Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER October 16, 2017 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 Ontario names advisory group to help people with disabilities Employers' Partnership Table to come up with strategies encouraging hiring Business coalition urges 5-year implementation of minimum wage hike Extended timeline could decrease job loss risk by 74 per cent TTC suing Manulife for alleged negligence related to benefits fraud scheme Transit commission seeking up to $5 million in reimbursement Court certifies class-action suit involving 450 foreign workers given no jobs Involves Mac's stores in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, N.W.T. Wynne won't back down from $15 minimum wage, says supports will ease transition Ontario leaders trade barbs at International Plowing Match Toys "R" Us files for bankruptcy protection in U.S.; plans to follow suit in Canada Company has nearly 65,000 employees worldwide Human rights tribunal to revisit Air Canada retirement age issue Will determine whether airline had right to force 45 pilots to retire at 60 AROUND THE WORLD U.S. tree company to pay record fine for immigration practices $95-million fine comes after Asplundh employed thousands of illegal workers Trump wants NFL owners to fire protesting players. Can they? Constitution doesn't protect employment of athletes who speak their minds Bonuses widen pay gap between Britain's male and female execs: Study On average, female managers earn C$19,950 less than men Macron signs French labour reform decrees New rules will cap unfair dismissal payouts, give greater freedom in hiring, firing Uber on defensive Company defends self-employment model after being stripped of operating licence in United Kingdom hrreporter.com FEATURED VIDEO Canadian companies help out with hurricane cleanup Hydro One, Air Canada employees step up down south BY MARCEL VANDER WIER THE southern United States and Caribbean islands were hit hard by a number of powerful hurri- canes recently, leaving many peo- ple without electricity or supplies, alongside months of cleanup. Many Canadian companies offered support to the affected areas, sending manpower and supplies to aid in the recovery efforts. Hydro One, for example, mobilized 175 workers and 82 ve- hicles to help with Hurricane Irma restoration efforts in Florida. Atlantic companies such as Maritime Electric, Emera and Newfoundland Power also sent workers, as did Hydro-Québec. "At the end of the day, we're all connected, whether it be through the grid or through our roads or through borders," said Natalie Poole-Moffatt, vice-president of corporate affairs at Hydro One in Toronto. "We all have to pull to- gether for this." Air Canada, in partnership with GlobalMedic, dispatched humanitarian flights loaded with relief supplies to Turks and Cai- cos and Antigua in support of the cleanup efforts. And Sunwing sent a flight loaded with emer- gency supplies. As a global carrier, natural disasters become personal for the Canadian airline, said Kevin O'Connor, managing director of operations at Air Canada's control centre in Brampton, Ont. "Just because something's not happening in Canada (doesn't mean) we won't reach out to somewhere else to support them," he said. "We talk about it internally all the time; if you see another em- ployee in trouble, you're supposed to help them. And we do… it's just an extension of our corporate culture." Mutual aid agreements North America is divided into eight regions for mutual aid as- sistance among utility organiza- tions, according to Poole-Moffatt. When disasters occur, the affected jurisdiction issues a call for aid to its regional allies, with escalation possible depending on proximity and need. All costs are covered by the util- ity receiving the aid. Typical emer- gency assignments see crews dis- patched for two weeks at a time, she said. As Hurricane Harvey pounded Texas prior to Irma's devastation in Florida, Hydro One began tak- ing stock of available full- and part-time crew and equipment. "In this case, we had had a few days to take a really good look at our availability," said Poole-Mof- fatt. "We look at our work pro- grams and what we can change or move for that period of time." "It's really about ensuring that our ratepayers are kept safe and our customers are safe, and that we can go down there and support and get the lights on down in Flor- ida. It's a lot of moving pieces but we make sure that we can cover the whole territory," she said. For this mission, Hydro One employees were stationed in Mi- ami, where they helped restore power to a large segment of the city, then turned to problems in- curred by individual homeown- ers in terms of downed trees and wires, said Poole-Moffatt. "We're averaging getting 2,000 people a day back on power," she said. "e teams have been doing a great job down there and we're really, really proud of the work they've done… It's an incredible sense of pride to be able to get onto your truck and get into the convoy of 50 vehicles heading south with Canadian flags, knowing that you're going down there to make a difference in other peoples' lives." Logistics, planning key In Hydro One's case, a database puts out the call to 5,500 full-time employees, enabling rapid roster formation. e company refers to a highly detailed crisis communi- cations strategy as well. "is is what Hydro One is good at," said Poole-Moffatt. "We have a very diverse territory geographi- cally. We have dense treed areas, populated areas. We operate in snow, in rain, in sleet. is is what we do, so we are very good and very co-ordinated in how we do it." "People have to ensure that they have their passports and that they're ready to travel," she said. "It takes about 300 people to get all of this organized, when you talk about the crew numbers and ensuring that we have visas and being sure we can get the trucks moving and that we have mechan- ics. It takes a lot of people to get this to work, but it's all for such a great cause." As for Air Canada, the compa- ny's humanitarian mission began with a request to transport power electricians into Turks and Caicos in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Irma, said O'Connor. Air Canada has plans in place for crises response and checklists with preferred supplies needed in post-hurricane situations. e flight presented an oppor- tunity to fill the plane's cargo hold with supplies in co-ordination with reputable humanitarian or- ganizations, he said. Typically, hurricane situations allow enough prep time to get supplies ready and into the disas- ter zone as soon as it is safe to do so, said O'Connor. "It takes a large team to make a rescue mission operate… it was put together in about 24 hours." While required staff such as pilots and flight attendants are paid for these type of trips, work such as packing emergency kits including water purification kits is all volunteer, he said. "We're a profit company," said O'Connor. "We're here to make money. But there's some things you do to cover costs and there's some things you do to make mon- ey. When you're trying to just cov- er costs, it's a different operation." Employee participation Air Canada's humanitarian efforts are largely driven by the firm's 30,000 employees, said O'Connor. "The employees want to be part of this," he said. "ey see the world news, the daily news, the tragedies… Something in far-east Asia might not be as close to home for some other people in southern Ontario as it is for us because our crews fly over there, stay in hotels, and get to know (members of the community). Air Canada has rela- tionships all over the world." "The easiest part, when we make a decision to do this, is get- ting the employees to do it… It's the nature of the company culture. ey want to jump in… We are inundated at operations with the amount of people that want to be part of this. ey want to be there and they want to help." When a company stands be- hind a cause, it shows corporate compassion, and employees want to feel as if they are contributing to a greater cause, said Detry Carra- gher, principal management con- sultant at CarvoGroup in Char- lottetown, P.E.I. Ideally, all organizations should prepare value statements outlin- ing their corporate social respon- sibilities, she said. For employers looking to lend resources to a humanitarian ef- fort, it's important to ensure the underlying motivation is appro- priate, she said. Often, multinational corpora- tions will have branch offices in the affected area — reason enough to send resources to help them get back up and running. "ere's a real adverse effect to Canadian companies when there's a disaster in another region," said Carragher. Credit: Air Canada Air Canada volunteers in Toronto prepare humanitarian kits to be shipped down to hurricane-stricken areas last month. LENDING > pg. 6

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