week, working from home on Friday, he could actually save 387 euros ($566 Cdn) per month. "I feel like it's reaching a tipping point," he said about the cost of housing. "I've been discussing with friends this week and several of us have said that we're going to have to consider leaving London." GROUND-SHAKING EVENT SEATTLE — The HR department for the National Football League's Seattle Seahawks might want to invest in some earplugs for staff who work football games. Fans at the stadium are notoriously loud, recently setting a record of 137.6 decibels — which is louder than a jet engine. And at a game in December against the New Orleans Saints, the celebrations were so raucous, they actually registered as minor earthquakes on a nearby seismometer. Credit: Elena Elisseeva 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS EXPENSIVE GIFT NEW YORK — The holiday season is behind us, which means many employees could get a rude reality check when their credit card statements arrive later this month. The cost of buying all of the gifts in the classic holiday carol "The 12 Days of Christmas" rose to US$27,393 for the 2013 holiday season — that's up 7.7 per cent from 2012, according to Reuters coverage of an annual tongue-in-cheek analysis. Prices for most of the items in the song — including the partridge, two turtle doves, three French hens and five gold rings — remained steady from last year. (Shutterstock)

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