letter from the editor
THE GLOBAL
VILLAGE
I was very fortunate in 2013 in that I was granted the oppor-tunity
to do some traveling for work throughout the year.
As you would expect, the regional culture in Charleston,
S.C. differs greatly from that in Kuopio, Finland or Paris,
France; Chicago, Ill. is vastly different in its people, food and
customs than in Albuquerque, N.M. or Orlando, Fla., which
vary from my own norms in my home city of Winnipeg, Man.
It’s fascinating to walk into workplaces in different regions
and experience how those particular cultures affect an organi-zation,
whether it’s a small, two-man office, a medium-sized
company servicing an expanded geographic area or a large,
multi-national company with numerous business divisions.
How does an HR professional working in a multinational
or global organization bridge those physical and psychologi-cal
gaps, catering to unique regional needs and customs while
maintaining consistency of brand, mission and values? Flip to
the cover feature of this issue of HR Professional, on page 16
to begin exploring the theme of Global HR.
As the world becomes an increasingly smaller arena, we
have the wonderful chance to work with people from all over,
as well as people with different views, histories, personalities
and all the other human nuances that make us so diverse. An
inclusive and diversified workforce has long been the goal for
Corporate Canada – as it will and should continue to be –
but what happens when people harbour unconscious biases
toward a certain group of people? Zabeen Hirji and Stephen
Shea discuss hidden biases within an organization on page 26
and advise us how to discover if we are holding onto an un-conscious
bias, and how to overcome it.
I hope you enjoy this March/April edition of HR
Professional, and I encourage you to share the digital edition
with friends and colleagues, available now at hrpatoday.ca.
As always, I look forward to your feedback. ■
Thanks for reading,
Jill Harris
P: 866-953-2182
E: jharris@lesterpublications.com
THE MAGAZINE OF
HUMAN RESOURCES
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
VOLUME 31 / NUMBER 3 MARCH/APRIL 2014
Editor: Jill Harris | Publisher: Sean Davis
Managing Editor: Duff McCutcheon, HRPA
Legal Editor: Malcolm MacKillop, Shields O’Donnell MacKillop LLP
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EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Michael Bach, Canadian Institute of
Diversity and Inclusion/Institut canadien
de la diversité et de l’inclusion
Mary Ann Baynton, Great-West Life Centre
for Mental Health in the Workplace
Christine Burych, StarlingBrook Corporation
Eric Cousineau, OCG Strategy &
Organizational Consulting
Joseph (Val) D’Sa, York Region
District School Board
Bonnie Flatt, Master Coaches
Mandy Hanlon, Oakbridges Labour
Relations Consulting Inc.
Jennifer Laidlaw, Ontario
Securities Commission
Norm Sabapathy, Cadillac Fairview
Dr. Parbudyal Singh, York University
Sandra Smith, North York General Hospital
Melissa Sonberg, Aimia
Christine Thomlinson, Rubin
Thomlinson LLP
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6 ❚ MARCH/APRIL 2014 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL