The HR Hub

As more companies prioritize employee wellbeing and the employee  experience, they start to think about a wellness program.  It's not as  easy as hiring a yoga instructor, but maybe you could start there?     I spoke with Reena Vokoun (again).  She's the owner of Passion Fit which  works with employers to build meaningful wellness programs.  She also  wrote The Wellness Empowered Woman.  Here are a few of Reena's tips to  keep in mind as you develop your program:  💰 Make sure you have the money and support before you start.  👯‍♀️ Consider how to offer individualized content: Not all employees  have the same needs when it comes to wellness. Consider offering  one-on-one in addition fitness classes, nutrition coaching, and mental  health resources.     🥵 Wellness programs don't replace healthy workplaces like reasonable  workloads and supportive management.  🎓 Recognize the social determinants of health and do what you can:  Health is impacted by factors beyond individual behaviors, such as  access to healthy food, education, and healthcare among others.  🧑‍🚒 Involve employees in developing their programs: They are the  experts on their own wellness needs. Reena can be found through her company, Passion Fit, at https://passionfit.com/  Andrea is an HR consultant and can be found through www.thehrhub.com

What environment do you need for creativity, focus, and deep thought?    I think I am getting the hint.  Notifications, emails and messages  aren't making me more productive and they greatly reduce my ability to  be thoughtful.  This is true for many of the people in our organizations  too.      Daniel Sih is an author and productivity guy.  I reached out because of  his Spacemakers book, but I was curious about productivity and he  delivered!     🥃 He's a physiotherapist and accidentally became a productivity  consultant over a glass of whiskey.    ❌ Now he is going to TedX and his 'idea worth sharing' is that we need  to put down our phones to be more productive and have better  relationships.  📧 He used to think productivity was about getting better at email and  prioritization.  That is helpful, but, to truly be productive, you need  to think about who you are and what is important to you. Then be  productive at THOSE things.  🧑🏽‍🏫 Notwithstanding the importance of knowing our priorities, we can  teach employees to manage email, set priorities, and maintain good  habits.  Organizations have a better chance of getting a lot more of the  right work done. Spacemakers: How to Unplug, Unwind, and Think Clearly in the Digital Age   You can find more about Daniel and Spacemakers on https://spacemakers.com.au/    You can find Elissa Lok for Spacemaker or Email Ninja training in North America at elissa@spacemakers.com.au    And finally, I am an HR consultant as well.  Reach out to me through my website www.thehrhub.ca

Person in Company: How do I let my disabled employee go?     Employment Lawyer: How are you accommodating them?   PiCo: Uhhhh, but they can't come to work.   Employment Lawyer: 😐   Most of us know the standard is high, but sometimes it can be hard to  explain it to a frustrated leader who is struggling to be effective.   So watch this video with Dylan Snowdon, Employment Lawyer and Instructor  in the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary. There's lots of  tipsI  ❌You can't terminate someone just because they are on LTD with no  expected return-to-work date.  ⏱️Maintain periodic, reasonable, contact. Go for coffee or lunch with  the employee.  Be positive and supportive.  ☺️The leaders who 'get' it are those who have experience with disability  in some way.  💸Those that proceed with termination too soon and without full  exploration may lose *$$$*   This is technical topic!  And a CANADIAN one  because it is based in Canadian law.  

Employee wellness programs are nearly a required feature of employer  value propositions.  However, designing a cost-effective, meaningful  program that provides value to employees AND the employer is  challenging.   This was the focus of my chat with Reena Vokoun.  She's the owner of  Passion Fit which works with employers to build meaningful wellness  programs.  She also wrote The Wellness Empowered Woman.     Some of her key points:  ⏱️ Timeless but Flexible: A wellness program should be designed to stand  the test of time, but still be flexible enough to accommodate the  changing needs and interests of employees. Broader societal changes will  impact the health of employees and what you might want to include.  🏹 Aligned with Corporate Values and Culture: A wellness program should  align with the company's values and culture so it reinforces your  direction.   🏹 Aligned with Employee Needs: You must have input from employees  themselves to ensure the program fits them. Involve employees in the  program's design, implementation, and maintenance.  📈 Measuring Success: Like many parts of HR, measuring success can be  challenging because it's people.  However there are several, relevant  metrics like participation rates, satisfaction, attendance, and health  plan usage.  It will take time to see the impact. Reena can be found through her company, Passion Fit, at https://passionfit.com/   Andrea is an HR consultant and can be found through www.thehrhub.com

Want to become a CPHR?  Listen up.   I intended to talk to Erica Blain about the new CPHR competencies. We  talked about that and then everything else related to becoming a CPHR.    Erica is the Director of Professional Standards and Registrar at CPHRAB.  We reviewed the revised competencies that were published a year ago  AND:   - What's changed in the NKE   - What it means to the experience validation assessment (EVA)   - Maintaining your CPHR status once you have it   - What qualifies as 'certified professional development'   - CPD credits  - Getting your SHRM too! Check out your provincial association for more information!  Find me at www.thehrhub.ca.

Do you look at your phone when you are bored?  Tik Tok or a game?  Is it making you happy?    Connecting with people is overwhelmingly shown to create happiness. That  doesn't really happen when we are spending more and more time online.  Digital wellness in the workplace is becoming an increasingly important  aspect of wellness. As we spend more and more time on our devices, it's  helping drive burn out, stress, and anxiety. Obviously this will have a  negative impact on the well-being and productivity of workplaces.   The first of my guests, Daniel Sih and author of Spacemaker, has been  invited to speak at TedX and his 'idea worth sharing' is that we need to  manage our use of tech.  He laughs, a little amazed, because most of us  remember a life before this level of tech and yet we have become so  dependent so fast. And now it's an idea worth sharing.  Elissa Lok, my  second guest and HR Consultant, helped Daniel develop a Spacemaker  course and reflects on the impact in organizations.   Some other ideas:  🥱Boredom is not bad even if we do anything to avoid it. In fact, a lot  of creativity happens when we are bored. When we give ourselves time to  be unplugged and disconnected from technology, we allow ourselves to  have new ideas, and think more critically.  It's hard to underestimate  how valuable that is.   💉Our tech is powerful and useful - and addictive.  Addiction can be  defined as the repeated use of something even though it causes  substantial harm. Of course the irony of this topic and how I am  delivering it is obvious.  📱Steve Jobs didn't let his kids use ipads or iphones.   ↘️ The relationship between tech and productivity is an inverted U  curve.   If employers are interested in employee productivity and wellbeing, they  should investigate digital wellbeing. It's the right thing to do do,  but there is also tremendous benefit to the workplace, to ourselves and  our humanity. Spacemakers: How to Unplug, Unwind, and Think Clearly in the Digital Age  You can find more about Daniel and Spacemakers on https://spacemakers.com.au/   You can find Elissa Lok for Spacemaker or Email Ninja training in North America at elissa@spacemakers.com.au    And finally, I am an HR consultant as well.  Reach out to me through my website www.thehrhub.ca .

You don't have to be a subject matter expert to create an amazing  course. Instead, it's about being dedicated to the process of course  development.  Think about that - it's liberating!    This was my second chat with Irina Ketkin and it was as good as the  last.  She's a prof on Udemy and has her own YouTube channel  @TheLnDAcademy.  She's truly a learning and development expert. She  discusses some of the following:  🚗 One acronym that can help you in your course development journey is  ADDIE: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation.  🥵 But it's important to note that course development takes time and  effort. On average, it takes about 12 hours of preparation to deliver 1  hour of content. This includes researching and organizing material,  designing interactive activities, and considering the best delivery  methods.   So if you're planning on creating a course, don't underestimate the  amount of work that goes into it. Check out the video to get some tips  about the structured process and approach that will help you create an  amazing course that engages and educates your learners. Find Andrea for HR Consulting support in Western Canada at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/

HR reporting and metrics are key tools for driving organizational  success, and it's up to us to use them effectively. It's good for the  organization, your career and our profession.     I conducted this follow-up interview with David Simmonds for HCM Metrics  to discuss data, metrics and reporting.  He helped develop the ISO  standards for HR reporting an said the following:   🪑 It's essential that we become proficient in reporting and metrics if  we want to earn or maintain our seat at the table. But it's not just  about impressing higher-ups - effective HR reporting can benefit the  entire organization.  ⁉️One important aspect to consider is that our reporting should be  focused on answering organizational questions, rather than our own. This  means that  asking ourselves what the business needs to know, and how  we can use data to provide those answers.  🏥 One metric that is often overlooked but can be incredibly valuable is  leadership trust. Trust is a crucial component of a healthy and  productive work environment, and measuring it can provide valuable  insights into the effectiveness of our leadership team. Find David at https://www.hcmmetrics.co.uk/   Find Andrea for HR Consulting in Western Canada at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/

Recognition is a cheap and powerful tool to drive a positive culture, the employee AND customer experience, and a true sense of connection between employees and with the organization. Yet we don't do it or we don't do  it well.     Organizations create expensive rewards programs meant to recognize  employees. But, let's be clear, long service awards don't do a lot to  motivate great employee performance.    So how do we do it better?   That was the subject of this week's  interview with Sarah McVanel - recognition expert!  Well, of course she  has thoughts:  😾 Everyone does something well.  Don't avoid recognizing someone  because there's an aspect of their personality you dislike.  😩 Along the same lines, you'll find something positive to recognize  even in persistent complainers.   🤩 When the same people do the recognition and the same people get  recognized all the time... your program is failing.   🟢 It's everyone's job to participate in recognition not just the  leader. Find Sarah at greatnessmagnified.com   Find Andrea just to connect or for HR Consulting support (Western  Canada) via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/

We all have different relationships with negotiation. It might make some  of us uncomfortable but it's a powerful everyday skill if we can  practice and apply the elements.   And it's relevant to HR beyond contracts.  Have you ever seen the  necessity of an approach or project but your clients hadn't bought in?   We often have little formal power in HR to mandate projects so  negotiation skills can be very helpful!  When I discovered that Susie  Tomenchok had written a book about it, of course I had to talk to her  about it.   And I learned a lot.  Some of it made me a bit uncomfortable and will  challenge me.  Other parts come easier.  It'll be the same from you.  Susie says: don't avoid it until you need it!    Did you know:  🌤 Any emotion will cloud your thinking, but you can make emotions  contingency plans!    🤔 Most of your effort in negotiation will be spent trying to see the  issue from their perspective.  🚫 No is a starting point.  🙊 We need to get comfortable with silence. Intrapreneurial Leadership and a link to the course:  https://www.cablecenter.org/intrapreneurship-academy-ia/intrapreneurial-leadership   Susie's Book:  The Art of Everyday Negotiation without Manipulation   Andrea provides consulting support. Find her at at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/