Canadian Employment Law Today

A workplace disrupted: Dealing with the aftermath Formal workplace restoration following a disruptive workplace incident is the flip side of dealing with employment law issues BY LAURA WILLIAMS E very company experiences difficul- ties from time to time. In some cases an organization could be disrupted by the departure of a visionary CEO or a high-performing sales representative, or perhaps by a swift slide in business caused by an unforeseen economic downturn. Other situations may produce acute employment law challenges, such as an incident of workplace harass - ment or violence, a mass lay-off, an acqui- sition requiring workplace culture integra- tion, a botched termination or a workplace investigation gone awry. Sometimes, as in the case of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), employ - ers are forced to manage a host of critical issues at once. Over the past two years, the CBC has faced mass layoffs and huge bud- get cuts. In 2015, the network faced more of the same, while also dealing with the Jian Ghomeshi workplace bullying and sexual violence scandal, not to mention ethical controversies over paid speaking engage - ments for former business correspondent Amanda Lang and e National anchor Peter Mansbridge. To put it mildly, 2015 could be considered an annus horribilis for Canada's national broadcaster. e challenges faced by CBC this year were underscored by an internal CBC em - ployee survey commissioned in the wake of the Ghomeshi scandal, which revealed a significant level of workplace disenchant- ment across the network. According to the survey — conducted by polling firm Gallup — 43 per cent of respondents would not describe the work environment at the CBC as psychologi - cally healthy, while 29 per cent felt their employer did not deal effectively with situa- tions that may harm or threaten employees. Employee "pride of association" in their em- ployer dropped to 69 per cent in 2015, from a robust 92 per cent just three years earlier. While a cause of great concern for CBC management and a signal of a need for im- mediate change, the findings should come as no surprise. We regularly work with clients across industries whose workplaces are spun into turmoil by a disruptive event. While few have the profile of the Ghomeshi incident, the fallout can be equally severe. Work - places such as these are not only damaged, they're often shattered by these events. As such, they require major restorative work to rebuild earlier levels of productivity, innova - tion and employee engagement. Doing so means engaging in a formal workplace restoration process. While a relatively new term in the employment law field, workplace restoration is becom - ing widely regarded as an important tool to help reinvigorate engagement and pro- ductivity after a disruptive workplace event, while also restoring a workplace culture to its pre-incident state — or better. is last consideration is particularly important in an era when organizations' successes or fail - ures are often determined by the strength of their employer brand. In the weeks after events such as these, employers often gain a clear understanding of the state of their workplace culture, as well as the engagement levels of their em - ployees — which tend to drop precipitously until corrective action is taken. Workplace culture and engagement a challenge e unfortunate reality is that most Ca- nadian businesses struggle to maintain strong workplace culture and engage- ment at the best of times. Case in point: a 2012 Ipsos Reid survey —available on- line at http://www.ipsos.ca/common/dl/ pdf/research/loyalty/IpsosLoyalty-Bet- terWorkplace.pdf — found that less than half of Canadian employees (46 per cent) were satisfied with internal communi- cations within their organizations, feel their company listens to their concerns (49 per cent) or that senior management communicates a clear vision (47 per cent). Fewer than half feel their managers are making the right strategic decisions. In short, such a pronounced level of dis- engagement and disillusionment could be costing Canadian companies billions of dollars each year in lost productivity and revenue potential. e CBC report only underscores that challenge, as well as the shockwaves that can ripple across an organization after any event that has major employment law im - plications. But these findings also highlight the clear opportunity that organizations have to leverage employee feedback, take action and rebuild battered employee mo - rale. In many cases, they simply have no choice but to act. at's because few corporate cultures can withstand the impact of such jarring events without deliberate restorative action on the part of management. e employers who fail to take this necessary step often struggle to attract, retain and engage top talent long- term, let alone compete and succeed in their respective industries. THE PAGES of this publication are filled with judgments from courts, arbitrators and tribunals dealing with incidents involving employee misconduct or unfair behaviour by employers. Decisions are rendered on who was right or wrong and who deserves compensation, usually providing a remedy for the situation. However, such decisions usually don't address the aftermath of the incidents in the workplace. The reality is that even after a decision is made, the parties as well as others in the workplace must live with the after-effects. And while it's easy to say something is resolved and over with, it can be more difficult to follow through — especially if the issue disrupted the workplace. Once the dust has settled — or better yet, before then — an employer should be implementing procedures to try to restore the workplace culture and ensure things don't snowball into more problems — legal and otherwise. BACKGROUND 4 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2016 CASE IN POINT: WORKPLACE RESTORATION Workplace restoration is becoming widely regarded as an important tool to help reinvigorate engagement and productivity after a disruptive workplace event.

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