Posts Tagged ‘Opinion’

  • 18 Nov

    Posted by
    Pam Mihailoff


    Category

    Revisiting your Mission Statement

    0

    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

    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?

  • 26 Oct

    Posted by
    Erik Bartz


    Category

    Practice the ‘puppy theory’

    1

    The HR Fishbowl wrote an interesting piece titled, “Annual Reviews…Who Needs Them?”  It explores the perspective shared by Carol Bartz in a New York Times article regarding annual performance reviews and her general dislike for them.

    I have the puppy theory. When the puppy pees on the carpet, you say something right then because you don’t say six months later, “Remember that day, January 12th, when you peed on the carpet?” That doesn’t make any sense. “This is what’s on my mind. This is quick feedback.” And then I’m on to the next thing.

    If I had my way I wouldn’t do annual reviews, if I felt that everybody would be more honest about positive and negative feedback along the way. I think the annual review process is so antiquated. I almost would rather ask each employee to tell us if they’ve had a meaningful conversation with their manager this quarter. Yes or no. And if they say no, they ought to have one. I don’t even need to know what it is. But if you viewed it as meaningful, then that’s all that counts.

    Its an interesting perspective on the importance of feedback and the inefficiency of the annual performance review.  Perhaps its time not just to review your annual reviews, but the communication between managers and their staff.

  • 23 Dec

    Posted by
    scooper


    Category

    How much Resignation Notice is enough?

    0

    While Ontario Employment Standards requires Employers to provide employees with “Reasonable Notice” when terminating the employment relationship “without just cause”, there is no such statutory requirement for Employees to provide Notice should they wish to do the same.   

     

    Conventional wisdom has – at least up until now – provided that 2 weeks of Resignation Notice is appropriate and necessary if one wished to leave an Employer on relatively good terms.  

    What few people know is that here is a Common Law (laws developed in the Courts) obligation for an Employee to provide his/her Employer with Reasonable Notice of their intent to resign.  The Reasonable Notice is predicated upon the following:

     

    1. The degree of specialization and scarcity of the skill and/or knowledge held by the departing Employee relative to the labour market, and how vulnerable a position the Employer would be left in as a result of an Employee’s hasty departure.
    2. The length of time it would reasonably take for the Employer to find a suitable replacement
    3. The Employee’s contractual obligation provided though an Employment Agreement or a Company Policy.

     

    Failing to provide such reasonable notice of resignation has been coined “Wrongful Resignation” and this type of claim is making its way into the Courts and winning.  The damages awarded to Employers have typically been limited to actual costs incurred as a result of an Employee’s early departure – such as lost business, overtime costs, etc.   However the savings realized by not having to pay the ex-employee’s salary and benefits is deducted from this total when calculating the award.  It is interesting to note that where Employees provide reasonable resignation notice, the Employer may still turn around and ask them to leave immediately.  In this case, the Employer is obligated to pay the now-terminated Employee the lesser of Statutory Notice of Termination without cause, and the amount of Resignation Notice provided by the departing Employee.

     

    There are relatively few Employers pursuing claims for Wrongful Resignation, but in an ever tightening labour market we would expect this trend to increase as Star Employees are lured away by other Employers offering more attractive Employment situations.   Those wanting to avoid becoming the target of such a claim are well advised to take the safe route and consider the Notice factors listed above in determining an appropriate length of resignation notice.  At the very least, remember that it is a small world, and the boss whose foot you step on today might be connected to hand that you need to sign your paycheck or sales order next year.   
    - S. Cooper
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