Trust

Benefits Fraud – It’s a Fact

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Stefan Malloch/Shutterstock

Q: What happens when compensation monitoring goes awry?

A: Benefits fraud

B: Costly consequences

C: Negative public disclosure

D: All of the above and more

If this was a multiple choice question, the answer is D: All of the above and more.

A real-life example for this response comes from the Baycrest Centre in Toronto. In July 2019, the centre announced that 150 employees were terminated from the organization (resigned or let go) as a result of their participation in a long-term benefits fraud scheme. Allegedly, these health-care employees had defrauded their benefits plan of millions of dollars over the past eight years.

Click here to read about the allegations of benefits fraud at the Baycrest Centre.  

Unfortunately, benefits fraud is not something unique to one particular organization or sector. In 2016, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) hit the media headlines with a very similar and significant employee benefits fraud problem.

Click here to read about the TTC’s benefits fraud investigation.

In fact, the benefits industry continues to deal with increasingly creative approaches by employees who participate in fraudulent benefits activity resulting in losses of billions of dollars.

Click here to read about the impact of employee benefits fraud on the insurance industry.

As noted in the articles, benefits fraud is theft. It is stealing. It is exactly like taking money from someone else’s wallet without their express knowledge or permission.

Unlike other crimes, however, it is rare that perpetrators of benefits fraud are charged with a criminal offense. Until recently, it was also rare for employers to act on what was sometimes perceived as an act of ‘entitlement’ on the part of employees.  This perceived inaction on the part of employers does not come from a lack of interest or an act of conscious negligence. It may come from a lack of rigour in monitoring or systems controls which must be included as part of effective compensation management planning.

Not all employees steal from their employer. That is a fact. Some employees do steal from their employer. That is also a fact. Who pays for the consequences of stealing from their employer in the form of benefits fraud? We all do. That is the ultimate and most costly fact. Good compensation planning should take all of these facts into consideration, both positive and negative, in a proactive way so that the actual benefits of an organization’s benefits plan provide support and assistance for those who need it the most.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What types of monitoring systems or controls would you put into place as the Compensation Manager in these types of situations?
  2. The Baycrest and TTC articles state that this type of benefits fraud has been going on for years. How would you go about changing the organizational culture and a possible ‘entitlement’ approach in each organization?
  3. Is benefits fraud a ‘victimless’ crime? Explain your rationale

Team Learning = Team Building

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GN ILLUSTRATOR/Shutterstock

Team building is a concept that has been around for a long time. No matter how team structures in organizations have been put together, there has always been a focus on how to improve the relationships between, and the productivity of, those who are ‘forced’ to work together. Most of us have choices about who/whom we want to spend our time with, and how much time we want to spend with them, outside of the work environment. Within a work setting, however, we may not have people and time options as we have to spend a set amount of time together with workplace colleagues who have been chosen for us. Given how much time is spent together each and every day with others in the workplace, it is no wonder that organizations continue to focus on how to nurture effective teams through on-going training programs that develop group learning processes.

An interesting article from 2001 outlines the positive impact of group learning on the long-term effects of team building.

Click here to read the article on group learning and team building.

While dated, the article reinforces concepts of team training and group development that are still relevant in today’s organizational learning culture. Many companies continue to offer team retreats where colleagues can challenge each other (and themselves) through various physical activities – such as Tree-top Trekking and Rock-wall Climbing. These adventure-based sessions are used to build trust and team accountability, which should translate back into the work environment in a productive way.

In addition to these physical or traditional team building efforts, the opportunities to apply learning that develops team problem solving and brainstorming skills are on the rise. For example, creative team building options come with access to events such as ‘Escape Rooms’ where participants must work together using ‘mental capacities’ such as ‘brainpower’ and ‘logic’.

Click here to read about ‘Escape Rooms’ as a team learning program.

No matter what or how the opportunities are provided into the future, what has not changed is the understanding that good teams come from forming good relationships, sharing good learning, and experiencing good times together.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Thinking of the team you work with most recently, which type of team learning session would be more challenging for the group – ‘Tree-top Trekking’ or ‘Escape Room’? Explain your rationale.
  2. What are the cost-benefits, based on the investment of both time and money for adventure based learning, in the development of team-based organization culture and productivity?
  3. How does informal team-building impact work-place productivity? Do you agree that it is beneficial? Explain your rationale.

What Is Going Wrong in Canadian Workplaces?

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Gustavo Frazao/Shutterstock

The numbers are in and they do not look good.

In a recent HRNOW posting, it was reported that a 40% leadership failure-rate exists in the workplace.

This week’s upbeat HR research is even more alarming. Hays Canada has been conducting workplace satisfaction surveys since 2013 and the changes they have found this year are alarming:

  • Work satisfaction is down 19%.
  • 8% of Canadian employees would consider leaving their job for another position, an increase of 12.2% from 2013.

Here is how I interpret the above numbers on what Canadian employees are really trying to say to their leaders. The message is loud and clear: We are not happy with our work and we are ready to leave you.

When almost 90% of the respondents want to leave their organization it is time for Canadian employers to step up, look in the mirror, and ask why is this happening?

Many leaders will default to claiming that people want to leave their company to get more pay elsewhere. That’s not it; research is also illustrating that 75% would accept less pay for their ideal job, and that 41% are ready to leave for better company culture.

Could this sad state of employee relations possibly be linked to our management and leadership practices? Of course, the answer is yes.

Click here to read 2017 What People Want Survey: Fact Sheet from Hays.

Canadian employers must start to take these concerns seriously and become proactive in evaluating and improving company culture, and in focusing on employee satisfaction. Consider the above research alongside the fact that Canada is seeing its lowest unemployment rate in 9 years. Employee retention and recruitment may soon be a significant problem and HR departments have to start developing solutions. Solving this problem in your own context may begin with improving your company’s perceived organizational culture.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Identify two companies you would like to work for, research their company culture and explain why you would like to work for them.
  2. What would you recommend if your VP of HR asked you to conduct a corporate-culture survey? Where would you start? Develop an action plan to present to an HR department.

 

Vacations Earned in Trust

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Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock

The title for this post reflects the typical language that is used when describing how vacation is accrued or allocated in an employment contract or a collective agreement. While meant to reflect an administrative approach to the calculation and disbursement of earned vacation time, the word ‘trust’ holds some powerful meaning in the employment relationship.

As part of an overall compensation strategy, do employers actually trust their employees when providing them with vacation time? Is it a reward well earned?

We have all heard of, or may have had personal experience with, the workplace where vacations are calculated according to strict provisions; given begrudgingly; and scheduled to fit the business needs of the organization, first and foremost.

What might happen if these approaches were thrown out the window leaving vacation earnings and usages entirely up to the employee? Could we trust our employees to manage their own time to take a break when they need it the most?

According to the CEO of Vigilant Management in the United States, yes we can!

Click here to read the article.

Clearly, the most important element of the unlimited vacation policy arrangement is a high degree of trust between all parties in this particular work place. In a Canadian context, as noted in the article, each province provides for a legislated minimum of vacation earnings which differs from the approach in the Unites States. Even with these legislated minimums, if there was no maximum time capping the amount of vacation an employee could take, how many days would actually be used?

Most of us are creatures of habit and do not like too much of good thing. This could apply equally when thinking about both going to work or taking vacation. When employees are able to see, feel and believe that they are trusted, then work and vacation both become complementary parts of one good thing, instead of too much of one being bad for the other.

Discussion Questions:

  1. At what point in your vacation time do you become bored and want to go back to work?
  2. If you had unlimited vacation time from your current workplace, how much time would you want to take as vacation? How would you schedule your time?
  3. From a compensation perspective, how could you calculate the costs of unlimited vacation for employees?

 

Rebuilding Relations?

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A Canadian pacific locomotive at a road crossing near the town of red deer alberta in november 2016 after a recent snow fall. Railway crossings are a safety
discostu55/Shutterstock

One of the fundamental principles of labour relations is the focus on the relationship between labour and management. When this relationship is effective both parties are able to work through difficult issues in order to find constructive solutions that move the relationship and the organization forward. But when this relationship is ineffective both parties end up in polarized, oppositional positions that result in the stagnation of positive movement forward, possibly leading to organizational destruction.

Canadian Pacific (CP) Railways provides us with an excellent case study of the organizational turmoil caused by a difficult labour relations environment.

Click here to access a CBC report, which includes an extensive interview with the CEO of CP Railways.

As noted in this piece, the new CEO Keith Creel faces a significant challenge to repair the relationship with the union as a result of four years of layoffs, strikes and labour relations turmoil. On one hand, the CEO was able to achieve great success through organizational restructuring resulting in exceptional profits. On the other, the price of these profits came at the expense of serious damage to the labour relations environment and its workers.

Success for the future of this Canadian company seems to rest with the willingness of the CEO to acknowledge past labour relations mistakes and to put positive measures into place that are reflective of the need for change. The union, as noted in the article, has responded with cautious optimism depending on the continuing actions that will unfold as directed by this particular executive.

However, clearly if these measures continue to have a negative impact on this relationship, we will see this iconic Canadian railway juggernaut, once again, derailed.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are the positional perspectives that the CEO is promoting in this piece?
  2. What are the positional perspectives that the union is defending in this piece?
  3. What message is the CEO sending by relaxing some of the policies noted in the article?
  4. Why is the CP Railway logo important?