Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR March 9, 2015 14 iNsight TWITTERVERSE STRIKES AGAIN MainSFieLd, teX. — Clearly she wasn't too excited about start- ing her fi rst day at work. a woman in texas learned about the dangers of twitter after tweeting, "ew i start this (expletive) job tomor- row" on Feb. 6. She was fi red the next day by Jet's pizza owner Rob- ert Waple, also on twitter: "no you don't start that Fa job today! i just fi red you! Good luck with your no money, no job life!" ac- cording to the CBC. apparently, a co-worker saw the woman's tweets and forwarded them to the boss. But Waple's words may come back to bite him — after the fi ring of "@Cella," many people supported the non-employee while question- ing the owner's reaction. tweets from around the world have made Cella "famous" online, with some classes even studying the ethics of the incident. ARTISTIC ENDEAVOURS dUBLin — it can get pretty te- dious for airport workers on the tarmac, loading and unloading luggage, fuelling up the planes and dealing with delays and bad weather. Which is maybe why the ground crew of Ryanair recently decided to try out their artistry — in a rather public fashion. ey outlined a large image of a part of the male anatomy in the snow, ac- cording to the Mirror. a passen- ger waiting in the airport terminal snapped a pic and tweeted it out: "#ryanair ground staff are a cre- ative bunch." e shot was widely shared on social media, with one person commenting, "Better than Banksy." even more impres- sive was the airline's response: "While our ground crew excel at industry-leading, 25-minute turnarounds, art isn't their forte as they've clearly forgotten to draw wings on their snow airplane," said a spokesperson. WHEN YOU GOTTA GO San FRanCiSCo — e water reservoir may have been empty but a public utilities employee still shouldn't have urinated there, ac- cording to his employer. in Janu- ary, Martin Sanchez, who earns US$110,000 per year as a mainte- nance planner, peed into the priest Reservoir near yosemite national park, according to Reuters. e reservoir had been emptied for maintenance but apparently San- chez had to answer the call of na- ture. His reward? Suspension for several days without pay, accord- ing to tyrone Jue, spokesperson for the San Francisco public Utili- ties Commission. " ere was ac- tually no impact to public health, there was no impact to water supply. it was just an unaccept- able action by this employee," he said. " e message to him is very clear, even after this disciplinary action — zip it up or you're going to get shipped out." When fi lled, the giant reservoir serves people in the San Francisco Bay area and the water is treated with chlorine and ultraviolet light. WHY NOT JUST 'COME EAT DONUTS' DAY? HULL, U.k. — Looking to en- tice kids into its stores, krispy kreme in england recently of- fered celebration days to coincide with school holidays, including a "young at Heart Coff ee Morn- ing" and "Facepainting ursday." But the name of one celebra- tion did not go down well: "kkk Wednesday." it's believed the third "k" stood for "kids," said the CBC, but the name angered people fa- miliar with the acronym for the white supremacist group the ku klux klan. a fl yer for the event posted on krispy kreme's British Facebook page went viral and the donut chain quickly tried to make amends: "krispy kreme apologizes unreservedly for the inappropriate name of a customer promotion at one of our stores. We are truly sor- ry for any off ence this completely unintentional oversight may have caused… Steps are being taken to ensure that greater precautions are taken with publicity materials in the future." W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Vol. 28 No. 4 – March 9, 2015 PuBLished BY Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ©Copyright 2015 by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. Canadian hr rePorter is published 21 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: John Hobel - (416) 298-5197 john.hobel@thomsonreuters.com editoriaL Associate publisher/managing editor: Todd Humber - (416) 298-5196 todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com lead 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. Smith - (416) 649-7881 jeffrey.r.smith@thomsonreuters.com labour relations News editor: Sabrina Nanji - (416) 649-9348 sabrina.nanji@thomsonreuters.com labour relations News editor: Liz Foster - (416) 298-5129 liz.foster@thomsonreuters.com web/it co-ordinator: Mina Patel - (416) 649-7879 mina.patel@thomsonreuters.com adVertising Account executive: Stephen Hill - (416) 298-5090 stephen.hill@thomsonreuters.com Account executive: Kathy Liotta - (416) 649-9920 kathy.liotta@thomsonreuters.com production co-ordinator: Pamela Menezes - (416) 649-9298 pamela.menezes@thomsonreuters.com MarKeting and CirCuLation marketing manager: Mohammad Ali - (416) 609-5866 mm.ali@thomsonreuters.com marketing co-ordinator: Keith Fulford - (416) 649-9585 keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com ProduCtion manager, media production: Lisa Drummond - (416) 649-9415 lisa.drummond@thomsonreuters.com Art director: Dave Escuadro suBsCriPtions Annual subscription: $169 (plus GST) GST#: 897 176 350 RT To subscribe, call one of the customer service numbers listed above or visit www.hrreporter.com. 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. todd humber eDiTOR'S nOTeS 'CLEANUP, AISLE 4' London, U.k. — When E.T. became a big hit movie in 1982, Reese's pieces fl ew off store shelves because they were a favourite snack of the loveable alien. Could the same be true when it comes to cable ties, rope and tape with the box offi ce success of Fifty Shades of Grey? one United kingdom hardware chain seems to think so: B&Q sent out a memo to its 20,887 employees at 359 stores warning them to be ready for a rise in demand for such items, according to the Telegraph: "it is always B&Q's policy that products should only be used for their designed purposes. nevertheless, all staff should read this briefi ng notice to prepare for potentially sensitive customer enquiries and managers need to be aware of the implications that the fi lm may have on stock levels." Staff were also encouraged to fa- miliarize themselves with the book by reading it or watching the fi lm upon its release. "Copies of the book will be delivered to each store and can be lent to staff on a one-week basis. Understanding the storyline and how some products that B&Q stock feature in the fi lm will better prepare staff for incoming queries. Queries may be unusual and sensi- tive in nature but staff are reminded of B&Q's commitment to assist customers in a polite, helpful and respectful manner." fered celebration days to coincide with school holidays, including are taken with publicity materials in the future." became a big hit movie in 1982, Reese's pieces fl ew off store shelves because they were a favourite snack of the loveable alien. Could the same be true when it comes to cable ties, rope and tape with the ? one United kingdom hardware chain seems to think so: B&Q sent out a memo to its 20,887 employees at 359 stores warning them to be ready for a rise in demand for such items, according to the : "it is always B&Q's policy that products should only be used for their designed purposes. nevertheless, all staff should read this briefi ng notice to prepare for potentially sensitive customer enquiries and managers need to be aware of the implications that the fi lm may have on stock levels." Staff were also encouraged to fa- miliarize themselves with the book by reading it or watching the fi lm upon its release. "Copies of the book will be delivered to each store and can be lent to staff on a one-week basis. Understanding the storyline and how some products that B&Q stock feature in the fi lm will better prepare staff for incoming queries. Queries may be unusual and sensi- tive in nature but staff are reminded of B&Q's commitment to assist customers in a polite, helpful and respectful manner." Credit: Onur Kocamaz/Shutterstock Batteries not included i still remember the fi rst real robot i ever saw — it was or- ange. Not a bright orange, but that dull industrial orange that doesn't seem to exist any- where outside a factory setting. It was terrifying — sparking and hissing and oh-so-effi cient at do- ing its job, which was spot-weld- ing the frame of a brand new 1984 Dodge Caravan that was winding its way down the assembly line at the Chrysler plant in Windsor, Ont. I was 12, and my dad was tak- ing me on a tour of his workplace. I recall thinking how cool it was, and that it wouldn't be long until every job was done by robots as humans spent all their time re- laxing on the beach — perhaps by the futuristic year 2000. Well, my timing was a bit off . It's 2015, and robots haven't tak- en over — but that possibility is inching closer, as outlined in one of this issue's cover stories. (See "Rise of the robots," page 1.) e same Windsor Assembly Plant I toured is, as I write this, in the midst of a $2 billion overhaul that will see 822 new robots installed. And it's not just factories em- ploying robots. News editor Liz Bernier just came back from a trip to New York City where she was greeted by a robotic porter — known as Yobot — in the lobby of the Yotel. Yobot's job is to take guests' luggage and store it. e photo we chose for the cover features Pepper, which goes above and beyond just lifting and mov- ing things around. e 1.2-metre tall robot sells Nespresso coff ee machines at stores in Japan, and its manufacturer — Softbank — claims it can understand up to 80 per cent of conversations. It costs 198,000 Yen, or about $2,100 Cdn, plus monthly fees. And it doesn't charge commission. Even Barbie is getting into the game — Mattel is introducing "Hello Barbie" which can actually hold a two-way conversation and, since it's connected to the cloud, her conversational ability is only expected to improve over time. Tmsuk makes a reception/ guide robot that can greet visitors in the lobby and take them to an elevator, or provide directions on how to get around an offi ce tower. But some jobs must be robot proof, right? It's not like a ma- chine could write a news story, could it? Turns out it can. A com- pany called Narrative Science has been doing it for years. Here's a sample, from a story posted Feb. 18 on Forbes: "Intuit is expected to book a wider loss than a year ago when it reports second-quarter earnings on ursday, February 19, 2015. Analysts are expecting a loss of 26 cents per share, down from a loss of 10 cents per share a year ago. " e consensus estimate is up from three months ago when it was a loss of 32 cents, but hasn't changed over the past month. An- alysts are projecting earnings of $1.94 per share for the fi scal year. Revenue is projected to eclipse the year-earlier total of $782 million by 1%, fi nishing at $787 million for the quarter. For the year, rev- enue is projected to roll in at $4.34 billion." OK, so it won't win a Pulitzer. But it's pretty stunning that Nar- rative Science's software and arti- fi cial intelligence can scrape this kind of information out of press releases and data sources and come up with a coherent, gram- matically correct and accurate story. All this technology is very cool and very 2015. But it does cause one to pause and wonder about the future of work. Not long be- fore he passed away, my grandfa- ther took me on a tour of the plant where he toiled for more than 30 years. It was the now-shuttered PPG factory in Oshawa, Ont., that made glass for General Motors, among other companies. He pointed to a line where he once worked on the massive windows that went into the Canada Post building in downtown Toronto that eventually became the Air Canada Centre. "In my day, more than 70 peo- ple worked on that line," he said. On the day we toured the fac- tory, there were just two people there — one feeding raw material into a giant machine that ran the length of a city block, and one on the other end removing the nearly fi nished product. It will be interesting to watch the impact of robots over the coming decades on the workforce and society — 2025 has been iden- tifi ed as a potential tipping point year. For now, all we can say is, "Yah. Robots are cool." And they are do- ing a lot of work better, more effi - ciently and safer than their human counterparts.

• Cover