Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER February 6, 2017 NEWS/ FEATURES 17 LOOKING FOR A SUPPLIER OR VENDOR? Visit hrreporter.com/hr-vendors-guide ability to retain essential employees • being six times more likely to achieve financial unit goals, and having higher growth and rev- enue expectations • having a strong capacity for in- novation, a greater tolerance for risk and an emphasis on the need to integrate innovation and "rea- sonable" risk-taking as part of their larger business strategy. Formal leadership develop- ment strategies that focus on the unique needs of leaders at differ- ing levels are key for high LDPI organizations. The evaluation of leadership development pro- grams is a high-priority item to align organizational strategy with business outcomes. High LPDI organizations are more likely to have a formal lead- ership development program in place, compared with moderate or low LDPI organizations. Addi- tionally, there is more regularity in the evaluation of the effectiveness of high LPDI organizations' lead- ership programs. In short, they have more avail- able and current information on the development needs of em- ployees, enabling them to offer relevant and focused leadership development opportunities. High LDPI organizations em- ploy effective strategies for build- ing leadership capacity, such as the implementation of strategic work assignments, strategic re- cruitment, and placing a high pri- ority on succession management. Leadership development and leadership capacity-building are critical areas for investment. Leadership development can- not be treated as a discretionary expense. e risk is simply too great for organizations not to consider strengthening leadership devel- opment efforts. In this day and age, the identifi- cation and development of strong, capable and change-ready leaders has to be an integral part of the business strategy for Canadian organizations in order to remain competitive and high performing in the constantly evolving and in- creasing less predictable business environment. Both at the Conference Board of Canada in Ottawa, Donna Burnett Vachon is director of leadership and human resources research and Colin Hall is principle research associate for leadership and human resources research. For more information, visit www.conferenceboard.ca. LEADERSHIP < pg. 15 Strengthen development efforts So, do Canadian employees need similar legislation? "We don't actually have any laws like that right now, at least not as plain and as bluntly as it's been put by the French govern- ment," said Marc Kitay, employ- ment lawyer at Whitten Lublin in Toronto. "It would be up to each provincial government to decide if that's a type of law that is going to be implemented." A law for this is really not need- ed in Canada, said Barbara Bowes, president of Legacy Bowes Group in Winnipeg. "We've already built in a lot of flexibility for employees through our various policies," she said. "People don't want government legislating everything. To put it in employment law, it's already bogged down enough." It's not the same on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, said Jan Chappel, senior technical spe- cialist at the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) in Hamilton. "e North American culture is a little different than Europe, un- fortunately," she said. "In general, it's definitely something people are studying and looking at; we are definitely more aware of all the different duties in our lives." But the law in France is tooth- less, according to Linda Duxbury, a professor at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University in Ottawa. "e French initiative gets a lot of press, but it's not a good one," she said. "ere's no legal requirement at all, there's no penalties or fines and it doesn't recognize that the organizational culture is the main thing driving use. So the government can say, 'Well you don't have to respond,' but if your perception is by not responding and other people do respond, it's going to hurt your promotability, your ability to be successful at the job, then it's not going to matter." Canadian bureaucrats and min- isters set poor examples anyway, she said, so the likelihood of a law being implemented might be moot. "All levels of government are pretty bad in Canada, in terms of inappropriate use: Canadian pub- lic servants are always expected to be available because maybe the minister will have an idea. e culture in the government is 'You have to be available because you're serving the people, and you're serving the minister.'" Email addictive Email is a big adversary against workers achieving a good work- life balance, said Duxbury. "Our data shows that the typi- cal manager or professional is now spending about three-and- a-half hours a day on email," she said. "Most people extend their workday and answer emails on personal time as well." Receiving an email can be equated to gambling, when a per- son rarely wins, said Duxbury. "For every 100 emails you get, maybe two or three are ones that you want, and so you get that little rush but you keep looking for that rush." Smartphones and constant connectivity make it worse but a worker should exercise self-con- trol in responding later, she said. "I haven't seen it get better, I've only seen it get worse over the last 10 years, quite frankly." Recognizing the behaviour in herself, Bowes said she adjusted her expectations when sending emails after working hours. "What I have started to do is I put 'Monday' (in the subject line) because my assistant was trying to scramble and do things for me on the weekend. I realized, 'Oh my gosh, I shouldn't be doing this.' I had to rap my own knuckles and do a better job." When it comes to requiring employees to check in and be in touch with their phones once working hours are over, mostly what comes up are overtime laws, said Kitay. "If you are asking employees to work a set number of hours per week and then respond to emails, or still be on their phones on their off-hours, an employer can find themselves liable to be paying overtime." But employers do need to run their business in a certain way, said Kitay, so "as long as you're not dealing with a very substantial or material breach, employers do have latitude to enact these types of standards." HR's role Human resources departments should be managing the issue, not the government, said Chappel. "at's where HR can actually help — that expectation part — to decide what works best for the company," she said. "A lot of re- search talks about creating a buf- fer between home and work and I support that. HR can help define what those parameters are." HR professionals and manag- ers should adjust their behaviour if they don't want to become the catalyst for employee burnout. "HR themselves have to model the behaviour they want to see in others," said Duxbury. "HR shouldn't be sending ridiculous emails 24-7." "For some reason, we see (tex- ting employees) as inappropriate, but we don't see sending emails 24-7 as inappropriate." But no policy is good unless upper management buys in, said Kitay. "If you have an HR department that is capable of instituting this companywide policy of every- body checking out after a certain time, and your leadership acts this way as well, I think you can really change the culture of a company that otherwise is a little more dis- organized in that respect." Corporate wellness Companies should include work- life balance into an overall corpo- rate wellness talk with workers, said Bowes. "From a corporate philosophy perspective, you need to start talking about corporate wellness and employee wellness and work- life balance; having it incorpo- rated as a philosophy within your organization." For example, managers should monitor employees who work too hard during the day, she said. "(ey should be) watching em- ployees that are staying late and are also eating lunch at their desk; in other words, they are working right through their lunch. (We) had to put a stop to that because work is not that critical that you need to bring your lunch and sit in front of your computer and eat your soup or spaghetti." "If you keep working like that, you are going to get burnt out," said Bowes. The corporate wellness talk should also include a discussion about what managers expect from workers, said Chappel. "It's about managing expecta- tions: If your boss sends you an email at 8 o'clock at night, are you expected to get back, or can you answer when you read it at 8 or 9 when you go back to the office in the morning?" said Chappel. "If you can make those good ar- rangements with your supervisor, even on a one-to-one basis: 'If you send me something at 8, are you expecting me to answer at 8:10, when I should be at home reading stories to my kids?'" Leadership must set example FRANCE < pg. 1 Credit:Francois Mori/POOL (Reuters) French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Jan. 15. France's new law allowing workers to disconnect from work after-hours highlights the challenges of overwork.

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