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Mental Health Matters

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Do you remember the feelings you had as a child when you returned to school after summer vacation? Were there flutters of anxiety, nerves, or maybe even a sleepless night or two? Many of us still experience these feelings as adults when we think about having to return to work from any extended time away. Now think about these feelings being escalated by additional levels of fear, as employees begin to be called back to work with the ease of current COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

As noted in this article in OHS Canada magazine, the mental health of workers must be a priority when welcoming back employees, who have to return to work in some kind of physical capacity during the pandemic. The employer continues to have a heightened duty of care that comes with ensuring the placement of proper health and safety protocols, especially those that centre on the assessment and responses required for reducing psychosocial hazards. The mental health stressors on employees resulting from the COVID-19 crisis must be recognized for the hazards they are, and appropriate remedies must be put in place to reduce the risk of deteriorating mental health for all workers.

Embedded in the article is a podcast worth listening to. It features an interview with Emma Ashurst, manager of inquiries and technical services with the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. The content of the podcast focuses specifically on the employers’ responsibilities when implementing sound mental health strategies for managing the workplace during the pandemic. The starting point is always to check in on employees and to ask how they are coping. Many workers are overwhelmed as a result of pandemic-related increases in workload, forced isolation, and the lack of human or social contact.

During this time, the risk of increases in depression and anxiety is significant. As Ashurst states, it is imperative that managers look for signs of changes in an employee’s behaviour that may be an indicator of increased levels of burnout, stressors, and fears. She goes on to describe the employer’s duty to ensure that employees’ fears about returning to work be met with proactive support instead of a punitive reaction. The employer can do this through clear communication about cleaning protocols, ergonomic set-ups, and regular and routine communications that all assist in the management of fear. Employees cannot work if they are afraid. When an employer can alleviate fears by providing a safe physical work environment, this allows for a safe mental health environment as well.

It is also incumbent upon the employer to ensure that they are following protocols, rules, and regulations driven by jurisprudence. The employer should do this not only to show compliance with legal requirements, but also because the adherence to and communication of the ‘rules’ helps most people find comfort in structure during what continues to be a chaotic time.

Finally, as part of the most important message that Ashurst reiterates, now is the time to treat each other with grace, kindness, compassion, and connection.

Discussion Questions:

  1. As a Health and Safety professional, what steps would you put into place to help workers overcome pandemic-related fears as part of a return-to-work strategy?
  2. In your opinion, what impact does ongoing isolation have on employees who must continue to work from home, even as the pandemic-related restrictions begin to ease?
  3. As you think about your own return to work or to in-class learning, what are areas of potential anxiety for you? How will you manage your own personal concerns? What supports are in place for you from either your employer or your post-secondary institution?

Rising to the Top

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In a time of crisis, we look to organizational leaders with the expectation that they will guide the rest of us and navigate the way through the extremely difficult times. We expect our leaders to be able to lead.

There is a saying that good leaders, like the best cream, always rise to the top. In a time of crisis, however, what happens to the weak leaders, who may not be prepared and ready for the rise? If they proceed with a lack of development, will they, like cream gone sour, curdle and fall to the bottom? Will they take the rest of us with them?

Unfortunately, crisis does not wait for the completion of a management training program for the leaders who continue to need development. There is no time in the midst of a crisis to develop a crisis management lesson plan. There is no time for long-term management development planning. There is no time to complete a needs assessment so that a proper skills-based approach can be implemented.

Out of all the management skills development models that we study in theory, the most applicable approaches during the reality of a crisis appear to be on-the-job training and error management training. The textbook speaks to the positive aspects of error management training as a leadership development tool, because it requires “constant adaptions to an ever-changing environment” as a “norm.” This results in the immediate application of problem-solving skills with the hope that the error rates are few, and error corrections can be applied immediately.

During a crisis, many of the negative characteristics of on-the-job training models are heightened for leaders who are still in the stages of development. These include the lack of structured training approaches and the lack of effective resources in the form of coaches or mentors who have time to provide active feedback and reinforcement. On the other hand, as noted in this article from Human Resources Director-Canada, the current pandemic crisis has provided some with “the best leadership development program ever.” The author speaks to this moment of crisis as an opportunity to assess both the strengths and weaknesses of our leaders. Most importantly, it allows leaders to focus on the continuing need to develop their best skills, which come from the heart, to promote a culture of trust and care.

Clearly, the pull to the top should prevail in developing the best leaders, now more than ever.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What do you expect from leaders in your current organization during this time of crisis? How are leaders meeting (or not meeting) your expectations?
  2. What type of leadership development tools would you need for yourself if you had to lead a team through a crisis?
  3. Besides on-the-job training and error management training, what other training tools should be put in place to bring out the best in organizational leaders in a time of crisis?

Untying the Knots of Labour Disputes

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At the beginning of June 2020, the ongoing labour dispute between Saskatchewan’s Co-op Refinery Complex (CRC) and the union represented by Unifor 594 seemed destined to remain unresolved. The employer locked out the members of the bargaining unit on December 5, 2019, after the union voted to go on strike. The next six months resulted in a work shutdown, along with escalating and increasingly hostile labour relations tactics enacted by both sides as noted in this news article, posted on June 1, 2020. Almost three weeks after that, the stalemate appeared to be over with the announcement of a tentative deal being reached between the parties. How is it that this kind of resolution is possible in the midst of what seems to be an entrenched and especially hostile labour relations dispute?

The mechanism for resolution may be attributed to the use of government-appointed mediators, as mentioned in both the aforementioned news article and in this CBC news clip. While the mentions are brief, the impact of mediation in the form of neutral third-party intervention is profound. When parties are stuck in a labour dispute, they are tied up in a series of ‘nots,’ both figuratively and literally. They are not moving, not resolving, and not able to speak with each other in any way that is resolution focused. The longer the dispute continues, the more rigid both parties become as they tighten their hold on their respective immovable positions.

It is the role of the mediator to try to assist the parties in finding a way to become unstuck and loosen their hold on their respective ‘nots.’ The mediator, as a third-party neutral, often assists by creating an objective opening that enables the parties who are stuck to let go and try to approach some form of agreement. During the process of mediation, the disputing parties are still doing the work to reach a deal. The mediator simply assists the process in several ways. They may shepherd messages from room to room. They may caucus with party representatives to ensure that messages are delivered, heard, and listened to, without escalation and devolving into personal attacks. When emotions do run high, a successful mediator will know how to de-escalate and allow emotions to be expressed without inflicting residual harm onto the whole process.

While mediators are appointed by the applicable government as conflict resolution resources, they are perceived by both sides (labour and management) as being neutral. This YouTube clip, prepared by UFCW Local 401, provides a brief overview of the role and benefits of mediation approaches during the collective bargaining process.

Coming out of this particular labour dispute between the CRC and Unifor 594 will not be easy. The parties still have to ratify and accept the tentative agreement. Once that is completed, the next steps will require both workers and management to release themselves from several negative ‘nots.’ All parties will have to adjust from not being at work to being at work; from not trusting each other to trusting each other again; from not staying entrenched in past bitterness to being open to honest dialogue focused on resolutions for the future. Most importantly, the relationships that have been frayed through hostile actions against one another will need to be repaired with time and patience.

Discussion Questions:

  1. If you were the mediator for the CRC and Unifor 594 labour dispute, how would you approach each party to look for possible solutions?
  2. Each province has designated and mandatory approaches for dispute resolution steps during the collective bargaining process. Based on information you can gather from government websites, outline the steps to be followed in your province.
  3. Do you agree or disagree that mediation should be a mandatory step for any parties locked in a labour dispute? Explain your rationale.

Interview Timing

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The act of the job interview, in terms of timing, is a little bit like baking a cake. Too much time, and the cake is overdone—burnt. Too little time, and the cake is raw—unfinished. In both cases, the final product is unsatisfactory and, potentially, inedible. The same rationale applies to the time required for candidate interviews. On the one hand, sufficient time must be allotted to ensure that the fundamental job requirements are thoroughly assessed. On the other hand, too much time has the potential to leave both the candidate and the interviewer with an unsuccessful and, potentially distasteful, result.

In this video clip from the Canadian HR Reporter, we are provided with the view that extending the job interview beyond a typical one-hour time frame should be a recommended practice. From an HR perspective, Shane Creamer, the associate vice-president of talent acquisition at TD Bank Group, advises that a lengthier interview provides more insight and a broader understanding of a candidate’s future potential and level of talent. In particular, he advocates for this lengthier approach when considering candidates for positions that are at the senior leadership level.

While Creamer speaks to the valid need to invest the time to ensure proper candidate selection in the form of an extended interview, the application of a two- to three-hour interview process comes with some significant risks. If candidate responses to behavioural questions are “canned,” as noted in the video clip, it is up to the interviewer to probe appropriately to seek further insight. When there is nothing provided by the candidate beyond the canned responses, then they may not have anything more to say. There is nothing more awkward than sitting in an interview with a candidate who is flailing about trying to fill the empty interview silence with irrelevant information. One would argue that this may not be the fault of the candidate’s preparedness; rather, it falls on the skilled interviewer to know when and how to guide the conversation.

There are additional risks that arise from a lengthier, freewheeling, or unstructured interview approach that comes from the ‘let the candidate talk’ school of thought. Extending lengthy interviews to allow for a possibly intrusive personal evaluation goes beyond the idea of a reasonable assessment for cultural or organizational fit. If not handled well unstructured approaches end up being almost excruciatingly painful for all of the parties involved. Many candidates will ramble on incessantly if there are no cues from the interviewer to make them stop talking. This results in the risk of unexpected bias if the interviewer becomes annoyed by or with the candidate, and it has nothing to do with the job at hand.

Do we really need to have a deep understanding of the candidate’s personal characteristics that may come from an extended and lengthy interview process? What if the result is that the candidate is perfectly suited for the job, but based on an extended (and annoying) interview, the interviewer just does not like them? The consequences of poor timing, which comes from poor planning, on the part of the interviewer, can be disastrous for all involved.

When it comes to the end result, a successful interview has to be based on the premise that a ‘just right’ timing is, indeed, everything.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Identify three possible HR benefits and risks of engaging in a lengthy unstructured interview with a candidate for a senior-level position.
  2. Do you agree or disagree that an interview focusing on organizational fit is the best determinant for candidate selection? Explain your rationale.
  3. How would you prepare yourself for a lengthy (more than one-hour) interview with a potential employer?

A Merger “Like No Other”

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In mid-April of 2020, there was a formal announcement regarding the completed merger between two HR technology-based software companies, Kronos Incorporated and Ultimate Software. Given the state of the pandemic-related chaos impacting organizations across the globe, it seemed a bit unusual to find these two companies proceeding in, what appeared to be, a business as usual approach. As noted in the announcement, the CEO of the combined organizations acknowledged the impact of these turbulent times, while pointing out the successful collaborative efforts of both companies to continue providing HR-focused customer support. While the announcement of the completed merger appeared in April, the plans for that merger were identified earlier on, as noted in this analysis, published this past February. There is no doubt that the negotiations over the strategic alliance happened over a lengthy period of time, well in advance of any public communications that may have appeared this year.

On the surface, this merger is indeed “like no other.” HR technology-based tools are usually targeted for specific tactical or operational functions. Kronos Incorporated provides workforce management tools, such as time and attendance tracking. Ultimate Software focuses on the transactional payroll side of HR, along with talent management software, which includes a very strong focus on the Canadian HR market. Each party brings with it a separate puzzle piece. Once they are put together, they form a completely new entity, with a new name, in order to provide a wide range of HR software applications. From our strategic human resource planning studies, we know that this type of merger gives us a real-life example of a consolidation.

With this type of merger, there are multiple impacts on both internal and external stakeholders. While this is an exciting opportunity to increase the strength of HR technology-based systems, a consolidation of this kind comes with risks regarding market competitiveness and customer service. As noted in the analysis provided by the US-based Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), HR customers may find increased competition, decreased availability of what they are used to, and having to go outside their existing HR technology-based ecosystem.

The reality for success, internally and externally, remains to be seen. One would hope that, as these two merging organizations are HR-based technology companies, they will proceed along the rocky path to successful consolidation with sound HR practices and strategic plans in place.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are the cultural implications of this type of merger (consolidation) between these two technology-based HR software providers?
  2. Based on the information provided so far, what types of positions or departments might be declared redundant as a result of this consolidation, even with plans to increase the number of employees over the next three years?
  3. In your opinion, what type of restructuring plans should be put into place?
  4. What benefits does this merger offer to the HR profession?