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May 18, 2010
Author: Janet Candido & David Whitten
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By David Whitten - Whitten Lublin LLP
& Janet Candido - HR-on-Demand
Beginning June 15, Bill 168 requires that all Ontario employers have policies in place to protect their employees from workplace violence and harassment.
The Bill amends Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) by designating workplace violence and harassment as health and safety hazards. It’s a direct response to recent acts of workplace violence, including Lori Dupont's murder at a Windsor hospital at the hands of her boyfriend in 2005 and Pierre Lebrun's shooting rampage at OC Transpo in 1999.
Previously, the OHSA required employers to take “all reasonable precautions” to protect employees. However, in the absence of a specific legislative definition of “reasonable precautions”, charges were rarely laid. Bill 168 now expressly imposes obligations on employers and employees to protect against workplace violence and harassment.
By definition, workplace violence and workplace harassment is the actual exercise of physical force; an attempt to exercise physical force; or a statement or behaviour that can be reasonably viewed as a threat of physical force to cause physical injury. Unfortunately, the terms “physical force” and “physical injury” are undefined, leaving employer obligations unclear.
More significantly, the definition of workplace harassment has been borrowed from the Human Rights Code, where even perceived mistreatment can form the basis of a lawsuit or human rights complaint. Since harassment is often viewed in the eyes of the beholder, a tough or assertive boss could easily be seen as a personal harasser. The concern is that employees will use these new definitions to support constructed dismissal claims or complaints to the Ministry of Labour, based on little more than legitimate performance management.
By far the most alarming requirement is that employers must now provide information to all employees, including personal information, about a colleague’s history of violence. The legislation doesn’t outline what should be considered violent behaviour or an employer’s obligations to inquire into a person's history. It’s also unclear how much information must be divulged to fulfil this requirement while balancing the importance of maintaining that person’s privacy rights.
Actions all employers must take to be compliant
The following are the five steps that employers must take to ensure Bill 168 compliance:
- Create compliant policies, post them in prominent locations (such as a lunchroom as well as on the company intranet) and review them every six months to reflect workplace or legal changes.
It may not be necessary to create new policies from scratch. Instead, a thorough review of existing Human Rights Code and Health and Safety policies may reveal that the necessary changes can readily be made.
- Conduct risk assessments for violence in the workplace, share the results with health and safety committees and re-assess often.
Care must be taken when carrying out risk assessments because the results will shape policy. All organizations should look at comparable industry companies when conducting the risk assessment – for example, hospitals need to look at other hospitals – and create a rating tool that evaluates risk. As soon as risks are recognized, an action plan to defuse that risk is needed.
- Develop and maintain training programs to implement workplace violence and harassment policies. These policies must include information on how employees can request assistance or report concerns.
A comprehensive process on how to file complaints is a key part of this legislation and we recommend that investigations always be conducted by two people – for example someone from Human Resources and someone from the Health and Safety committee. This process must give direction on protecting the person being investigated until the investigation is complete as well as protecting the person who filed the complaint.
- Amend disciplinary policies to address failure to abide by workplace violence and harassment policies.
If no disciplinary action is deemed necessary and an employee is cleared, he or she must be allowed to return to their regular duties. However, the legislation states that employers must inform all other employees of the investigation and leave the door open for others to choose not to work with the investigated person. The difficulty is in determining how to convey this information to meet the legislated requirements without contravening privacy laws.
- Train supervisors and employees to understand and administer the various workplace policies.
About the authors:
David Whitten is a founding partner of Whitten Lublin LLP, a respected firm of employment lawyers.
Janet Candido is a principal of HR-on-Demand, with 20 years of Human Resources expertise.
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Aug 12, 2009
Author: Vendorseek.com
Human Resource Outsourcing Outlook 2009
In a recession, all arrows point to outsourcing. The Human Resources Outsourcing (HRO) industry projects growth at five percent in 2009 amid the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. Some of the industry changes driving this growth promise to translate into improved ROI for HRO clients. Find out which behind-the-scenes strategies will save you money in 2009.
To reach a projected $3.2 billion in sales, HRO intends to drive new business through several strategic initiatives.
A La Carte Service
Industry analysts are predicting more componentized deals, allowing companies to select specific services to outsource while retaining others in-house. HR outsourcing suppliers are building greater flexibility into service agreements, allowing clients on-demand service changes and pay-as-you-go pricing. With cost reduction a top priority, new clients will target transaction-intensive processes for outsourcing. Human resources outsourcing services include:
- Payroll and benefits
- Recruiting
- Performance management
- Compensation
- Learning
HRO clients can trim expenses by accessing available resources only as needed, scaling outsourced services to meet changing needs. In a volatile economy, this sort of flexibility is crucial to maintaining a lean business.
Human Resource Management System (HRMS) Technology
Human resource management system (HRMS) technology has hitherto served as something of a competitor to HRO. HRMS facilitates in-house human resources, providing a global view of human capital and automating tasks such as payroll, benefits, recruiting, training, and performance tracking. A technological solution can increase in-house efficiency, rendering outsourcing unnecessary.
In 2009, however, analysts predict an increased adoption of HR technology by outsourcing providers. By making this technology available to clients on a Software as a Service basis, HRO suppliers present an attractive proposition for companies looking to avoid a large capital outlay. Clients benefit from subscription-based access to both the state-of-the-art technology and the providers outsourced human resources team.
Consolidation in the HRO Industry
Consolidation among HRO suppliers will bring better value to clients outsourcing multiple processes or implementing a large-scope human resources solution. Industry analyst Everest Research Institute expects to see consolidation via mergers and acquisitions as well as via partnerships among independent suppliers. Providers will consolidate in order to broaden their expertise into new processes and technology; widen their geographical footprint; and expand their market share.
For HRO clients, consolidation promises greater efficiency and access to broader services, as well as a reduction in the cost of multi-process service contracts. Continuity between services alone produces greater value. For example, a global HRO supplier might partner with a specialized Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) provider to deeper recruiting services in specific geographies. Their clients benefit from both the reach and economy of a global HRO and the local recruitment relationships of the partner.
The coming year offers a promising outlook for human resource outsourcing suppliers and clients alike. As the market for outsourcing human resources matures, the industry will drive growth by increasing the efficiency and breadth of its services. In a climate of pessimism and gloomy forecasts, companies finally have something to cheer about.
by VendorSeek.com
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Preparing for Your Upcoming Shortage of Key People
Did you know that the cost of replacing retiring or departing employees in your business could be in the millions of dollars over the coming decade? And while hiring retirees as contractors can fill the skills gap, it will also slow your corporate adaptation efforts.
With the looming retirement of Baby Boomers, many companies are ill prepared for the accelerating talent shortage to follow. They haven't done enough to improve their hiring and employee retention practices, or establish succession programs. Consequently, they will struggle in attracting needed talent and sector skills in the competitive future. They will not stand out in comparison amongst employers and will find themselves unable to afford the replacement cost for comparable skills.
The time to act is now, since your hiring competitors may have already taken significant steps to position themselves as an attractive employer - an "Employer of Choice."
It's critical to recognize both the attraction and retention issues faced. Changing your internal practices to become a competitive employer will be a significant undertaking. Board members and shareholders must be alerted to the issues and make the choice to enable you to successfully compete for talent and retain proprietary information.
The first step is generally to craft the business case which highlights the risk to the company and proposes an action plan to make your business a desirable employer - which boards and shareholders
must consider seriously. Backed up by research and best practices, identify what your company needs competitively to be a more attractive employer, together with an appropriate budget for this effort.
Here are some of the areas such a presentation might address (customized to your business, its location and priorities):
• The cost profile of replacing retirements/departures
• The upcoming labor force demographics in Canada and specifically your region
• The folly of relying on contracted retirees as a stop gap
• What today's employees are looking for
• What other similar or competitive businesses are doing to attract and retain employees
• Human resource costs - direct and indirect
• The training costs of training up internal and external candidates based on the difficulty in replacing critical skills in a more competitive marketplace
• Financial and other implications arising from inability to service your customers until internal knowledge base is replace
• A plan for transitioning your business to becoming a more competitive employer
• Proposed budget and how to pay for the transition
• Measurable success criteria
Everyone knows that a few key people can make a huge difference to your business. If you have those people now - it's important to ensure that you don't lose them. If you need to add those people, you need to be their most attractive option.
 About the Author:
David Boyle, president of HR-on-Demand, has over 30 years experience in designing and implementing strategies and tactics for outsourced human resources expertise.
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