Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER October 16, 2017 18 INSIGHT JUST ANOTHER DAY ON THE ROAD BALZAC, ALTA. — Truckers have to be prepared for all kinds of incidents on the road, but two quick-thinking drivers saved the day recently in Alberta, according to the Canadian Press. A horse was spotted galloping down the middle of the Queen Elizabeth II Highway near Balzac early one morning af- ter escaping from a racetrack stable nearby. Fortunately, two semi- trailer truck drivers were on hand and they positioned their trucks to corral the animal in a ditch. "e horse had kind of stopped in the headlights and started to move toward a ditch,'' said Const. Dan Martin, an RCMP spokesperson. "One truck stopped and blocked the horse from getting back on the highway. e other driver stopped to help and, between the two of them, they were able to approach it and put the harness on. Police ar- rived shortly after.'' NOT SO MILLENNIAL TOKYO — Japan recently marked Respect for the Aged Day, and there were plenty of older people on hand to pay re- spect. e number of people 65 and over has risen to a record high of 27.7 per cent of Japan's population, according to Reuters. And the number of seniors who still work has also hit a record, as both the public and private sec- tors vie to keep more elderly in the workforce longer to battle labour shortages. ere are 35.14 mil- lion Japanese people who are 65 or older, and 7.7 million of them have jobs. e country is facing a declining birth rate, as there are now 1.45 births per woman, and many economists say a developed country needs a birth rate of two to prevent the population from shrinking. Japan's elderly ratio is the highest among the Group of Seven nations, followed by Italy at 23 per cent, Germany at 21.5 per cent and France at 19.7 per cent. SEXIST TWEET OTTAWA — Saskatchewan MP Gerry Ritz found himself in hot water recently after calling the environment minister a "climate Barbie," according to the CBC. e now-retired politician, responding to an article on the Paris climate accord, tweeted "Has anyone told our climate Barbie!" referring to Environment Minister Catherine McKenna. She quickly responded on Twitter, calling out Ritz's sexist language: "We need more women in politics. Your sexist comments won't stop us." NDP MP Nathan Cullen called the comment idi- otic: "Let's have a serious debate about climate change… going into insults and derogatory statements says a lot more about the person sending the tweet than the person receiving it." Ritz later deleted the tweet and apologized, saying the word Barbie was "not reflective of the role the minister plays." e retiree is no stranger to contro- versy, having also said the political damage from the 2008 outbreak of listeriosis that killed 20 people in Canada was "like a death by a 1,000 cuts. Or should I say cold cuts." DISTURBING IMAGES JACKSONVILLE, FLA. — Two medical staffers at a military hos- pital in Florida have been barred from caring for patients after dis- turbing images surfaced online, according to the Washington Post. One video shows a woman in med- ical scrubs holding a young infant by the armpits, moving the baby's body as music plays in the back- ground. And a photo — apparently from a Snapchat account — shows an employee flipping a middle fin- ger at an infant, with the caption: "How I currently feel about these mini Satans." Unprofessional and inappropriate social media behav- iour is inconsistent with both the core values of honour, courage and commitment as well as medical ethics, said Navy surgeon general vice-admiral Forrest Faison. "In an age where information can be shared instantly, what we say and post online must reflect the high- est standards of character and conduct, in both our personal and professional lives." e Navy said it is investigating the incident and will take appropriate action. W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Vol. 30 No. 17 – October 16, 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. 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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 Cutting your nose to spite your face T his just in from the not-so- shocking news desk: Busi- nesses like to cut costs. is not-so-new phenomenon is not only sustaining itself, it also appears to be picking up steam. at's not good news for HR, or- ganizations or society as a whole. Executives at these firms seem to be blissfully unaware that cutting your nose to spite your face isn't necessarily the best tactic. For organizations struggling to survive, cuts may be justified to stem red ink. But, far too often, otherwise healthy organizations go down this road in mystifying exercises. It's a surprisingly effec- tive way to damage or even destroy an otherwise profitable and well- performing business or division. I'm fresh back from the Nation- al Safety Council's annual confer- ence and trade show, held this year in Indianapolis. In numerous meetings and conversations, a bit of a theme came into focus. One firm, based in Houston, was quite upfront that its business had taken a bit of a beating in recent years. It had a healthy bottom line, and was growing, but management decided they were spending a little too much on staffing and market- ing, so it slashed budgets on both counts to drive profitability even higher. Fast-forward five years, and business and profitability are down significantly. "We cut a little too much, too fast," an executive candidly told me. "But we're making the busi- ness case for growth now, and that means adding bodies and adding to the marketing budget." Another multinational company based in the U.S. said it had taken its eye off the Canadian market. It cut its marketing spend and — also quite candidly — admitted it was losing market share to competitors north of the border. You don't have to look far in the business pages to find similar stories, though job cuts are usually the only ones that make headlines. Toronto-based Home Capital Group slashed 65 full-time jobs on Oct. 2 in a bid to reduce spend- ing by $15 million. Brandon Stranzl, executive chairman of Sears Canada, blast- ed his employer for its decision to sell 11 of its best-performing stores and turf 1,200 employees. ose 11 stores would have con- tributed more than 90 per cent of earnings in the first year of his plan to keep the iconic retailer afloat, said Stranzl, according to the Globe and Mail. But the cur- rent owners seem more interested in selling off assets than keeping Sears a going concern. More random musings from an Oct. 3 scan of headlines: Cisco cuts 310 staff from its corporate headquarters in California. Britvic closes a factory in Norwich, U.K., tossing 240 people out of work. Hewlett Packard plans 5,000 cuts. Savings done in more subtle ways, that don't make headlines, can be just as — or even more — damaging. Some firms refuse to replace a full-time employee who goes on parental leave, or qui- etly reduce headcount through hiring freezes and re-examining roles whenever there is voluntary turnover. But it goes far beyond saving salaries. If I gathered every HR professional in the country into one room and asked to see those who haven't had to cut training, recognition, team-building or benefit budgets in the last five years, I'd have an empty room. is penny-wise and pound- foolish attitude makes great HR nearly impossible to practise. And if we can be altruistic for a second (and that's a four-letter business word), it's not great for society as a whole. If you have young adults in your family, odds are they're struggling to launch their careers. I thought I had it rough in 1996 when I headed out the door with resumé in hand. Now, it's nearly impossible to find anything beyond a McJob. How bad is it? Well, we know 42.3 per cent of Canadians in their 20s are still living at home, according to Statistics Canada data. Parents, tiring of the inability of this generation to find full-time work, are so desperate to help them get their adult lives started that they are digging deep into their own pockets to prime the pump — they're willing to give an average of $24,125 to help them move out and start their lives, ac- cording to an Angus Reid poll of 3,021 Canadians commissioned by CIBC. But that's the reality in a "gig" economy. Not only do I despise that term, I dislike the concept. ere's measurable value in hiring full-time employees, paying them well and providing benefits. at is the business case for good HR — for decades now, CEOs have paid lip service to the adage "People are an organiza- tion's most important assets." No argument there. So step up, invest in them and provide the income and security you enjoy. ey'll return the favour in spades. A NEW TYPE OF BIO-SENSOR AT WORK PROTIVIN, CZECH REPUBLIC — Workers at a brewery in the Czech Republic have a new "co-worker" in their midst: Crayfish. e Protivin brewery is using crayfish equipped with high-tech sensors to keep their water supply pure, according to Reuters. e creatures react quickly to changes in the aquatic environment, and the bio-sensors monitor their heartbeat and movement. "When three or more crayfish are moving or change their pulse activ- ity, we know that the water parameters have changed. We can react quickly because we have the result within three minutes," said head brewer Michal Voldrich. Other detectors react quickly to a very low concentration of pollution but only to one specific agent, according to Pavel Kozak, director of the South Bohe- mia University's Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydro- biology: "We are using crayfish like a living chemical laboratory — like a bio-indicator and bio-sensor together." Credit: Spreadthesign (Shutterstock)

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