Published Articles

June 2017

  • Promoting a Culture of Resiliency

    By Karen Stone, CHRE

    This month’s cover story is all about mergers and acquisitions (M&As) – an area in which HR has a critical role to play to ensure a company’s success.

  • Providing References

    Words of warning

    By Ruben R. Goulart and Sreya Roy

    Providing a reference to a past or present employee is often a balancing act. On one hand, providing a reference or recommendation can significantly assist a departing employee in their search for new employment, as the employer benefits from the past employee’s mitigation efforts. Further, in wrongful dismissal actions, a court may award additional damages against an employer if it finds that the employer refused to provide a reference to an employee deserving of one.

  • HR’s Changing Role in M&A

    Today’s transformational mergers and acquisitions make HR’s role in the process more critical than ever

    By Melissa Campeau

    For HR, few endeavours are as high risk, high reward as mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Organizations head into M&A transactions with their sights set on some kind of gain. In building a new organization, there’s tremendous opportunity for HR to help craft new policies, shift culture and find new ways of developing and retaining talent.

  • Looking Inward

    Talent management is key to addressing critical skills gaps

    By Heather Hudson

    HR organizations plan to continue to focus on upgrading their capabilities this year, but flat and declining budgets – plus a hesitant approach to transforming service delivery models – may put business and HR priorities at risk, according to The Hackett Group’s annual key issues study.

  • Wellness Begins at Work

    Improving the health of your workplace results in increased productivity

    By Dr. Emily Lipinski, ND and Dr. Andreia Horta, ND

    According to a report from the senate committee on social affairs, science and technology, in the past three to four decades, there has been a drastic increase in the proportion of overweight and obese Canadians. Nearly two-thirds of adults and one-third of children are obese or overweight.

  • Breaking the Invisible Barrier

    Attracting diverse talent by overcoming unconscious biases

    By Marni Johnson

    Workforce diversity is critical to an organization’s ability to adapt and thrive in today’s rapidly changing environment. Diversity is the presence of differences in gender, age, experience, culture and more. Diversity alone is insufficient – you also need to practice inclusion. An example to outline the difference: diversity is being invited to the dance, but inclusion is actually getting up and dancing.

  • Closing the Disability Gap

    Medium-term disability could solve significant issues around LTD

    By Liz R. Scott, Ph.D.

    In 2015, the Wellesey Institute carried out a series of interviews to record the feelings of a sample of employees moving from short-term disability (STD) to long-term disability (LTD) leave. Most participants told the researcher that going onto LTD leave caused them a lot of stress and anxiety. As one interviewee said, “The LTD [process] says that I am not worthy, that I cannot go back to work again.”

  • Meet the HR Influencers: Allan Bartolini, CHRE

     

    Transformational leadership

    By Lisa Gordon

    When HR Professional connected with Allan Bartolini in late May, he was a man in transition. With just a few days left in his role as VP of human resources and organizational development with The Global Furniture Group in Toronto, Bartolini was preparing to move on to his next challenge at automotive replacement parts provider, Mevotech LP.

    By the time this article is published, he’ll be driving to a new office. But Bartolini says that not only will his title be the same at Mevotech, so will the principles and philosophies that have been the foundation of his successful 34-year HR career.