Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER September 21, 2015 34 INSIGHT 'COLD-BLOODED KILLER' DALLAS — A North Texas neurosurgeon was arrested recently on five counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and one count of injuring an elderly person — all during surgeries he performed at three diff erent hospitals, according to the New York Daily News. Christopher Duntsch is said to have botched several spinal surgeries in 2011 and 2012, which injured four and killed one woman. A judge refused to reduce his US$600,000 bail after reading an email he sent to an employee: "I'm ready to leave the love and kindness and goodness and patience that I mix with everything else that I am and become a cold-blooded killer." NOT YOUR AVERAGE DAYCARE CRANFORD, N.J. — A "fight club" for adults is one thing, but a fi ght club for young kids? Two day- care workers in New Jersey were fi red recently after it came to light the two women had encouraged at least a dozen children in their care to fi ght each other. To make matters worse, they fi lmed the in- cident and put it up on Snapchat, according to the National Post. Erica Kenny, 22, and Chanese White, 28, face fourth-degree child abuse charges. Kenny also faces a charge of endangering a child for filming the scuffles. While no children were injured, the daycare said it has a zero tolerance confl ict policy and the two employees had been fi red. "We are completely appalled," Jaclyn Falzarano, vice- president of operations at Light- bridge Academy in Cranford, N.J., told NBC4. UNEASY SLEEP AJAX, ONT. — A woman who re- cently had a new mattress delivered to her home in Ajax, Ont., got more than she was expecting when the delivery man apparently sent her inappropriate texts. Hours after the delivery, Samantha Loucks said she received a message from the Sleep Country employee saying, "Let me know how (the mattress) is lol," ac- cording to the Toronto Star. When the customer replied the bed was bigger than her old one, the worker texted, "Some say bigger is bet- ter. Are you in it," but later texted to apologize. Sleep Country CEO Dave Friesema would not confi rm an employee sent the messages but said the company was investigat- ing. "We are passionate about our customers… sometimes we make mistakes; we made a big mistake on this one, but we want to make it right." Personal texts after business hours would not be considered professional use, he said, while de- clining to comment on the future of the employee. But the CEO said the situation was an opportunity to "re-educate" employees about cus- tomer rights. W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Vol. 28 No. 15 – September 21, 2015 PUBLISHED BY Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ©Copyright 2015 by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. CANADIAN HR REPORTER is published 21 times a year. Publications Mail – Agreement # 40065782 Registration # 9496 – ISSN 0838-228X Director, Carswell Media: Karen Lorimer - (416) 649-9411 karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com Publisher: (on leave) John Hobel - (416) 298-5197 john.hobel@thomsonreuters.com EDITORIAL Associate Publisher/Managing Editor: Todd Humber - (416) 298-5196 todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com Lead Editor: Sarah Dobson - (416) 649-7896 sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com News Editor: Liz Bernier - (416) 649-7837 liz.bernier@thomsonreuters.com Employment Law Editor: Jeffrey R. 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Address changes and returns: Send changes and undeliverable Canadian addresses to: SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Canadian HR Reporter One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ❑ From time to time, we make our subscriber list available to companies and organizations whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you do not want your name to be made available, please check here and return with your mailing label. CUSTOMER SERVICE Call: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5082 (Toronto) (877) 750-9041 (outside Toronto) Email: carswell.customerrelations@ thomsonreuters.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com CHRR reserves the right to edit for length and clarity. Todd Humber Editor's Notes The HR folks are alright C ongratulations to the win- ners of the 2015 National HR Awards. e 17-page section in this issue is testament to some of the best work being done by HR across Canada. For Canadian HR Reporter, it was an exciting endeavour. We wanted to launch a comprehen- sive national competition and the response from readers has been nothing short of phenomenal. We were fl ooded with applica- tions from coast to coast, and that made judging intense in many of the categories. But it was the quality of the nominations that impressed us the most. It's gratifying to be able to tell the stories with so much depth. Too often, award shows focus on the shiny statues and not enough on the actual practice that won the award. And we're not done. As I write this, we have a team of videogra- phers crossing the country. If you receive Canadian HR Newswire, our weekly email service, you'll soon get a special email with links to videos of the award winners. You can also check www.nation- alhrawards.com for updates — we will be housing all of the winner's stories there, along with videos. Some highlights from the award winners: Employee engagement: Fidel- ity Investments Canada has a 98 per cent employee engagement score, and it goes above and be- yond in taking employee com- ments seriously. For example, if the employee engagement survey reveals problem areas, the com- pany president will get involved, talking to senior team members to ensure they understood why the issues matter. Technology/innovation: Lo- blaw took its campus recruitment program of pharmacists online, fully tapping into the potential of video interviewing and assess- ment technology. In the past, it sent a team on an expensive and time-consuming cross-country tour. And the quality of candidates hasn't suff ered one bit — just as many candidates are being inter- viewed, and the response rate is higher. Recognition: Is your recog- nition program underutilized? at's not a problem at ATB Fi- nancial, which has 99 per cent of employees using the online tools. It's also fun and spontaneous with celebrations, including impromp- tu parades and getting the family of employees involved. Training and development: Calfrac spent $280,000 to put a tablet in the hands of every one of its fi eld operators — a massive ex- pense, but far more cost-eff ective than sending out dozens of manu- als to thousands of employees. It also allows standardized training to be delivered across the com- pany at the same time. Employment law: Janice Ru- bin of Rubin omlinson stepped onto the national stage and a very bright spotlight when the CBC brought her in to investigate its culture in the wake of the Jian Ghomeshi scandal. Her expert handling of the complex, high- profi le workplace situation — and her subsequent report — made her an easy pick for the judges. Recruitment: We all know how hard it can be to fi nd that perfect candidate. But try building an entire company, and a $4-billion mine, at the same time. at's the challenge facing K+S Potash, and it took hold of social media with an innovative "See Yourself Here" campaign. We're already planning for — and are excited about — the 2016 National HR Awards. Stay tuned for more information. Our judges Best Diversity Program: Michael Bach, CEO of the Canadian Cen- tre for Diversity and Inclusion; Kelly Lendsay, inaugural presi- dent and CEO of the Aboriginal Human Resource Council; and Beth Clarke, director of employer programs at the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council. Best Recruitment Program: Lauren Friese, founder of Talent Egg.ca; Mary McIninch, executive director, government relations, ACSESS; and David Hoad, senior consultant at Hay Group. HR Challenge Award: Ed- mond Mellina, president of OR- CHANGO; Les Dakens, former CHRO for Maple Leaf Foods; and Tiff any Goodlet of KornFerry. Employment Lawyer of the Year: Gail J. Cohen, editor-in- chief of Canadian Lawyer; and Jean Cumming, editor-in-chief/ market director of Lexpert. Best Employee Communi- cations Program: Jody Bruner, founder Bruner Business Com- munications; Roger Davies, founder and CEO of McLuhan & Davies Communications; and Sharone Bar-David, author of Trust Your Canary: Every Lead- er's Guide to Taming Workplace Incivility. Best Corporate Training & Development Program: Allison Patterson, national senior lead- ership and business manager, KPMG Canada; Tony Kerekes, seasoned HR professional with 20 plus years' experience; and Doug Macnamara, president of Banff Executive Leadership. Venngo Employee Engage- ment Award: Courtney Pratt, corporate director and former chair of Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions; Kay Hubbard, manager of organization eff ec- tiveness and talent management at Carswell, a omson Reuters business; and Paul Weissman, president of Venngo. Best Corporate Social Re- sponsibility Program: Barb Conway, vice-president of HR and customer experience at Carswell; and David Wexler, founder and managing partner of Wexler Hu- man Capital Consulting. Rideau Best Recognition Program: Roy Saunderson, chief learning offi ce of Rideau's Rec- ognition Management Institute; and Daryl Bettles, manager, com- pensation, benefi ts and human resources operations at Carswell. Te c h n o l o g y / I n n o v a t i o n Award: Alan McEwen, HR/pay- roll consultant with 25 years' plus experience; and Todd Humber, associate publisher/managing editor of Canadian HR Reporter. Healthy Workplaces Award: Gerald J. Yaff e, president of Kit Care Corporation; Roland Osske, seasoned HR professional with more than 25 years' experience; and Beverly Beuermann-King, resiliency and wellness specialist. WEAVING HAVOCK CALGARY — Forest fi res created smoky skies in Calgary recently, with Al- berta Health Services sending out advisories about air quality. But some of the readings were slightly inaccurate, thanks to an intrusive arthropod. Staff at a monitoring station discovered a spider had crawled inside the equipment that helps determine local air quality, according to the Calgary Herald. Although the scale goes up to 10, it may exceed that when air pol- lution is abnormally high. A rating of 28 sounded alarm bells one evening, which led to the discovery of the spider. It was unclear how long the spider was there, said Jason Maloney, a spokesman for Alberta Environment and Parks. "Basi- cally, when they're measuring particulate matter, they shine a light in through an air stream and, in simple terms, the spider was in that path of light, so the measurements are off because it thought that was air," he said. While offi cials do not expect any further inaccurate readings caused by insects, they might not come as a surprise. "I think it's happened once before," said Maloney. Credit: Macrovector (Shutterstock) Forest fi res created smoky skies in Calgary recently, with Al- berta Health Services sending out advisories about air quality. But some of the readings were slightly inaccurate, thanks to an intrusive arthropod. Staff at a monitoring station discovered a spider had crawled inside the Calgary . Although the scale goes up to 10, it may exceed that when air pol- lution is abnormally high. A rating of 28 sounded alarm bells one evening, which led to the discovery of the spider. It was unclear how long the spider was there, said Jason Maloney, a spokesman for Alberta Environment and Parks. "Basi- cally, when they're measuring particulate matter, they shine a light in through an air

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