Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER November 2, 2015 2 NEWS Recent stories posted on www.hrreporter.com. Check the website daily for quick news hits from across Canada and around the world. WEB O N T H E ACROSS CANADA Young man who died after B.C. attack was overwhelmed, couldn't pay rent: Chief 11 injured at First Nation offi ce Doctors in Newfoundland ratify agreement with province New deal includes changes to salary, benefi ts Bell pledges to guard against reviews of its apps by employees Agrees to $1.25-million penalty from Competition Bureau 'Diversity 50' lists women, minority appointments to corporate boards Initiative has resulted in 22 board appointments since 2012 Boosting business taxes would penalize workers: Analysis Could mean lower wages, fewer jobs, poor conditions Social security tribunal short-staff ed, under pressure from start: Report Concerns about quality assurance, micro-managing, productivity Saskatchewan fi xes essential services law after Supreme Court ruling Preventing public sector employees from striking unconstitutional, court says Canadians support regulated access to medical cannabis: Poll ree-quarters say insurance companies should cover costs AROUND THE WORLD Indonesian offi cials say no language tests needed for foreign workers But local governments could adopt such measures Applications for U.S. unemployment benefi ts drop to 42-year low Strong evidence employers remain confi dent enough to hold onto staff Fidgeting while you work might be good for you: Study Low fi dgeters have 30 per cent higher risk of death e power of resilience How can resilience completely change a person's experience of work? Andrew Soren, an expert on positive psychology, sat down with Canadian HR Reporter TV to explain. hrreporter.com FEATURED VIDEO Institute of Professional Management 2210-1081 Ambleside Drive, Ottawa, ON, K2B 8C8 Tel: (613) 721-5957 Toll Free: 1-888-441-0000 ipm Details at : www.workplace.ca/hr-reporter.html The Professional Trainer Full Accreditation Program on Multimedia CD-ROM valid until December 15, 2015 The goal of this program is to teach participants how to assess the need for training, develop the material, prepare the handouts, deliver the content and evaluate the results. Successful completion of all 3 Modules makes you eligible for membership in the Canadian Professional Trainers Association, CPTA, with the RPT (Registered Professional Trainer) designation. This new multi-media deluxe package includes three (3) CD-ROMS with over 200 minutes of audio visual clips, participant workbook and exam. $745 regular $945 ... save $200 Getting that winning 'look' Cosmetic procedures becoming self-branding strategy BY LIZ BERNIER COULD a youthful appearance give jobseekers an edge over the competition in a tight labour market? ere's no easy answer to that question — but more and more workers are springing for cosmet- ic procedures such as injectables and plastic surgery in an eff ort to promote their career growth — and the focus is largely on looking youthful, according to a survey of 400 people and 500 doctors by Re- alSelf Trends. Nearly one-third of the doc- tors surveyed said they are see- ing younger and younger patients requesting procedures to reduce the appearance of aging, found the survey. Why? Many people are trying to get a career boost, according to Ron Shelton, dermatologist at the Laser & Skin Surgery Centre of New York, and an associate pro- fessor at the Mount Sinai Medical Centre. ere's also been a notable rise in procedures among the over-60 crowd, who in decades past may have been enjoying retirement — but these days, they often want to remain in the workforce longer, said Shelton. " at 35-plus age group is there, it's always going to be there… they want to maintain their youthful- ness at work. "But I'm really seeing in the last two years that the (people in their 60s) are coming in — people who not only know that they are con- tributing signifi cantly to their line of work, but they enjoy it and they want to remain in the workforce," he said. "They can't help but see the trends — the more relaxed at- mosphere, the younger genera- tions coming in, and just the way people dress. So it's a constant re- minder that they're of a diff erent age group." New consciousness More mature workers requesting cosmetic procedures is undoubt- edly a trend, said Gordon Patzer, professor at the Walter E. Heller College of Business Administra- tion at Roosevelt University in Chicago. "First of all, there's a new con- sciousness about that — there's no question about it. And there's a consciousness about that raised among older workers," said Patzer, who is also founder and CEO of the Appearance Research Institute. "However, the procedures that have occurred have also in- creased, and if you look at the data in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., you'll see that among the age categories, the numbers are increasing more among older individuals than among younger individuals." Data from the various plastic surgery medical associations isn't broken down according to work reasons or non-work reasons, so we have to make a small assump- tion here, said Patzer. "We do know, however, among the workforce that older people certainly are much more con- scious of their looks relative to the increasingly young workers and the young managers," he said. " at has no doubt translated into an increase in cosmetic surgery actions among those individuals." There's also been a notable increase in the number of men having cosmetic procedures, said Patzer, adding probably about 20 years ago, about 95 per cent of cosmetic procedures were for females. " en about fi ve, six years ago, I started seeing it was running about 90 per cent female, 10 per cent male. And now, it's about 85 per cent female and about 15 per cent male," he said. "We cer- tainly have seen males seeking out cosmetic surgery — both the invasive and non-invasive proce- dures — to enhance their physical attractiveness." Factors at play include industry, social media e trend is particularly pervasive in sectors such as the tech indus- try, said Julie Khanna, surgeon and president of the Canadian So- ciety for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in Toronto. "We really saw this trend when Bill Gates was a CEO at a very young age," she said. "You don't have to be a grey- haired old guy in a suit anymore. You can be an innovative thinker and somebody who's in touch in the world, and that can make you a better leader." Any industry that has a strong focus on being cutting-edge, new, innovative or edgy might have a stronger susceptibility toward these pressures among mature workers, she said. "Definitely, we're seeing it… anywhere that where you're younger, you're considered to know more about it. I think tech for sure, media and fashion for sure," she said. "(In these indus- tries,) looking old has a stigma with it." Areas such as Silicon Valley are perhaps the most striking example, wrote Baltimore-based plastic surgeon Michele Shermak for RealSelf. "Such are the pressures in Sili- con Valley, where the startup spir- it rewards fresh ideas and young programmers. Chief executives in their 20s, symbolized by Face- book founder Mark Zuckerberg, are feted, in part because of their youth. Many investors state that they prefer to see people under 40 in charge." is is defi nitely contributing to the fact there are more men GREATER > pg. 3 The economics of appearance There's been a fair bit of research looking at how attractiveness affects employment prospects. It's a question Daniel Hamermesh examines in his book Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful. "Clearly, we all like having good-looking people around — the question is why companies (might) prefer it. And the reason is very simple: Companies prefer it because you and I as customers prefer it. "We'd rather buy from and deal with a good-looking person, and that makes the company willing to pay more money to the good- looker because that brings in more customers," he said. More attractive people are more likely to be employed, work more productively and receive higher pay, said Hamermesh. The impacts or benefi ts of physical attractiveness are powerful, pervasive — yet often unrecognized or denied, according to Gordon Patzer, author of Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined. Physical attractiveness impacts who gets hired, who gets promoted and how much they earn, he said. "Generally, the more physically attractive an individual is, the more positively people perceive the person, the more favourably people respond to the person, and the more successful the person's personal and professional lives are presumed to be."

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