Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER May 19, 2014 May 19, 2014 18 18 INSIGHT INSIGHT REJECTION JUST SO IRRESISTIBLE VANCOUVER — Are sales down at your retail locations? Are custom- ers not returning to the store? It may be because your staff are just too friendly and helpful, according to research out of the University of British Columbia. Marketing professor Darren Dahl found that high-end luxury stores such as Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Gucci can get away with poor customer service, according to the CBC. "Re- jection by a brand increases con- sumers' desire to affi liate with it, and they do so by increasing their willingness to purchase, pay for and wear or display items from the rejecting brand," said the research paper, slated to be published later this year. But stores without high- end name-brand cache, such as Target, Gap and H&M, won't be able to get away with the same kind of snobbery. GIVE ME AN 'L' – FOR LAWSUIT BUFFALO, N.Y. — Five former cheer- leaders for the Buff alo Bills have filed a lawsuit against the NFL club. Among the litany of claims is that cheerleaders were subject- ed to a "jiggle test" to ensure they were fi t, according to the Buff alo News. Maria P., one of the plain- tiff s, said the test was just one of the indignities the women faced while working as Buff alo Jills. She also alleges they were not paid for all the hours worked, logging up to 840 hours of unpaid time per year, and the cheerleaders were harassed and touched inappro- priately at community events — at the annual Jills golf tournament, they were required to wear biki- nis and sit in a dunk tank. ey were also auctioned off as prizes to ride around with the golfers. "I signed up to be a cheerleader, not whatever you want to call that," she told the News. The lawsuit points out that the highest-paid Buff alo Bill earns US$16 million per year while the cheerleaders are paid less than minimum wage. Cheerleaders were paid anywhere from US$105 to US$1,800 for the season, according to the lawsuit, which is also seeking to have the cheerleaders declared employees, not independent contractors. NATURE, WILDLIFE AND… WIFI? OTTAWA — Unplugging from work is about to get even harder. Parks Canada is looking to install WiFi at up to 50 parks this year, according to the Canadian Press. And it isn't stopping there — that number could triple over the next three years. Some provincial parks across the country already of- fer wireless Internet. e upside? Your next selfi e in Banff may just feature a black bear backdrop. NOT THE BEST USE OF EMPLOYEE DISCOUNTS PARIS — An Air France executive stands accused of running a vast prostitution ring that has brought in about $3 million Cdn per year since 2010. e man, named in media reports only as Alain D., allegedly brought young women from Brazil to France and forced them to work as prostitutes, ac- cording to the Telegraph. Prosecu- tors said the executive was able to buy discounted tickets from his employer to bring the women into the country. e man and his wife apparently went to Brazil about once a month, bringing the wom- en into the country by saying they were family members. TWITTER SOUNDS LIKE HOUSE OF COMMONS OTTAWA — Who knew there were trolls living in Ottawa? Lib- eral MP Bob Rae decided to tweet about his low opinion of the fed- eral government's Temporary Foreign Worker Program, saying it stemmed from an "anti-immi- gration bias" that had roots in the Reform Party, according to the Toronto Star. But Minister of Em- ployment and Social Development Jason Kenney didn't take kindly to the harsh words. " at's obscene & beneath you @BobRae48. We've increased immigration to record levels, the highest per-capita level in the developed world," he wrote. Kenney also pointed out that un- der Stephen Harper, immigration has increased by 14 per cent per year in Canada, while under for- mer prime minister Jean Chrétien immigration levels dropped by 32 per cent. W EIRD ORKPLACE THE PRANK MISSES THE MARK DETROIT — Here's a guy who won't be taking home 'boss of the year' hon- T ours. Justin Orman, 24, was instructed by his boss at Interstate Battery System, Chris Gelineau, to pick up inventory at an auto parts store. When Orman arrived, he was lured into the lobby where two men in hoodies pointed a gun at him, threw him against the wall and told him to "turn over anything of value or (he) would be shot," according to the Detroit Free Press. After 10 minutes of terror, the assail- ants fl ed the store without stealing anything and staff told Orman they would call police. A shaken Or- man returned to his job at Interstate only to fi nd out, hours later — after being strung along by his boss — it was a joke allegedly orchestrated by Ge- lineau. e prank left Orman with post-traumat- ic stress disorder, extreme mental anguish and he has attempted suicide three times, according to a lawsuit fi led by Orman. An employer spokesperson said it was taking the allegations seriously, saying "the behaviour as alleged in the lawsuit is inconsistent with our values." Vol. 27 No. 10 – May 19, 2014 PUBLISHED BY 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 CANADIAN HR REPORTER is published 22 times a year. 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Todd Humber Editor's Notes Credit: Andrey Popov/Shutterstock.com Remarkable report validates HR Remarkable report validates HR When you have a minute, download a copy of the ombudsman's report on HR practices at Toronto Community Hous- ing (TCH). Every HR professional, from Victoria to St. John's, should have a copy of this remarkable report at her desk. It's an outsider's look into not only a dysfunctional organization but the HR profession as a whole. And it paints a pretty convincing pic- ture to support the implementa- tion and enforcement of solid HR practices — and of the extreme damage a rogue CEO can do to an organization, both to morale and to the bottom line. e 111-page report details a litany of events from June 2012 to October 2013 that would make the stomachs of most HR profes- sionals churn. A random sample: •Of 76 promotions handed out, 36 were posted in accordance with TCH policy. There were no competitions for seven of the promotions and no evidence of competitions for the remaining 33. Even in cases where com- petitions were held, hires were fi nalized before the closing date. •In at least four hiring decisions, there were clear confl icts of in- terest — yet no declarations of confl ict were found. •Employees were hired and pro- moted into positions that con- tained no job descriptions. •Signifi cant changes were made to employment contracts — unilat- erally restricting notice periods — with no notice or consider- ation. And the changes were ap- plied inconsistently. •41 employees were terminated without cause, 15 of which were at director or higher levels. Per- formance reviews indicated no problems with the quality of their work. Staff talked about a "climate of fear." •Compensation was all over the place. A total of 81 new jobs were created during the period under review but only 11 of them went through a job evaluation to de- termine the proper salary. Raises were handed out inconsistently — managers earning $100,000 or more per year were given a 12 per cent increase without an evalua- tion. at was followed up with another 10 per cent increase. Still no evaluation. Got a headache yet? All of that comes in the first seven pages of the report. It goes on and on. Reference checks not completed. Sloppy performance management practices. Lack of proper over- sight from the board. e report contains "case sto- ries" detailing the ugly details of these incidents. For example, Gene Jones, the new (and now former) CEO, promoted his exec- utive assistant to the newly creat- ed position of executive assistant to the CEO and board chair. No competition was held, no job description was written. And her salary band jumped from Grade 4 or 5 to Grade 7 — a man- agement-level category. In another story, Jones hired a former city councillor admin for a role he created, without any competition, because "it's my prerogative when I want to give that position to the best person with experience, internally or externally." Even the story of how Anand Maharaj, former vice-president of HR at TCH, got his job was sketchy. Maharaj was director of labour relations but was appoint- ed by Jones — on the new CEO's second day — to the interim vice- president role. A month later, it was made permanent, again with no com- petition. (Maharaj walked out the door shortly after the report was released armed with a $160,000 severance package.) Jones himself was released with a $200,000 severance package. at's $360,000 wasted on pack- ages for two senior executives who caused (or didn't stop) a lot of chaos. How much more time and money were spent in the house- cleaning that resulted in the ter- mination — without cause — of the 41 other fi red employees? The ombudsman's insights were music to my ears. And they served as a reminder of the very high toll a bully CEO can take on an organization. Morale is in tat- ters at TCH and it's going to take a lot of hard work to rebuild it. We all know people are the heart of an organization, and now we have an independent report that shows the damage that comes from poor HR practices. Get a copy. Read it. Keep it around. In between the lines is very high praise for the human re- sources profession and everything it stands for. To download a copy of the report, go to www.hrreporter.com, click on "Advanced Search" and enter article #21005.

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