Communication

CPP: Time for Change

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According to an often used saying, there are only two things that are certain: death and taxes.

The former usually comes as a result of aging. The latter comes as a result of working.

As Canadians, we live in a society that uses taxes or income deductions from those who are working in order to provide financial support for those who are aging and moving into retirement. Much has been written about the impact of the baby boomer generation (those that were born between the early 1950’s to the early 1960’s) on the economy. As the people from this age group start leaving the workforce, they will need to have saved earnings in order to support themselves financially.

Unfortunately, many Canadians do not have enough money set aside for this purpose, nor do all Canadian employers offer a pension plan that allows workers to save for their retirement. In order to supplement income for aging Canadians, the federal government provides financial support through Old Age Security (OAS) payments and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). It is a known fact that the number of Canadians approaching retirement over the next ten to twenty years exceeds the amount of funding that is available to support them. These factors have all come into play and have resulted in significant changes to the Canada Pension Plan, which will require more funding in order to provide for ongoing financial support to our fellow aging Canadians.

The changes to the CPP are being implemented well into the mid 2020’s. As the payments for CPP are processed through employer payroll deductions, all Canadian companies and employees will be impacted. Canadian HR reporter provides us with an overview of the upcoming changes. The video clip below includes practical advice on how to prepare for tracking the financial impact on both the organization and its employees as follows:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JWLjskiFDc[/embedyt]

Even though the changes to the CPP program are intended to be gradual, both employers and employees will be impacted by the increased amounts that will, over time, appear to reduce the amount of an individual’s take-home pay. As such, another certainty will be the obligation of those responsible for compensation management, to ensure that all employees understand why these changes have been put into place.

Discussion Questions:

  1. As the Compensation Manager, prepare a brief communication to employees explaining how their pay will be impacted by changes to the CPP.
  2. How do the changes to the CPP benefit Canadian workers?
  3. In addition to the CPP, what types of pension or retirement plans would you advise an employer to put into place?
  4. Take a look at a recent pay stub from your current employer. How are the mandatory deductions identified? How are the CPP deductions calculated?

Meeting Matters

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In any effective labour-management strategy, the need for powerful communication between the parties is paramount. Organizations use the tool of the labour-management committee process and structure in order to achieve this need.

Labour-management committee meetings are typically ascribed in a collective agreement. The process as outlined in the language of the collective agreement may include:

  • the timing of meetings
  • where the meetings will take place
  • how many representatives are designated for both employer and union side

The purpose of the labour-management committee process is usually defined so as to promote and pursue harmonious relations between the parties through these meetings in order to ensure effective communication.

As we know through our industrial relations studies, the collective agreement is the employment contract between two parties – the employer and the union representing a particular group of employees. Both parties must abide by the specific language in the collective agreement. Otherwise, the contract (in the form of the collective agreement) has been violated.

Labour-management committee meetings are supposed to enable the union and the employer to check in with each other on common issues, identify common concerns and, hopefully, work through to solutions in a constructive way from a problem-solving perspective.

In theory, all of this should be implemented smoothly given the commitment by both parties to abide by the collective agreement. Reality, however, offers a different perspective for our consideration.

In an article published by the Queen’s University Center for Industrial Relations, Gary Furlong explores the mutual dynamics of some of the power struggles and communication issues that are typical in the real-world experience of labour-management processes.

Click here to read the article

As noted in this article, while it assesses the challenges from both an employer and union perspective, the focus is on how the employer’s actions impact the labour relationship.

From the union side the perspective is, not surprisingly, a bit different.

A recently published article by rankandfile.ca offers a view of the labour-management process from the union side. The article itself is clear through its title ‘How to Act Like a Union on a Labour Management Committee’.

Click here to read the article

This article provides us with an excellent perspective on how the union views itself as the collective entity through the consistent application of solidarity, always. It provides us with the understanding that the labour-management committee process is to be used as an extension of the collective bargaining process.

Also, it identifies that even the seating arrangements during a labour-management meeting must honour the single voice and the identity of the union as one collective source. To try to separate union members during a meeting through seating arrangements is not an acceptable practice as it is perceived as unequal treatment. The only equal parties in a labour management meeting are the entity of the employer and the entity of the union – not individuals who may speak from multiple, self-reflective perspectives.

Does this approach ascribed to the union fly in the face of harmonious relations between the parties? Not necessarily.

Understanding the other side is the first step in the development of effective relationships. Implementing that understanding remains the challenge for us all.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How can the Human Resources role facilitate effective labour-management communication?
  2. Do you agree with the perception that seating arrangements matter in a meeting setting? Why or why not?
  3. As the employer representative in a labour-management committee meeting, how will you respond to the collective approach described in the union-side article?
  4. Why is the need to ensure that committee meetings are extensions of the collective bargaining process important to the union? How can this approach be used effectively by the employer?

Pink Ops — Self-Leadership Gaining Traction

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Nestudio/Shutterstock

When you see the words “Pink Ops” you might think of some covert military operation that has a cute name to distract you from its real mission objectives. However, “Pink Ops” is what the Brenda Rigney, Vice President of Nurse Next Door Inc., a provider of home health care services, calls her department. It is an interesting term that includes people, marketing, operations, care services, and IT.

What is interesting about Brenda Rigney and her Pink Ops department is her philosophy on leadership, training, and employee engagement.

Click here to read about the Nurse Next Door Inc. self-leadership training.

To get a deeper understanding of Brenda Rigney’s philosophy we first have to look into her thoughts about active questions. It is that philosophy that leads into her company goal of self-leadership and employee engagement. Nurse Next Door believes in “intentional conversations”. According to Rigney, that means staff being trained to communicate with customers more effectively, and to listen to and connect with people better, rather than depending on managers to do it for them.

The above is really their core training outcome for their frontline employees’ self-leadership development and it seems to be working.

Rigney expands this concept of intentional conversation from her reading of Marshall Goldsmith’s book, Triggers, which advocates moving from passive questions to active questions. According to Goldsmith, organizations can achieve intentional conversations, which will create better employee engagement.

Click here to read Brenda Rigney’s summary on Marshall Goldsmiths’ active question technique.

Every year organizations spend millions of dollars on employee training — maybe it is time to consider moving from passive conversations to active conversations to get better employee engagement results.

 

Discussion Questions:

    1. In order to deepen your understanding of the power of active questions click on this link, watch the video, and try to answer Marshall Goldsmith’s daily questions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWpUqXFe4Fw
    2. You have been asked by your VP of HR to create a short presentation about how to improve employee engagement using active questions. Create a five-minute executive summary on this topic.

 

Jargon Be-Gone!

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A recent report by HRMCanada outlines a shocking trend which we should all take note of.  According to the report, “Forty percent of respondents (employees) admitted using buzz words despite not knowing their meaning and the same number said they’re afraid they’ll be exposed for their lack of skill or competence.”

Click Here to Read the Article.

Forty percent of employees not knowing the company’s language this is startling statistic. But what does this really mean and what are the implications of almost half of any workforce not understanding what the organization, management, or even each other is saying.

No wonder we have miscommunication in the workplace, this is not “Rocket Science” – pun intended.

According to the same report by HRMCanada, “Two thirds of workers admit they’re out of their depth” and “Sixty per cent of employees expressed a desire for more on-the-job training to make them more confident and capable.”

The Huffington post has also chimed in on the use of jargon in the workplace.

Click Here to Read the Article

According to the Huffington post, “there is one corner of the English language that our culture seems to collectively disdain: workplace jargon. At their best, the trite phrases with which we fill our work speech are vapid and convey a false sense of urgency. At their worst, they are flat-out aggressive.”

To address the problems associate with using jargon in the workplace, HR needs to ask itself some questions:

  • Instead of jargon, what can HR do to improve communication?
  • How can HR simplify Training and Development to improve employee performance?

HR has to be sure it understands the skills required in the workplace and train employees to deliver those skills. Communication skills need to be learned so people can talk with each other in meaningful ways.  Let’s drop the business jargon and say what we mean with the goal of delivering appropriate employee training and performance!

Discussion Questions:

  1. Research several organization documents such as, mission, vision, and value statements, press releases, and turn around strategies. Pick one and then identify the business jargon that is used throughout? How could this jargon be misinterpreted by employees? Rewrite the document without the jargon.

HR Lessons Learned – Downsizing

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It seems that employer insensitivity knows no international boundaries.  In August of 2015, employees of the Australian company Hutchison Ports, received notices that they were losing their jobs first by SMS text,  followed by an e-mail confirming their job loss.  To make matters worse, the messages were sent at 11:30pm directly to affected employees.

Not surprisingly, reaction to this approach by the employer was swift and viral.

Click Here to Read the Article.

Clearly, the human element was not evident in the implementation of this downsizing plan.  No matter what difficult decisions are made by senior executives we, as HR Professionals, must ensure that these decisions include consideration for the dignity and respect of all employees.

The approach by Hutchison Ports created a huge backlash that continues to impact the organization’s international reputation and their profitability.  Rather than having to clear up the reputational mess that they find themselves in after the fact, it might have been better for Hutchison Ports to allocate a more time towards their communication strategy up front.

And, it might have been helpful to spend  a few minutes reflecting upon the humans involved before someone hit ‘send’ in the middle of the night.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What advice would you, as the HR practitioner, have given to the CEO of Hutchison Ports?
  2. What would you do if you received a notice, via text, that your employment was terminated?
  3. Identify two or three practical HR initiatives that employees should have had access to in this case.
  4. Identify three alternative approaches the employer could have used to communicate with employees about downsizing.