Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER April 17, 2017 30 INSIGHT TOXIC TALK GATINEAU, QUE. — Talk about confl ict. A government offi ce in Gatineau, Que., faced such discord that the public services director, Katherine Green, was told her staff wanted to kill her and eat her liver, according to the National Post, cit- ing a recent decision by the Pub- lic Service Labour Relations and Employment Board. " ere have been two common denominators in this disputatious and disruptive environment: Ms. Green and Mr. B," read a 2014 report prepared by J. Simkins and Associates, cited in the ruling. "Indeed, several present and former employees declined to be interviewed, a situation that we have very rarely encountered in our casework over the past 25 years. e reasons expressed in- cluded fear of the consequences, a reluctance to become involved in the seemingly endless saga of complaints, counter-complaints, grievances and threats of legal action, and apprehensions that, if they did speak up, they would not be defended by human re- sources and senior departmental management." NO NEED FOR ROMANCE UNITED STATES — Members of the National Basketball Association (NBA) have apparently fi gured out how to excel in their jobs — by using Tinder. Instead of having to hit the nightclubs, and wasting time wooing potential dates, the players are fi nding sexual partners through the popular dating app or Instagram, according to the Bleacher Report. As a result, the sports professionals are performing better on the road and getting more sleep. While the addition of chartered flights, instead of commercial fl ights, has also helped, many players are also drinking and partying less because they don't want their images splashed all over social media. BIDDING ADIOS JUAREZ, MEXICO — In a true case of occupational health and safety, a newspaper in Mexico has decided to shut down because the killings of journalists in the country have made it too dangerous to go on, according to the Guardian. "Adios!" wrote Oscar Cantu Murguia, editor of Norte, in a farewell letter on the paper's front page. At least 38 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992 for motives related to their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in New York, while 50 more were slain for reasons that remain unclear. "Mexico is clearly going through a deep, full-blown freedom-of- expression crisis," said Carlos Lauria, senior program co- ordinator for the Americas at CPJ. "It's aff ecting Mexicans, not only journalists, because the fact that a newspaper closes is depriving people of information that they need in order to take informed decisions." FILTERED FOREST BEIJING, CHINA — Various companies are vying to ease the smog-filled existence faced by many Chinese workers. Sanqin Forest Industry, for example, is selling cans of fresh air bottled in a forest in western China. Each bottle, costing $6.95, is good for two minutes of uninterrupted use, according to Reuters, and the fi rst batch apparently sold out. Another fi rm is selling necklaces with micro-air fi lters priced at $135, while yet another is selling leg stockings and cosmetics said to protect the skin from toxic smog. Chinese Premier Li Keq- iang recently said air pollution must be brought under control and blue skies should never be a luxury. W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Vol. 30 No. 7 – April 17, 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. Smith - (416) 649-7881 jeffrey.r.smith@thomsonreuters.com Labour Relations News Editor: John Dujay - (416) 298-5129 john.dujay@thomsonreuters.com Web/IT Co-ordinator: Mina Patel - (416) 649-7879 mina.patel@thomsonreuters.com ADVERTISING Sales Manager: Paul Burton - (416) 649-9928 paul.burton@thomsonreuters.com Production Co-ordinator: Pamela Menezes - (416) 649-9298 pamela.menezes@thomsonreuters.com MARKETING AND CIRCULATION Marketing & Audience Development Manager: Robert Symes - (416) 649-9551 rob.symes@thomsonreuters.com Marketing Co-ordinator: Keith Fulford - (416) 649-9585 keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com PRODUCTION Manager, Media Production: Lisa Drummond - (416) 649-9415 lisa.drummond@thomsonreuters.com Art Director: Dave Escuadro SUBSCRIPTIONS Annual subscription: $175 (plus GST) GST#: 897 176 350 RT To subscribe, call one of the customer service numbers listed below or visit www.hrreporter.com. 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 Public headaches with public money F eeding from the public trough might be tempting, but taking public money poses a host of risks for private organizations. Just ask Bombardier. Not only does CEO Alain Bellemare get to be on the cover of Canadian HR Reporter for less-than-fl attering reasons, but he also faced the wrath of government offi cials and the general public over executive compensation practices. Bombardier, an aerospace gi- ant, has fallen on hard times. e Quebec government stepped up to help out, handing over roughly $1 billion in 2016, and Ottawa re- cently pumped a bit more air un- der its wings with a $373-million loan to lift its CSeries and Global 700 aircraft. No argument from these quar- ters on the loans. Governments have stepped up before to save struggling private sector indus- tries. Back in 2009, the province of Ontario and Ottawa combined to pump $13.7 billion into the gas tanks of troubled automakers. e move arguably saved Ontario's critical automotive sector, even though taxpayers didn't recover the total investment. When all the dust had settled and governments divested their shares, there was a $3.5-billion shortfall, according to the Globe & Mail. When Bombardier bellied up for help, government answered. But the dollars came drenched with expectations, and the folks footing the bills — the general public — have zero appetite for C-suite largesse. Remember, this is a country that scrutinizes public sector consultants who expense a cup of tea for $1.40. When news broke that the troubled fi rm was handing out US$32.6 million in bonuses (that's nearly 44 million loonies), well, some stuff hit the fan in La Belle Province. Hundreds of people protested outside Bom- bardier's headquarters in Mon- treal. Jessica Lacombe, a teacher, summed it up best: "If it's private money, they can do what they want. But now it's public money. It's our taxes, it's our money," she told the CBC. HR professionals will be the fi rst ones to point out, rightly, that even troubled fi rms need to pro- vide attractive compensation to reward — and attract — talent in key roles. Arguably, it's even more important for fi rms in the red. But that's a nuance that is easily lost on the public, especially when they have skin in the game. ey ask, quite simply: If your executives are so talented, then why are you in this mess? at's a tough query to answer in a com- pelling way. Bellemare admitted the company didn't do a good job of explaining the bonuses and the compensation policies, and he "understands why people are so angry." "We were doing this to attract top talent because we need that to put the company back on the right track," he told the CBC. "It will be payable only — and only if — we deliver on our fi nancial goals." But it wasn't just the public crying foul. At least two Quebec cabinet ministers also joined the chorus, and even Premier Philippe Couillard raised the issue with Bel- lemare. e bonuses aren't being eliminated, just kicked down the road to a day when the company is (hopefully) on more solid ground and has turned itself around. e ire will be non-existent if the cheques are cashed on that day. And while we're talking about the public trough, it's time to re- visit Ontario's policy on revealing salaries in the public sector. e province's so-called Sunshine List has turned from an exercise in government transparency to revealing the salaries of far too many ordinary workers. When it was launched 20 years ago, the list published the names of any public sector employees who earned $100,000 or more. In 1996, it had 4,576 names on it. Fast forward to 2017, and the threshold hasn't changed a single penny. Earn more than $100,000 in the public sector, and your name, title and salary are all avail- able for your neighbours to peruse and gossip over. From an original list of 4,500 names it has risen to 123,572 individuals. I know a half dozen or so people on the list, and none of them are exactly living high off the hog. I'm a journalist, so I'll be the fi rst to admit $100,000 is a pretty great salary. But is it a salary that deserves public scrutiny? Infl ation alone means that $100,000 fi gure from 20 years ago should be at least $144,000 today. By that num- ber, about 22,300 people would be on the list today. Instead, we all get to see the salaries of countless cops, teachers, nurses and power workers. It's compensation voyeurism, and a political hot potato. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has no appetite for changing the thresh- old to match the rate of infl ation — she won't be casting any clouds in front of that sun. "You know, $100,000 is still a lot of money so we're going to keep it at that level," she said. "People have a right to know where those salaries sit at." e lesson in all this remains simple. Private companies can pretty much do whatever they want with money. But dip your hand into that tempting cookie jar of public money at your own risk: Every single penny will be scrutinized. SNIFFING FOR TROUBLE MODESTO, CALIF. — Knowing they are more likely to get some form of cancer, fi refi ghters in Modesto, Calif., are hoping to get some peace of mind — from dogs, according to KXTV, a news station in Sacramento, Calif. Can- cerDogs of Canada uses specially trained beagles and hounds to detect the odor of cancer in a person's exhaled breath. Firefi ghters breathe for 10 min- utes into surgical masks and then mail them to the lab in Ottawa. "When we receive masks, we transfer them to pill bottles. e pill bottles are presented to the dog and the dog will systematically sniff each sample. If they smell cancer, they'll put their paw (over it)," said CancerDogs founder Glenn Ferguson. It's then recommended a dermatological test and blood test is done for further confi rmation. e method has a 95 per cent accu- racy rate, according to Ferguson. Credit: Napat (Shutterstock) Guardian. "Adios!" wrote Oscar Cantu FILTERED FOREST BEIJING, CHINA Various to the dog and the dog will systematically sniff each sample. If they smell cancer, they'll put their paw (over it)," said CancerDogs founder Glenn Ferguson. It's then recommended a dermatological test and blood test is done for further confi rmation. e method has a 95 per cent accu- Credit: Napat (Shutterstock) Knowing they are more likely to get some form of cancer, fi refi ghters in Modesto, Calif., are hoping to get some peace of mind — from dogs, according to KXTV, a news station in Sacramento, Calif. Can- cerDogs of Canada uses specially trained beagles and hounds to detect the odor of cancer in a person's exhaled breath. Firefi ghters breathe for 10 min- utes into surgical masks and then mail them to the lab in Ottawa. "When we receive masks, we transfer them to pill bottles. e pill bottles are presented to the dog and the dog will systematically sniff each sample. If they smell

• Cover