The HR Hub

How do you go about job design?  Or, as today's guest describes it, job  CRAFTING! Traditional job design outlines a job without really thinking  about the specific person who is going to do it.  Dr. Benjamin Ritter  encourages you to craft a job with the individual front of mind.  🤯   We talk about the challenges of this process.  I've come from pretty  traditional HR roots and had so many questions and 'what ifs'! Which Ben  responded to with "So much fear!"  It IS hard to grasp how we would do  such a basic thing differently - but I learned a lot and was challenged  in how I think about job design.  You might be too. Ben mentioned this book: The 9 Lies about Work by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall   Ben's Company, Live for Yourself Consulting: https://www.liveforyourselfconsulting.com/

Let's be honest, you typically get a Manager job because you are great as an individual - but then you have to lead.   You also need to be both a partner to your management peers and a  supporter and developer of your direct reports.   There is so much great insight in this episode around the similarities  and differences between being a Manager versus a business partner.  It  also gives insight into some of the challenges of that transition and  how to approach them.      Todd Bassett is a VP of HR and and has transitioned through the various  positions.  He has ideas on how you can approach it and what to expect.

Privacy in the workplace is a matter of legislation, common law, and  policy.  Some aspects of privacy in the Canadian context are set out in  legislation - and it can be a wide variety of legislation. BC, Alberta,  Quebec and federally regulated businesses are subject to specific  privacy legislation, but the rest of the provinces and territories rely  on common law. Then there is employee privacy expectations which can be  greatly impact by employer policy.  How do you make sense of it?    Gayle Wadden speaks to us about this.  She is the cofounder of  Compliance Works which is software helping employers stay up-to-date on  their compliance obligations.  One key area is privacy. Gayle Wadden and Compliance Works https://complianceworks.ca/

What happens when there is a threat of violence at work?  Hopefully you  are prepared to do a threat assessment in the workplace.     This is a concept that our American neighbours might be more familiar with; however Canadians are not immune.  Furthermore, we practice and  are prepared for the possibility of a fire, why not violence as well?     There are a number of steps and training involved in conducting threat assessments.  One of the first is to establish a team and process so  that subjective judgments like "Oh I know that person.  They wouldn't do that"  do not drive your response.  Do you really know what someone  would do under extreme stress?   I talk with Denise Koster of Koster Consulting and Associates about  this.  She has been trained to do threat assessments and shares some of  her knowledge with us.  Here of some of the resources she shares as well: Koster Consulting & Associates: kosterconsultingassociates.com/home  MOSAIC: mosaicmethod.com  Canadian Association of Threat Assessment Professionals: catap.ca  Association of Threat Assessment Professionals: atapworldwide.org  Advanced Threat Assessment Academy: training.gdba.com

Employment lawyers & HR often work together.  I talk to a lawyer  about that relationship and he shares the good and bad. You'll recognize  some of his problems because they are similar to problems we can have  working with our clients.   And HR is often afraid of using lawyers because of the cost.  But consider:  a) The VALUE.  Will it save you money and headache in the end?  b) How to spend less for the same advice.  You might not need a porsche  when a honda will do. I talk to Stuart Rudner of Rudner Law about these topics.  He is an employment lawyer near Toronto, Ontario and has his own podcast called Fire Away.  https://www.rudnerlaw.ca/

Compliance in HR is simple right? We have to obey the laws.  It's easy!    But of course it's not easy: where do you find the relevant legislation  (and regulations) and then make sure you have seen all the parts that  matter to you?   Gayle Wadden is a lawyer and the Chief Compliance Officer for Compliance  Works. We talked in general about compliance in Canada because we have a  lot to concern ourselves with:    OH&S,    Labour Relations,    Privacy,    Human Rights,    Employment Standards,    Pay Equity,   and  Accessibility.  She explains how to find what you might need and what it would really  take to stay on top of it all.

The concepts of gender are embedded deeply and inconspicuously into every aspect of our lives including our worklives.  It isn’t just gender  - expectations of around diversity (or a lack thereof) are everywhere as well. This conversation sheds light on why EDI is hard and how exclusion persists. Alicia Bjarnason studied a concept called 'gendered space'.  She got curious when, during her STEM  career, she looked around and wondered where all the women went. So we talk about her expertise, what makes work 'space' inviting or excluding, and how we need to approach change.  

This covers the Worker's Compensation Board (WCB) basics from an employer and HR's perspective.  It's the bigger picture of managing claims costs and a compelling reason you need to get employees back to  work as soon as possible.  Better still you should avoid accidents  altogether (but that's another episode).     When a supervisor would rather leave a worked at home than bring them back to modified work... watch this.  It's soooo expensive not to manage  your claims.   Kessie Stevens is a WCB expert and partner in Artis Inc. Kessie Stevens & Artis https://artissolutions.ca/

How is employee VOICE in the workplace different from SATISFACTION or  ENGAGEMENT?  Well, it's more frequent, measures more than engagement or  satisfaction (although it might do that too), and it may be diagnostic.      I spoke with Rob Catalano who started and runs WorkTango which is a tool  to help their customers understand the perspective of their employees.   Employee voice can be used to understand the sentiment of employees in  general but also in response to particular initiatives or changes.  For  example, it could help measure the effectiveness of diversity, equity  and inclusion programs.  And, if shared with leaders, can help them  respond quickly to the feedback of their own employees. worktango.com

HR for startups is different.  It's growth-focused and has some unique  challenges.  There is a lot of recruitment (of course), but also  onboarding, and other activities.  Some of the challenges may include  helping founders get out of their own way.    Maysa Hawwash is the CEO of ScaleX which is a fractional HR company  devoted to helping organizations grow.  Although sometimes they shrink  too because growth is not linear. Scale X: http://www.scalex.ca/