Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER March 6, 2017 18 INSIGHT STEALING TIME AUSTRALIA — Nine minutes might not sound like a lot, but when they add up to an extra 4.5 working days per year, they're sizeable. Which is why staff at the Australian Tax Offi ce (ATO) protested when their government asked them to fi nish work at 5 p.m. instead of their usual 4:51 p.m. e government was looking to get in line with other depart- ments, and to boost productivity, according to ABC News in Aus- tralia. However, the backlash from workers was so strong, the "highly contentious" idea was dropped. "What's ineffi cient and out-of- step with community expecta- tions is the (Malcolm) Turnbull government cutting thousands of jobs from the agency that po- lices multinational tax avoidance and demanding the staff , who are left (to) cover for that hole while spending three years pursuing a long list of cuts to their rights, while sticking them on a wage freeze," said Nadine Flood, na- tional secretary of the Commu- nity and Public Sector Union. 'HANDY' NEW DEVICES BELGIUM — Losing your pass card, and being barred from entry, is always a pain, so here's a solution: Have a microchip implanted into your hand. at's what one Belgium company is proposing for its employees, according to the Daily Mail. Marketing fi rm NewFusion is off ering to have the tiny devices implanted between the thumb and index fi nger of employees' hands, which would then provide access to the company's IT systems and headquarters. e radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips are about the size of a grain of rice and store personal security information. Known as "biohacking," the practice is becoming more common, as seen in 2015 when Swedish company Epicenter implanted microchips into its staff. "Today, it's a bit messy — we need pin codes and passwords. Wouldn't it be easy to just touch with your hand?" said Hannes Sjoblad, chief disruption offi cer at the Swedish biohacking group BioNyfiken: "We already interact with technology all the time." CATCHING MORE THAN FLYBALLS TAMPA BAY, FLA. — Money isn't everything. at seems to be the motivation behind Nick Franklin's decision to drive for Uber. e Tampa Bay Rays in- fi elder earned about US$305,000 in 2016, according to the Tampa Bay Times, but during the off sea- son, he made some extra cash as a driver: "I wanted to do some- thing on the weekends because I never really do anything." While the ballplayer did get a speeding ticket during his fi rst trip, Frank- lin has since earned a driver rating of 4.9 out of fi ve. He makes about 25 trips in his truck, and said no one has recognized him as a pro- fessional ballplayer — aside from former high school friends in his hometown. "I told them I'm just doing it for fun,'' he said. "I ended up meeting some pretty cool peo- ple along the way.'' SLEEPLESS IN CHINA CHINA — It can be hard to stay alert in a meeting at the best of times, but sometimes you have to try that much harder. Six offi cials in China found that out recently when they were punished after dozing off in a meeting about how to motivate lazy bureau- crats, according to Reuters. Pic- tures of the workers went viral in the Chinese media at a time when President Xi Jinping has been try- ing to crack down on corruption, extravagance and dereliction of duty. e Communist Party dis- cipline bureau said the offi cials have had to write self-criticisms and make public apologies. W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Vol. 30 No. 4 – March 6, 2017 PUBLISHED BY Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ©Copyright 2017 by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. CANADIAN HR REPORTER is published 21 times a year. Publications Mail – Agreement # 40065782 Registration # 9496 – ISSN 0838-228X Director, Media Solutions, Canada: Karen Lorimer - (416) 649-9411 karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com EDITORIAL Publisher/Editor in Chief: Todd Humber - (416) 298-5196 todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com Editor/Supervisor: Sarah Dobson - (416) 649-7896 sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com News Editor Marcel Vander Wier - (416) 649-7837 marcel.vanderwier@thomsonreuters.com Employment Law Editor: Jeffrey R. 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Address changes and returns: Send changes and undeliverable Canadian addresses to: SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Canadian HR Reporter One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 CUSTOMER SERVICE Call: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5082 (Toronto) (877) 750-9041 (outside Toronto) Email: customersupport. legaltaxcanada@tr.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com CHRR reserves the right to edit for length and clarity. Todd Humber EDitor's Notes Let's talk about that handshake… T he art of the business greeting is not a lost art. Despite efforts by the germophobes of the world to change it — see Barack Obama's fi st bump or the bizarre routine of touching elbows — the hand- shake still reigns supreme. ere are wrong ways and right ways to do a handshake. You don't want to have clammy hands. Nor do you want to shake hands fresh out of the washroom if your hands aren't completely dry — that's just gross. You don't want to be too fi rm or too weak. And you don't want to miss, going in too high or too low. When you start thinking about it, there are plenty of ways for a simple introductory maneuver to go awry. I've never seen a handshake diagnosed the way the Donald Trump-Justin Trudeau grip has been. Frame-by-frame analysis, endless commentary and general kudos delivered the Canadian prime minister's way for counter- ing the U.S. president's bizarre greeting. We watched HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver recently, and though he didn't comment on the Trudeau event itself, he did run a montage of Trump's ag- gressive handshake. It's one of the stranger things I've seen in life. A post on Jezebel described it this way — "(It) involves him yanking the other person's arm and shaking it for several beats longer than expected." Saying "several beats" may be understating it a tad — Trump's handshake with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lasted 19 seconds. That's uncomfortably long by any measure. The clips from John Oliver's show made it clear it can also be quite violent — in some cases he literally pulls the other person off balance. No doubt it is a calculat- ed power move on Trump's part, a very old school way of saying, "I'm the alpha dog." I know I wouldn't like that greeting, I doubt you would — and I'm sure Trump would hate it if the tables were turned. We spend a lot of time in the pages of Canadian HR Reporter discussing and debating what makes a good leader. Empathy of- ten comes up as the number one trait, but other stalwarts such as holding people accountable for their actions and trust also make regular appearances. e Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois did some research into the handshake. It has ancient roots, apparently, as a simple way of proving to a strang- er you aren't carrying weapons. A friendly handshake "not only in- creases the positive eff ect toward a favourable interaction, but it also diminishes the impact of a negative impression," said Sanda Dalcos, a psychology postdoc- toral research associate. "Many of our social interactions may go wrong for a reason or another, and a simple handshake preced- ing them can give us a boost and attenuate the negative impact of possible misunderstandings." What works best? It was summed up thusly — "A fi rm, con- fi dent, yet friendly handshake." Domination never enters the discussion. It is simply not a lead- ership trait, and it doesn't set the stage for collaboration. If any- thing, it's a sign of weakness. e only message it sends is "I think I'm better than you, I think I'm stronger than you, and I'm going to beat you down." Maybe this kind of bravado played well in the 1970s and 1980s, I don't know. But it seems so uncomfortably out of place in 2017 — we simply know better and can see past this garbage. So kudos to Trudeau. Not for his political leaning, but for his simple raising of his left hand to brace himself against Trump's alpha move. We will continue to debate the merits of what makes a great leader, but aggressive physi- cal power moves aren't in the text- books any more. ankfully. THE BICYCLE THIEF FLANDERS, BELGIUIM — Cycling has become a popular cause for many politicians focused on environmental and physical health. But Belgian minister Ben Weyts found his dedication tested recently when he arrived by bike to a news conference to promote cycling — only to fi nd his bike stolen when he left the presentation, according to Reuters. Minister of mobility for the region of Flanders, Weyts had unveiled a plan to invest €300 million (C$415 million) in cycle lanes until 2019. "We left the bike in the racks at the station and locked it," said a spokesperson for the minister. "When we got back half an hour later, it was gone." e min- ister had to call his driver to pick him up. Credit: Vladyslav Starozhylov (Shutterstock) Cycling has become a popular cause for many politicians focused on environmental and physical health. But Belgian minister Ben Weyts found his dedication tested recently when he arrived by bike to a news conference to promote cycling — only to fi nd his bike stolen when he left the presentation, according to Reuters. Minister of mobility for the region of Flanders, Weyts had unveiled a plan to invest €300 million (C$415 million) Credit: Vladyslav Starozhylov (Shutterstock) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) is greeted by U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 13. Credit: Kevin Lamarque (Reuters)

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