Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR February 23, 2015 10 executive series/News No one ever expects to have cancer. When it strikes, having CAREpath as part of your benefit package shows your employees and their families how much you really care. Employees diagnosed with cancer are assigned a personal oncology nurse providing guidance and support throughout every stage of their cancer journey. CAREpath is the only complete cancer navigation provider in Canada. No one ever expects to have cancer. cancer? Does one of your employees have We'll be there. 1-866-599-2720 www.carepath.ca THE CANCER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM Anita McGowan, RN, CON(C), OCN Head Oncology Nurse Manager provision that states otherwise, what an employee is entitled to is notice, and then the employer can either elect to provide notice or pay in lieu of notice." Working notice is seen more often now than 20 or 25 years ago because it is a method where em- ployers can get value in return for pay, said Ron Minken, managing director at Minken Employment Laywers in Unionville, Ont. "However, because of the risks associated with it, many compa- nies would definitely not do it. We see it done with employees that are very long-term employees, employees that are really trusted and also industries where there is little potential for harm or sabo- tage by the employees." e potential risks depend on a number of factors, said Cissy Pau, principal consultant at Clear HR Consulting in Vancouver. "It really depends on the em- ployee and it depends on the culture of the company," she said. "I've seen it work both ways. "It really depends on the com- pany being able to evaluate that employee's reaction to the termi- nation, and whether they're able to still perform their job and do a good job and not jeopardize the business." 'Bang for your buck' e reason employers like work- ing notice is because instead of paying out a lump sum of pay- ment in lieu, they receive work for pay, said Michael Fitzgibbon, founding partner of Watershed in Oakville, Ont. "One of the perceived advan- tages from the employer's per- spective is you get some bang for your buck — you get some ser- vices for the payment that you're providing. Employers perceive that to be an advantage. e oth- er advantage that employers see is one that I think may be a little but more real, around cash flow is- sues. So you can pay out the (pay- ment) over time," he said. Employers most often are moti- vated by the prospect of cost sav- ings, said Stam. "But they really need to think twice about whether or not, practically speaking, they're go- ing to get performance out of this person… if the person's only performing at 50 per cent, you're still paying out 100 per cent of the salary for the remaining amount of time." Another perceived advantage is it makes it easier for employees to find another job, said Stam. "It's a tough job market out there and so, increasingly, em- ployees may be quite open to a working notice period because it's perceived to be easier to find a job while employee rather than unemployed." Sabotage and other risks Negative impacts on perfor- mance, productivity and morale are likely byproducts of working notice, said Stam. "Nobody's going to be overly motivated if they were just ter- minated, so there's always the risk that your employee is just not go- ing to be performing, and it just may be a waste of your resources," she said. "ere's also the risk of them sabotaging all of the electronic assets or going on the server and deleting things." ere could be some risk of property damage, defamation or harassment when employees become highly disgruntled, said Minken. Employees could also take confidential information or pass proprietary information to competitors. ere are particular risks when it comes to client-facing roles, such as with Target, he said. "Target provides product and service assistance to customers so if you have unmotivated staff, if you have unfriendly staff, staff with poor morale or a lack of mo- tivation, then you're not going to exceed on sales, certainly," he said. "Are they going to be very pleas- ant to your clients anymore? Are they going to be complaining to your clients or customers? It de- pends on the role. If it's a recep- tionist and they're the face of the company, you might want to think twice about working notice for that person," said Stam. You've basically told the em- ployee she's not wanted, so there's a good chance of a negative reac- tion, said Fitzgibbon. "Are they going to poison what- ever sort of working environment you have by becoming a source of discontent in the workplace?" he said. "Oftentimes, when you're going through a restructuring, you're trying to straighten out your workforce. And is having this person around going to bring ev- erybody down to the point where you're defeating the purpose?" Whether or not working notice is a ticking time bomb depends on the employee's personality, said Minken. "And you don't know what they're going to do until it happens." Something else to consider? When only working notice is pro- vided, employers cannot insist on a release for other claims, he said. "A release is nice to have be- cause it could bar an employee from litigation or a human rights application or a ministry of labour complaint… the release could provide a bar from the employee suing and the employer could rely on the release to dismiss any pro- ceeding by the employee." When can it work? ere are limited circumstances where working notice can work, said Fitzgibbon. "In particular, where it's a mu- tual sort of decision, where the employee and the employer real- ize that it's in their mutual best interest that the relationship should end, and the employee says, 'In order for me to either save face, or to allow me an op- portunity to look for work while I can say I still am employed, I'd like a bit of working notice and I'm prepared to help you out,'" he said. It might also work for trusted, long-term employees who want to end their tenure with dignity, or for front-line employ- ees whose opportunities for sab- otage are relatively limited, said Stam. However, employees who de- cide to try working notice should have a backup plan in place, said Fitzgibbon. "Oftentimes, during a working notice period, it becomes appar- ent that it's unworkable," he said. "e reality is that working notice doesn't generally work." Low morale a risk you're Fired < pg. 1 recruitment activities, assessment practices and training initiatives. Process: Continuous improve- ment is not just an exercise or process of compliance, it is a mea- surable annual goal where every- one is expected to do their part every single day to continuously improve the process or product. Every single person is expected to be totally devoted to helping maintain the competitive edge, bring forward innovative solu- tions (not just ideas), constantly raise the bar on efficiencies, and reduce costs and waste. Linamar's leadership approach reinforces the need to adopt a disciplined practice in taking a long-term view of business, execute a strong strategy for a targeted market, aggressively go after business, constantly devote everybody's energies on driving efficiencies, purposefully invest in innovation and continually develop people. Linamar is an exemplary model of how any manufacturing business in Ontario and Canada has every opportunity to be highly competi- tive, consistently achieve above- average earnings growth and real- ize greater margins together with attaining double digit growth. e one fundamental differen- tiator in its success is the consis- tency with which the leadership team drives an all encompassing can-do mindset and culture — that's leadership in action. Trish Maguire is a commentator for SCNetwork on leadership in action and founding principal of Synergyx Solutions in Nobleton, Ont., focused on high-potential leadership develop- ment coaching. She has held senior leadership roles in HR and OD in education, manufacturing and entre- preneurial firms. She can be reached at synergyx@sympatico.ca. Long-term view liNAmAr < pg. 9 A man walks by shopping carts during the going-out-of-business sale at Target Canada in Toronto on Feb. 5. Credit: Mark Blinch (Reuters)

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