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Archive for November, 2009

• 20 Nov

  

  Posted by
  Mike Morawiec

  
  

  Category

  • Legislation
  • Link

  Employment Accessibility Standard Coming to Ontario

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  The recently released Final Proposed Employment Accessibility Standard for the AODA will have a significant impact on every employer in Ontario. The goal of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) is to make Ontario accessible to people with disabilities by 2025, to be achieved by

  “developing, implementing and enforcing accessibility standards in order to achieve accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities with respect to goods, services, facilities, accommodation, employment, buildings, structures and premises on or before January 1, 2025.”

  The Accessibility Standards for Customer Service, Ontario Regulation 429/07 was the first standard to become law, on January 1, 2008.

  The AODA is the first law of it’s kind in Canada and is similar to the Americans with Disabilities Act in the US.  Though not yet law, if adopted in the current form, the act will have a significant impact on every employment related practice from recruitment to termination.

  » Read the rest of the entry..

• 18 Nov

  

  Posted by
  Pam Mihailoff

  
  

  Category

  • Commentary
  • Link

  Revisiting your Mission Statement

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  As an HR Consultant for the last 13 years, I’ve been exposed to a diverse group of organizations, across many different industries and in those years I’ve seen A LOT of mission statements.  They usually get framed and posted on the wall somewhere in Reception.  What is interesting is that very few of those mission statements were memorable to me – it was rare to see a statement that truly defined, in a clear and concise way, the company’s purpose and end-state goal.  Often the statements I read sounded all too similar, i.e.  “To be the best in the industry,” “To continually provide exceptional customer service to our valued customers,” and “To be flexible to our clients ever changing needs.”  It seems to me these declarations were more of a marketing statement than a mission statement.

  

  Illustration by Patrick Leger

  I recently came across a fantastic article entitled “How to Write A Mission Statement that isn’t Dumb” that contains wonderful insights on writing a Mission Statement that has true value.  What I learned from this article, is the most effective mission statements are:

  1. simple
  2. quantify the organization’s goal
  3. completely void of meaningless statements like “To strive towards excellence”

  If you develop a mission statement that EVERY employee can remember and understand, they could use it as a guiding tool when making every day decisions in their job.

  You may have heard this famous story about President Kennedy that exemplifies my point. During a visit to the NASA space center in 1962, President Kennedy noticed a janitor carrying a broom.  He interrupted his tour, walked over to the man and said, “Hi, I’m Jack Kennedy. What are you doing?”

  The janitor responded, “I’m helping put a man on the moon, Mr. President.”

  How’s that for simple, goal-oriented and completely void of meaningless statements?

  Now the bigger question – have you read your mission statement lately?

• 05 Nov

  

  Posted by
  Mike Morawiec

  
  

  Category

  • Commentary
  • Link

  The Rules for Wrongful Dismissal Claims are Changing

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  Over the past few years I’ve read many articles regarding the inability of the average person to receive justice in the Canadian Courts due to the tremendous expense and risks associated with actually pursuing legal action; regardless of the merits of the case.  This is no less a factor in the area of wrongful dismissal.

  Most lawyers are reluctant to work on a “contingency basis” and since terminated employees are normally out of work and reluctant to commit the funds necessary to conduct a wrongful dismissal suit, many cases are not initiated, regardless of the facts. The increased potential for legal action against employers will likely change significantly as a result of the Provincial Government’s efforts at improving the average individual’s access to justice.

  On Jan. 1, 2010, the most dramatic changes to the rules of court since 1985 will be implemented.  These rules will disable three of the most valuable weapons in employers’ litigation arsenal– costs, complexity and delay.  This is according to a recent article by Howard Levitt in the Financial Post.

  » Read the rest of the entry..