Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER October 5, 2015 18 INSIGHT MAYBE DON'T JOKE WITH THE POLICE MIAMI, FL. — An Arby 's restaurant manager was fired recently, and a clerk suspended, after a jest did not go over well with the local police. Pembroke Pines police offi cer Jennifer Martin ordered a meal at the outlet but then accused the clerk of refusing to accept her credit card, according to Reuters. She said the manager told her "He doesn't want to serve you because you are a police officer." Martin was eventually served but decided to return her food and was given a refund. e clerk, Kenneth Davenport, said there was a delay serving the offi cer because he was busy handling several customers, and the manager's comment was meant as a joke. The restaurant chain appeared to accept his version of events, saying, "We believe this was based on a misunderstanding and ill-considered joke gone awry." Arby's CEO Paul Brown wrote a public letter to all Miami-area police departments apologizing for the incident and offi cers were off ered a free combo meal. DESPERATE DAD MADRID — Looking to help his "desperate," unemployed son, a Spanish pensioner recently of- fered 5,000 euros (C$7,400) to any employer that would hire him, according to Reuters. e father placed an ad in the El Heraldo de Aragon newspaper stating he would pay anyone who hired his 39-year-old son, a father of one, calling him "qualifi ed, responsible and hard-working with good ref- erences." e pensioner, a retired lawyer, said he could not watch his son suff er without doing anything: " e advert might look undigni- fi ed but I lost my sense of shame a long time ago." Spain has the second-highest unemployment in Europe, at 22.4 per cent. IT'S A DOG'S LIFE FRANKFURT, GERMANY — Air Canada often comes under fi re for its customer service, but one re- cent incident won over the hearts of many. An Air Canada pilot fl y- ing from Tel Aviv to Toronto no- ticed the temperature in the plane's cargo area was plummeting after a heating system malfunction, ac- cording to CityNews. Concerned about a seven-year-old French bulldog named Simba, who was in the hold, the pilot decided to land the plane in Frankfurt, Germany, to have the pooch placed on another fl ight home. Despite delaying the fl ight by 75 minutes — and an ex- tra $10,000 in fuel costs — the pilot made the right call, said aviation ex- pert Phyl Durby. "If you look at the outside temperature, if it's minus 50 or 60, there is some insulation but it will probably still get down to below freezing (in the cargo area)... e captain is responsible for all lives on board, whether it's human or K-9." TRIPPED UP ROSZKE, HUNGARY — ere has been plenty of unsettling foot- age showing the plight of migrants overseas, but one recent incident stunned many — and lead to the fi ring of a camerawoman. A man carrying his young child near the town of Roszke, Hungary, was seen running from police, trying to escape from a collection point, according to Reuters. He was alleg- edly tripped by the woman, caus- ing the father and son to tumble to the ground. Still photos of the incident went viral and Hungarian channel N1TV later issued a state- ment condemning the employee's alleged actions — and she was later fi red. About 100 migrants were stopped by police trying to make their way to Budapest by foot. It's estimated 150,000 migrants have crossed from Serbia into Hungary so far this year, with most of them fl eeing confl icts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Vol. 28 No. 16 – October 5, 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 Workplace culture: The jury is still out W orkplace cultures are a fascinating thing. Every offi ce, every fac- tory, every single job site has one — whether you want one or not, you have one. Some evolve by accident, others are created by very purposeful design. Some seem downright creepy and cult-like to outsiders. A good culture can elevate an entire organization, improving productivity and morale. A bad culture has the potential to com- pletely destroy an organization. at's one of the reasons news editor Liz Bernier tackled the topic of the "cult of culture" in this issue. Culture is so important and yet there is no handy blueprint to follow to ensure you have a strong one. ere's not even agreement among experts about what makes a good culture. e recent problems at Ama- zon — where evidence of a so- called "bruising" culture emerged with a story in the New York Times that detailed things like 85-hour workweeks and employees sabo- taging each other with manage- ment's blessing — show both the importance of culture and how the debate over what's good hasn't been settled. Some in the HR community blasted Amazon for this ham- fi sted approach. Others praised it and wondered if more compa- nies shouldn't be following suit. Toronto-based employment law- yer Howard Levitt, writing in the Financial Post, pointed out the advantages of such a culture — where employees who perform are rewarded and those who don't are quickly shown the door. "Demand excellence, reward those who provide it far beyond your competitors and in myriad forms," wrote Levitt. "But once you realize an employee cannot be better than merely above average, cull them from your ranks, then advertise your approach to your clients and potential clients." But Levitt was also quick to point out a practical reality — on this side of the border, such a strategy would quickly be mired in exorbitant dismissal costs. With no at-will employment, sever- ance packages could soon bank- rupt any company that took such an approach. So barring a sea change in com- mon law — and we all know that's not going to happen — Canadian fi rms won't be able to import this American-style cutthroat busi- ness culture. at just means we have to be more creative when it comes to culture. We have to be more picky in the hiring process and more demanding when it comes to performance management. Underperform- ing staff need to be weeded out quickly, within the fi rst year of employment. Some say regulatory red tape like this makes it harder for Ca- nadian companies to compete on the global stage. I'd argue it's a chance to show how the best HR practices, when implemented by competent professionals and fol- lowed to a T, can set the stage for any organization to thrive in any environment. e old saying "You can't argue with success" has a place here — Amazon has grown into a retail gi- ant. But the unanswered question is whether it has done so because of the culture or in spite of it. Set your conference budgets now As I write this, I'm in Ottawa at- tending the annual conference of the Canadian Society for Safety Engineering. I always fi nd con- ferences a little inspiring — it's always good to get out of the of- fi ce to network, to talk to pro- fessionals face-to-face and hear fi rst-hand some of the real-world challenges they're facing. It's not only an interesting exer- cise, it also helps defi ne the sub- jects we want to cover in the pages of Canadian HR Reporter, Cana- dian Occupational Safety, Cana- dian Employment Law Today and the many other publications pub- lished by omson Reuters under the Carswell Media banner. In my role, I've had the oppor- tunity to attend numerous HR and OHS courses over the years. And while HR and health and safety have a lot in common, there are also some interesting diff erences — and one of them really rears its head at conferences like this one. Health and safety professionals are good at sharing best practices. Really good. Maybe that's not a surprise but it's gratifying to see. Unlike other professions — in- cluding HR — where best prac- tices are often viewed as closely guarded competitive advantages, the OHS world openly shares its secrets. e fi ercest business ri- vals will readily and openly share what worked and what didn't when it comes to ensuring every worker goes home safe at the end of the day. When you're setting your bud- gets for 2016 — an exercise many of us are going through now — try to ensure your professional development bucket doesn't get too many holes poked in it. It's worth attending a local provincial conference or larger national one — I guarantee you'll learn a lot and won't regret spending a penny of that budget. WHAT ABOUT FLOSS? LONDON, U.K. — If you're heading into space, there are probably a few essentials you don't want to forget — including a toothbrush. at's what happened to Russian cosmonaut Valentina Teresh- kova, the fi rst woman in space, when she headed into orbit in 1963, according to the Telegraph. "Unfortunately, it is a fact," said Tereshkova, speaking at an event in London recently. "But I'm very resourceful, as any woman would be. I had my toothpaste and I had my hand and I had water." More importantly, the cosmonaut also realized her spacecraft — the Vostok 6 — had an error in the control program that meant it would travel away from earth on the way home, instead of descending. " e spacecraft was orientated to ascend not descend," she said. "I would have gone up and up instead of going back down to the ground. I reported back to ground control and they corrected it." Soviet spaceship designer Sergey Korolev asked Tereshkova to keep the error a secret for decades. "I asked them not to punish the engineer who had made the error because he was going to be punished. Sergey Korolev said that he wouldn't as long as I didn't tell anyone," she said. "I kept that secret for 30 years." Credit: bissig (Shutterstock)

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