Canadian HR Reporter

CanaDian hr reporter october 20, 2014 6 NEws $745 regular $945 ... save $200 offer valid until Nov. 28, 2014 Details at www.workplace.ca/hr-reporter.html The goal of this program is to teach participants how to assess the need for training, develop the material, prepare the handouts, deliver the content and evaluate the results. Successful completion of all 3 Modules makes you eligible for membership in the Canadian Professional Trainers Association, CPTA, with the RPT (Registered Professional Trainer) designation. The Professional Trainer Full Accreditation Program on Multimedia CD-ROM ORDER TODAY! 416.862.4512 or bot.com/surveys COMPENSATION REPORTS ATTRACT AND RETAIN GOOD TALENT 2014 2015 Are you paying too much or not enough for your talent? Latest market data is now available! helps cement a reputation with the C-suite." It's about linking human capi- tal to business strategy, and con- tributing to the strategic plan — as opposed to what the HR de- partment can do, said O'Grady. "A lot of the VPs we speak to said exactly that: You've really got to pave your own path, you've got to inject yourself into the organi- zation, understand it and start thinking of how can you contrib- ute to it," he said. "If an organization can genu- inely link their people to the busi- ness strategy then, yes, the VP of HR becomes a true partner but, more importantly, they put peo- ple at the centre of their strategy." In some respects, you need to be a bottom feeder, said Sofia eodorou, senior vice-president of HR at LoyaltyOne in Toronto. "You need to take initiative and understand the pain points in the organization and be able to make a meaningful impact and solve things for them, even when they extend beyond traditional HR tasks. And that's where becom- ing more of a strategic business partner comes in. It's just not suf- ficient to know HR and be an HR specialist and guru... You need to also understand the financials, the company's products and ser- vices and its competitors pretty well, and why the strategic goals and objectives of the organiza- tion are what they are." When it comes to the soft skills needed by a successful vice-presi- dent, leadership and people man- agement ability, communication skills and attitude rank highest, according to the Hays report. Your role is really to be a change catalyst, said eodorou. "(It's about) how do you align the organization or your prod- ucts and services in order to meet the overall goals of the enterprise, which means you re- ally have a change management role and change management is all about the communication — are you giving enough context to people as to what's changing, why it's changing, how it's going to af- fect them on a macro and micro level, what does it mean for the business." You set an example for ex- ecutives and the organization as to what's expected, said Car- rie Lindzon-Jacobs, executive vice-president of HR at Imax in Toronto. "Communication is key — en- thusiasm for the company, being a brand ambassador externally and internally, getting employees engaged and on the bus with you." Resumés In looking at the average resumé of a vice-president of HR, 45 per cent have a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation while 67 per cent have an HR-related post-gradu- ate certificate or diploma, 15 per cent have an MBA, 21 per cent have a BA and 29 per cent have a master's degree, found Hays. Sixty-two per cent of respon- dents said their undergraduate degree is unrelated to HR and 24 per cent said the specificities of the education and training do not matter — it's more about experi- ences and the total package. But the biggest weakness on the resumés of vice-presidents of HR is a lack of accounting and finance experience or knowledge. Having business and finance acumen is a necessity, said Lindzon-Jacobs. "Reporting into the CEO and sit- ting at the table with the CFO and all the heads of the various busi- nesses, many of whom are running a P&L — I don't know how you could contribute at that level of the organization without being able to read a balance sheet or the financial statements and understand the im- pacts of decision for the business." Data analytics is a window for HR to have harder numbers around its impact and effective- ness, said eodorou. "at's why having knowledge and building your capability and data analytics is going to be more critical to success and career pro- gression for HR professionals." Career progression As to that progression, 56 per cent of respondents said there is a lack of director to executive-level op- portunities available and 58 per cent moved to a smaller organiza- tion so they could reach a more senior role faster. Lindzon-Jacobs became head of HR at a smaller company before joining Imax. "It's very, very hard to move from being the head of a division or senior generalist for a group to the head of the entire department, es- pecially in a public company when you have to have the relationships with the board, you have to under- stand various levels of compliance, and then you have to be able to run the department from end to end," she said. "Gaining that experience in a smaller organization where you can learn and grow and also de- velop the biggest business acumen is very helpful." Hr dNA < pg. 1 Finance knowledge needed different axes, found Yoshino: appearance, affiliation, advocacy and association. Appearance-based covering can include African-American employees feeling pressure to straighten their hair, he said. "That form of covering was deemed to be extremely time- consuming and at times painful, but still something like that was demanded of them, even in a 2014 educated workplace," he said. Another common example was age-based covering, he said. Young men, for example, reported wearing prescription-less glasses to look older, while older men re- ported dying their hair or even tak- ing testosterone shots. Affiliation-based covering was commonly seen among mothers trying to downplay that role. "Oftentimes, one of the ways in which women cover is by not hav- ing photographs of their children, not talking about their children in their office, not talking about their children even if other people are, (if ) they have to go take care of their children... making sure that they say, 'I'm going to meet a cli- ent' or 'I'm going to my own doc- tor's appointment,'" he said. Advocacy-based covering is about how much you stick up for your group — or deliberately avoid doing so, to keep from becoming "hyper-visible" as a member of a minority group, said Yoshino. "at also had to do with things that come really close to the talent function, because women would often say things like 'When I'm in these meetings... I don't speak up for other women because if I do it too many times, my own credibil- ity (may be) discounted.'" The fourth axis, association- based covering, has to do with how much time you spend with people in your own group. "So that (could be) a gay person saying, 'I feel uncomfortable bring- ing my partner to work functions because even though I'm com- pletely comfortable being gay in this organization, I can't be seen as 'too gay' and that would make me hyper-visible.'" Other identities people cover in- clude mental illness, disability, vet- eran status, religion, socioeconom- ic background, political affiliation and cancer, said Yoshino. And the adverse impact is significant, he said — 60 to 73 per cent of respon- dents said covering "somewhat" to "extremely" negatively impacted their sense of self. It can be quite taxing, both on individuals and organizations, said Johnston. "It's quite tiring to feel like you can't be yourself… (it impacts) your productivity level, your ability to truly be as high-functioning as you want to be, creativity, innovation, your ability to contribute fully to that workplace." People need to be able to "be themselves" culturally to be pro- ductive and actualized at work, said Bhasin. "When we have cultures where covering is highly prevalent, what's happening is that people are leav- ing who they culturally are at home... and then that would trans- late into how they're contributing in the work environment." Pressure to cover can really di- minish employees' commitment to the organization, found the survey — particularly when covering de- mands come from a leader. "People take it much more personally when an individual asks them to cover than when it's something that's broad-based," said Yoshino. Perhaps the most important way to combat covering is by creating a culture of authenticity. "One big thing is having leaders uncover. So respondents said, time after time, 'Until leaders uncover, we're not going to because unless you model that this is safe for us to do, we're not going to do it,'" he said. Senior leaders shape culture from the top down, said Bhasin. "When we behave authenti- cally in the workplace... we give permission to others to do the same." Authenticity is key UNdErCovEr < pg. 1

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