Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER June 13, 2016 32 EXECUTIVE SERIES 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 Know your legal obligations in managing employee files 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-E98872 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: the wrong candidate, missing the right candidate, investing in less innovative ideas, missing business opportunities or making snap de- cisions, he said. So, how do we stop bias? "We need to work in a gap — the gap that all of us have between our intentions and our ideals, and our behaviours and actions," he said. "We live in a world of high complexity, ambiguity, problem volatility. Default solutions don't work anymore — the more biased we are, the more mistakes we will make in our decisions. "What we need that will train our brain is diversity of thoughts." It's not about just "trying to be better" — people need to actu- ally interact with diversity, with diverse opinions and diverse thought, said Davidovich. "I need to send a lot of messages to my unconscious brain that be- ing in a diverse environment is ab- solutely fine," he said. "Approach potential solutions from different perspectives or different opinions. "When we are always thinking the same way, the probability of a wrong outcome is very high." People need to activate their system 2 brain instead of simply, unconsciously relying on system 1. "Are we able to erase all of this information from our system 1? e answer is, no way. Don't even try. What we can do is to revise more often those decisions that are not exactly right — bring in the system 2. Work slowly, we need to think, we need to analyze," he said. "at is the way to start changing the system 1. "And that means increasing or raising the level of awareness in the way I talk, in the way I connect with people. Can I do it by myself? Yes and no. It's better to help each other on this — it's very difficult to do it by yourself." People need to accept that they can be wrong and, for many of us, that's not easy, he said. "I don't want to feel that I'm wrong," he said. "But if I'm aware of this, and I accept I can be wrong, then I can start walking the new path." Embrace diversity BIAS < pg. 30 "Default solutions don't work anymore — the more biased we are, the more mistakes we will make." Do you believe in ghosts? Biases are not things people like to talk about. For some, bias has a very negative connotation. For others, bias has no place in decision-making because it lacks ra- tional foundation. Yet, we are haunted by these "ghosts," our biases, and they inform almost every action we take. Like Scrooge in the Charles Dick- ens' novel A Christmas Carol, we can think of bias in terms of the past, present and future. Past People's brains are wired to re- spond to information in different ways. A portion of the brain func- tions based on instincts. Some of these are ingrained and some are "learned" at such a basic level people may not be aware of the source — they just "know." Some of these biases played a large part in survival of the species when quick response was needed to determine whether fight or flight was required. Other biases, based on expe- rience, form a type of cognitive shorthand and are related to daily decisions and behaviours — hab- its. American theorist Buckmin- ster Fuller said, "Ninety-nine per cent of who you are is invisible and untouchable." While there are many positive aspects to instincts and biases, there are also negatives. We may respond to threats that do not ex- ist or maintain habits that are no longer helpful or a good use of our time. Present Another portion of the brain is focused on reason. It uses explicit information and processes in- formation in a serial and slower way. is is sometimes described as rational thinking or conscious decision-making. Complex situa- tions and decisions require a more thoughtful, less rushed approach. However, there are flaws to this approach. Biases often seep into what a person takes as rational information without challenge or investigation. People are more aware of bias in others than them- selves and thus are less likely to challenge themselves. Finally, we don't know what we don't know and may not take the time to explore broadly enough. Examples of negative conse- quences of this complacency in thinking are racism, stereotyping and acting or deciding based on inaccurate or insufficient informa- tion resulting in poor outcomes. Future e good news is people can think and be self-aware. ey can un- derstand that bias in the form of quick action, instinct and habit are appropriate responses. ey can also challenge first impressions. They can broaden information inputs by deliberately introducing uncertainty, exploring new situa- tions, tapping into group intellect, evaluating options and decisions, and not justifying them. Biases are a fact of life. When biases overwhelm thinking and decisions in any aspect of living and decision-making, there will likely be consequences. Humans are blessed with self- awareness and the ability to ob- serve, learn, remember and rea- son. We need to learn to surface our "ghosts" and be more aware of their impacts on us. We also need to communicate with each other, and share experiences, knowledge and, yes, even biases to create a better understanding of other ex- periences and realities. Karen Gorsline is SCNetwork's lead commentator on strategic capability and leads HR Initiatives, a consult- ing practice focused on facilitation and tailored HR initiatives. Toronto- based, she has taught HR planning, held senior roles in strategy and poli- cy, managed a large decentralized HR function and directed a small busi- ness. She can be reached at gorslin@ pathcom.com. Karen Gorsline Strategic Capability

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