Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER May 4, 2015 10 NEWS Are you looking to reach occupational health and safety professionals across the country? Get your listing in the Health and Safety section of HR Vendors Guide online and in print. Visit www.hrreporter.com/hr-vendors-guide to enter your firm's information. Visit www.hrreporter.com/hr-vendors-guide HR VENDORS GUIDE HR VENDORS GUIDE Attention OHS vendors and suppliers COMPENSATION (416) 498-7800 ext. 1 www.resourcecorporation.com Compensation Surveys Incentive Programs Job Descriptions Job Evaluation Pay Equity Performance Appraisal Salary Administration Sales Compensation CONSULTING Ian Hendry Norm Sabapathy Heather Briant Laura Dunne Helen Giffen Gathering a group of senior HR leaders into a room is always an interesting exercise. Late last year, Ian Hendry, president of the Strategic Capability Network and vice-president of HR at Interac, moderated a discussion in downtown Toronto. It has become an annual exercise for Canadian HR Reporter, and an opportunity to tap into the minds of HR leaders on what's coming down the pipeline for the coming year. In this, the third of a three-part series, panellists look at what's new in the world of social media, technology and HR metrics. PANELLISTS: • Ian Hendry, president of the Strategic Capability Network and vice-president HR, Interac • Norm Sabapathy, executive vice-president of people, Cadillac Fairview • Heather Briant, senior vice-president of people, Cineplex Entertainment • Helen Giffen, Toronto-based human resources executive • Mark Edgar, senior vice-president, human resources, RSA Canada • Laura Dunne, senior vice-president of human resources, Indigo Books & Music Mark Edgar HR still struggling with technology – but situation's getting better Roundtable takes a look at what's happening with social media, technology, metrics BY TODD HUMBER SOCIAL MEDIA no longer qualifi es as "new" — LinkedIn has been around since 2003, Facebook went online in 2004 and Twitter will be celebrating its 10th anni- versary next year. Yet if you were to poll a room of HR executives, you'd struggle to fi nd even a strong minority who feel they are cutting-edge at work. One exception to this rule is re- cruitment, according to Ian Hen- dry, president of the Strategic Ca- pability Network and vice-presi- dent of HR for Interac, speaking at a recent roundtable discussion with senior leaders about the im- pact of social media and technol- ogy on the workplace. Organizations generally have a handle on using social media to promote job postings. But what about its impact on culture and people? "Is there resonance at the ex- ecutive table around the need to adapt to social media and re- spond?" he asked. Norm Sabapathy, executive vice-president of people at Cadil- lac Fairview, said it's high on the agenda at his organization for 2015. "One of our priorities is to clar- ify our organization and employ- ment brand," he said. To help on that front, the com- pany hired someone from Micro- soft's ranks to lead the marketing department. "It was something totally diff er- ent from a commercial real estate perspective as the organization thought about the brand that we bring to the offi ce and retail sec- tor, he said. "On employment brand, we've got our presence on LinkedIn and we did all the basic stuff . But what should we turn this into and what kind of messaging do we need to get out there?" e fact that HR and marketing are partnered on this front, and working together on the organi- zational brand, is exciting, he said. At Indigo Books & Music, so- cial media is one way the retailer talks to customers, said Laura Dunne, senior vice-president of human resources. " at naturally bleeds into the consumer brand, the employment brand and raises questions of how do we keep making those connec- tions," she said. "But it can be an unwieldy beast. If you go down that path, it takes new resources to manage those communities. It's something to be mindful of as you venture into that." And Indigo is not only connect- ing with customers on social me- dia — it is also increasingly using it to communicate with employ- ees as well. "I don't know if you would call it social media but it's a virtual com- munication forum internally," said Dunne. "It's an ideas forum. ink of it a bit like TripAdvisor for the work- place, where 6,500 employees put forward ideas, thoughts and com- plaints. ey vote them up, they vote them down." A panel of senior leaders re- sponds to posts, which are direct- ed to the appropriate departments and executives using built-in word recognition. "It creates a pretty vibrant inter- nal community," she said. " ere's a lot of shared problem-solving and it gives a voice to employees that don't necessarily have day- to-day access to leaders to share their ideas." However, she cautioned it can be a case of "Be careful what you wish for" — with thousands of active users, there can be a lot of activity. "But it is a very dynamic envi- ronment and we really like it." Mark Edgar, senior vice-presi- dent of HR at RSA Canada, said he's dumbfounded people still de- bate whether social media is going to happen or not. "It's more a case of 'What's the pace, depending on the demands of employees and the demands of customers?'" he said, adding that too many senior leadership teams are still wrestling with the ques- tion of whether social media is an area to get involved in. Helen Giff en, a Toronto-based HR executive, said company size can dictate how active an orga- nization is when it comes to so- cial media. For many small fi rms, the nature of the business is very transactional and while social me- dia could have an impact, it's not ROUNDTABLE > pg. 11

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