leadership matters
The Duty of Care By Brenda Clark, CHRE
In legal-ese, the concept of “duty of care”
refers to the responsibility, either of an
individual or an organization, to act
with a reasonable standard of care in
regards to acts that could foreseeably cause
harm, according to most legal definitions.
That concept is certainly descriptive of
HR’s role and obligations – legally, yes, but
also professionally and ethically – when it
comes to safeguarding employees’ rights,
mitigating risk to the organization and
protecting the public.
PHOTOCREO Michal Bednarek/Shutterstock.com
But that concept is a particularly poignant
one when it comes to our theme for this issue:
psychological safety and mental health. The
duty HR professionals have when it comes
to safeguarding and protecting employees’
mental health is one that has evolved quite
dramatically over the past two decades – and
it’s a duty that is of inarguable importance.
Never before have we had such a rich
understanding of the role (and respon-sibility)
an employer has in shaping a
psychologically safe culture – and in so
doing, promoting mental wellness for its
employees (and each external community
those employees touch).
In fact, psychological safety itself is a
comparatively new concept (and responsi-bility)
for HR. It was only last September
that new legislative requirements came into
force in Ontario creating additional duties
for employers when it comes to workplace
harassment, including a requirement to
appropriately investigate workplace ha-rassment
incidents and complaints.
HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA ❚ APRIL 2017 ❚ 5
