Canadian HR Reporter

CanaDian hr rePorTer September 22, 2014 14 INsIGHt What's in a degree? not so much, apparently On the television show Suits, only one thing truly matters: Where you went to school. If you want to work as a lawyer at Pearson Hard- man, the fi ctitious law fi rm in the hit show, then you have to be a graduate from Harvard Law. Rachel Zane, a paralegal at the fi rm who passes her LSAT and wants to become a lawyer, sums it up thusly: "I don't want to go to law school. I want to go to Harvard." But in the real world, it seems the name of the school on your de- gree doesn't matter all that much to employers. As news editor Liz Bernier outlined in one of this issue's cover stories (See "Does alma really matter?" page 1), two surveys found not many organi- zations are using the school as a pass/fail fi lter. And that makes a lot of sense. Where you got your degree is im- portant — there's no doubt some schools are generally better than others at preparing students — but what you get out of educa- tion, particularly post-secondary education, depends on what you put into it. In its 2014 ranking of universi- ties, Maclean's rated McGill Uni- versity in Montreal and UBC in Vancouver as the top schools in the "medical doctoral" category. On the bottom of the list were Quebec's Sherbrooke University and the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. But I'd be willing to bet the top student from U of M or Sher- brooke would be virtually indis- tinguishable from the top student at McGill or UBC. And I bet you can't tell me where your family doctor, CEO or go-to employment lawyer went to school — because it doesn't really matter. e institutions all provide a foundation, but it's the qual- ity of a person's work that's really important. I've hired quite a few editors over the years and never have I screened an applicant based solely on the institution that issued the journalism degree. Having a de- gree is critical, but what matters is whether or not the candidate has the skills we need to produce Canadian HR Reporter at a high level for our audience. And the longer you're in the workforce, the less the educa- tional institution — or even the degree — matters. I've always thought that once you've been in the workforce for fi ve years or so, experience completely trumps education. If you're looking to hire a CFO, do you really care that she went to McGill? Or do you care more that she's been in charge of successfully running the fi nances and growing the business at a ma- jor organization for the past 10 years? I fi nished my journalism degree in 1996 and while I'm still using the foundations of journalism I learned then, the world of media has changed immensely over the past two decades. For example, I processed my own fi lm and prints in a darkroom during school and in my fi rst job as a reporter. But I haven't even seen a darkroom in the last 15 years — newspapers simply don't have them anymore. The same metaphor can ap- ply to any profession. Where you receive a degree isn't critical — it may help land the fi rst gig but, after that, work ethic and expe- rience trump almost everything else. (Let's leave nepotism off the table for now.) In the realm of TV shows, the practice of only hiring Harvard graduates can make for a success- ful and entertaining (albeit stress- ful) law fi rm. But in the realm of Canadian workplaces, it's what's in the head — and not on the pa- per — that ultimately makes the diff erence in a successful hire. RIDICULOUS WORK REFUSALS LonDon — ere's workplace health and safety, and then there's the ridiculous, according to the British government. e Depart- ment of Work and Pensions has released a list of complaints it in- vestigated where workers claimed health and safety concerns. in one complaint, staff at a café re- fused to put strawberry sauce on a customer's ice cream in case it dripped and caused a slip hazard, said the Daily Mail. employees at another company were told not to wear open-toed shoes in the sum- mer, while teachers declined to put sunscreen lotion on children. and one food truck operator refused to cut a hamburger in half because of health and safety reasons. "enough is enough. it's time we were all al- lowed to enjoy our summers, rather than have them spoiled by ridiculous, arbitrary and down- right unreasonable application of apparent 'health and safety' rules," said health and Safety Minister Mark harper. "real health and safety laws exist to protect Brit- ain's workers, and not to be used as a smoke screen by jobsworths who have little knowledge of the law and who want to fob people off with an easy excuse." HANDS UP FOR FREE CABLE… San PeDro, Calif. — We can all get pretty frustrated with the cable guy but one albuquerque woman got a little too angry, according to the Albuquerque Journal. Glo- ria Baca-Lucero, 48, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after she pulled a gun on a Comcast serviceman at her house near San Pedro. appar- ently Baca-Lucero had thought the work would be free so she not only refused to pay, she took one of the man's tool bags and refused to return it — and then pulled out a handgun. e worker retreated with his hands in the air, but went on to call police who searched the home to fi nd a Glock, a magazine, 11 rounds of ammunition — and the tool bag. … AND STEP AWAY FROM THE CHEMISTRY LAB PoCaTeLLo, idaho — Presum- ably, it wasn't supposed to go off . an assistant professor at idaho State University managed to shoot himself in the foot during a chem- istry class, according to reuters. e man was carrying a concealed- carry gun permit when the semi- automatic handgun discharged in the classroom full of students. e instructor was allowed to carry the hidden gun on campus after a new state law went into eff ect July 1 for university grounds — to the objection of many university presi- dents, including idaho State. While fi rearms are banned in areas of the physical science complex where there is nuclear research, they are allowed in the chemistry lab. idaho State is considered one of the safest campuses in the United States — but that ranking may now change. BEER MUCH? aUSTin, Texas — Workers at austin Beerworks might want to start hitting the gym more of- ten. eir muscles will be needed when they're hauling around the beer company's latest off ering — a 99-pack of beer. e 2.13-metre- long box consists of three rows of 33 cans, adding up to 37 kg, and will likely sell for US$99, said re- uters. "We made it at fi rst as a joke," said Michael Graham, co-founder of the craft brewery. But interest from retailers has been high — now they just have to fi nd the shelf space. W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Vol. 27 No. 16 – September 22, 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 (on leave) eDitoRiAL Managing editor/Acting Publisher: 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. 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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. DISTRACTED OPERATIONS LEAD TO SUSPENSION SeaTTLe — every surgery has its risks but you probably don't want your doctor checking out his iPhone while you're under the knife — especially if he's sexting. at's what one Seattle physician is accused of doing, according to the Washington State Depart- ment of health. arthur zilberstein had his licence suspended after alleged disregard for patient safety, in some cases related to sexual incidents. his preoccupation with sexual matters in- cluded sexually explicit texts during surgeries when he was the responsible anesthesiologist, accessing medical-record imaging for sexual gratifi cation and sexual encounters at the workplace. To top it all off , it's alleged zilberstein issued at least 29 unauthorized prescriptions for controlled substances and medication outside of his medical practice. Credit: Luis Louro/Shutterstock I agree that "there is no so-called 'hierarchy of human rights' in Canada." But I don't agree that there should be one. The Ontario Human Rights Commission does a very good job of offering sup- ports to organizations to help them navigate "the complicated and confusing realm of competing human rights." I am shocked that a human resource newspaper would provide such misguided informa- tion and opinions to its readers — a group which is already woefully ill-informed about human rights. To even suggest that some rights carry more weight than others suggests that some groups — who experience a great deal of discrimination in this country — are less deserving of protection than others. Certainly an idea that does not have a place in a human resource magazine. — Anonymous, commenting on Todd Humber's blog "A hierarchy of human rights? Why not" Join the conversation online. Comment freely on any blog on www.hrreporter.com. ReADeR CoMMents todd Humber eDitor's notes

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