Canadian HR Strategy

8 executive Series digest hrreporter.com rouNDTablE says Sandy Fallon, senior vice-president of people at technology company So choice in Toronto. " at's really important so that we know we're putting our money into the areas that are going to be most benefi cial for our em- ployees and what they need the most. So whether that be all the diff erent carriers or EAP… whatever it is, it's just important to get that data because… it's really hard to fi nd the time to actually do that internally." It's also very telling to look externally at websites such as Glassdoor to see what em- ployees are saying about your company, and their perceptions, says Fallon. "Exit interviews, taking a look at exit in- terviews and understanding: Are we doing what we say we're going to do, is our culture living up to what we think it is? So it's that reality check that helps you understand and validate." Another sign of a toxic culture is people not showing up for work or being actively disengaged, who constantly bring everyone else down, she says. " at's the other poison that you get." If problems of the same nature are recur- ring at an organization, and seemingly in- soluble, that's another indicator, according to Howard Levitt, senior partner at Levitt & Grosman in Toronto. And o en manage- ment is the fi rst to know. "Perhaps the best sign of a toxic culture is a unionization campaign that you're having trouble fi ghting." is toxicity can lead to performance management issues and excessive absentee- ism claims, particularly stress claims, he said. legal concerns: wrongful dismissal has nothing on negligence e legal implications of a toxic workplace can be considerable. First of all, employees having disputes with their employer can sue for constructive dismissal, said Levitt. " e second thing is negligence claims, and there have been some massive decisions in Canada on negligence — far greater than wrongful dismissal, which is really a relative- ly poor cousin." And if an employer knows an employee's breaking down physically, emotionally, psy- chiatrically — there may be complaints or symptoms — and has to leave the workforce, then the employer can be sued for construc- tive dismissal and negligence, he said. " e individual who did it — if there's a particular abuser, manager in the workplace who did it — can also be sued, and the dam- age can be payment until they've otherwise retired — decades, potentially." ere's also human rights liability and so- cial stigma to employers, said Levitt. " at's where employers face embarrass- ment if it ends up in a newspaper because no one wants that because that hurts the brand and that hurts recruitment," he said. " e other thing with the human rights commis- sion is it goes on for years. Even with the new tribunal, it's a lengthy process compared to other particular proceedings." Finally, there's more amorphous harass- ment under occupational health and safety legislation, such as Ontario's Bill 168. While violence is relatively rare, harassment is al- most always in the eye of the beholder and an employer is liable if it knew about it and didn't stop it, said Levitt. "Employees can be liable individu- ally; the penalties for a corporation can be one-quarter of a million dollars. For an individual, it can be jail for 12 months and only $25,000, which may not seem much compared to $250,000, but that can be ruin- ous for some individuals." a cure for unhealthy cultures So, what can be done? How can an employer cure that which ails it and build a healthy culture? So choice does everything it can to pre- serve its strong culture, says Fallon, includ- ing attracting and recruiting the right kind of people who fi t its values. e company also undertook a branding initiative, talking to employees, vendors and partners in the in- dustry, to fi nd out about its culture and then it communicated back to employees about any changes it made. "It's really important that organizations build the pride in the organization around how great your culture is and they celebrate the win, celebrate all those wonderful things that are going on," she says. "It's important to make sure you go back and you thank the employees for their eff orts and you do what you say you're going to do, so that you con- tinue to get that kind of feedback." Reinforcing values is also important to building a strong culture though, too o en, those are defi ned at 30,000 feet, says Carmen Klein, senior director of organizational de- velopment and culture at Cadillac Fairview in Toronto. "Your average worker or employee doesn't know how to operationalize those, so how does that translate into what I do diff erently

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