Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER June 15, 2015 NEWS 17 HR Manager's Guide to Employment Files and Information Management: Legislation and Best Practices uniquely addresses the management of all types of employee information throughout the employment lifecycle, from recruitment to termination. Employment information and documentation management carries legal requirements that protect an organization from litigation, and are essential to the creation of sound policies for efficient, effective, and ethical business practices. Easy to read and understand, this new guide provides Human Resources professionals and others who deal with employee files, either electronically or in paper format, with: • Key legislation and emerging case law • Best practices in the areas of privacy, records retention, human resources information systems (HRIS), and information security • Practical guidance, tools and templates, such as sample policies • Information on all Canadian jurisdictions Available risk-free for 30 days Order online: www.carswell.com Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto: 416-609-3800 Order # 986618-65203 $70 Softcover approx. 100 pages April 2015 978-0-7798-6618-2 Shipping and handling are extra. Price(s) subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. 00228VC-A49657-E98871 New Publication HR Manager's Guide to Employment Files and Information Management: Legislation and Best Practices A Canadian HR Reporter Special Report Howard A. Levitt, B.A., LL.B., and Tanya Neitzert, B.A., CHRP Brought to you by: and sexual orientation and gen- der identity in general, a lot of the numbers that we end up using are American," he said. "To have feedback from Canada is really important because the legislative climate in Canada is so different than it is in the United States. We have employment pro- tections for LGBT people here in Canada that a lot of states don't have. So it's good to see some data that's reflective of our Canadian culture." Perception versus reality One of the study's pivotal findings is there are real misconceptions in the dominant group's — het- erosexual and cisgender people — understanding of what LGBT people experience every day, said Bach. "ere's also a significant dif- ference in the differences between what we call sexual minorities — so LGB, lesbian, gay and bisexual people — in comparison to gen- der identity minorities, so trans people," he said. "We also saw a significant dif- ference or lack of understanding, I guess, in terms of the differences between sexual orientation and gender identity. Because we kind of group the LGBT communities together — and it's not one com- munity, it's several communities — there is the assumption that you're either LGBT or you're not. And that's not the case. You could be a gay man… or you could be a trans man and be straight. "e two things are not neces- sarily synonymous." Another important takeaway is the lack of diversity in leadership at many organizations, and the impact that may have on policy, said Sasso. "Individuals who are in leader- ship roles, who are in positions of power, typically are not LGBT individuals. So when policies are being made and when policies are being enforced, I think we need to ask ourselves who's doing that, and what perhaps are the miscon- ceptions that might be existing in our leadership team or in some of our HR practices?" Discrimination still an issue ere is still a significant fear of discrimination at work — al- though it generally takes a more subtle form and may go unrecog- nized by non-LGBT employees, said Bach. Sixty-seven per cent of hetero- sexual respondents said there is no discrimination against LGBT employees, yet 29 per cent of LGBT employees reported having experienced it and 33.2 per cent of LGBT employees reported having witnessed discrimination against LGBT colleagues. "It's still happening. It's much more subtle but it is definitely still happening. And it's more happening with people who are from the trans community than for sexual orientation minorities," said Bach. What's actually happening is very different from what some in- dividuals perceive to be happen- ing, said Sasso. "at's a dangerous place in a workforce, when individuals are experiencing (discrimination) and other individuals in the organiza- tion aren't recognizing that it's happening," he said. "We very often think about ho- mophobia, biphobia, transphobia, those kinds of discrimination as individuals not getting hired, as individuals getting paid less, as individuals not getting promo- tions. But a more subtle form of discrimination — a more insidi- ous form of discrimination — are those assumptions that we don't even recognize other identities. We don't see those other identi- ties. And that's where bullying and harassment can percolate in very unintentional ways — just through ignorance, not always out of intent." at type of bias is not uncom- mon and often it's just a lack of understanding, said Druhan. "at's typical of people who are not of the experience of be- ing LGBT — they're not aware of some the struggles that people may face being gay at work. "So when you see the statistic that a lot of people who identify as cisgender, heterosexual don't feel that there's discrimination going on in their workplace, that's because they wouldn't know, be- cause they wouldn't be the focus of that discrimination." Takeaways for employers Much of the misunderstanding or oversimplification of LGBT iden- tities and experiences is due to a lack of education and awareness, said Sasso. "We work in a world where we like to fit everyone into nice, neat boxes. And what this report really captures is when it comes to iden- tity, boxes don't work for every- one. And while it might be conve- nient, it can actually do harm to individuals when they aren't rep- resented and when our practices don't leave options for individuals to self-identify," he said. "But in the reporting structures in many organizations, you can only check off one box." Employers should examine whether changes are necessary to the language that is used, how documents are constructed and options for pronouns of prefer- ence to be used, said Bach. "It all comes from things like your company policies. Do you use gender-specific pronouns? 'He,' 'she,' 'husband,' 'wife'? Why not use 'spouse,' 'partner'? Allow the opportunity for a person to come out. By allowing a gender- neutral pronoun, you indicate to me that you are not assuming that my response is going to be oppo- site-gendered," he said. "Do you use the term 'mater- nity leave'? Or do you use 'paren- tal leave'? ere's various types of parenting… ings like that can send a very strong message." Employers also need to provide more training and education for employees, said Sasso. "e workplace isn't just a place to work anymore. e workplace is a place where we have continu- ing education, and we see that around professional develop- ment… but we need to start doing more professional development around interpersonal skills and learning about diversity. "We can't just have diversity training when someone's hired or after a complaint — we need di- versity learning to happen all year long for employees at every level," he said. A significant barrier for people to become allies and to learn is simply a lack of understanding, said Druhan. "Not knowing the thing to say sometimes prevents people from asking questions. ey're afraid that they're going to say the wrong thing or offend somebody." One of the most obvious but most important things an em- ployer can do is "fly the flag," said Bach. "And I mean that in the most lit- eral sense. LGBT people will wait for a sign that says that it's OK for them to come out. And that sign can be the literal rainbow flag or the trans flag, or it can be the in- clusion of an openly LGBT person as part of the executive or leader- ship of the organization, it could be mentioned on the website, it could be an employee resource group. "But something that I as a mem- ber of the LGBT community can look and say, 'We're safe.' at's really what employers have to do." Lack of understanding a common barrier DISCRIMINATION < pg. 1 A woman holds rainbow flags at an International Gay Rodeo Association event in Little Rock, Ark., in May. Employers should literally "fly the flag" so LGBT people know it's OK to come out at work, says Michael Bach of CCDI. Credit: Lucy Nicholson (Reuters)

• Cover