Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER FEBRUARY 2018 26 INSIGHT BEDDING WITH BURGERS LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. – Health inspectors made an interesting discovery recently at a Burger King — they found "sleeping/living ac- commodations" and suspected foreign workers were sleeping in the basement, according to the Canadian Press, which is a health code violation. e owner of the Lethbridge, Alta., location, denied the accusations, said Burger King: "However, we will continue to ensure compliance with our high operational standards." e mat- tresses and furniture were even- tually removed, and the franchise was ordered not to let people sleep on the premises. A subsequent in- spection by the Ministry of Labour found no health and safety or em- ployment standards issues. OFF THE RAILS ENGLAND – When Emily Cole took a train ride in England, she wasn't overly impressed when an older train manager dismissed a complaint she had by calling her "honey." But the situation only worsened for Cole when she took to Twitter to say Virgin Trains messed up when the employee used the "hideously patronizing word women shudder at," accord- ing to the Sun. Instead of com- miserating or offering a discount, the official Virgin Twitter account responded: "Sorry for the messup, Emily, would you prefer 'pet' or 'love' next time?" In response, Cole wrote on Twitter: "Wonderful to see that @virgin_trainsEC take complaints of rude and misogynis- tic behaviour seriously. Stunned." Eventually, the company respond- ed to Cole, telling her the tweet had been deleted: "We apologize unreservedly for this tweet and any offence that it may have caused." But social media users remained flabbergasted by the company's original response: "So instead of giving good customer service, you thought it would be best to mimic the behaviour being complained about?" queried one user. VEGAN VENGEANCE ALBRIGHTON, U.K. – A res- taurant chef resigned recently af- ter boasting of "spiking" a vegan group's meals, according to the Daily Mail. Laura Goodman went on Facebook to complain about how she spent hours preparing a special menu for a group of vegan and vegetarian guests at her Ital- ian restaurant, only to have them order a non-vegan meal. She also went on Twitter to say, a "pious, judgmental diner (who I spent all day cooking for) has gone to bed still believing she's a vegan." e comments prompted an angry re- action from the public, with calls for Goodman to be prosecuted for assault, and Goodman even facing death threats. Her fiancé and business partner apologized and said Goodman had had too much to drink before making the false claims. SPACED OUT JAPAN – Employees have been known to lie from time to time, but a Japanese astronaut got into a bit of trouble recently when he told a tall tale. Norishige Ka- nai was up in the International Space Station when he went on Twitter to say he had grown three-and-a-half inches since ar- riving three weeks earlier: "To- day I share some serious news. Since coming to space, I have grown nine centimetres. This is the most I've grown in three weeks since junior high school." While it's true weightlessness can have that effect, that kind of dramatic growth would be rare, according to the Washington Post. After a Russian colleague expressed skepticism, Kanai mea- sured himself again and found the growth was closer to two centi- metres. He then called his previ- ous announcement "fake news." W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Todd Humber Editor's Notes Vol. 31 No. 2 – February 2018 PUBLISHED BY Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ©Copyright 2018 by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. CANADIAN HR REPORTER is published 12 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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PROFITING FROM BAD GUYS LEICESTERSHIRE, U.K. – e Leicestershire Police in England have taken to eBay to sell items seized from criminals, and have raised more than $1 million pounds (C$1.7 million), according to the Daily Mail. e force has sold more than 6,000 items including high-end jewelry, clothes, sports cars and houses. e economic crime unit, which is allowed to raise the funds through the Proceeds of Crime Act, even sold a plane that belonged to a drug trafficker. e funds are shared between the force, the Home Office, and the Crown Prosecution Service, as well as victims of crimes. "We are continually working to take the cash out of crime and to tar- get people who are benefitting financially from criminal activ- ity," said Paul Wenlock, head of the economic crime unit at Leicestershire Police. Credit: Miro Kovacevic (Shutterstock) Pink is the new 'orange' G entlemen, step away from the leather chairs and the rich mahogany shelving. ose footsteps you hear outside the door are wom- en, and they've come for the keys to the kingdom. Interesting side note to the massive Women's March protests last month, as pointed out by one of my colleagues. He noted: "You had hundreds of thousands of women marching, and at no point was anyone really concerned about violence. You wouldn't have that with that size of a crowd in any other circumstance." e marches — held on the an- niversary of the inaugural march held in early 2017 to protest the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States and his administration's policies — have grown far beyond their American origins and become a global phenomenal. Across Canada, women (and supportive male counterparts) gathered in at least 38 communi- ties. ey joined 200,000 march- ers in New York, 300,000 in Chi- cago and 500,000 in Los Angeles, to name drop a few protests — the numbers really are staggering. Waves of pink also hit the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan. Fed by the flames of the #MeToo campaign, the movement is trans- forming from civil disobedience into a force for sustained and sig- nificant change. People have figured out that the Trumps of the world are incapable of changing their stripes and it's time for them to step aside. (So maybe pink is the new orange?) Trump himself marked the oc- casion with a tone-deaf and self- congratulatory tweet (he really doesn't seem to get his starring role in the movement): "Beautiful weather all over our great country, a perfect day for all Women to March," he wrote. "Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and un- precedented economic success and wealth creation that has tak- en place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!" Because having a minimum wage job — or a really good job that pays 77 cents on the dollar — is, you know, bigly success. Women are doing far more than wearing pink hats and marching. e focus has shifted to the ballot box, with a "Power to the Polls" movement to upend the political landscape. The idea is to ensure more women are registered to vote and, just as critically, more women are running for office. "There is an unprecedented surge of first-time female candi- dates, overwhelmingly Demo- cratic, running for offices big and small, from the U.S. Senate and state legislatures to local school boards," wrote journalist Char- lotte Alter in Time magazine last month. "At least 79 women are explor- ing runs for governor in 2018, potentially doubling a record for female candidates set in 1994, ac- cording to the Center for Ameri- can Women and Politics at Rut- gers University." This surge will undoubtedly have a major impact on politics in the U.S. and on this side of the border as the movement inevita- bly spreads. We might like to pre- tend we're progressive because we've already had a female prime minister, but Kim Campbell was appointed by her party, not elect- ed by Canadians. It's hard to imagine a down- side to this movement or to hav- ing more women in positions of power. Because, let's face it, women have a pretty impressive track record. Over the years, Canadian HR Reporter has trotted out the link between financial performance and the representation of women on corporate boards. While it's not new data, it is worth dusting off again — Fortune 500 compa- nies with the highest percentage of women board directors out- performed those with the least by 53 percent when it came to return on equity. Return on sales was 42 per cent better, and return on invested cap- ital was 66 per cent higher. It will be compelling to watch what happens in elections in the coming years as this wave of pink rolls towards Ottawa and Washington. Welcome to our friends in Western Canada Canadian HR Reporter is excited about its new partnership with the Chartered Professionals in Human Resources (CPHR). is is the first of four issues this year going to every member of the as- sociations in British Columbia, Alberta and the territories. While we have always been a national publication that prides itself on covering the profession, from Victoria to St. John's, this is the first time many profession- als who are members of CPHR British Columbia & Yukon and CPHR Alberta have gotten their hands on a copy. We welcome the 6,000 members in B.C. and 5,700 members in Alberta to the family. It builds on a relationship we have with the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) that sees all 23,000 of its members receive this publication four times in 2018 as well. is is your publication, and the voice of your profession. We always love to hear from readers about what we're covering, what we're not covering and anything we can do to help you and your organizations be successful. So drop me a line anytime at todd.humber@tr.com or (416) 298-5196.

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