Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER October 17, 2016 2 NEWS Recent stories posted on www.hrreporter.com. Check the website daily for quick news hits from across Canada and around the world. WEB O N T H E ACROSS CANADA Figures show Liberals set to fall short on promise of 5,000 green jobs for youth ousands slated to be guides, interpreters at Parks Canada Laurentian Bank to eliminate 300 positions as it merges 50 branches CEO says traditional banking model becoming 'obsolete' Feds set to tighten group layoff rules and requirements for businesses Companies must give 16 weeks' notice to lay off 50 or more workers Number of women on corporate boards edges higher to 12 per cent: Report Female leadership at TSX-listed companies increases by 47 board seats Alberta giving money to try to get companies to set up head offices in Calgary Western Economic Diversification Canada handing over $1 million, government $2 million Notley dismisses concerns minimum wage hike, carbon tax will hurt Alberta economy Says government trying to strike balance between supporting business, tackling inequality Salary increases expected to stay flat in 2017: Survey Base pay expected to increase by 2.8 per cent AROUND THE WORLD British PM orders employment law review as labour market changes eresa May aims to ensure protection of workers' rights Growth in peril as east Europeans 'sweat blood' to find workers Labour crunch risks stunting growth, deterring investors Cambodia raises 2017 minimum wage for textile industry workers New monthly earnings total $153 VW suspends ties with some Indian suppliers after exposé of child deaths in mica mines omson Reuters Foundation brought illegalities to light Top challenges for HR Our survey finds recruitment, retention are among the major headaches for human resources hrreporter.com FEATURED VIDEO EmploymentSource™ Works as hard for you as you do for your clients Our premier employment content on WestlawNext® Canada is integrated with relevant case law, legislation, expert commentary and legal memos, allowing you to manage your practice in the most efficient way possible. It's the complete mix of resources you need to confidently advise on compliance, defend occupational and health and safety charges, or prepare successful dismissal or termination strategies. Search across multiple content types simultaneously Instantly evaluate what a claim is worth with the Wrongful Dismissal Quantum Service, an interactive service with report-building functionality Review exclusive commentary by Canada's foremost employment and occupational health and safety law experts Start ahead − and stay ahead − with our exclusive collection of legal memoranda Keep current with two leading employment and dismissal law newsletters and digests For a free demonstration, call 1-866-609-5811 or visit westlawnextcanada.com/employmentsource 00233WZ-52632 'Burnout' common at work: Survey Workload, manager and employee pressures starting to add up BY SARAH DOBSON WHETHER it's sitting with their head in their hands or another day of not showing up for work, burn- out can be a problem for many employees. And when 40 per cent of work- ers say they're experiencing just that — according to a recent survey by Staples — it should be cause for concern. "It's quite indicative that burn- out is a larger problem than we probably would like to acknowl- edge in the Canadian workplace," said Scott D'Cunha, vice-presi- dent of marketing, e-commerce and communications at Staples Advantage Canada in Toronto, citing a challenging economy where organizations have been told to buckle down, leading to increased workloads. "Organizationally, as managers are placed under more pressure, associates and employees start to feel some of that pressure them- selves," he said. Sixty-seven per cent of the re- spondents said workload is the biggest reason for feeling burnt out at work, followed by time pressures (55 per cent) and man- ager pressure (39 per cent), found the survey of 1,995 employees and 1,059 decision-makers in the United States, and 1,190 employ- ees and 642 decision-makers in Canada. ese factors are always in the mix when we're talking about burnout, said Michael Leiter, a professor of organizational psy- chology at Deakin University in Melbourne, Aus. "Contemporary workplaces intensify these pressures because the workday has fewer boundaries — people take their work home with them often — and custom- ers expect prompt responses day or night. I think the bigger issue is that these pressures interfere with employees' capacity to recover their energies through time off." One-quarter of the respondents said they "always" work more than 40 hours per week, while 21 per cent said "usually" and 24 per cent said "sometimes," found Staples. at's potentially 70 per cent of workers putting in longer hours. Forty-five per cent said they do so to complete work they couldn't get through during the day, while 19 per cent said it's to get ahead of the following day. However, the definition of "burnout" can vary. "Burnout scales measure expe- riences that everyone has some of the time," said Leiter. "For example, everyone starts a day at work feeling tired; burnout becomes an issue when people start nearly every day at work feeling (tired). So, the fact that a lot of people report experiences that map onto burnout symp- toms does not mean that 40 per cent are experiencing burnout. I use a more strict definition of burnout and find that it's usually five to seven per cent of working people who are struggling with burnout." In many ways, the word is overutilized, said Ashley Spetch, director of organizational well- ness at Homewood Health in Vancouver. "e true clinical definition of burnout is totally exhausted and depersonalized and disconnect- ed, and I don't think that many people in the workplace really are truly that burnt out. I think high job stress, absolutely, and over- whelmed, absolutely." Impact significant While maybe not truly "burnout," the impact is still real — 47 per cent of respondents said burn- out is motivating them to look for another job while 15 per cent have taken a stress-related leave of absence. Burnout has negative conse- quences for employees' physical and mental well-being, said Leiter, citing hypertension, sleep distur- bance, anxiety and depression as examples. "It also has huge consequences for one's career as people may need to interrupt their careers, find a different job or even change professions to fully recover. "Once people have taken a leave after experiencing serious burn- out in a job, they rarely return to that job," he said. If employees are burnt out, it's very similar to people being disen- gaged and part of that is the emo- tional exhaustion piece, which re- sults in them checking out at the workplace, said Spetch. "Employees who are burnt out often become cynical and they be- come very disconnected from the work that they do and so… they're less committed, they're less en- gaged in what they're doing and they're likely to withdraw in some way. So that could be absentee- ism, it could be presenteeism… so being at work but not being pro- ductively engaged in what you're doing. And certainly turnover, looking for more organizations that have more flexibility, more control." However, job stress at a certain level is healthy and productive, she said. "There's an optimal level of stress. If you have no stress, you can be disengaged and not inter- ested, so there is an optimal level where people tend to thrive and that may be different for some individuals. "But when the stress gets too high and you don't have the re- sources, whether it's from your or- ganization or your own personal coping skills to manage that, that can activate underlying mental health conditions — that can lead to depression or anxiety that can be unmanageable to the extent of needing to go on some kind of mental health leave." Workplace supports include flexibility, control However, there are options that can help. Almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of employees surveyed by Staples said a more flex- ible schedule could help with the stress, while 59 per cent cited a decreased workload and 52 per cent were in favour of leaders en- couraging breaks. Flexibility in work patterns can make for a powerful approach, said Leiter. "People are more engaged when they feel some personal initiative in their work and do things the way that makes sense," he said. "Flexibility is much more im- portant than workload. Also, people last a lot longer doing work they value than they do perform- ing work they think is just drudg- ery or empty paperwork." Workplace health initiatives that assure good ergonomics, movement and activities are also important, said Leiter, along with recognizing the importance of recovery and giving employ- ees more latitude after they've exerted themselves on a major initiative. "(It's about) making a fulfill- ing workplace that allows people to do work they care about with "Employees who are burnt out often become cynical and they become very disconnected from the work that they do, so they're less commited." ENCOURAGE > pg. 5

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