Canadian HR Reporter

HR_Reporter_SmallAd_2012_Layout 1 10/9 INSIDE Wage hikes Are living wages a job killer or a lifeline? page 3 pick up that phone Responding to every jobseeker helps build strong employer brand page Fool me once… Unrepentant worker put his foot right back in his mouth page 5 11 Corporate Outplacement Services The new pension math New mortality tables recognize longer lifespans of Canadians page 12 CMScareers.ca Leaving made Easier February 10, 2014 No easy answers for competing rights cases 'Steady' hiring climate for new year Conflicts must be considered on case-by-case basis: Experts By Liz Bernier Kuzz in Toronto. "When you're thinking from an employer's perspective… certainly you have an obligation to accommodate people who have needs that are based on one of the protected grounds, so be that religion, disability — any of those accommodation-related needs." But employers must realize none of those rights are absolute, so there really is no easy answer when two protected rights clash. "When we're dealing with the issue of competing rights, there isn't really a one-size-fits-all or cookiecutter approach, because you really are looking at the individual circumstances," said Ford. No hierarchy of rights There are bound to be some strong emotions when dealing DETERMINE > pg. 8 Employers looking ahead optimistically, find 4 surveys By Sarah Dobson Asking the right questions So, how can an employer tell if a job-hopping candidate is a risky hire? Looking at her resumé is usually not enough, said Wood — her motivations can be better understood in the interview process. With a New year come new outlooks and Canadian employers — and employees — are sounding relatively positive when it comes to hiring expectations, according to four surveys. Over the last 12 months, companies added jobs in almost every industry — and that trend is expected to continue at a steady pace throughout the new year, according to CareerBuilder North America. Sixty-two per cent of Canadian companies said they are in a better financial position now than one year ago and 61 per cent expect sales to increase in the first half of the year, found CareerBuilder's survey of 406 hiring managers. "A lot of people are seeing job creation as a month-over-month trend over the course of 2013. With the exception of the job report (for December), we've been seeing a continuous trend of slow and steady growth within the Canadian economy," said Mark Bania, Toronto-based managing director for Canada at CareerBuilder.ca. "We're not hearing as much negative thoughts as we do in some other areas of the world." A better financial position to start and increased sales going into the first six months of the year are leading to a lot of employers feeling 2014 will add more jobs than the last 12 months, said Bania. "The outlook is extremely strong. I look at all the data and I JOB > pg. 9 DISCONNECT > pg. 6 dangerous deeds Credit: Tony Kryzanowski Ivar Larson, his brother Lance and his nephew Matthew are long-time loggers in the Kootenay Valley, B.C. Logging tops the list of the 10 most dangerous jobs, according to the 2012 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in the United States. For the full list, along with the 10 most stressful jobs, see page 4. Job hopping can be deal-breaker Having many employers in a short period of time can raise red flags: Survey By Liz Bernier Six different jobs in 10 years. If you think that's a lot, you're in good company — that's the average cutoff point when employers consider a candidate a "job hopper," according to a survey by Robert Half of more than 300 Canadian HR managers. And while frequent job changes may seem commonplace, for some employers it can be a major deterrent when flipping through a candidate's resumé. "They may not be willing to risk employing someone that they think may have one foot out the door," said Derek Wood, branch manager at the Waterloo, Ont., office of Robert Half. "It can be expensive and very time-consuming to hire and train new employees. So if you've got two candidates of equal talent — one's got a history of job hopping and the other one doesn't — they may lean to the other candidate." Job hoppers seen as risky hires Employers may shy away from job hoppers because of the inherent risks involved in hiring someone who isn't likely to stay, said Shari Angle, vice-president of talent and communications at Adecco in Toronto. "It's very costly to an organiza- tion if you hire someone who turns over rather quickly… All of the time that it takes for the recruitment process is an investment that could have been made elsewhere. So if you're doing it multiple times for the same position, it becomes quite a hindrance to the organization," she said. "There's also an employee morale issue that comes (with turnover). So it becomes very frustrating to employees who are being stretched while the job is vacant... and then you finally get that relief, and then you're stretched further because you've got to now help and assist with the onboarding and the training process, and then the person turns around and leaves." If the position is a client-facing one, there can be reputational issues for the company as well if customers are seeing constant turnover, said Angle. PM40065782 RO9496 A male university student asks to be excused from working with female students on a group project, citing religious reasons. The request is met with public outrage, incredulity — and the school administration's order to accommodate him (an order that went ignored by his professor). It's not the first time tensions have flared in the face of a tricky competing rights case — the Ontario Human Rights Commission even developed a policy on competing rights, for just such cases. But the recent case involving York University in Toronto stirred up a lot of debate about how these cases should be handled — and what should happen when they arise in the workplace. "It's one of these situations where you could absolutely see it arising (in the workplace)," said Katherine Ford, a lawyer at Sherrard

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