March 17 2020 – Ontario has now declared a State of Emergency.

How does this impact employers?

The orders that are given could impact the way you operate your business.  Please stay on top of these orders and ensure that you are compliant.  i.e. orders can and do range from travel regulations, closing your business office or establishment, fixing prices for goods, services or resources, etc.  A state of emergency does have some defined timelines however in reality, it can stay in place until such a declaration is no longer necessary. 

If you are ordered to shut down your physical business office, what do you do with your employees?

If you cannot operate your business virtually – or the shut down includes the entire business virtual or not – you may lay off your employees – they are entitled to a job protected leave of absence without pay  until they are reinstated.  I am ready and prepared to help you prepare a lay off notice and can assist you in notifying your employees virtually either by direct phone call to them or via video conference.

Layoffs generally can last up to 13 weeks, however under special circumstances, they can extend beyond this…we are waiting to hear if the government will look at extending this and granting this pandemic as a “special circumstance”.  Once the lay off time period has been met (meaning the employee has not been recalled to work and the business is not able to recall them at this time, they would be considered to be terminated.  In this case, the employee would be entitled to termination pay.

I have employees who will be devastated financially if there is a lay-off.  What can I do?

A company can always provide some kind of paid leave before enacting a true layoff, however this is a financial investment and may not be in the budget of the company.  The government continues to say that they are actively working on plans to help employees during a layoff or in situations where they cannot work due to reasons stemming from this crisis.  Right now, there is EI.  Employees may also qualify for income replacement.  We are waiting to hear what else might be available.

Can I terminate employees?

No.  You cannot terminate employees due to this crisis.  The employees are protected. 

If you have documentation of performance concerns and were getting ready to terminate them before this crisis arose, are you in a better position and can you terminate in this case?  First, documentation is key, so that is great, however, I would not advise terminating them until this crisis has ended or until they are not protected – and even then, I would add some time before going forward.  It would certainly not be in your best interest to do a termination during this time.

As a company we need our employees to work longer in response to the pandemic, can we do this?

It depends on the situation.  You may be able to do this if it is necessary i.e. to deal with an emergency, if something unforeseen occurs, to ensure the continued delivery of essential public services, regardless of who delivers those services, if something unforeseen occurs, to ensure continuous processes, to carry out urgent repair work to plant/equipment – you will want to look into this further to ensure the reasoning qualifies and is absolutely necessary.

Of course, overtime pay is required (unless the employees are exempt under the ESA).

Please know that you are not alone.  If you need assistance, please reach out to us.  www.1stophrconsulting.com   or info@1stophrconsulting.com

We are all in this together.

If you think about the average employee file, there is a lot of “stuff” that goes in there – or should go in there.  For the purposes of this article, let’s assume that your company has followed all the guidelines on what needs to be retained in employee files.  This means that the average employee file could contain the following:

• Resume

• Interview questions and answers

• Reference checks

• Job description

• Offer letter and signed employment agreement

• Payroll/salary information

• Benefit sign up forms

• SIN number and banking information

• Attendance, vacation, leave information

• Performance reviews

• Performance management notes and or disciplinary documentation

• Investigation forms

• Training information

• WSIB forms

• Doctors notes

• Etc.

Now, if you think about it, that is a lot of information, and much of it is private and confidential.  So, this means that really, only those people that really need to have access to this information should be able to access it.  Let’s look at some examples.  A manager.  Does a manager need to see completed WSIB forms?  How about have access to the benefit sign up forms?  What about the Health and Safety Manager who needs to access training information, do they need access to the full file?  The Payroll department needs access to the benefits form and any information that impacts salary, but, do they need access to performance reviews or disciplinary documentation?  The answer is “no”.  So, under the Privacy Act – PIPEDA, we need to do whatever we can to protect confidential employee information.  This doesn’t just mean that employee files need to be under lock and key – it also means that we may need to separate employee file information depending on who needs access to what – and these files need to be stored separately and under separate lock and key.

For more information on PIPEDA – click the link here.

Have other thoughts for an upcoming blog post you would like to see? Send them here: info@1stophrconsulting.com

Stress in the workplace is not new, however it is becoming more and more of a concern of workplaces. Workplaces are starting to realize that if their employees are stressed at work, their productivity is impacted which in turn impacts the bottom line. Beyond productivity, stress also is impacting sick days and time off, also impacting the bottom line.

It is vital that workplaces have a solid strategy to reduce stress in the working environment. Consider things like team building, monitoring workloads, having frequent employee/manager check-ins, monitoring scheduling, having speakers in to talk about how to effectively deal with stress.

With the studies and evidence proving the importance and the impact of stress in the workplace, Quebec is considering labeling stress or burnout within the workplace and occupational illness. Check out this article by Kristina Vassilieva for more information.

What are your thoughts? Do you consider stress an occupational illness?

What does your workplace have in place to reduce stress?

Here is another article with some additional quick tips to help reduce stress in your workplace.

Whatever you do…ensure you have a plan, ensure you are taking stress seriously both as an employee and an employer. If you need help, don’t hesitate to reach out to 1 Stop HR any time.

Documentation, documentation, documentation…

Doesn’t it seem like it is getting harder and harder to be a business owner in Ontario these days?  On top of all the other rules and regulations employers need to follow, 1 Stop HR comes along and after an HR Audit of your business, tells you that you should also be documenting your entire recruitment and selection process!  I promise you that we don’t tell you this stuff to make you crazy!  Truly, we are looking out for your business and want to work with you to implement best practices to save you trouble down the line!

Informal Interviews:

Gone are the days where you should continue to have informal interviews with potential new employees.  These informal interviews, though they may put the candidate at ease, and be more comfortable for you, they can come back to haunt you.  How you ask?  Well, here’s the thing…if you don’t have a documented comprehensive process i.e. Policy noting your Interview process including, as an example, that you have 3 interviews, the first being a telephone interview, the second an in person and the third a final in person interview and then have documented interview questions that you ask of EACH candidate for the position in question and have a interview question scoring guide – a candidate could claim that they were discriminated against, and you would not be able to prove that it didn’t happen – or at least provide documentation to help support your position. 

A Deeper Look:

Let’s look at this further.  You go through your interview process starting with 15 candidates and narrow down to three and then choose one to offer the position to.  One of the candidates, (not offered the job), comes forward and says that you didn’t choose him due to “X” – and “X” happens to be a protected ground.  How can you provide documentation that all candidates went through the same process, were asked the same questions (none of which were discriminatory) and that the selection criteria was based on overall best fit through your scoring guide of your interview questions…NOT “X’?  Scribbling down notes in the interview process, asking different questions of different candidates for the same job, and “choosing” the new employee based on your “gut” does not provide you with any security in this situation and can actually lead to more problems. 

So yes, it is a painful process to go through…but in the long run, documenting your entire process, documenting your interview questions for each stage of your interview and for EACH unique position within your company, complete with a comprehensive scoring guide, will help you greatly if ever such a claim comes forward to your company.  Certainly, there are more best practices as well, like ensuring that your interviewers are familiar with Human Rights and what you can and cannot ask during an interview etc.  Ensure not to miss out on these important pieces.

Struggling?  Need more help?  We can help!

Having problems with your employees complaining that they are stressed out?  Have you noticed more turnover and conflict?

Unfortunately this is much too common these days with employers looking to do more with less people in order to save money.  The impact on our people is great.  So what is it that you can do as a manager to positively impact your team?

Here are some quick tips you can use right away:

1. Encourage time off.  Everyone needs and deserves time away from work.  There are many studies that point to increased productivity to those that truly get away.  They come back refreshed, reenergized and more focused.  Whether this is time during the work day to take a break outside of the office, or whether this is time off.  Ensure you people take this very valuable time.

• Maintain a positive attitude.  Smile.  Your employees will see this and appreciate it.  A small and positive attitude is contagious!  And…it doesn’t cost anything!

• Listen to your people.  What are they saying?  Are there things you can do to improve the work environment?

• Celebrate!  Celebrate team accomplishments!  Whether it is a cake, a fruit tray, a pat on the back, or gift certificates…make sure you notice and celebrate these milestones.  Celebrating accomplishments is important because it allows employees to look back on their hard work and know it was all worth it.

What other tips do you have?  What has worked well for your team or company?  We love hearing from our audience, feel free to drop us an email.

Is the turnover getting out of control?  If so, don’t be afraid to reach out for help.  We would be happy to help.  1 Stop HR