Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER May 2, 2016 NEWS 17 HR Manager's Guide to Employment Files and Information Management: Legislation and Best Practices uniquely addresses the management of all types of employee information throughout the employment lifecycle, from recruitment to termination. Employment information and documentation management carries legal requirements that protect an organization from litigation, and are essential to the creation of sound policies for efficient, effective, and ethical business practices. Easy to read and understand, this new guide provides Human Resources professionals and others who deal with employee files, either electronically or in paper format, with: • Key legislation and emerging case law • Best practices in the areas of privacy, records retention, human resources information systems (HRIS), and information security • Practical guidance, tools and templates, such as sample policies • Information on all Canadian jurisdictions Available risk-free for 30 days Order online: www.carswell.com Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto: 416-609-3800 Order # 986618-65203 $70 Softcover approx. 100 pages April 2015 978-0-7798-6618-2 Shipping and handling are extra. Price(s) subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. 00228VC-A49657-E98871 New Publication HR Manager's Guide to Employment Files and Information Management: Legislation and Best Practices A Canadian HR Reporter Special Report Howard A. Levitt, B.A., LL.B., and Tanya Neitzert, B.A., CHRP Brought to you by: this information to identify and reduce attrition levels, which helps with recruitment and reten- tion programs, she said. "Once you understand why people have left, it's almost like saying, 'Let's not make the same mistake again,' so I think it's re- ally important for companies to (make) employees who are leav- ing or are thinking of leaving to be aware that this is in place. Because I think it's also a refl ection on the company that they care and that they are quite prepared to make changes if necessary." As for reasons why people leave, these range from opportu- nities for career advancement to an unsafe work environment to problems with their manager. And if it's the latter, exit interviews can help, said DoCanto. "(Employers) see it as an op- portunity to provide further de- velopment to those managers to say, ' is is how people are per- ceiving you and, therefore, here's what we're going to do to help you gain those skills or gain that knowledge or learn more about confl ict resolution or how to be more accessible and approach- able to people.'" And in this day and age of so- cial media, "we've all read these blogs and these horror stories of employees trashing their em- ployers online (so) I think exit interviews can be an incredibly important way to mitigate that," said Reder. Best practices When it comes to best practices, exit interviews should be posi- tioned from a place of positivity, not negativity, said Reder, which means asking a person about what works, not just "Tell us ev- erything that's wrong with us," she said. "A lot of times, that's the way exit interviews are viewed, as a witch hunt for negativity about what the work experience was. I think it can also be positioned very much about 'What really worked for you here, what are we doing well?'" As to which employees should be interviewed, that can depend on time and resources, but baby boomers leaving the workforce should defi nitely be on the list, said Reder. " ey are really a unique op- portunity to get a very unique perspective because they don't care if they burn bridges, they're not likely to go and get another job, and they've…. seen it all," she said. "You can gain insight into what knowledge they have." If employers have a consistent process in place, they do the inter- views with all levels of staff , said Griffi n. "That is sending a message that whether you are sitting at front reception or you're picking and packing in the warehouse or you're occupying an executive desk, you're an important mem- ber of the company." It's important to hear from ev- eryone but to focus on a particu- lar problem area, if needed, said DoCanto. "A company should also look at their turnover and where it's happening the most — is there a trend?" As for who should conduct the exit interview, the more neutral the person, the better, meaning someone in HR or a specifi c man- ager outside the aff ected group. "It does need to be a purely unbiased conversation, with the right intent, which is not to de- fend against the reason why the person is choosing to leave, but really just to be open and gather the feedback to look for areas of opportunity where things could be better for the next employee that joins the organization." For a comprehensive approach, many companies outsource the interviews as they consider that less biased, said DoCanto, plus employees are more honest and upfront because "they're not afraid to perhaps say things they may not say to the human re- sources department of that com- pany because they're not sure how the information is going to be shared or going to be perceived." When it comes to questions, there should be 25 to 35 in total, said Reder, and these can include: "What was it about the other company that made you decide to leave us?" meaning "Why them and not us?" said Reder. Employers can also ask what they could have done to keep the employee, what the person thinks about workplace morale and what he would change if he could. Also, did he feel recognized and ap- preciated, did he feel there were opportunities for advancement and growth, was there enough training, and did he properly un- derstand his role and its expecta- tions? Was he given regular per- formance feedback? Stay in touch — all the time: As a best practice, employers should be meeting with workers during their employment and having those "What's working for you, what's not working for you?" conversations, said Reder. "In a culture where they're en- couraging open communication, there should be ample opportu- nity during the course of employ- ment to catch things before they escalate to a point where some- body's running out the door with their hair on fi re," she said. "I mean, people leave and it's not necessarily anyone's fault. If they just can't grow their career beyond where they're at in a com- pany, they have to look elsewhere if that's important to them, and I believe an exit interview, that's where it can be a very gracious send-off ." And with anti-bullying and harassment legislation, employ- ers have an obligation to protect workers, said Reder. "During the course of employ- ment, there should be a lot more touch points with employees to make sure that they're feeling safe and taken care of because you don't want it coming out in an exit interview that this person was bullied and harassed." Employers often do pulse checks or stay surveys to fi nd out if they're delivering on what they promised, if there is anything they can do diff erently going forward, said DoCanto. "Once you get to the exit inter- view, people have usually handed in their resignation or have gone. So you may have lost someone of value with great experience… and, depending on the feedback that you receive, you may be kick- ing your heels and thinking, 'We should have done…'" Try for unbiased conversation INTERVIEWS < pg. 3 Source: OfficeTeam The most common actions taken, based on information gathered from exit interviews: tend to deceive the hospital, but made a bad decision in follow- ing the advice of his criminal lawyer rather than talking to the safety co-ordinator — who had an "open-door" policy — or consult- ing an employment lawyer. "All this suggests that his mis- conduct was not wilful, in the sense of a nurse who deliberately disobeys known rules or know- ingly administers medication without authorization to a per- son who was not a patient," said the arbitrator. "Rather, his conduct consti- tuted a serious error in judgment, but it was not an error that was committed with intent to disobey known obligations." e arbitrator pointed to the fact the hospital was willing to have Ahmed return to work when it off ered the settlement proposal, which further demonstrated the employment relationship wasn't damaged beyond repair. As a re- sult, the hospital was ordered to reinstate Ahmed with a 21-day suspension in place of dismissal. However, the arbitrator recog- nized the diffi culty the hospital would have fi nding a position for Ahmed while he was still restrict- ed from being alone with female patients. e evidence showed the hos- pital did consider whether it could accommodate Ahmed's restric- tion before dismissing him, but determined it just wasn't feasible as the CRNM condition would apply even if the hospital had ini- tially suspended Ahmed instead of dismissing him. As a result, the arbitrator didn't impose any fi nancial obligation on the hospital for dismissing Ahmed as there was no evidence of any lost income since he couldn't work anyway. Instead, the hospital could keep Ahmed on administrative leave until the condition was lifted, at which point the hospital must return him to his position in the emergency department. For more information see: •Winnipeg Regional Health Au- thority and MNU (Ahmed), Re, 2016 CarswellMan 90 (Man. Arb.). Jeff rey R. Smith is the editor of Ca- nadian Employment Law Today. For more information, visit www.employ- mentlawtoday.com. Nurse suspended ARBITRATION < pg. 5

• Cover