Canadian HR Reporter

June 1, 2015

Canadian HR Reporter is the national journal of human resource management. It features the latest workplace news, HR best practices, employment law commentary and tools and tips for employers to get the most out of their workforce.

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CANADIAN HR REPORTER June 1, 2015 6 NEWS Start by learning the key components with Basic Workplace Investigation Techniques & Report Writing Workshop or enhance your skills with one of our Advanced training sessions. • Investigating Complex Cases • Interviewing and Dealing with Difficult Witnesses • Assessing Credibility • Conducting Workplace Assessments • The Essential Human Rights Primer for Workplace Investigators • Understanding and Addressing Bias Basic and Advanced Workplace Investigation Training for HR Professionals from Canada's Leading Workplace Investigation Experts. For more information and for workshop dates call or visit: (416) 847-1814 | RubinThomlinson.com Learn to address inappropriate workplace behaviour before it becomes a legal issue. Full-time | Part-time | Online Give your HR practice the added advantage. Immigration Consultant Diploma Program FOR INFORMATION & APPLICATION: 604.628.5784 or 1.844.628.5784 www.ashtoncollege.ca Qualifying as a regulated immigration consultant allows you to assist and represent foreign talent in the immigration process. ing at the whole package the government has in mind, rather than any individual fiscal, regula- tory or environmental policy, said Gaulin. "Any one initiative might be manageable but the cumulative effect of all these policies could be quite burdensome on industry at a time when it's very volatile and very challenging, and so that's the uncertainty that we have. So we would prefer to see a total package from the government of Alberta so that we have some certainty in all areas that impact our business." Minimum wage hike e NDP also promised to in- crease the minimum wage from $10.20 now to $15 by 2018. It's a move that's definitely needed, said McGowan, as Alberta has one of the lowest rates in the country. "If there's any province in Cana- da that could afford to give its low- est paid workers a (higher) wage, it's Alberta, and that remains true even with slumping oil prices. e sky is not going to fall." By almost any measure, Alberta is the wealthiest province in the country and one of the wealthi- est jurisdictions in all of North America, but it has a high number of people working for low wages, he said. "Alberta currently has the highest levels of income and wealth inequality in the coun- try and a higher minimum wage would go some distance to reduc- ing that inequality." e province also has a relative- ly high cost of living, especially in urban areas such as Edmonton, Calgary and Fort McMurray, said McGowan — but people in low- wage service sectors are still earn- ing $12 per hour. e wage hike would only im- pact a tiny group of people who earn minimum wage in the prov- ince, according to Dwyer. "In a boomtown, in a booming society, the cost of living is high… so there's a problem here with get- ting kids to work at McDonald's or Tim Hortons so they bring in tem- porary foreign workers," he said. "Why clean toilets in Lake Lou- ise for minimum wage when I can go up and work in a work camp in the oil fields somewhere or some kind of assembly plant down around Calgary that's related to the oil industry and make $35 an hour?" But many employers would view an increased minimum wage as a troubling development, especially in an economy where growth has really fallen dramatically, said Kelly. "If there ever was a time to in- crease the minimum wage to $15 an hour in a particular jurisdic- tion, now would not be the time to do that in Alberta," he said. "The effect of the minimum wage in much of Alberta is well above the statutory minimum anyway because employers are just not able to find staff at those lower levels. But… we can't assume that that's going to remain the case given the pretty tumultu- ous year that the oil and gas sec- tors had." Tax credit e NDP also said it would help create 27,000 jobs by rewarding businesses that hire new employ- ees in Alberta. A tax credit plan would encourage hiring by re- funding 10 per cent of each new employee's salary, to a maximum salary of $50,000. e AFL supports the call, said McGowan. For one, it's measured and has been proven to work in other places. "We also think that it's appro- priate in Alberta at the moment given the climbing price of oil and the impact that that's had on the labour market. We still have low- er rates of unemployment than almost any other province and I think that's going to continue." e CFIB likes the concept, said Kelly. "We have certainly been advo- cates of hiring credits — the feder- al government has one right now with the small business job credit they institute on EI — so we're not sure what the new government might have in mind in terms of specifics but, conceptually, we like the sounds of it." e tax credit sounds like a fan- tastic idea, said Dwyer. "Let's face it, a massive global corporation can handle the tax increase — the problem with the tax increase was how it was going to affect small and middle-sized businesses," he said. "It sounds like that NDP plan… is all about assuaging the fears of the small and medium-sized busi- ness investors who feel that they would really be squeezed under a tax regime." Cost of living high in Alberta NDP < pg. 3 serving up a development need because they thought it just put them higher on the layoff list. And that's the fact that you don't trust the system. So it took us quite awhile, probably about five years, until we got to the point that peo- ple could actually feel comfortable citing a development need." But, at the same time, you need to differentiate between the top performers and the stragglers, he said. "is is a tough topic," he said. "e way we looked at is was dif- ferentiation creates a meritocracy; treating everyone the same breeds mediocrity." With a large body of employees, you ought to be able to differenti- ate between who's your best and who's your least effective, said Conaty. "Performance culture has con- sequences. Everybody talks about, 'We have a performance culture in our company' — most don't. Un- less there are consequences, (posi- tive and negative), you don't have a performance culture. Performance culture is when your best get rec- ognized, promoted, rewarded and the like, and where your least ef- fective either improve or get re- moved. So it's a tougher game." And it's important never to get too far removed from the rest of the organization, he said. "e closer you get to the top of the organization, the more in- sulated you are from the noise in the organization. So you've got to find ways of getting down into the noise of the organization, whether it's holding skip-level meetings, dialogue meetings, surveys, what- ever. But don't just rely on emails and surveys to get that done. ey're all great tools but there's no substitute for a little personal touch and getting down in the or- ganization yourself." CHRO < pg. 6 Personal touches Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley (right) leaves her first news conference as premier-elect in Edmonton on May 6. Credit: Dan Riedlhuber (Reuters) "If there ever was a time to increase the minimum wage, now is not the time."

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