Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER January 25, 2016 downsides and encouraged to provide advice to management. Employees are also asked to rate how satisfi ed they are with their employer and their CEO, as well as with fi ve key workplace attri- butes: career opportunities, com- pensation and benefi ts, culture and values, senior management and work-life balance. In addition, employees are asked whether they would recom- mend their employer to a friend and what they think of the em- ployer's business outlook. "Each and every review goes through a multi-tier review pro- cess and this process includes technological and human touch review," said Scott Dobroski, as- sociate director of corporate com- munications at Glassdoor in San Francisco. "We also have ways to verify people are who they claim to be, so we have ways to make sure that one person is not stuff - ing the ballot box, so to speak — and, in fact, if we fi nd evidence of suspicious activity or activity that doesn't meet our community guidelines, we will investigate and take appropriate steps, so that means an employer could be ex- cluded or those reviews… could come down." is kind of "top employer" rec- ognition is something Manulife is looking at more frequently these days, said Stephani Kingsmill, ex- ecutive vice-president of human resources at Manulife in Toronto, which also made the list. "In an era of social media… pro- spective employees are becoming much more knowledgeable about the companies that they're apply- ing to and so it's important for us to be out there and building the employer brand through various channels." The fact that Manulife em- ployees voluntarily took the time to provide comments says a lot about their engagement "as well as how they see themselves as having a role in helping to recruit other people," said Kingsmill. Finding out Earl's Kitchen + Bar was top on Glassdoor's list took president Mo Jessa off guard. "I would say (we did well) not because we're perfect, it's not be- cause we're doing something so great that it's 'Look at how great we are.' All people are saying is 'We love your intentions, we love the fact that you want to be trans- parent and you want to look at the warts that this company has and you're willing to do something about it.' So I think they're thank- ing a company that's willing to do that," he said. "At the same time, it was grati- fying to know (Glassdoor doesn't) just automatically post good or bad comments, they review each one so they can't be loaded by… a competitor going in and posting a bunch of negative ones, and you can't do it the other way around too." Important considerations When it comes to the factors im- portant to employees, these in- clude a mission-driven corporate culture where employees "know what the company's culture is, they know where the company is going and they know their role at the company," said Dobroski. Softchoice's focus is on employ- ees, said Filipopoulos. "We try to create a winning cul- ture where our people can thrive and we talk a lot about bringing the whole employee to work… we strive to be open and transparent, we have a real focus on develop- ment, it's a fun, engaging environ- ment, we strive to have a visible leadership, it's inclusive," she said. "Our mission in the organiza- tion or our purpose is to unleash the potential of our people and I think that really resonates in the organization. I'm not saying we do it perfectly day in and day out but it's certainly something that we strive for and it manifests in how we develop our people, the career opportunities." at includes connecting em- ployees on a monthly basis to share fi nancials and key messages and showcase employees who've done great things. And every Jan- uary, all 1,350 people at the com- pany are brought to Toronto for a launch to reinforce the company's culture and give people a chance to reconnect, said Filipopoulos. Culture is an area Manulife has been particularly focused on re- cently, said Kingsmill. "Our business strategy has shifted quite a bit in the last couple of years, so one side is more cus- tomer-centric and we recognized that that requires a shift in culture and a diff erent kind of connectiv- ity and collaboration within the organization, diff erent ways of re- sponding to consumer needs and innovation. And that shift in strat- egy requires us to encourage dif- ferent kinds of behaviours in order to be successful going forward. So that's been something that's been fostered through management communications, through some of the development opportunities that we provide for our employ- ees, so I'm glad to see that's some- thing that's been recognized." Another theme for popular employers on Glassdoor is trans- parent senior leadership, said Do- broski, meaning "clear communi- cation that lets employees know 'Here's the state of the business, here's where were going in the short-term, here are some long- term goals and here's how all of you play a role in reaching these goals.'" Earl's is a private company that doesn't have to reveal anything but shares everything, said Jessa in Vancouver. "It's so transparent, people fi nd out weekly what the numbers are, not only fi nancially but pro- grams. I go around the country with my executive team and at town halls we try to share strat- egy with our people, all the way down to every detail. And in the town halls, they're allowed to ask questions about what we're doing and why, so it's quite rigorous in communications." Manulife's CEO is passionate about communicating and meet- ing with employees from around the world, said Kingsmill. "Our executives overall make an eff ort with internal social me- dia too. We're fi nding executives are posting blogs more often and you see more dialogue where it's not just an executive posting but also employees posting internally and getting conversations going about what's going on in the offi ce and around the world. So internal social media has been a great tool for connecting our teams globally, helping people see what's going on in diff erent parts of the country, and I think does contribute to that transparency." Along with good salaries and compensation packages, work- ing with a sense of community and professional development are important to employees com- menting on Glassdoor, according to Dobroski. Having started at Earl's wash- ing dishes, Jessa said it's more of a people development company than a food services company. " is company was built to em- power people to run big business- es, believing in people's potential. Sometimes the company believes in me more than myself and it gave me chances to do things that I couldn't have imagined. And it continues to be that for people today." 14 NEWS/EXECUTIVE SERIES ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY! Visit carswell.com or call 1.800.387.5164 for a 30-day no-risk evaluation THE MOST COMPLETE DIRECTORY OF ONTARIO LAWYERS, LAW FIRMS, JUDGES AND COURTS. With more than 1,400 pages of essential legal references, Ontario Lawyer's Phone Book is your best connection to legal services in Ontario. Subscribers can depend on the credibility, accuracy and currency of this directory year after year. 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"I didn't need to know the in- tricacies. Sure, I felt uncomfort- able… but that's the reality. ere's a great axiom that the Canadian military has always had: Know your people and promote their welfare. at is core to leadership." It's not about driving them into the dirt or lots of pushups — it's about knowing your people and protecting their welfare, said Chapman. Levels of complexity e key distinction among the dif- ferent levels in an organizational hierarchy lies in the complexity of the work. " ere are naturally occurring levels of complexity in the work- place," he said. "What is the diff erence, for ex- ample, between a director's level of work and a vice-president's level of work? Sure, there's money that changes hands… but what's really the diff erence? And for the employees, a newly promoted di- rector hasn't got a clue what it is to be a vice-president now." According to stratifi ed systems theory, as people go further on in their life, they are able to han- dle more complexity and more ambiguity. " e nature of this complexity is that the work that (the boss) is doing is much broader — she has a much bigger picture," he said. "I have to understand the bigger picture in order to set context. So this is how these naturally o ccurring le vels happen." But this complexity is not based on skills and knowledge, said Chapman. "This is where some people have a little bit of discomfort. e complexity is based on cognitive capacity — the ability to solve complex problems, to problem- solve — which is diff erent from skills and knowledge." People naturally grow in their cognitive capacity over time, he said. "People can be tremendously skilled and have tremendous knowledge, but you put them into a situation where they have never done that before, and they can't fi gure out how to do it, that's an indicator of their ability to handle complexity." Know your people HIERARCHY < pg. 11 Glassdoor's 25 Best Places to Work in Canada 2016 1. Earls Kitchen + Bar (4.5 out of 5) 2. Ceridian (4.3) 3. Apple (4.3) 4. Salesforce (4.2) 5. Ericsson-Worldwide (4.1) 6. ATB Financial (4) 7. Lululemon (4) 8. RBC (3.9) 9. Manulife (3.9) 10. TELUS (3.9) 11. Electronic Arts (3.9) 12. GE (3.9) 13. Enbridge (3.9) 14. Ubisoft (3.8) 15. Air Canada (3.9) 16. Starbucks (3.9) 17. Suncor (3.9) 18. American Eagle Outfi tters (3.8) 19. Softchoice (3.8) 20. Paladin Security Group (3.8) 21. TD (3.8) 22. EY (3.7) 23. Accenture (3.7) 24. Microsoft (3.7) 25. Bombardier (3.7)

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