Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER June 2, 2014 June 2, 2014 8 NEWS NEWS unemployment or wage rates are often used by researchers as vari- ables in quantitative HR studies to determine their relationships with other variables of interest, said Lam. For example, the unem- ployment rate may be a variable to consider in determining the rea- sonable notice period for termina- tions, wage level and turnover. "As the surveys off er only very broad numbers, such as across an industry or a region, organizations should not overly rely on such in- formation alone for signifi cant HR decisions. Local and fi rm-specifi c factors must be taken into account as well." For meaningful decision-mak- ing, we really need more detail, said Shelagh Campbell, assistant professor in the Faculty of Busi- ness Administration at the Uni- versity of Regina. "If an organization, for exam- ple, is putting together a human resource plan around a potential expansion and they are looking at the availability of skilled work- ers and diff erent levels of quality, they're going to look at those pre- liminary fi gures — things like the employment rate, general educa- tion and so on and so forth. Much of the data coming out is very gen- eral," she said. "Most of the time, employers need to supplement with a little bit more on-the-ground research, contacting employment special- ists in the region where they want to expand or talking to their net- work, their colleagues, their com- petitors, so forth." From a university perspective, information about job vacancies and the labour market is valuable for student services and support when it comes to job searches, co-op placements or workshops on career planning, said Camp- bell. e university will also look at these issues when it comes to providing programs that drive the economy, and the data will be used for discussion in the class- rooms, to spur debate and analy- sis, she said. "It's incredibly valuable to have this kind of a resource, recogniz- ing that we're getting very high- level data." 2014-15 ATLANTIC LEGAL TELEPHONE DIRECTORY STAY CONNECTED TO YOUR LEGAL NETWORK 2014-15 Atlantic Legal Telephone Directory connects you to your legal community providing accurate and essential legal contact information in all four Canadian Atlantic Provinces. Compiled by the respected legal directories group at Thomson Reuters, you can rely on a directory that grows and expands with your legal community. 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Visit www.carswell.com or call 1-800-387-5164 for a 30-day, no risk evaluation To combat this, organizations need to put some sort of con- trols in place around after-hours communication. "As an organization, you (don't) have to have a collective agree- ment or legislation or an email policy written, but there should be a basic practice of respecting people's downtime," said Hun- nam-Jones. "So there's the orga- nizational obligation and then there's your leadership and your managerial obligation... to set that example." It's not necessarily that you need some sort of formal policy in place — but you do need to change the culture and the atti- tude of managers and leadership, she said. "It's the culture you set in the organization." Legal concerns around after-hours work As after-hours email prolifer- ates among employees at all lev- els — not just CEOs and senior executives — there is increasing potential for legal issues to arise, according to Christine omlin- son, partner at Rubin omlinson in Toronto. ere are two major concerns when it comes to potential le- gal problems, she said: overtime claims and harassment complaints. "Employers get claims for over- time and they're surprised to see that those hours relate to things done outside of normal business hours, where the employer mak- ing decisions may have had no idea that this person was answer- ing their manager's emails at 10 o'clock at night and engaging in two hours of work outside of tra- ditional business hours," she said. "So they're these hidden, poten- tial unpaid overtime hours." Often, these claims come up after the employment relationship has soured, said omlinson. "When the relationship is good and everybody is getting what they expect out of it, there tends to be a willingness on the part of employees to put up with these things because they feel like they're contributing. "But when the relationship sours — and that isn't always post-employment — but when the disengagement occurs , there's a much higher willingness to go out on a limb and make the claim." Overtime claims can be espe- cially contentious when they in- volve employees who work fl ex hours, she said. In those circum- stances, employers might con- sider a tracking system to keep a record of hours worked. e issue of harassment com- plaints is something omlinson sees fairly often in relation to af- ter-hours email. "When that's happening in a way that is disrespectful or tru- ly unwelcome or, in some way, truly offensive to employees, that can turn into a harassment complaint." ere are several potential is- sues related to harassment com- plaints, according to Ruben Gou- lart, human resource lawyer and advisor at Bernardi Human Re- source Law in Mississauga, Ont. "(If ) you have a fairly aggres- sive boss who's dealing with email communication… you do run the risk that the employee may, over time, feel like they're being bul- lied," he said. "Employees and their manag- ers need to know that they need to maintain a professional level of engagement, and if it's late at night and you're tired and you're making little jokes, little quips, there's always the risk that may be something that surfaces later in the context of harassment." Further to these concerns, there's also the very real possi- bility that late-night emails in- crease the potential for errors, said Goulart. "There's always the risk that people late at night are tired and may make mistakes… especially if they're working with digital devices, BlackBerrys, iPhones, things like that." Flex hours complicate claims Flex hours complicate claims EMAILS < pg. 1 Broad numbers not enough Broad numbers not enough STATISTICS < pg. 2 CASE STUDY Edelman's '7 to 7 rule' The Toronto offi ce of Edelman Canada has an interesting response to the conundrum. In a fast-paced organization that centres on client service, unplugging from work had been a challenge for many employees, said Lisa Kimmel, general manager. "In 2010, we had done an employee survey and... one of the signifi cant fi ndings was that employees were feeling overwhelmed and stressed, and they had specifi cally identifi ed email as one of the causes of their sentiment," she said. "So, as part of a much broader employee engagement initiative, we decided that that would be one of the key elements that we would address." Edelman implemented a "7 to 7 rule" — work emails are not allowed outside the hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. "It's not to say that people aren't necessarily looking at their emails but they don't necessarily have to respond until the following day. Or if something is urgent that comes up, then they can call someone who is on their team in order to address that particular request or challenge," said Kimmel. Because it's a rule, not a formal policy, employees police each other, she said. "It's actually remarkable how well that works. And I think part of the success is that the leadership team here buys into it, supports it." Slippage does happen occasionally, so Kimmel will send out a reminder email — during work hours, of course — every few months or so. The response from employees has been overwhelmingly positive, she said. "For employees, it's a small example, but it's a big example in terms of what it says about the culture that we're trying to create here. And the truth is that we want people to have lives outside of work. Our work is demanding, and it's important that people aren't doing work 24-7," said Kimmel. "It really speaks to the importance of employee engagement overall… this is just one small example of the things you could be doing to ensure that your employees are motivated to come to work every day, to do a great job, and then also to be great brand advocates for an organization."

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