Canadian HR Reporter

PM40065782 RO9496 July 13, 2015 INSIDE THE NEW MATCHMAKER Can genetic testing tell us which drugs will be most effective? Looking for ROI Survey highlights trends, issues in health benefits page 3 Upside down Employers are facing 'complete disruption': Exec page 9 Too much? How much pay information should employers share? page 14 page 13 Manitoba eases claims for PTSD coverage First to push legislation based on presumption for all occupations BY SARAH DOBSON MANITOBA made waves recent- ly when it announced it planned to amend workers' compensation coverage around post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A first in Canada, the legislation would be based on presumption, so claims would be incident-based instead of occupation-based, for all workers, not just first responders. In the context of workers' com- pensation law, a presumption sim- plifies the adjudication process by eliminating the need to draw a causal connection between certain facts, according to the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba (WCB). "Under this approach, if a worker has been exposed to a PTSD trigger in the workplace and is diagnosed with PTSD, it would be presumed that the PTSD was an injury by accident arising out of and in the course of employment, unless the contrary was proven. "A provision drafted in this manner would not provide great- er coverage to workers than they already have because PTSD is a compensable condition with or without a presumption. It would, as previously indicated, merely simplify adjudication and reduce the stigma of mental illness." Potential benefits If there is stigma around apply- ing for benefits due to a psycho- logical injury, a presumption will help people who are sitting on the fence about whether or not to make a claim, said Warren Preece, director of communications at the WCB in Winnipeg. "Anything that reduces barriers between an injured worker and the benefits they're entitled to is a good thing," he said. "e sooner we know the injury happens, the sooner our care system kicks in, be it a sprained wrist or sore back or psychological injury like PTSD." Often, the disorder catches up to people because there were no supports when it happened, said Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour in Winnipeg. "If we change how we deal with these traumatic events and we give people lots of help early, when they 'Please don't leave a message' Does voicemail still make sense? BY SARAH DOBSON THEY SAY it's going the way of the fax and the ballpoint pen. But is voicemail really on the way out? Two major companies in the United States — JPMorgan Chase and Coca-Cola — recently re- vealed they have phased out voice- mail for some employees. Office voicemail at Coke was shut down "to simplify the way we work and increase productivity," said an internal memo from chief information officer Ed Steinike. Instead, a standard outgoing mes- sage tells callers to try later or use an alternative method to contact the person. And JPMorgan is eliminating voicemail for thousands of em- ployees who do not take calls from customers. Hardly anyone uses voicemail anymore, said Gordon Smith, chief executive of consum- er banking operations. "We are all carrying something in our pockets that is going to get texts or email or a phone call," he said, according to Reuters. "We started to cut those off." In the consumer and com- munity banking business, the 135,000-employee JPMorgan Faking it: 80-hour work weeks not always real Some employees pressured to be 'always on': Study BY LIZ BERNIER THE TENSION between long working hours and family or per- sonal responsibilities has long been painted as a women's prob- lem. And while many women find work-life balance a challenge, it's not exclusive to the fairer sex. Many men — particularly those in high-pressure, long-hours work environments — are also struggling to find that balance. But bowing out of 60- or 80-hour work weeks to take flexible hours is not often a widely accepted practice. So what's a guy to do? Fake it, according to Erin Reid, assistant professor of organization behavior at Boston University's Questrom School of Business. For many male employees at a global consulting firm she stud- ied, the solution was appearing to work 80-hour weeks, without actually doing so. "Men were just as likely as women to have trouble with these 'always on' expectations. How- ever, men often coped with these demands in ways that differed strikingly," wrote Reid in an April edition of the Harvard Business Review. "Women who had trouble with the work hours tended to simply to take formal accommodations, reducing their work hours… they were consequently marginalized within the firm. "In contrast, many men found unobtrusive, under-the-radar ways to alter the structure of their work (such as cultivating mostly local clients)… such that they could work predictable schedules in the 50- to 60-hour range. In doing so, they were able to work far less than those who fully de- voted themselves to work and had Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger waits for the start of a meeting of provincial and territorial premiers in Ottawa in January. His province is planning to ease workers' comp coverage around PTSD for all workers. Credit: Chris Wattie (Reuters) EMPLOYER > pg. 2 COULD > pg. 8 ARE > pg. 6

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