Canadian HR Reporter - Sample Issue

CANADIAN HR REPORTER October 2, 2017 18 INSIGHT DRESS CODE DILEMMA TIMMINS, ONT. — A waitress at an East Side Mario's in Timmins, Ont., recently complained that her manager wanted her to wear a bra at work, according to the CBC. Geneviève Loiselle said a fe- male manager took her aside and told her she needed to wear a bra as part of her work uniform. "It's a violation of my rights as a per- son to dictate my undergarments," said Loiselle. "It was a really sex- ist thing to do." When the server pointed out that men with large breasts weren't required to wear a bra, Loiselle said the manager told her "People don't look at women's bodies the same way they look at men's bodies." Later, the manager apparently backtracked and said she just wanted to know why the waitress was not wearing a bra. And Loiselle was told by both the owner and manager she was not required to wear the bra. 'I'M LEAVING NOW!' CHATSWOOD, AUSTRALIA — Normally, when a boss yells, it's not a good thing — but not at PepsiCo Australia and New Zea- land. at's because CEO Robbert Rietbroek believes it's important to send a message to employees by having leaders declare, loudly, why they are leaving work, ac- cording to the Daily Telegraph. For example, if Rietbroek leaves at 4 p.m. to pick up his daugh- ters, he'll make sure to tell people around him. "Because if it's OK for the boss, then it's OK for middle management and new hires," he said. e "Leaders Leaving Loud- ly" program is meant to reduce presenteeism, said Rietbroek, be- cause workers who are younger or more junior "need to be able to see your leaders go home, to be comfortable to leave." The CEO has also been championing family-friendly, fl exible work poli- cies, and after-hours work emails are discouraged at the company. rough these policies and oth- ers, the company has reduced its annual staff turnover from 12 per cent to seven per cent. A WHOPPER OF A DEAL MIAMI — In an unusual mar- keting tactic, Burger King ran a very brief promotion off ering free Whoppers recently to anyone who was fi red. e promotion only ran from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1, and to get the free meat, fi red workers had to go on LinkedIn, publicly con- fess they were fi red and use the #WhopperSeverance hashtag. e chain said it planned to hand out 2,500 burgers as part of the promo- tion. e tie-in? Well, the burgers are fl ame-grilled — so being fi red is bad for a worker, but good for a hamburger. e chain also gave away 30-minute career coaching sessions with a career consultant to the fi rst 100 people who ap- plied for the promotion. Burger King really, really likes to point out the fl ame-grilled thing. Just read the statement it posted on the website WhopperSeverance.com: "We know, we know. You really wanted to admit you got fi red for a free fl ame-grilled Whopper sand- wich... e bad news is Whopper severance has ended. e good news is you can still buy a fl ame- grilled Whopper." TWITTER FAIL WASHINGTON, D.C. — Instead of the United States president, it was a senator who managed to get into hot water recently with his Twitter account. Somehow, a por- nographic post briefl y appeared on Ted Cruz's Twitter feed in Septem- ber after it was "liked" by someone with access to the account, accord- ing to the Associated Press. Cruz quickly said an aide was respon- sible: "It was a staffi ng issue and it was inadvertent. It was a mistake. It was not a deliberate action." e 2016 presidential candidate also joked about the incident: "If I had known that this would trend so quickly, perhaps we should have posted something like this back during the Indiana primary." SAD DAY AT MCDONALD'S REDWOOD CITY, CALIF. — A McDonald's worker got into con- siderable trouble recently when she was discovered trying to fl ush her newborn baby down a toilet at work. Sarah Lockner was working on Sept. 4 when she complained of stomach pains, according to the Daily Mail. After Lockner went to the washroom, two female em- ployees when to check on her and found Lockner inside a stall, surrounded by a pool of blood, having just given birth to a baby. One of the co-workers called 911 and paramedics were able to re- suscitate the infant. Lockner, who claimed she did not know she was pregnant, was arrested on charges of attempted murder and child abuse. W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Vol. 30 No. 16 – October 2, 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 Nominations open for Top 25 HR Professionals A lright, I'll be the one to say it. Human resources pro- fessionals — you're a little too shy. Not when it comes to the jobs you do. We all know HR folks wear a few too many unorthodox hats — friend, confi dant, psychologist, conflict resolver, employment lawyer, engagement booster. e list is almost as endless as it is constantly growing, and most professionals tackle every task with tenacity. e shyness only appears when the spotlight turns on you, when it's time to accept accolades from your peers or to pat yourself on the back. This is trait fairly unique to the human resources profession. Lawyers don't suffer from this malaise — they line up confi dently in droves to get on every top list or ranking possible. If the profession was a country, human resources would be Can- ada. at means it's undoubtedly great, but without the swagger to back it up. It doesn't have nearly enough self-confi dence, and of- ten looks to the outside world for validation. Canadian HR Reporter is try- ing to wave the fl ag for you. Our panel of experts is fresh off judg- ing the nominations for the 2017 National HR Awards, which we will announce in the Nov. 13 issue. But now the call is going out to individual professionals. For the second straight year, we're look- ing to name the Top 25 HR Pro- fessionals in Canada. But we need your help and, more importantly, your nominations. Let's play a numbers game. Here's a fi gure you might not be aware of, courtesy of our friends at Statistics Canada: ere are about 100,000 HR professionals in Canada. And here's another fun fact — this issue of Canadian HR Report- er is being read by about 35,000 professionals. And yet only a fraction of the people reading this publication will submit nominations. That's a shame, because the work you do every day — while it may seem mundane and uninter- esting to you — might actually be extraordinary. e editors of Canadian HR Reporter, who are also the judges for these awards, want to hear your stories. We want you to shed your cloaks of modesty and pat yourself, or one of the colleagues you admire, on the back. Just go to www.hrreporter.com/ top25 to fi ll out the nomination form. Nominations are open now and the deadline to apply is Friday, Oct. 13. Winners will be announced in the Nov. 27 issue, and are invited to be our guests at the 2017 Na- tional HR Awards gala cocktail reception being held Oct. 24 in downtown Toronto. Good luck! NO SHELTER FROM THE STORM JACKSONVILLE, FL. — A Pizza Hut in Florida faced backlash recently after a manager apparently threatened to discipline workers who evacuated for Hurricane Irma at the wrong time, according to the Washington Post. A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, and had to return within 72 hours after. "Failure to show for these shifts, regardless of reason, will be considered a no call/ no show and documentation will be issued," it said. "After the storm, we need all (team members) available to get the store up and running." But social media was not impressed: "Pizza Hut wants its minimum wage employees to risk their lives for corporate profi ts," said @KatiSipp. But Piz- za Hut said it did not have a policy that dictates when team members can leave or return from a disaster, and said the manager "did not follow company guidelines." Credit: ProStockStudio (Shutterstock) . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, . A memo stated workers could not evacuate more than 24 hours before the storm, and had to return within 72 hours after. "Failure to show for The deadline is Oct. 13, and winners will be invited to a cocktail reception.

• Cover