Impact

Discrimination Matters

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As HR professionals, there are two legal concepts that guide our actions when we work within the scope of human rights legislation. The first is the concept of intent. When we deal with actions that may be discriminatory in nature, the intent does not matter—the effect does. This means that while an individual may not have intended to make a racist slur or a sexist remark, when they do so or are perceived to have done so, another person is adversely affected by that remark. The second is the concept of reasonableness. In our civil society, a reasonable person would know that not only is a racial slur or sexist remark discriminatory, it is completely unacceptable.

While each province has its own Human Rights legislation, they all identify the prohibited grounds that form the basis for employment discrimination. One of the common grounds found in all provincial and federal human rights legislation is that of age. It is discriminatory to deny or exclude someone from employment-related matters based on their age. All good HR practitioners know that it is illegal to ask someone’s age during the screening and recruitment process. This does not mean that it does not happen.

Facebook was in the negative news cycle recently due to its targeted job advertisements, which excluded individuals based on characteristics linked to prohibited grounds, including age. As noted in this article, this practice by Facebook violated Canadian Human Rights legislation. The article goes on to explore two other examples of age-related discrimination, which occurred during each of their respective recruitment processes. These cases show us how age discrimination can occur through the unintended actions and words on the part of potential employers.

The case of Moore v. Ferro (Estate), is analyzed further in this article “Unintentional Discrimination is Still Discrimination.” This complaint was filed on the basis of two prohibited grounds, age and race. It is interesting to note that the human rights tribunal identified how the age factor had an adverse effect on the complainant, as there was “evidence of reliance on stereotypes about older people.”

There are interviewing tools provided by provincial bodies, such as the Human Rights Commission of Ontario. These tools provide guidance to ensure that the recruitment process is fair, and aligns with human rights legislation for everyone. It seems a reasonable and prudent thing to review before setting up any recruitment process in the future.

The fact that the case Moore v. Ferro (Estate) happened within the setting of a law firm should remind us that due diligence and legislative compliance can happen anywhere, but must prevail, no matter what.

Discussion Questions:

  1. You are guiding a recruitment process as the HR advisor. Two candidates are equally qualified for selection. One candidate appears to be much older than the other. What advice will you give to the hiring manager for when they decide on a candidate?
  2. What measures can you put into place to avoid a situation that causes an “adverse effect” in the recruitment process?
  3. Have you experienced unintended discrimination in a workplace? How did it impact or affect you?

When Changes Keep Changing

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Amanda Steed/Shutterstock

Imagine that you have lived with that ugly, out-of-date bathroom in your house for the past 20 years.

The eyesore tiling from the ‘80s is chipped, the toilet overflows from time to time, and the bathtub drains keep clogging. So, you finally pull the plug, get your finances together, and hire a contractor to renovate it.

It eventually gets done. The new bathroom looks a lot better, although a few things did not get finished and the cost was much more than you had anticipated. Granted, it is finally an improvement from what you had before. Suddenly, the contractor you hired to do the work is replaced with a new contractor who tells you that the bulk of the completed work is wrong. The new contractor begins to rip out items that were just installed. The new contractor tells you that you have to re-renovate the bathroom by finding and putting back many of the broken items that you were happy to have removed. Also, the things that you had planned to keep working on to continue the bathroom improvements are just not going to happen. Of course, you have to pay for it all over again. Throughout all of this you realize you have no choice other than to keep trying to figure out what and how to proceed because it is the only bathroom you’ve got.

This little analogy can be applied to what has happened in Ontario as a result of the continuing changes to the provincial Employment Standards Act. Under the previous government, Bill 148 began to be implemented in January 2018. The changes under this bill were significant, given that no amendments had been made for over twenty years. The primary impact included ongoing increases to the minimum wage, scheduling, vacation and holiday pay changes, along with other amendments impacting compensation plans across the province. A new government was voted in and introduced Bill 47 for immediate implementation. By January of 2019, Bill 47 had repealed and/or replaced many of the aforementioned changes, some of which included the requirement for employers to revert back to pre-Bill 148 practices.

Click here to read a summary of the changes from Canadian HR Reporter.

Click here to refer to the updated guide to the Employment Standards Act.

While there are many opinions on whether or not the impact of Bill 47 is good for employees or employers or both or none, the bottom line is that HR practitioners across the province have had to deal with all of it. Anecdotally, it has not been a smooth transition. An HR colleague, who works in compensation and didn’t want to be named, described her departments’ reaction as follows: “We were in shock. I could feel myself shaking when the new changes were announced. We had absolutely no idea what we were supposed to do. What would happen to our employees and their wages? What would happen to all of the work and changes we needed to put into place over the past year? It was all gone. We had to start all over again. Trying to figure out what was new and what we had redo has been a nightmare.”

As she turned away, she left with saying how lucky she was to work with a team of HR professionals because they would get it done.

Perhaps, upon reflection, all of this represents the challenge and the opportunity of working in Human Resources. No matter what happens on the political, legal and implementation landscape, sometimes our job is simply put – just get it done.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How will you work through implementing changes that you may or may not agree with on behalf of your employer as an HR professional?
  2. Review the changes to the Employment Standards Act and identify three areas that have a direct impact on compensation planning.
  3. How will you calculate wage increases (including minimum wages) for the next five years?

 

Talent Management Expertise

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While Recruitment and Selection is usually linked together and included as one of the many functions within a Human Resources department, it is one of the few programs that can be implemented as a successful stand-alone business option.

There are numerous recruitment services across Canada providing support to organizations that need or want to use external expertise in order to find solutions to their staffing concerns. There are firms that provide immediate or short-term staffing solutions, such as temporary agencies supplying specialized workers for daily, weekly, or mid-terms assignments. There are also high-level talent management agencies (headhunters) that work with organizations to fill senior or executive level positions. In either case, these companies are focused on making the link between what an organization needs and what the marketplace of potential candidates offers in order to fill those needs.

As with any business, productive talent management firms thrive on passion and commitment to best practices in recruitment strategies. A recent interview with Erica Briody (Senior VP, Global Talent Acquisition) provides us with an excellent overview of what success looks like as a leader in this field.

Click here to read the interview.

Of the key messages that Briody shares through the interview, one is the need for Talent Acquisition and Human Resources to be proactive and aligned with the organization’s business practices. In addition, Briody, advocates for well-designed recruitment plan in order to meet the needs of the business, which may not be a one-size-fits-all strategy.

On the one hand, the proactive response needed from Human Resources to ensure that recruitment efforts are aligned with business needs do reinforce sound corporate practices. On the other hand, adapting recruitment design to fit a specific organizational need may be more of a challenge. As Human Resources practitioners, we are trained to provide objective and systematic approaches in recruitment in order to avoid or diminish potential discriminatory, illegal or subjective practices. We are trained to not place the organization at risk through the implementation of overly creative practices.

Perhaps a take-away from this expert is the reinforcement of the view that the role of Human Resources is always a bit of a balancing act. What saves us from falling is the commitment to passion, trust, and integrity in our chosen vocation.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does recruitment design impact business success?
  2. What impact does a successful hiring decision have on both the individual and the recruiter?
  3. What are some of the fundamental Human Resources practices that Erica Briody uses at a global level?
  4. When you think about your own career in Human Resources, what excites you the most?