Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER March 24, 2014 March 24, 2014 FEATUR FEATURES 17 Nova Scotia develops new strategic plan, looks ahead to annual conference Cheryl Newcombe, President, HRANS N ear the end of 2013, the Human Resources As- sociation of Nova Scotia (HRANS) polled members to fi nd out what professional op- portunities were top-of-mind. While responses varied depend- ing on the organization, industry and experience of each member, the poll did reveal a common interest: Many members are in- terested in the involvement and development of HR as a strate- gic business partner within an organization. "A number of our members have direct infl uence and are involved in their organization's strategic decisions and plans, beyond HR, enabling them to contribute to the development of positive and eff ec- tive workplaces and the ultimate success of their organizations," says Cheryl Newcombe, president of Halifax-based HRANS in an email to Canadian HR Reporter. e association's professional development events throughout the year also delved into leader- ship and strategy issues. The 2013 annual conference featured leadership coach and bestselling author Marshall Gold- smith with the address "What got you here won't get you there," as well as author and Olympic per- formance coach JP Pawliw-Fry, speaking about top performance under pressure. Also in 2013, HRANS began the process of developing a new strategic plan for the association's next fi ve years. "Our process involves input from members and discussions of the strengths, opportunities and aspirations of the associa- tion, while also looking at the key opportunities for our mem- bers as HR professionals," says Newcombe. e plan is nearly fi nalized and HRANS expects to share the de- tails with members in the coming months. e association, which serves Nova Scotia and Prince Ed- ward Island, has 1,100 members — a number that's essentially the same as the previous year. "With the trends in the econo- my and competition for individual members' interest in investment, we are pleased that membership is holding steady," says Newcombe. In 2014, the association will continue to deliver learning op- portunities to members, as well as educational sessions in a va- riety of formats (including we- binars, roundtable discussions, workshops and lunch-and-learn sessions) on popular topics such as virtual collaboration, bullying versus confl ict in the workplace and temporary foreign workers. is year, the annual confer- ence is taking place in Halifax on June 12-13. "Each year, our conference is fo- cused on topics to build the skills and effectiveness of our mem- bers," says Newcombe. "It's designed to provide practi- cal knowledge that they can apply to enhance their workplaces right away." Focus on growth, targeted education for Newfoundland and Labrador Heather Joyce, President, HRPNL B oom times in Newfound- land and Labrador con- tinue to drive the activi- ties and plans of the province's HR association. "We've seen continued growth with some of the mega projects here in the province, includ- ing Long Harbour and Muskrat Falls," says Heather Joyce, presi- dent of the St. John's-based Hu- man Resources Professionals of Newfoundland and Labrador (HRPNL). at means skilled labourers — and workers with specifi c soft skills — are in short supply. e province is experiencing con- tinued constriction of its labour market, says Joyce. "Obviously, skilled trades have always been highlighted when it comes to recruitment both here and in some of the Western prov- inces, but now we're seeing it with support labour as well, whether it be offi ce workers or HR staff ," says Joyce. e past year brought other is- sues to the forefront for HR pro- fessionals in the province. "We've seen a lot of union con- tracts, particularly in the public sector, come to a close in 2013 so there have been a lot of ne- gotiations underway," she says. "Certainly the management of labour has driven the demand for participation in our association." HRPNL now has more than 230 members, which represents a 10 per cent increase in general membership from a year ago and a doubling of the number of student members. "We're seeing a lot more people studying HR in university and col- leges and interested in what the association is doing," says Joyce. Pressing HR top- ics on operational issues dictated the content of education sessions in 2013. "What we're see- ing right now is a de- mand for topics that are less big picture and more focused on things our members can take away right then and there and use immediately in their organizations," she says. Practical sessions on issues such as staff retention and the legal ins and outs of hiring temporary for- eign workers have been especially popular in recent months. For 2014, the association plans to continue to off er courses in partnership with both regional and national service providers. Geographical restrictions pres- ent challenges when it comes to bringing in high-calibre speakers, and an even greater challenge for more remote members. "We might partner with Hays, Knightbsbridge, Deloitte, whoev- er it might be, in order to deliver more to our members this year," says Joyce. Co-ordinating remote speakers and exploring diff erent delivery methods will enable more mem- bers to take part in better-quality events. This year, HRPNL will take steps to grow its membership as well. "We're focusing on a larger pro- motion campaign but we're not just targeting human resource practitioners," she says. e association will reach out to general managers, whose roles may include HR functions, and to business owners, who do HR work as part of their daily duties. e association also plans to develop an education campaign targeting decision-makers in C- suite and executive positions. "We want the people at those levels to understand the value that HR brings to an organization and the value we can drive for an orga- nization as well," says Joyce. Payroll association turns 35 Patrick Culhane, President, CPA T he Canadian Payroll As- sociation (CPA) is cel- ebrating its 35th anniver- sary in 2014. But that doesn't mean the 18,000-member group is anywhere near slowing down. is past year, it had several ini- tiatives underway — and 2014 promises to be equally busy. One major change involved the certifi cation programs, with the pass mark for all PCP (payroll compliance practitioner) and CPM (certifi ed payroll manager) courses raised from 60 per cent to 65 per cent. Everything CPA does is about legislative compliance, says Pat- rick Culhane, president of the Toronto-based association — so the increase is pretty signifi cant. "Part of it has to do with the life- cycle of our education programs. We're doing in years what the HR profession and the accounting profession probably did in de- cades. We're 35 years old this year but, in relative terms, that's rather young compared to the HR pro- fession and it's defi nitely younger than the accounting profession. So it's not just about growth, it's also about the quality of graduates and meeting employer expecta- tions for performance on the job when people are certifi ed." And National Payroll Week in September continued to do well, says Culhane — it reached a total audience of more than 33 million in 2013. ere's plenty of interest around CPA's annual survey look- ing at how people live paycheque to paycheque, he says. " at has now become an eco- nomic measure." And to promote its value and services, the association devel- oped a separate membership re- cruitment campaign in Quebec and a new National Payroll Week ad campaign for non-members, says Culhane. " e messaging that we have to our members is payroll is mission- critical, but if you talk to people outside of the payroll profession or even accounting and HR, a lot of them, they don't realize payroll is a compliance-driven profes- sion. If you talk about 120 regu- latory requirements, they look at you kind of (thinking) 'What, how can that be?'" A Quebec government rela- tions advisory group has also done "fantastic" work this last year and with the province's latest budget in February, CPA had a big win, says Culhane. e payroll thresholds for ac- celerating remitters changed from $50,000 to $100,000 and from $15,000 to $25,000, to match the change to the federal remittance thresholds announced in the 2014 federal budget, which had not changed since 1988. " at saves people administra- tion and time," he says. CPA also helped postpone, from January 2013 to March 2013, the implementation of the Quebec personal health contribution — in- troduced in the 2012 budget —so system changes could be made. "Sometimes governments fail to recognize that when 97 per cent of Canadians are paid using com- puter technology, you need to give the programmers time to change those systems. So that was a big win," says Culhane. e association also success- fully advocated for an alignment between Quebec Pension Plan and Canada Pension Plan contri- butions for employees who move into and out of Quebec. "Overall, we just had a great year," he says. CPA also worked with Service Canada to prevent the expansion of the paper ROE for the "vari- able best weeks" employment insurance, saving employers and service or software providers mil- lions of dollars, says Culhane. Last year, CPA had more than 15,000 registrants at over 500 seminars, webinars and confer- ences. In 2014, it is looking to expand its legislative compliance product and service off erings and to continue to focus on profes- sional development topics that interest members, such as year- end reporting and fi ling, labour and employment standards, tax- able and non-taxable benefi ts, and terminations. Practical sessions on issues such as staff retention and temporary foreign workers are especially popular.

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