Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER August 10, 2015 12 EXECUTIVE SERIES 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. 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In many instances, we're in situations where with- holding information that isn't in- tended to be shared — which we call rationalized hiding… clearly there's information that's shared with us that's shared in confidence that we aren't able to share," he said. Knowledge hiding isn't the worst thing that can happen in an organization, said Connelly — but it can have some significant consequences. "Where it's problematic and why it's an issue, the one area would be where there's informa- tion that the organization needs to have — in other words, it's people withholding information that's critical to the operation that you need to be able to share, and that information needs to be in the hands of the right individuals (for them) to be able to make deci- sions," said Silverthorn. Fostering trust A major reason employees engage in knowledge hiding is distrust, said Connelly. "If there's any kind of sense that the person who's asking does not have integrity, is not, we'll say, benevolent, they're not fully competent, you might have good reasons why you might not share everything that you know with certain people," she said. There are other reasons, of course, such as time pressure and stress. "(But) that's not everybody. ere are some people who really care about other people, think of other people's goals when they're making their decisions, just really put themselves in other people's shoes. So these people, even when they're busy, even when they're pressed for time, they will take the extra effort to try to help somebody." You can't force employees to stop hiding knowledge — in- stead, you have to build trust, said Connelly. "e thing is, this trust takes some time to develop. It's not as if you can just tell people to trust each other — they need opportu- nities to get to know each other. And it seems sort of counterin- tuitive, because people are busy, but giving them those opportu- nities to find out a little bit about people on a personal level gives them reasons to trust each other, gives them reasons to share their knowledge," she said. Managers also play a key role, said Connelly. "Managers can also set very good examples by sharing information that they are able to share, when they can share it. So if the manager is completely tight-lipped about everything, it kind of sets the tone for everyone else. So why would you be the only one sharing when your manager is quiet on every topic, and everybody else is the same?" she said. "If you can recognize people who do go that extra mile, that's a way of starting to shift the culture." Trust takes time to develop HIDDEN < pg. 10 university-corporate linkages are proving to be highly beneficial. IBM Canada partnered with seven Canadian universities and created centres of excellence where leading-edge research is encouraged between cross-sec- tor leading experts. ese centres have reportedly made convincing advances across a broad range of issues and innovation-related ac- tivities in health care, water, cities and urban concerns. Then there is the national not-for-profit organization Mi- tacs which designs and delivers research and training programs in Canada. It works with 60 uni- versities, thousands of companies and both federal and provincial governments and is dedicated to building partnerships that support industrial and social innovation. Consistent with a publica- tion prepared by Canada's Public Policy Forum in May, both these examples show how collaboration and cross-sectoral partnerships help reinforce Canada as one of the world's most viable investment prospects with a track record for maintaining a viable business environment along with an edu- cated, diverse, highly skilled work- force that can generate innovation. With the changing global, eco- nomic and political world we live in, is it time academia re-posi- tioned and reworked its relation- ship with business? What has to happen in order for academia to rethink its strategies and tools to make its research capabilities more visible, its expertise more accessible and its resources bet- ter known? Likewise, is it time for corpora- tions to rethink how they can en- gage with academia and start to leverage subject matter expertise, applied and action research capa- bilities and resources? ere's clearly a win-win op- portunity waiting to be reworked by academia and corporate Cana- da in developing a synergistic, col- laborative framework with com- mon interests to create forward- looking business partnerships based on trust, open dialogue and shared knowledge. Being able to create opportuni- ties where common interests are identified, expertise is leveraged and theory can be translated into applied, cutting-edge research can only help accelerate innova- tion, create great organizations and sustain that competitive ad- vantage. Let's do it. Trish Maguire is a commentator for SC- Network on leadership in action and founding principal of Synergyx Solutions in Nobleton, Ont., focused on high-potential leadership development coaching. She has held senior leadership roles in HR and OD in education, manufacturing and entre- preneurial firms. She can be reached at synergyx@sympatico.ca. Develop synergies PARTNERSHIPS < pg. 11 ere's clearly a win-win opportunity for academia and corporate Canada in developing a collaborative framework.

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