Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER February 8, 2016 FEATURES 15 RECRUITMENT Airport authority sees hiring take off GTAA uses job fairs to find employees for in-house de-icing operations By Sarah Dobson F or a busy airport like To- ronto Pearson, making sure the operations run smoothly and safely — and keep customers happy — is a top pri- ority. And that includes the key task of de-icing planes during the colder months to remove ice and snow. For many years, the de-icing service was handled by a third- party provider subcontracted by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), the private company that operates Toronto Pearson. But due to a change in the busi- ness model, the decision was made in early 2015 that de-icing services would be performed di- rectly by the GTAA. e move was part of a new strategy by the company, accord- ing to Roliza Mascarenhas, re- cruiter at GTAA. "We had a new vision and our vision was to become the best air- port in the world," she says. "e de-icing service has a huge impact on… experience, satisfaction… (and) by managing the service in- ternally, it allowed us to ensure the level of safety and efficiency was higher, to help us reach our goals." But the GTAA had to move quickly when it came to staffing for 170 positions so the de-icing services would be up and running before the winter. With an end goal of Oct. 1, the company want- ed everyone hired, onboarded and trained, so human resources worked backwards from that date, says Mascarenhas. e first round of recruitment was targeted at employees with multiple seasons of experience with a large-scope operation, in- cluding those who had worked for the former service provider. The GTAA was looking for people who had worked outdoors, possessed skills in a maintenance kind of environment, were experi- enced with heavy equipment and comfortable working at elevated heights. The employees would also be driving trucks to spray the de-icing fluid. Select candidates were invited to a job fair held at the airport in May. People who responded were scheduled for interviews at the job fair, meeting with HR and business services. Each in- terview lasted for about half-an- hour and candidates were also given the opportunity to watch a video or read posters and leaflets about the de-icing operation, says Mascarenhas. After the first round of recruit- ment, there were still several posi- tions pending so a second job fair was held in July. A de-icing truck was stationed at the job fair loca- tion to give recruits a better idea of what the job entailed. Training for all After the 170 people were hired, the training began. "We had a robust six weeks of training to ensure that everyone was ready and on the ground live before Oct. 1," says Mascarenhas. "Some people came with expe- rience… but everyone was treated on the same level… We said, 'You know what, it's the GTAA, we want to do this right, we want to do this differently and we want to reach our goal to be the best air- port,' so everyone was in the train- ing for about six weeks." e training included regula- tory courses, mandatory courses around culture and behaviour, technical training along with competency-based training, so basically the culture of fit. All of the employees also required an airside legal operator's permit that could be attained in-house at Toronto Pearson. "Some people who work at the airport could have the licence al- ready but the majority, when you hire someone without aviation ex- perience, they have to go through the entire process," she says. The GTAA also had to hire managers and supervisors and this was done through the normal recruitment process. at meant posting the jobs externally, invit- ing internal applicants, promot- ing the openings on social media and with targeted associations, reviewing resumés, conduct- ing phone screening and test- ing, and then going through a couple rounds of interviews, says Mascarenhas. "However, just because we had the tight time line and the goal, everything was fast-tracked." In the end, the recruit- ment was a success, largely because of the team effort involving the human resources and aviation services teams, says Mascarenhas. "HR was part of all the business meetings, understanding what's required, the strategy, the structure." ere was a team effort in HR as well, whether it was recruitment, organizational development, em- ployee services, benefits, medical checks or onboarding. And the orga- nization learned a few valuable lessons about how to hire such a large group of people in a limited time-frame, she says, thanks to a dedicated team and strategy. Compensation Surveys Incentive Programs Job Descriptions Job Evaluation Pay Equity Performance Appraisal Salary Administration Sales Compensation (416) 498-7800 ext. 1 www.resourcecorporation.com COMPENSATION CONSULTING "By managing the service internally, it allowed us to ensure the level of safety and efficiency was higher, to help us reach our goals." other colleagues harassing you." Even failing to provide training in a manner that's feasible for em- ployees could result in unintend- ed consequences. In Greyhound Canada Transportation Corp. and Unifor, Local 114 (West), an arbitrator ordered an employer to reinstate an employee who was terminated for failing to attend re-training. e employee — a long-haul motor coach opera- tor who had been on stress leave — was told to attend retraining upon his return to work. e employee, who was based in Nanaimo, B.C., would have to report to Vancouver for a compo- nent of the training — which he claimed was not feasible due to an earlier medical travel restric- tion from his doctor. He was ter- minated for failing to attend the training, but was later reinstated. And if employers don't provide proper training and employees end up injured, employers could get into additional trouble under the human rights code if they don't accommodate those inju- ries, says Whitten. "When you have injured work- ers — separate and apart from them suing you or you having workers' compensation claims — you also have the whole issue of accommodation under the hu- man rights code," he says. "You have to accommodate any impact that has on their perfor- mance… So now we've got a bit of a snowball effect, because their colleague (is upset) because now they've got to do all their work. "Not providing training can come back to haunt you." TRAINING < pg. 14 Human rights also a concern Credit: GTAA

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