Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER JUNE 2018 12 NEWS and adaptability in your organiza- tion, you need an organizational model in which innovation is intrinsic to every system, every process, every structure and in- stinctive to every person inside the organization." Employers attempting to reor- ganize their management model in this fashion ultimately face the following question: How do I create an unstoppable wave of change? said Labarre. "If you're serious about build- ing an organization that can adapt and move with the times, you've got to get very serious about that question," she said. "It's a question that should be on the plate of all HR leaders." "Retooling an organization's management model to make innovation a true core compe- tence, that's not something you assign to a staff group. It's also not something you can engineer from the top down or roll out through some kind of military campaign." To unleash a "cohort of innovation activists," employers need to put all staff on the same level as the senior leadership team, said Labarre, adding "glorified suggestion boxes" are simply no longer adequate. Prototype the future The future of work is created through quick action and ram- pant experimentation, rather than a strategic plan mentality, she said. "If you can get hip to the mind- set that all that wasted flailing around and rounds of testing is just work in progress on the way to discovery, then you have a much better chance of being an organization that's able to find the future." Companies favouring agil- ity and decision by experimenta- tion are winning the market, said Labarre. "It's not rocket science," she said. "It gets away from that tra- ditional conventional approach of getting things started in com- panies, where we spend all our time at the front end, we devise a perfect plan, we get funding, we get buy-in, we put every- thing upfront before we even try anything." "e new approach — the ex- perimental method — is much more a series of loops, where we're designing," said Labarre. "We're testing, we're iterating." Executives will eventually need to rule on an idea's validity in the marketplace, but allowing it to blossom to that point is an HR leader's task, she said. Companies such as Amazon realize failure is inevitable on the way to success, said Labarre. "Amazon is eating the world. ey are generating new services, new products, new businesses at an astonishing rate." Learn as quickly as you can HR leaders would benefit by remaining hungry and humble, she said. "Whatever your industry, something is changing underfoot, maybe even overnight," said La- barre. "It's on you to shed the cer- tainties and the assumptions and the methods that got you where you are today." One practical measure is to sim- ply ask more questions, she said. "Creativity is fundamentally subversive in nature. It's on you to invite the edge in, to develop a contrarian point of view, to invite dissent in... Make an effort to ask more questions than you give an- swers, day in and day out, year in and year out." Questions open the mind to hu- mility, curiosity and possibility — a childlike mindset, said Labarre. "Children are blown open by questions. ey are experiencing the world for the first time, every single day. ey have the ultimate fresh eyes. at's what we need to get back to. We've essentially built organizations that squash out 90 per cent of the deep human cre- ative gifts and capacity that we so desperately need today. is is about undoing that," she said. "Practising that kind of inno- cence takes a lot of courage, be- cause sometimes your questions are going to seem stupid. But you have to remember it's the ques- tions that nobody's asked before that reveal the innovative ideas that nobody has tried before." LOOKING FOR A SUPPLIER OR VENDOR? Visit hrreporter.com/hr-vendors-guide Perfectbound • June 2018 $47.50* • L7798-8402 ISBN • 978-0-7798-8402-5 Multiple copy discounts available *Plus applicable taxes and shipping & handling (Prices subject to change without notice) Stay connected with the 2018-19 Atlantic Legal Telephone Directory. Order your copy today. Visit www.store.thomsonreuters.ca or call 1-800-387-5164 for a 30-day, no risk evaluation Connect to Atlantic Canada's LEGAL NETWORK The 2018-19 Atlantic Legal Telephone Directory connects you to your legal community providing accurate and essential legal contact information in all four Canadian Atlantic Provinces. Find over 4,300 listings of lawyers, firms and judges. Get quick, easy access to: • Law and Barristers' Societies • Courts of Appeal • Federal Court of Canada • Government of Canada departments • Judicial districts and judicial officials • Incorporated Municipalities • Land registration and information services • The Associations of Land Surveyors • Law Foundation • Provincial government departments • Boards and Commissions • Law Related Services, Institutions and Organizations • University law faculties... and much more. By contrast, paying a full-time employee more than a part-time employee performing similar work because the full-time em- ployee has greater experience is likely to be defensible. Temporary help agencies Section 42.2 of the ESA prohib- its a temporary help agency from paying an assignment employee a rate of pay less than an employee of a client where (a) the employ- ees perform substantially the same kind of work in the same es- tablishment; (b) the job requires substantially the same skill, effort and responsibility; and (c) work is performed under similar work- ing conditions. In this case, the "employment status" (such as part-time or full- time) of the assignment employee is not a factor. If a full-time assignment em- ployee is paid less than a full-time employee of the client, perform- ing substantially the same work, the pay differential may constitute a violation of the ESA. An assignment employee may be paid less than an employee of a client if the differential is based on any factor other than sex, em- ployment status or assignment employment status. Disclosing pay information Under section 42.1 of the ESA, an employee has the right to request a review of his rate of pay. Simi- larly, section 72 of the ESA pro- tects an employee from reprisal for requesting information about the rate of pay paid to another em- ployee, either from the employer or another employee directly. However, neither of these pro- visions create a positive obliga- tion on an employer to disclose another employee's rate of pay upon request. If an employee requests a re- view of her rate of pay, an em- ployer is required to conduct the review and either make an adjust- ment to the employee's rate of pay or provide written reasons if no adjustment is provided. Collective agreements e equal pay provisions may con- flict with the rates of pay found in an existing collective agreement. In that case, the collective agree- ment rates are "grandfathered," provided the agreement was in force as of April 1, 2018. However, the equal pay provi- sions must be complied with fol- lowing the expiry of the collective agreement or as of Jan. 1, 2020 (whichever is earlier). Final thoughts Needless to say, the new equal pay provisions can significantly impact how an employer struc- tures and pays its workforce. e minister of labour has promised to commence a review of the equal pay provisions by April 1, 2021. At that time, employers and other stakeholders will have an opportunity to provide feedback and recommend changes. Until then, Ontarians go to the polls June 7. e results of that election could profoundly impact the Bill 148 amendments, includ- ing "equal pay for equal work." Stay tuned. Lisa Bolton and Gerald Griffiths are lawyers at Sherrard Kuzz, an em- ployment and labour law firms rep- resenting management. ey can be reached at (416) 603-0700 (main), (416) 420-0738 (24-hour) or by visiting www.sherrardkuzz.com. Employees can request review of wage rate EQUAL PAY < pg. 5 Questions inspire ideation INNOVATION < pg. 6 "We've essentially built organizations that squash out 90 per cent of the deep human creative gifts and capacity that we so desperately need today."

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