The Strategic Human Resource

Management Model
As a strategic business partner, the human
resource function helps organizations and their
employees attain their goals. This section
explores some of the pressures and opportunities
faced by organizations and outlines how strategic
human resource management provides a
framework from which success can be built and
sets the frame for the rest of this book.
 CHAPTER 1

Strategic Human Resource

Management
The only vital value an enterprise has is the
experience, skills, innovativeness, and insights of
its people.
LEIF EDVINSSON1
Page 2

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
1. LO1Discuss the objectives of human resource management.
1. LO2Identify the steps in the strategic management of human resources.
1. LO3Explain how human resource departments are organized and how
they function.
1. LO4Discuss the role of human resource professionals in today’s
organization.
Consider for a moment the impact that organizations have on your daily
life. From the products you consume, to the services you use, to the post-
secondary institution you are attending, the vast majority of your time is
spent interacting with organizations and their products or services. One
element ties all of these organizations together: people.
People are at the core of all social organizations—from the sole
proprietor who owns and operates a small coffee shop to an organization
like Shopify with a market capitalization value of over $100 billion.2 It is
individuals and teams that create the goals, the innovations, and the
accomplishments for which organizations are praised. They create work
environments that win awards, such as Deloitte’s award for “Canada’s
Best Managed Companies.” From the organization’s perspective, people
are resources. They are not inanimate resources, such as land and
capital; instead, they are human resources. Without them, organizations
would not exist.
At the beginning of the 1960s, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) was trying to figure out how to build a spacecraft
that would allow humans to return safely to Earth.3 At the time, an
aeronautical engineer named Charles Yost developed what was called “slow
spring back foam.” This product was later adapted and is now referred to as
“memory foam” and is found in football helmets, airline seats, and pillows.
Although NASA’s balance sheet did not list its human “assets,” these
resources were at work. Before the foam discovery, a casual observer
would have considered NASA’s tangible infrastructure as the company’s
most important asset. With each discovery and innovation necessary to
enable space travel, NASA’s assets continued to grow. A keen observer
would note that neither the tangible assets nor the innovation would be
of great value without capable people to manage them. Amazingly, today
NASA faces similar challenges; however, rather than returning from the
moon safely, a major innovation challenge is how to return humans
safely from Mars4 and simultaneously partnering with private
organizations like SpaceX for human space flight.5
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Organizational success depends upon careful attention to human

resources. An organization’s strategies are dependent on the people
brought together to create them. In turn, the success of an organization
relative to these strategies is dependent upon the practices used to
organize and lead human resources. Some of the best managed and most
successful Canadian organizations are those that effectively make
employees meet societal challenges creatively.

What Is Human Resource

LO1
Management?
To understand what human resource management is, we need to first
consider why people come together to form organizations. In short,
organizations bring people together in a coordinated manner to
accomplish goals or objectives that could not be accomplished by a single
individual. The goals that organizations set may be as varied as the
organizations themselves. Many organizational goals, however, may be
categorized into economic (e.g., profit, shareholder value), social (e.g.,
ethical practices), and environmental (e.g., reduction of carbon
footprint) goals. For an organization to achieve its goals, employees must
engage in actions and behaviours that move the organization toward
accomplishing them. If employees do not contribute to an organization’s
goals—or worse, they engage in behaviours or actions that move the
organization away from its goals—the organization will stagnate and
potentially fail. This principle applies to all forms of organizations—
including for-profit, not-for-profit, social, governmental, and non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), to name a few.
At its core, human resource management is the leadership and
management of people within an organization using systems, methods,
processes, and procedures that identify, select, motivate, and enable
employees to achieve outcomes individually and collectively that
enhance their positive contribution to the organization’s goals. Thus,
human resource management is not an end in itself; it is a means of
structuring the organization to facilitate and enable the organization to
achieve its objectives. The role of human resource management is
therefore critical to the success—indeed, even the very survival—of the
organization.

The Difference Between Human Resource

Management and a Human Resource
Department
Before moving on, it is important to differentiate between the field of
human resource management and a human resource department.
Although human resource management is central to all organizations,
not all organizations will have a dedicated human resource department.
The field of human resource management thus focuses on what leaders
and managers should do regarding organizing human resource systems,
policies, and procedures. These systems, in turn, create value by
facilitating and enabling employees to achieve individual goals that in
turn contribute to corporate or organization goals.6
A human resource department, on the other hand, is a specialized group
with the primary focus of ensuring the most effective use of human
resource systems across an organization to enhance employee
performance and accomplish organizational goals. The contribution of a
human resource department should be kept at a level appropriate to the
organization’s needs and resources. In a new venture or micro-business,
for example, human resource management may be performed by the
entrepreneur or one individual who has numerous other duties within
the organization. As the organization grows, it may decide to hire a
professional human resource manager or human resource specialist.
Within large-scale organizations, it is not uncommon to have numerous
people dedicated to organizing human resource practices. However,
resources are wasted when the human resource group is more or less
sophisticated than the organization demands. A 2015 study conducted by
Bloomberg BMA found that HR teams tend to comprise approximately
1.6 human resource staff for every 100 employees in organizations
smaller than 250 employees. That number changes to about 0.6 human
resource staff per 100 employees in organizations over 2,500
employees.7 See LO3 later in this chapter for further details on the
structure of human resource departments.
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Regardless of the size of an organization and whether or not the

organization has a human resource department, the responsibility for the
day-to-day management of human resources most often rests with
individual managers throughout the organization. As a result, all leaders
and managers must be familiar with the fundamentals of human
resources.
Human resource management as a specialist function evolved from very
humble beginnings. Inseparable from key organizational goals, product-
market plans, technology and innovation, and an organization’s strategy,
the field of human resource management comprises numerous
activities—many of them discussed in depth throughout this textbook.
Although each topic within human resources is addressed individually, it
is important to recognize that the activities within human resource
management are all interconnected. Figure 1-1 highlights some of this
interconnectedness. When a change is made to one activity or system, it
often has an impact on another activity. For example, if an organization
acts to engage long-term employees in order to prevent them from
leaving, it may spend fewer dollars recruiting and hiring new
employees.8 In order for human resource management systems,
practices, and activities to be effective, leaders must consider how
changes may affect the system overall.
FIGURE 1-1

The Interconnectivity of Human Resource Management Activities

Making Human Resource

LO2
Management Strategic
Human resource management must operate within the framework of an
organization. Like other activities, human resource management
activities must contribute to the organization’s goals and
performance.9 In response to a growing call for accountability, recent
decades have witnessed increased attention to strategic human resource
management. Strategic human resource management seeks to recognize
that the choice and integration of human resource tools will depend on
what the organization is trying to achieve. As a strategic business tool,
the human resource management activities must anticipate, align with,
and contribute to the organization’s strategies. Similar to any other
investment made by an organization, financial, technological, and
infrastructure investments made in human resource systems, processes,
and tools need to create a return on that investment that exceeds the
investment itself.
An organization’s strategy is similar to a game plan: It involves large-
scale, future-oriented, integrated ideas and initiatives to achieve
organizational goals and respond to uncertain and competitive
environments facing the organization. In part, a strategy identifies how
the organization will change and create long-term sustainable value
given the environment the organization is in.10 Strategies can vary
significantly, even within the same market.
Walmart uses the slogan “Save money. Live better.”11 As a result,
Walmart tends to follow a low-cost strategy. Target’s slogan, on the
other hand, is “Expect more. Pay less.”12 As a result, Target tends to
follow a value-based strategy.
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In some cases, strategies may even differ within a company.

For instance, Toyota uses the slogan “Let’s go places,” which is focused
on innovation. Lexus, Toyota’s luxury vehicle division, focuses on
quality, as indicated by its slogan, “The relentless pursuit of
perfection.”13
Strategic human resource management is the process of vertically
integrating the strategic direction of an organization into the
organization’s choice of human resource management systems and
practices to support the organization’s overall mission, vision, strategies,
and performance. Simultaneously, strategic human resource
management is a value-driven, proactive focus on how best to deploy and
horizontally integrate the various sub-fields of human resource
management to enable an organization of any size to achieve its strategic
goals. We start with a discussion of strategic human resource
management because it lays a foundation from which the topics
discussed throughout this textbook can be integrated into a human
resource (HR) system.
At the core, HR strategies and tactics must be mutually consistent and
must reflect the larger organizational mission and strategy. Even the
best-conceived strategies may fail if they are not accompanied by sound
human resource programs and procedures.
Costco Wholesalers has a strategy based partly on high volume and
value-based sales. To support this strategy, it has few people on the retail
floor to help shoppers and instead employs a large number of cashiers to
process orders more quickly. This could be compared to Holt Renfrew,
which has a strategy based partly on high quality and high-value
products. As such, Holt Renfrew employs proportionately more sales
associates, to assist shoppers in product choice, and fewer cashiers.
By integrating corporate strategies with the choice of HR practices, HR
managers can remain proactive and anticipate challenges or problems
both inside and outside the organization, and make adjustments before
they impact the organization or its people.
The challenge facing HR leaders is that often the human resource
strategy needs to be put in place before the corporate strategy can be
successful. That is, the HR strategy needs to be implemented so that the
right people are in the right place at the right time to initiate the
corporate strategy.
Marriot Hotels & Resorts uses gamification to recruit potential
Millennial employees. Alternatively, Zappos offers successful job
candidates $3,000 to leave the recruitment process. The aim is to invite
candidates who are not going to stay long term to exit the company early.
Those who do not take the exit offer (which is 97 percent of candidates)
have a better understanding of the corporate culture.14
The strategy of attracting talent through gamification is an example of
how proactive strategies can meet the needs of organizations. Recent
trends demonstrate the increased use of artificial (or augmented)
intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) in areas such as recruitment
to ensure that job postings and resumé reviews are devoid of
unconscious bias.15 Understanding the forces that may impact
organizations and their strategies is critical in strategic human resource
management and will be discussed later in this chapter.
Just as each member of an organization is expected to generate positive
contributions to accomplishing an organization’s goals, so too is every
HR system. That is, each and every HR system, practice, process, or
tactic should generate value for the organization. The challenge for HR
managers is to understand that, within a system of people, a decision to
change one thing will often have an impact on other HR practices or
activities. Moreover, these decisions are often influenced by the
organization and its environment. To this end, HR managers need to be
able to integrate and synthesize information about an organization, its
environment, its culture, and its strategies to make the most effective HR
decisions for the organization:
A number of organizations are installing workout facilities within their
physical space. At first glance, this may appear to be simply a cost centre
for an organization with respect to the installation and ongoing
maintenance and operation of the facility. A closer consideration,
however, may reveal increased employee morale, decreased expenses
associated with sick days and health benefits, and a time savings for
employees, who no longer need to leave the office early to drive to a gym.
Page 6

Although HR managers must be consistently strategic in their mindset,

HR issues are also dominating corporate strategic priorities. Consider
first that employee salaries may account for more than 50 percent of the
operating expenses in some organizations.16 Complicating matters are
findings such as those in a 2013 study in the United States suggesting
that actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. economy $450–550
billion a year.17 As a result, the expectations for HR groups are regularly
on the rise:
KPMG’s 2020 CEO outlook was completed in two waves because of the
COVID-19 health crisis. When asked about their outlook in summer
2020, CEOs ranked talent risk as the primary threat to organizational
growth, citing the need to keep employees engaged, connected, and
feeling safe; 73 percent of CEOs also noted that remote work has
widened their talent pool.18
To meet these demands, HR teams and senior leaders in HR need to be
strategic business partners who are able to make evidence-informed
recommendations and decisions that enable individuals and teams to
create more value for the organization. The gradual shift to strategic HR
is evidenced by the 62 percent of senior HR leaders now reporting to the
CEO or president of the organization.19

Understanding the Strategic Human

Resource Management Process
To be effective, an organization’s human resources strategy and
associated system of processes and practices should be formulated after
careful consideration of an organization’s environment, mission and
objectives, strategies, internal strengths and weaknesses, and culture.
For purposes of discussion, the human resource strategy formulation
and implementation process will be broken down into five major steps,
as outlined in Figure 1-2. Alternative sources may provide different
stages and descriptions. Regardless, the logic remains consistent: Know
what you are aligning to, understand your external and internal
environment, make decisions, and evaluate the decisions.
FIGURE 1-2

A Model of Strategic Human Resource Management

Step 1: Organizational Mission, Vision, and

Strategy Analysis
The way in which an organization defines its mission often significantly
influences human resource strategies. A mission statement specifies
what activities the organization intends to pursue and what course is
charted for the future. It is a concise statement of “who we are, and what
we do” and gives an organization its own special identity, culture, and
path of development.
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Two similar pork producers may have varying missions. One may define
the mission as “to be a sustainable pork producer,” whereas the other
may define it as “to be a leading pork producer.” The associated
strategies are likely to show significant differences. Apart from finding
efficient ways to raise hogs, the first producer may also seek ways to
improve the effectiveness and safety of manure recycling or seek
strategies to raise antibiotic-free hogs, while the focus of the second
producer may be expansion and profitability. Each will have an impact
on HR practices such as talent acquisition.
As defined earlier, an organization’s goals outline what specifically an
organization seeks to achieve in a specific time period. Similar to a
mission, an organization’s goals will also have a dramatic impact on
human resource practices.
The emergence of environmental, social, and governance (ESG)
standards used by socially conscious investors20 is paired with
organizations’ identifying unique goals related to environmental
standards such as company waste and social standards such as ethical
supply chains. Building on the example above of the sustainability
focused pork producer, one might consider a social goal to be an
inclusive organization. This goal would impact internal processes related
to workplace equity, diversity, and inclusion, which are often led by HR
specialists.
Finally, a thorough analysis of an organization’s strategies is also critical
in deciding on the appropriate array of HR practices.
Energy companies who have identified strategies to enter the hydrogen
market to curb emissions21 would need to work with their HR teams to
identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities to carry out these strategies
and determine whether internal or external talent is needed to achieve
them.
Many organizations are also now including specific strategies that
directly consider their employees. For example, many organizations have
set as a strategy to become one of Canada’s “Best Managed
Companies.”22 The setting of corporate strategies directly related to HR
is a growing trend as HR professionals continue to demonstrate their
strategic value.
Regardless of an organization’s strategic direction, human resources are
required to formulate and fulfill the organization’s strategies. In all cases,
the HR strategies should be chosen for their ability to enable the
successful completion of the organization’s strategies. In some cases, a
single HR strategy may be used to accomplish different corporate
strategies.
Consistent with the setting of corporate mission, goals, and strategies,
HR managers must consider how the external environment will
influence their decisions. This is the focus of the second step.
Step 2: Environmental Scan
Through careful and continuous monitoring of economic, social, and
labour market trends, and by noting changes in governmental policies,
legislation, and public policy statements, effective human resource
management will be able to identify environmental threats and
opportunities that in turn serve as a foundation for new actions. Some of
these environmental forces facing Canadian organizations today are
listed in Figure 1-3. For discussion purposes, the forces facing a
Canadian organization (especially those affecting human resource
management) can be grouped under five headings: economic (e.g.,
recession), technological (e.g., automation), demographic (e.g., workforce
composition), sociocultural (e.g., ethnic diversity), and legal (e.g.,
changing laws). The first four forces will be discussed in this chapter. The
critical importance of legal compliance for the HR function warrants a
more elaborate review of the subject matter. Hence, this topic is
discussed in detail in Chapter 4.

FIGURE 1-3

Major Forces Facing Canadian Organizations

Economic Forces
ECONOMIC FORCE: ECONOMIC CYCLES The first of four
critical economic forces is economic cycles.
Economies go through boom and bust business cycles. The Canadian
economy is no exception. In today’s globally connected world, strengths
and misfortunes originating in one economy are soon passed on to
others. HR professionals must consider economic cycles when designing
practices, policies, and the broader HR system. For instance, HR
managers face special challenges during a recessionary period, as they
often have to carry out the unpleasant task of planning, communicating,
and implementing employee layoffs or terminations. Often, wage
concessions have to be sought from labour for the sheer survival of the
firm. Workforce morale, by and large, is low during a recessionary
period; supplementary employee counselling may become necessary. At
times, the entire organization may assume a crisis management posture,
which creates new challenges for the HR manager with respect to policy
formulation, communication, and implementation.
The challenges are equally daunting coming out of a recession, as HR
managers consider how best to grow the organization’s talent base.
During growth cycles, organizations may be faced with the opportunity
to recruit employees with a different skill set than those who may have
been let go during the recessionary cycle.
By the middle of 2020, Canada’s economy was shrinking at an
unprecedented pace. According to the Ministry of Finance, the economy
was contracting at over 5.8 percent per annum, a far cry from the 3.5
percent growth in 2017 and the 1.6 percent growth in 2019.23
Note that boom and bust cycles may not be the same across the country.
For instance, the manufacturing sector in Southern Ontario often cycles
based on the value of the Canadian dollar against the American dollar.
The energy sector in Alberta, on the other hand, tends to vary based on
the price of crude oil on the world market. This results in localized
challenges for finding or shedding talent. Thus, HR managers need to
consider economic forces at the local, national, and international level—
which are discussed next.
The COVID-19 pandemic further complicated the numerous challenges
associated with adapting to traditional economic cycles. For much of
2020 and 2021, HR leaders needed to also adapt to the rapid closing and
reopening cycles of businesses to account for national, provincial, and
civic states of emergency, health orders, and community expectations.
By April 2020, 3 million Canadians had lost their jobs and an additional
2.5 million had experienced COVID-19 related absences from work.
Within nine months, the overall number had fallen to 1.1 million
Canadians being out of work due to economic shutdowns.24
Despite a more positive outlook into 2022, the speed of the economic
recovery in Canada as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic remains quite
fluid. The Department of Finance projects that the estimated growth of
4.8 percent in 2021 may be tempered to 2.9 percent if health restrictions
escalate. Far less volatility is expected in 2022.25
ECONOMIC FORCE: GLOBAL TRADE International trade has always been
critical to Canada’s prosperity and growth. Canada ranks high among
exporting nations: on a per capita basis, we export much more than
either the United States or China.26 The combination of a relatively
small population, a large natural resource base, and a positive currency
gives Canada an international trade advantage.
Although our ability to compete in the international marketplace has
been generally strong, Canada’s competitiveness has fallen. In 2011,
Canada was the twelfth most competitive nation in the world; in 2019,
we were ranked fourteenth (Figure 1-4).27
FIGURE 1-4

How Competitive Is Canada Compared to Other Nations?

The ever-growing shift toward the global marketplace forces
organizations to consider how they manage their employees. The
emergence of open borders has presented newer opportunities to
Canadian firms and professionals—resulting in both an increase in
Canadians working abroad and an increase in economic immigration to
Canada. Canada currently accepts over 341,000 immigrants per year; of
these, approximately 58 percent are economic
immigrants.28 Progressive HR practices and new government policies
may be critical to meeting these growing realities. Indeed, the Canadian
government is looking to increase immigration to Canada in an attempt
to boost the economy as our population ages, with a focus on economic
immigration as compared to family- or refugee-based immigration.29 As
of 2020, permanent and non-permanent immigration accounted for over
80 percent of Canada’s population growth.30
Page 9
ECONOMIC FORCES: PRODUCTIVITY AND INNOVATION
IMPROVEMENT Productivity refers to the ratio of an organization’s
outputs (e.g., goods and services) to its inputs (e.g., people, capital,
materials, and energy). Productivity increases as an organization finds
new ways to use fewer resources to produce its output. For example:
A restaurant may seek to improve productivity by using fewer
ingredients in recipes (reduction in raw materials) or by asking a server
to also clear, clean, and reset tables (increase in responsibility and
associated reduction in the need for additional staff). Alternatively, the
restaurant may seek to increase the number of outputs by having more
people come to the restaurant. The latter, however, may require
increased marketing efforts, which would result in an increase in inputs.
In a business environment, productivity optimization is essential for
long-run success. Through gains in productivity, managers can reduce
costs, save scarce resources, and enhance returns. In turn, improved
returns enable an organization to provide better pay, benefits, and
working conditions. The result can be a higher quality of work life for
employees, who may then be more likely to be motivated toward further
improvements in productivity. HR professionals contribute to improved
productivity directly by finding better, more efficient ways to meet their
objectives and, indirectly, by improving the quality of work life for
employees.
Unfortunately, optimizing productivity is not simply a matter of
increasing outputs or decreasing inputs. In either case, the employees
must adapt how work is done. As a result, a major challenge facing
Canadian leaders is optimizing productivity while maintaining a high
quality of engaged work life for the employees. Moreover, strategic
human resource management seeks to address more than just financial
productivity.31 Some of the strategies to address productivity will be
discussed in Chapter 3.
What is worrisome today is the gap between the productivity levels of
Canada and its biggest trade partner, the United States.32 For over a
decade, U.S. productivity has been consistently outpacing ours. Canada
is steadily losing its ability to innovate and create wealth compared with
other countries. According to the Conference Board of Canada, Canada is
ranked ninth of 16 peer countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development.33 Even more troubling is that, without
enhanced management skills, something enabled through HR, the future
is not likely to shift.
If Canada is to improve—even maintain—its competitiveness, innovation
on two fronts, namely people management and technology, is a must.
Page 10
Among peer nations, Canada receives a poor rating for the number of
patents filed per capita. Indeed, we are 15 of 16. Japan and Switzerland
are ranked number 1 and 2.34
Without innovation, productivity differences tend to increase. As such,
without innovation, Canadian employers and their HR professionals will
be faced with the challenge of creating additional productivity
improvements. As a progressive HR strategy, numerous organizations
are starting to recruit or develop innovative staff to create a culture of
innovation within the organization.
ECONOMIC FORCE: KNOWLEDGE WORKERS Over the last 20 years,
employment in primary and extractive industries (such as mining and
fishing) has remained relatively constant or even dropped, whereas
service, technical, and professional jobs have increased. The relative
contribution to Canada’s employment in various industries is shown
in Figure 1-5. Service industries such as education, health care, tourism,
trade, and public administration make significant contributions to our
national wealth today.
FIGURE 1-5

Employment by Industry in Canada

The move away from extractive industries increases the need for
innovation. In part, it creates an environment that requires not only
knowledge workers, but individuals who bring innovative thinking to
their organization.
Knowledge workers form the basis of a knowledge-based economy
grounded in the production, distribution, and use of knowledge and
information. Indeed, modern economies are becoming dependent on
knowledge, information, and highly skilled individuals.35 A 2018 study
by the Business Development Bank of Canada noted that 39 percent of
small and medium-sized business were having difficulty finding new
workers, and that these pressures would be present for at least a decade.
Interestingly, the same study found that companies with strong HR
policies had less difficulty.36
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The ability of organizations to find, keep, and continually retrain these

workers might spell success in the coming years. This is not only a trend
in North America. China has taken great strides toward moving from a
production-based to a knowledge-based economy.37 Moreover, some
have even signaled that the term knowledge workers needs to be changed
to learning workers.38 With an increased reliance on knowledge workers,
organizations also start to face challenges associated with employees
hiding and withholding knowledge.39 A further challenge facing HR
professionals in a growing knowledge-based economy is that educational
attainment is not keeping pace. For instance, UNESCO found that
governments are having difficulty keeping up with the pace of growth in
higher education.40

Technological Forces
TECHNOLOGICAL FORCE: CONNECTIVITY AND WORK
DESIGN Connectivity influences organizations and the way people
work. Canada has witnessed the rapid growth of connectivity and access
to high-speed information transmission systems affecting almost all
walks of life. In December 2016, the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission declared that access to high-speed
Internet should be a base service for all Canadians.41 An unprecedented
degree of connectivity has changed the way we work, play, study, and
even entertain ourselves. Access to information has affected the way
several organizations conduct their business. Nevertheless, Canada lags
behind a number of developed nations in technology development and
use.
Approximately 91 percent of Canada’s population has access to the
Internet.42 A key challenge, however, is that only 37 percent of rural
households and 24 percent of Indigenous community households have
access to Internet that is considered “high speed” compared to 97
percent of urban homes.43
Connectivity brings considerable flexibility into when and where work is
carried out in that it enables remote work arrangements. In 2016, more
than 19 percent of Canada’s working population worked from a
nontraditional workplace, such as their home.44 That percentage
jumped to nearly 40 percent of employees in April 2020 because of
pandemic restrictions.45
Pre-pandemic, TELUS had arranged for half of its 30,000 employees to
be able to work from home if they chose. In its teleworking pilot test,
TELUS found that having 170 employees working from home saved 114
tonnes of greenhouse gases and 14,000 hours of traffic time. In the same
pilot, TELUS found that morale as well as productivity increased as a
result of telecommuting.46
Remote work is not without its HR challenges, however. For instance, a
challenge related to remote work is how an organization can best ensure
that the employee’s home workstation is safe. Inequality among job types
and sectors also becomes a significant challenge in that not all jobs can
be accomplished remotely, thereby creating further inequalities between
individuals.47
Not all jobs lend themselves to less traditional workspaces; but with the
advances in technology, virtually any job—or any part of a job—that
involves work that is independent of other people and special equipment
could be performed away from the workplace. Careful planning, training,
and piloting may be required before remote work arrangements are
rolled out in an organization, as managing from a distance is simply
different from managing in person.48
As a platform for communication and interaction, the Internet has had a
profound impact on human resource management activities. Social
networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and other interactive
opportunities allow users to own and control data as well as add value to
the applications they use. This has resulted in rapid adoption of social
media for HR purposes and simultaneously created the need for policies
about the limitations of social networking within organizations. See
the Spotlight on Ethics for an example.
Connectivity has also created a greater focus on cybersecurity.49 With
employees working distally, the probability of data breaches is climbing.
From a strategic human resource perspective, many organizations have
taken to hiring cybersecurity experts to not only protect their sensitive
data but also make attempts to breach their security systems in an effort
to better protect their data.
TECHNOLOGICAL FORCE: AUTOMATION Automation continues to be a
technological force and opportunity that has affected Canadian
organizations and their human resource management practices.
Organizations tend to mechanize or automate for speed, reliability, or
flexibility. Competition from other countries has made it imperative that
we improve the speed of our manufacturing practices if we want to stay
competitive.
Page 12
By moving to a mechanized process, better service may be provided to
the customer through increased predictability and reliability in operations
and higher standards of quality in production. Machines, software, and
algorithms do not go on strike, nor do they ask for raises.
Mechanization allows for flexibility in operations. In several automated
production facilities, even small production batches become
economically viable since the time, cost, and effort involved in changing
setups are minimal. The ability to produce small batches, in turn, enables
a firm to focus on the needs of different customers and market segments
and speed up delivery schedules.
Shapeways is an organization that specializes in rapid prototyping and
small-batch production through three-dimensional printing in materials
such as plastic and metal.
Mechanization and automation are not without HR challenges. Negative
union attitudes toward mechanization are a barrier to the introduction of
technology in the workplace. Automation may result in a smaller
workforce together with fewer opportunities for socialization on the job.
To use expensive technology effectively (during automation), more and
more manufacturing facilities may find it necessary to schedule two or
three shifts a day. In addition, the technologies used in industries such as
additive manufacturing may require highly skilled designers, operators,
and technicians.
Improvements in technology and automation have helped the British
Columbia lumber industry. Interestingly, while automation has led to job
losses in some roles, British Columbia’s forest industry is facing a talent
shortage due to retirements and technology advances. Thus, automation
has created an environment in which there are too many employees and
too few employees simultaneously, just for different segments of the
industry.50
In some cases, however, mechanization is seen as a solution to labour
shortages. The farming industry in the United States, as an example, is
experiencing a labour shortage. As a result, companies are turning to
mechanization as a solution.51

The technology employed by different firms shows considerable

variation. In organizations such as a large steel factory or lumber mill,
the production processes are fairly routine. In these organizations,
improving the predictability of operations assumes great importance.
This often requires HR managers to focus more on the predictability of
employee performance (e.g., by providing explicit job descriptions and
job-specific training, and by focusing on performance monitoring). In
contrast, in firms with nonroutine production processes (such as
advertising firms and software developers), flexible HR practices that
foster creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship may add more value.
TECHNOLOGICAL FORCE: DATA AND ANALYTICS Related to both
connectivity and automation is the growing impact of data and analytics
in the workplace. Due to AI/ML and rapidly increasing computing
power, companies are facing a significant shift in the role that data and
analytics play in the workplace. HR professionals, in turn, must be able
to support the organization’s data and analytics talent needs and also
embrace the role of analytics to support the HR function. A 2017 report
suggested that 71 percent of companies consider people analytics to be a
high priority.52
Ultimate Software is producing an artificial intelligence based
technology to assess employee engagement in real time.
More effective knowledge management—the process of capturing
organizational knowledge and making it available for sharing and
building new knowledge—has been another outcome of digital
information systems. It has given rise to potentially boundless
information.53 Intranets and integrated information systems help store
and access information quickly and accurately. Information management
systems capture an incredible amount of digital information about an
employee, giving rise to human resource data analytics.54 For instance,
such systems can store what the employee learns during various training
programs (or over a time period) and give evidence of performance
improvement. When the annual performance interview is conducted,
managers can identify the on-the-job competencies of an employee.
Page 13

Even the field of HR is being shaped by big data trends. For

instance, metaBUS is a technology-based research hub that is seeking to
bring together and synthesize every correlation within the field of human
resources over a 25-year period to enable HR practitioners to make
better data-informed decisions about their practices and systems.55

Demographic Forces
The demographics of the labour force describe the composition of the
workforce: the education levels, the age levels, the percentage of the
population participating in the workforce, and other population
characteristics. While demographic changes occur slowly and can be
predicted in most instances, they still exert considerable influence on
organizational decisions. Each demographic change will have a different
impact on the choice of human resource practices and activities, but may
also have an additive effect. As a result, HR managers must consider
demographic shifts both in isolation and as an integrated system.
DEMOGRAPHIC FORCE: GENDER BALANCE While the figures that follow
refer to gender, one must recognize from an inclusiveness lens the
importance of differentiating biological gender (or sex at birth) from
gender identity and gender expression. An understanding of
demographic forces in sex at birth, gender identity, and gender
expression will serve human resource professionals in their pursuit to
create inclusive workplaces. For example, a recent job fair in Toronto
focused on the transgender community.56
As of 2020, Canada’s labour force consisted of almost 19.9 million people
aged 15 years or older, up from 15.8 million in 2000.57 In 2020, 47
percent of the workforce had been assigned female at birth.58 Moreover,
the participation rate of biologically female in health care and
professional, scientific, and technical services also continues to grow
(see Figure 1-6). More women than men tend to work part-time
(see Figure 1-7).

FIGURE 1-6

Distribution of Biological Gender in the Workforce by Industry

Table Summary: Summary
 FIGURE 1-7
Labour Force Employed Full-Time and Part-Time by Biological Gender

DEMOGRAPHIC FORCE: EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT A look at

the educational attainment of Canadian workers presents an intriguing
picture. The educational attainment of Canadians has increased
dramatically over the past several years and is expected to maintain its

FIGURE 1-8

Number of People in the Canadian Workforce by Their Highest Level of Educational Attainment
upward trend (see Figure 1-8).
According to one study, 65 percent of jobs will require higher
education.59 More specifically, 35 percent will require a degree, whereas
30 percent will require a diploma. In 2016, 54 percent of Canadians aged
25–44 years were post-secondary graduates.60 Over 28 percent of
Canadians aged 25 or above hold a university degree or better (the
corresponding figure in 2002 was less than 10 percent).61
Educational attainment is not equal across demographics, however. For
instance, 23 percent of Indigenous peoples living off reserve aged 25–64
have a diploma and 10.9 percent have a degree. Degree attainment
among Indigenous peoples living on reserve is 5.4 percent.62 While
degree attainment for women who are married or living in a common-
law relationship is 39 percent, the percentage is only 20.4 percent for
single mothers with a degree.63
Because someone has achieved some level of higher education also does
not imply that they will participate in the labour force. Approximately 80
percent of individuals with a degree and 76 percent of individuals with a
certificate actively participate in the labour market.64 Consequently, HR
professionals actively seeking to create diverse, equitable, and inclusive
work environments may face growing challenges in the sourcing of
future talent if educational attainment is used as a primary recruitment
hurdle.
Primary and secondary education systems play a key role in generating
the new supply of skills needed by our post-industrial society. By and
large, Canadian schools appear to be ready for this task.
In one study, approximately 30,000 students from more than 1,000
Canadian schools were compared on their mathematical and scientific
literacy with students in 31 other countries. Canadian students
performed well compared to others, ranking second in reading, seventh
in science, and eighth in mathematics. In a majority of provinces,
students’ performance in reading, science, and mathematics placed these
provinces among the top-ranked countries.65
The disturbing news, however, is that 48 percent of Canadians aged 16 or
over fall below adequate levels of literacy.66 Not only do such low
literacy rates reduce the overall productivity levels in our industries, but
they may also be a major contributor to safety violations and accidents.
Moreover, as the nature of work shifts to that of knowledge-based
industries, the demand for individuals with post-secondary education
will outpace the rate at which people attain a post-secondary education.
About 17 percent of women and 19 percent of men drop out of school
before they graduate high school.67 It is estimated that currently more
than 5.2 million Canadians lack a basic school certificate or diploma.68
Page 15
Some of the more progressive employers have recognized workplace
literacy as a serious issue and have taken proactive action to minimize its
adverse consequences. For instance, HR professionals are encouraged to
use accessible and plain language in communications.69
Faced with this disheartening prospect, the Corporate Council on
Education identified a set of “employability skills” consisting of basic
academic skills (e.g., communication, thinking, learning), personal
management skills (e.g., positive attitudes and behaviours, ability to
accept responsibility, adaptability to new challenges), and teamwork
skills (e.g., ability to work with others, ability to lead a team). These skills
were considered to be the foundation skills for employability in the
future.70
DEMOGRAPHIC FORCE: AGING POPULATION One of the issues for
human resource managers is what Maclean’s termed our old age
crisis.71 In 1996, about 28 percent of the population (or almost 7.6
million Canadians) were more than 50 years old. The proportion of the
population in the age group 65 and over is now expanding rapidly,
reinforced by a low birth rate and longer life expectancy. In 2020, people
aged 65 and over (those likely leaving the workforce) formed 18 percent
of the population. By 2060, this proportion will increase to 25.7 percent.
Conversely, the age category between 15 and 30 years old (those entering
the workforce) will decrease from 18.9 percent in 2020 to 17.36 percent
of the population over the same time frame.72 In short, human resource
professionals will face an ever-increasing trend of more people leaving
the workforce than entering it. This is because the average age of the
Canadian population has been steadily increasing (see Figure 1-9). Like
economic cycles, the impact of population aging is different depending
on your location.
In 2020, the provinces with the highest proportion of the labour force
aged 65 and over were Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince
Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador, all between 19.7 and
22.3 percent compared to 18 percent for Canada as a whole.73 At the
other end of the scale, Nunavut had only 4 percent of its population over
the age of 65 in 2020.
FIGURE 1-9

Projected Population of Canada by Age Category

The exact consequences of this trend for the human resource

management function are hard to predict. An increasingly hectic
scramble for jobs (especially in the traditional sectors) may be one
consequence. This is because the fear of post-retirement poverty (fuelled
by uncertainty about government-sponsored pension plans and the
recent volatility in the stock market) may motivate employees to hold on
to their current jobs. This may create unprecedented bottlenecks in
professional and unionized industries. That said, older workers may face
ageism in technology jobs.74
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According to Statistics Canada, the age of retirement has been on the rise
since the 2000s. The average age for retirement in 2000 was 61.6,
whereas the same number in 2020 was 64.5.75
Pressures for expanded retirement benefits, variable work schedules,
coordination of government benefits (e.g., Canada/Quebec Pension Plan
benefits) with company benefits, and retraining programs are just a few
of the challenges that await HR specialists in the future. This effect is
compounded by recent changes to the Old Age Security (OAS) pension
program. Phased in by 2029, workers will have to wait until they are 67
to claim OAS benefits.
One major challenge facing Canadian organizations is retaining older,
more experienced, and skilled employees whose expertise is in demand
in the labour market. The past view of people as expendable cogs who are
responsible for managing their own careers has encouraged employees to
leave their employers as soon as a better opportunity emerges elsewhere.
To retain older workers, employers have to show respect and
appreciation, facilitate career growth within the organization, offer
flexible work and opportunities to telecommute, and recognize their
skills and experience.76
It is important to keep in mind that, while Canadians often look to retire,
there is no mandatory retirement age. An aging population affects many
HR functions, especially recruitment and selection, job design, training,
appraisal, and compensation and benefits administration.
The availability of retirees provides an opportunity to employers who are
looking for experienced part-time employees. The reduction in the
supply of young workers (a staple source of recruits by many fast-food
restaurants and grocery chains) may be compensated by the availability
of older workers willing to work part-time. Experienced and highly
motivated retirees may be a welcome source of recruits for employers
and nonprofit/voluntary agencies searching for persons who can accept
supervisory responsibilities.
The age crisis is not limited to older generations. A declining youth
population—those under age 25—entering the workforce has
implications for Canada on a global scale. While Canada’s youth
population is falling in relation to the population overall, developing
economies, such as India, are experiencing an increase in the youth
population relative to the population overall.
Page 17

DEMOGRAPHIC FORCE: GENERATIONAL SHIFT In today’s workplace,

leaders may interact with up to five generations—Generation Z,
Generation Y (Millennials), Generation X, baby boomers, and
traditionalists.77 With birth years starting in 2010, Generation Alpha is
not far away from the workplace.78 This generational diversity creates an
interpersonal dynamic for all leaders regardless of age in that they must
be aware of the different motivators for each of the generations and be
able to tailor activities to different age demographics.
Generation X employees, for example, who are born between 1966 and
1980, are not averse to hard work, place a premium on work–life
balance, and like to be active participants in decision making.79 They are
likely to show disdain for a “command and control” culture and are likely
to have more loyalty to their profession and competency building than to
their employers.
Some writers claim that Gen Xers think of work as a job while boomers
view it as a career. Xers are unfazed by power and authority; boomers are
impressed and attracted by it. Xers mistrust most business practices;
boomers instituted many of them. Xers are self-reliant; boomers are
team-oriented.80
Quickly becoming the dominant generations in the labour market are
Generation Y and Generation Next (or Gen Z), and they are qualitatively
different from Gen X:
Generation Y may not respond well to traditional management practices.
While it is risky to overgeneralize about any group, significant numbers
of Gen Ys seek continuous learning, ongoing feedback, teamwork, up-to-
date technology, security, respect, and work–life balance. Their biggest
fear is boredom. Gen Z, on the other hand, will have characteristics of
fiscal conservatism and greater transparency expectations.81
Generational shifts in North America are also having complex
implications for HR managers that are somewhat outside their control.
For example, certain industries will be facing an impending skilled
trades shortage in part because of the increasing average age of the
skilled trade worker and in part because of challenges attracting young
people to the skilled trades in post-secondary education.

Sociocultural Forces
SOCIOCULTURAL FORCE: DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE As cultural
values change, HR departments discover new challenges.
Several sociocultural forces face Canadian managers. In the section that
follows, we will briefly highlight the role of diversity, equity, and
inclusion in Canadian workplaces as an important consideration in the
formulation of HR strategy. We recognize, however, that we cannot
provide a full account of the domain in this context.
Ethnicity is a significant dimension of diversity in the workplace. In 1971,
Canada became the first country to declare multiculturalism as a state
policy.82 By 2016, the Canadian population was made up of over 250
ethnic origins.83 The coexistence of numerous national, racial, and
ethnic groups, each with its unique cultural and social background,
makes Canadian society a cultural mosaic.84 Economic immigrants
have often acted as engines of economic growth in Canada, while shifts
in the country of origin of immigrants have added to this country’s
cultural diversity and richness.
Unlike the American notion of the “melting pot,” Canada has encouraged
each ethnic minority to maintain its unique cultural heritage to form part
of the Canadian cultural mosaic. Canada is no longer a two-language
nation; millions of Canadians have neither English nor French as their
mother tongue.
Today, over 3.6 million Canadians are referred to as allophones, which
literally means “other speaking.” For example, today, more Canadians
speak Mandarin than Italian, and it is the most common nonofficial
language.85
Page 18

For the practising manager, this cultural diversity simultaneously brings

additional opportunities and challenges. Often, it is HR’s responsibility
to maximize the beneficial outcomes and minimize the challenges posed
by an ethnically diverse workforce. A large focus of current HR practices
is to create inclusive work environments in which differences are
embraced and leveraged for the betterment of the organization.
As Canadian society turned the corner into the 2020s, several social
justice movements drew increased attention to the role of systemic
racism in the workplace. The continued inequalities articulated by social
justice advocates for Indigenous, Black, and other racialized people of
colour attributed to systemic bias (both unconscious and conscious) have
become central to numerous equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives in
the workplace.86
Adding complexity to the importance of diverse, equitable, and inclusive
workplaces human resource professionals need to consider numerous
potential impacted groups including, but not limited to, sex at birth,
gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical ability,
language, mental wellness, language, religion, and socioeconomic status.
A number of these will be discussed in Chapter 4.
SOCIOCULTURAL FORCE: ETHICS There is a great demand today for
more ethical conduct of business. The unethical practices of several large
companies—including Bre-X, Enron, and WorldCom—underscored the
social costs of unethical and fraudulent business practices. Businesses,
especially big corporations, have been accused of acting totally out of
self-interest and furthering the interest of a few members of top
management. In recent years, a variety of unethical practices have been
reported, including creative accounting, insider trading, securities fraud,
excessive payments made to top management not reflective of their
contributions, bribery, and kickbacks. Indeed, greed and short-term
orientation accompanied by creative accounting played no small role in
 the stock market meltdown and the acceleration of personal
bankruptcies in 2008.
A global survey indicated that nearly 75 percent of respondents had felt
pressure to compromise their standards at work.87 The most important
ethical issues confronting Canadian firms today would seem to relate to
sexual harassment, cyber espionage, avoiding conflicts of interest and
maintaining honest governance, employee and client privacy,
environmental protection, and security of information.88
This has resulted in many Canadian firms instituting a code of ethics or
code of conduct for their employees. Over 70 percent of the responding
firms in a survey89 had also instituted a program to promote ethical
values and practices. Needless to say, the HR department will be a key
player in this important activity. Page 19
Spotlight on ETHICS
What Is a “Right” Behaviour?
Ethics are moral principles that guide human behaviours and are often
based on a society’s cultural values, norms, customs, and beliefs, which
means that different cultures and even individuals within the same
society have widely varying standards of behaviour. How are we to
differentiate “right” from “wrong” or “good” from “bad”? There are no
simple answers. Many adopt one of the following postures in dealing
with such ambiguous situations:
1. Universalist approach: Persons who embrace this view assert that
some moral standards are universally applicable. In other words,
regardless of society or place, a wrong act (such as killing,
stealing, or lying) is wrong. There are no exceptions to moral
“rights” and “wrongs.”
2. Situational approach: What is right or wrong depends essentially
on the situation or culture surrounding the actor. While telling
the truth is desirable, there may be situations in which lying is
acceptable or even necessary, or other cultures may not value
truth to the same extent. Similarly, while killing is bad, there may
be situations in which this act is justified. It all depends on the
situation. While high morals are to be followed, an individual may
have to make exceptions when the context justifies them.
3. Subjectivist approach: In this approach, the individual decision-
maker facing a situation determines what is right and wrong
after considering all aspects of the situation. Moral decisions are
based on personal values and preferences. Needless to say, the
 standards imposed by individuals are vastly different depending
on their upbringing, current circumstances, values, and beliefs.
Another useful model by which to understand and guide ethical
behaviour is offered by Lawrence Kohlberg, an American psychologist.
Kohlberg posits six stages that form an invariant and universal sequence
in individual development; thus, everyone is supposed to go through the
same stages in the same sequence. It is possible, however, for a person to
be “stuck” at one of the following stages and not proceed to the next
level. The six stages of moral development identified by Kohlberg90 are
as follows:
Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Stage: The only reason for a person
to perform the “right” act at this stage is obedience to others who have
the power to punish.
Stage 2: Reciprocity Stage: Here, the individual enters into reciprocal
agreements with others in order to receive the greatest good or reward.
The focus is on achieving one’s own objectives and on self-interest; for
this, the individual concerned is willing to take actions that others want
them to take.
Stage 3: Interpersonal Conformity Stage: What is “right” is determined
by expectations of others who are close to the individual. Close relatives,
friends, and other “reference groups” help the individual identify the
“right” action in any setting.
Stage 4: Law and Order Stage: Doing one’s duty and obeying society’s
rules is considered the “right” behaviour at this stage.
Stage 5: The Social Contract Stage: Here, the individual goes beyond the
minimal standards established by laws and rules. “The greatest good of
the greatest number” in the society is the maxim that guides the
individual’s behaviour at this stage.
Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles Stage: At this stage, the individual
is guided by high moral principles. People are to be treated as ends in
themselves, not just as means to one’s ends or even to the ends of a
whole group or society. People are considered as inherently valuable and
to be treated in the “right” way. Very few individuals reach this level.
The field of human resource management is full of situations that involve
hard choices between good and bad, right and wrong, desirable and
undesirable.
The Spotlight on Ethics feature in this book will introduce you to one or
more ethical challenges associated with the topic discussed in each
chapter. Once you have identified your responses, compare your answers
to those of your friends or family members. Find out why each person
chose differently. Try to categorize the responses under the three
categories and six stages of moral development listed above. Which
approach seems to be used by most of your friends and acquaintances?
At what stage of moral development are you and your friends? Why?
What are the implications for you and for your employer? What prevents
you and your friends from moving to the next stage?
Instructions: Consider the following situation. Make a note of your answer and compare it
with those of your friends and acquaintances.

“Blind” review versus social media

Your organization has taken to using “blind” reviews of applicant
information to diminish the potential for unconscious bias in recruiting
efforts. In a bid to appeal to Generation Z applicants, your organization
has decided to hire an individual to serve as a social media “influencer”
on behalf of your organization. One member of the search committee has
indicated that they would like to review the social media presence of all
candidates. Another member of the committee has reminded the group
about the importance of “blind” review. The discussion has become
somewhat heated among the group with no obvious conclusion in sight.
As a member of the search committee, what would you offer as a path
forward?

Step 3: Analysis of Organizational Character and

Culture
In addition to external scans, HR strategies should be formed only after
careful consideration of the internal environment and elements such as
character and culture. Similarities between organizations can be found
among their parts, but each whole organization has a unique character. A
key element of organizational character is its structure. Organization
structure is the product of all of an organization’s features and how they
are arranged: its employees, its objectives, its technology, its size, and its
policies, to name a few.91 Organization structure reflects the past and
shapes the future. HR specialists should be familiar with and adjust to
the organization’s structure. For example, sometimes objectives can be
achieved in several acceptable ways. This idea, often overlooked, is
called equifinality, which means there are usually many paths to any
given objective. The key to success is choosing the path that best fits the
organization’s character.
Take, for example, how several key managerial decisions are made and
their impact on HR practices. In some organizations, an autocratic
decision-making style is used along with a strong organizational
hierarchy. In contrast, other organizations consciously make an effort to
create an egalitarian, participative, and entrepreneurial work climate.
HR practices such as seniority- and rank-based pay and top-down
communication channels are likely to work best in the former situation,
while results-oriented (and competency-based) pay and organic
communication channels are likely to work best in the latter.
Page 20

The managerial philosophy also influences the type of organizational

structure and the HR department’s role within the firm. For instance, in
a highly formal bureaucracy that is structured along functional lines
(e.g., marketing, finance, production, etc.), HR’s role is often to preserve
the existing division of work by providing clear job descriptions, hiring
specialists for each division, and introducing training systems that foster
functional expertise. In contrast, in organizations that have flexible
structures, the socialization of employees to create an organization-wide
perspective and the creation of broad job classes may assume greater
importance. Finally, an organizational culture, the core beliefs and
assumptions that are widely shared by all organizational members,
shapes work-related and other attitudes and significantly influences
overall job commitment and performance. Clearly, human resource
management has a role in shaping this; however, even here, the culture
has to be consistent with the overall mission and strategy of the
organization concerned.

Step 4: Choice and Implementation of Human

Resource Strategies
Giving consideration to both the internal and external environments
provides the opportunity for the human resource professional to begin
evaluating potential human resource practices and activities and whether
each is viable. Unsuitable strategic options must be dropped from
consideration. The ones that appear viable should be scrutinized in detail
for their advantages and weaknesses before being accepted for
implementation.
Strategic choice and implementation involve identifying, securing,
organizing, and directing the use of resources both within and outside
the organization. Ultimately, there should be a clear line of sight between
the HR strategy and the corporate goals (see Figure 1-10). Similarly, the
strategic human resource plan needs to integrate with other plans in the
organization.
FIGURE 1-10

Line of Sight in Human Resource Strategy

As the above example shows, the HR strategy must reflect every change
in the organizational strategy and support it. Simply stating that “we are
strategic in our focus” does not, in fact, result in a contribution to
organizational strategy.
A survey of 1,030 HR and non-HR business leaders revealed that 60
percent of HR teams spend more time performing administrative tasks
than strategic ones. Interestingly, 85 percent of HR professionals believe
that strategic HR is important, while only 67 percent of non-HR leaders
believe the same.92 In another study, 73 percent of the respondents
believe that the word strategic is overused in human resources.93
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Creating an organization’s HR strategy is often a complex task. Because

of the dynamic nature of both the internal and external environments, it
is not uncommon to see a difference between an organization’s stated
HR strategy and its “emergent” HR strategy.94 Although in any given
organization there tends to be a dominant HR strategy, multiple bundles
of HR practices are likely to develop to cater to the unique needs of
organizations in a subgroup or industry.95 Mere use of the
term strategic without clear actions that support it simply reduces the
credibility of the HR profession and its members.
In formulating strategies, HR professionals must continuously focus on
the following activities:

1. Identifying opportunities, risks, and challenges

Strategic human resources necessitates a constant vigilance on foreseen
and emergent opportunities, risks, and challenges that can be addressed
through either people or the processes and systems by which we organize
people in organizations. For instance, human resource planning as
covered in Chapter 3 enables the determination of the demand and the
supply of various types of human resources within the firm. Proactive
human resource professionals, however, also ensure that there are
regular systematic reviews of the current state of HR practices in an
organization and the identification of needed HR processes, tools, and
activities. The results of human resource planning shape the overall
human resource strategies in the short and long run and identify any
gaps in people or processes that need to be fulfilled.

2. Making data-informed decisions aligned to

strategy
A second element of the strategic process is the eventual choice of
appropriate human resources or the practices that will fill the gaps
identified in the first stage. Many of the details of this choice
environment will be discussed in the chapters that follow. Regardless of
the decision environment, a key focus must remain on utilizing data to
support decisions and confirmation of whether those decisions are
consistent with the strategy.

3. Optimizing for high performance

With the right talent in the right place along with the right processes and
practices, attention must turn to optimizing both the employee’s time
and the activities and processes that guide human resources in a
company. For example, once hired, new employees need to be oriented
to the organization’s policies and procedures and placed in their new job
positions. Since new workers seldom fit the organization’s needs exactly,
they must be trained to perform effectively. They must also be prepared
for future responsibilities through systematic career planning and
development.
The human resource strategy should ensure that the productive
contribution from every member is at the maximum possible level. In
today’s work setting, internal work procedures and organizational
policies must be continuously monitored to ensure that they meet the
needs of a diverse workforce and ensure safety for every individual.
To be effective, a strategy should also have clearly defined action plans
with target achievement dates. Otherwise, it will simply end up being an
exercise on paper.

Step 5: Review, Evaluation, and Audit of Human

Resource Strategies
Human resource strategies, however effective they prove to be, must be
examined regularly. An organization’s contextual factors, such as
technology, environments, government policies, and so on, change
continuously; so too do several of its internal factors, such as
membership characteristics, role definitions, and internal procedures.
All these changes necessitate regular strategy evaluation to ensure their
continued appropriateness.
Hewlett-Packard has carried out formal research to identify links
between employee experience and the firm’s operational performance.
The company grouped employees based on their function, recognizing
that certain functions have more direct impact on operational outcomes.
Results from the study indicate that “effective collaboration” combined
with “empowerment to make decisions” tends to be related to customer
attitudes.96
Results of program evaluation such as the above produce
valuable feedback, which is information to help evaluate success or
failure. Such information, in turn, helps the firm to fine-tune its practices
or even abandon some actions that do not seem to have performance
potential. Alternatively, additional resources can be allocated to
successful projects to reap full benefits.
A holistic review of the HR strategies in an organization with the
intention of identifying and correcting deficiencies is referred to as
a human resource audit. The audit may include one division or an entire
company.
Page 22
The benefits of a human resource audit are many and include the
following:
• The audit helps align the HR department’s goals with larger
organizational strategies.
• It almost invariably uncovers better ways for the department to
contribute to societal, organizational, and employee objectives.
This, in turn, clarifies the human resource department’s duties
and responsibilities.
• It ensures timely compliance with legal requirements.
• It discloses how well managers are meeting their human resource
duties.
• It uncovers critical human resource problems and possible
solutions.
• It reduces human resource costs through more effective
procedures.
• It provides specific, verifiable data on the human resource
department’s contributions.
• It stimulates uniformity of human resource policies and practices.
• It helps review and improve the human resource department’s
information system.
• It enhances the professional image of the department among
various stakeholders.
Human resource research grows more important with each passing year,
for several reasons. First, human resource work carries with it many
legal implications for the employer. Failure to comply with equal
employment or safety laws, for example, subjects the organization to
potential lawsuits. Second, “people costs” are significant. Pay and
benefits are often major operating expenses for most employers.
Improper compensation plans can be costly, even fatal, to the company’s
survival. Third, the department’s activities help shape an organization’s
productivity and its employees’ quality of work life. Fourth, the critical
resource in many organizations today is not capital but, rather,
information and knowledge. This means that an audit of the calibre of a
critical resource—namely, human resources—is necessary for the success
of the organization. Human resource audits provide the information
needed by human resource managers to validate the alignment (or
misalignment) of human resource strategies with those of the
organization as well as the organization’s key performance indicators.
Human resource audits will typically focus on compliance, best practices,
strategic elements, and function-specific areas.97
Finally, the growing complexity of human resource work makes research
necessary. Today, more than ever before, human resource activities
aimed at productivity improvement, succession planning, and cultural
change are critical to competitive survival. More and more executives
expect the department to make strategic contributions and place the
function at a higher level in the organizational hierarchy.
Over 50 percent of organizations surveyed in one study were found to
have human resource departments report to the CEO or the
president/owner of the organization.98
Moreover, HR departments are being reviewed for their effectiveness.
One study, conducted by Aon, found that 68 percent of HR’s time
continues to be spent on administrative functions. The same study found
that 35 percent of typical HR functions could be automated.99
Today, organizations are participating in human resource metric
benchmarking. Through this process, organizations contribute
information about human resource practices and associated metrics. In
return, the participating organizations have access to aggregated data
about other organizations so that they may benchmark their own
practices and performance.100
The metrics established through an audit also result in the initiation of
new programs, such as literacy training, and better responses to
employees with disabilities, which can significantly improve employee
productivity and morale. The major areas covered in such an audit are
described in Figure 1-11.
FIGURE 1-11

Major Areas Covered in a Human Resource Audit

Human Resource Management Information
Human rights legislation and Human resource plans
employment legislation
• Supply and demand
• Information on compliance estimates
• Skills inventories
• Replacement charts and
summaries
Job analysis information Compensation administration
• Job standards • Wage and salary levels
• Job descriptions • Benefit package
• Job specifications • Employee value proposition
Staffing and Development
Recruiting Selection
• Source of recruits • Selection
ratios
• Availability of recruits • Selection procedures
• Employment applications • Human rights legislation
compliance
Training and orientation Career development
• Orientation
program • Internal
placement success
• Training objectives and • Career planning program
procedures • Human resource
• Learning rate development effort
Performance appraisals Labour–management relations
• Standards
and measures of • Legalcompliance
performance • Management rights
• Performance appraisal • Dispute resolution
techniques problems
• Evaluation interviews
Human resource controls Human resource audits
• Employee communications • Human resource function
• Discipline procedures • Operating managers
• Change and development • Employee feedback on
procedures human resource
department
FIGURE 1-11

Major Areas Covered in a Human Resource Audit

Table Summary: The table has 2 sections titled: Human Resource Management Information
and Staffing and Development.

Page 23

Preparing for the Future

Evaluations and audits are necessary, but they are backward-looking.
They uncover only the results of past decisions. Although past
performance should be evaluated, human resource departments also
should look to the future to be proactive. A proactive approach requires
HR managers and their staff to develop a future orientation. They must
constantly scan their professional and social environment for clues about
the future. New developments may mean new challenges.
 The Organization of
LO3
Human Resource
Management
The responsibility for human resource management activities rests with
each manager. If a manager does not accept this responsibility, then
human resource activities may be done only partially or not at all. This is
not to suggest that every manager needs to be a human resources
professional, but even when an HR team is created, the manager
continues to have a key role in enabling, following, and administering
HR practices.
Page 24
As noted earlier, a separate HR department or HR group usually emerges
only when human resource activities need to be coordinated in a manner
that cannot be done organically or when the expected benefits of a
human resource usually exceed its costs. Until then, managers handle
HR activities themselves or may delegate them to subordinates. When a
human resource department emerges, it is typically small and reports to
a middle-level manager. Figure 1-12 illustrates a common placement of
a human resource department at the time it is first formed. The activities
of such a department are usually limited to maintaining employee
records and helping managers find new recruits. Whether the
department performs other activities depends upon the needs of other
managers in the firm.
FIGURE 1-12

The Human Resource Department in a Small Organization

As demands on the department grow, it increases in importance and

complexity. Figure 1-13 demonstrates the increased importance by
showing the head of human resources reporting directly to the chief
operating officer, who is the company president in this figure. The
greater importance of the head of human resources may be signified by a
change in title to vice-president. In practice, increased complexity also
results as the organization grows and new demands are placed on the
department or as jobs in the department become more specialized. As
the department expands and specializes, it may become organized into
highly specialized subdepartments.
FIGURE 1-13

A Large Human Resource Department

The Service Role of the Human Resource

Department
Although they are organizational strategic partners, human resource
departments continue to be service and support departments. They exist
to assist employees, managers, and the organization. Their managers do
not have the authority to order other managers in other departments to
accept their ideas. Instead, the department has only staff authority,
which is the authority to advise, not direct, managers in other
departments.
Page 25

In contrast to staff authority, line authority, possessed by managers of

operating departments, allows these managers to make decisions about
production, performance, and people. It is the operating managers who
normally are responsible for promotions, job assignments, and other
people-related decisions. HR specialists advise line managers, who alone
are ultimately responsible for employee performance.
For something like recruitment and retention, the line manager may
provide details of performance standards and job success, interview job
candidates, and utilize the information provided by human resources to
make a final decision. The HR professional, on the other hand, will
ensure compliance with human rights laws and organizational policies
regarding equity in addition to planning and organizing all of the
activities related to recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and communicating
about a new employee. In the case of employee and labour relations, the
line manager is likely to communicate with employees, implement
motivational structures, coach employees, provide conflict resolution,
and promote teamwork. The HR professional is then left to focus on
establishing grievance handling procedures, negotiating with the
bargaining unit, and planning and initiating change initiatives. In short,
HR departments tend to provide technical expertise while line managers
use this expertise to effectively manage their subordinates.
In highly technical or extremely routine situations, the HR department
may be given functional authority. Functional authority gives the
department the right to make decisions usually made by line managers
or top management. For example, decisions about fringe benefits are
technically complex, so the top manager may give the HR department
the functional authority to decide the type of benefits offered to
employees. If each department manager were to make separate decisions
about benefits, there might be excessive costs and inequities. To provide
control, uniformity, and the use of expertise, functional authority allows
HR specialists to make crucial decisions effectively.

Today’s Human Resource

LO4
Management Professional
In the last 50 years, there has been a surge in the number of HR
managers. In 1971, there were only 4,055 human resource managers in
this country.101 In 2018, the corresponding number was more than
50,000.102 However, historically, the status of HR professionals within
organizations has not been high.
Despite its enormous growth, human resource management was slow to
evolve into a full-fledged profession. Since the actual capability of
practising HR experts varied widely, however, it became increasingly
evident that professionalism of the human resource management field
was needed.
In a recent study, a majority of CEOs reported that HR professionals
need to further develop business acumen and a deeper connection to the
business in order to enrich the value of HR.103 Furthermore, HR
professionals need to be well versed in data-driven decision making and
financial operations.104
To achieve these goals, accreditation and/or certification of the HR
professional was considered imperative. The Chartered Professionals in
Human Resources Canada is a collaborative effort of human resource
associations across Canada (except Ontario) that currently represents the
interests of most HR practitioners in this country and coordinates the
nationally recognized designation in HR called the Chartered
Professional in Human Resources (CPHR), based on a series of national
standards. Although the CPHR is granted by each provincial HR
association, it is recognized and transferable across Canada—except in
Ontario.
Based on extensive national and regional consultations with employers,
HR professionals, and researchers, CPHR Canada has identified a set of
competencies referred to as the “Chartered Professional in Human
Resources Competency Framework” in key HR areas, such as strategy;
engagement; labour and employee relations; learning and development;
human resource metrics, reporting, and financial management;
professional practice, workforce planning, and talent management;
health, wellness, and safe workplaces; and total rewards. These
standards are regularly being reviewed and updated. For a summary of
the requirements for the CPHR designation, see CPHR Canada.
Page 26
Ontario Human Resource Professionals are accredited through
the Human Resource Professional Association (HRPA). In Ontario, a
series of HR designations are available, including the Certified Human
Resources Professional (CHRP), Certified Human Resources Leader
(CHRL), and Certified Human Resources Executive (CHRE). Similar to
the CPHR, the designations available through the HRPA are based on a
set of competencies.
A third credentialing body for human resource professionals is
the International Personnel Management Association.
Certification or designation alone does not make human resource
management a profession or improve its status in the eyes of
organizations. One approach to improving the HR manager’s status
within the organization may be to strengthen the position’s contribution
to the enhancement of organizational performance and effectiveness.
This is already beginning to take place. The higher status given to HR
experts in job ads and organizational charts indicates that the
importance of human resource management activity is being recognized.
The roles and responsibilities of today’s HR professionals are quite
varied. In some cases, individuals serve as a “generalist,” helping
organizations in all aspects of their human resource needs. In other
situations, professionals end up specializing in a particular domain of
human resources such as compensation and benefits, job evaluation,
recruitment, or labour relations. In yet other contexts, HR professionals
are taking on more executive roles, leading major portfolios of
organizations. In short, the professional opportunities for HR specialists
are quite varied.

The Framework Used in This

Book
This textbook is divided into six parts.
PART 1: THE STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
MODEL offers a strategic model of managing human resources
in Chapter 1. The key objectives of the human resource function are
outlined here along with the steps for implementing a strategic HR
approach in practice.
PART 2: PLANNING HUMAN RESOURCES is contained in two
chapters. Chapter 2 deals with the important topic of job analysis—
detailing the various methods of collecting data about jobs and the steps
involved in writing job descriptions and job specifications and setting
performance standards. Chapter 3 discusses the various factors that
need to be considered when planning the supply of and demand for
human resources in organizations.
PART 3: ATTRACTING HUMAN RESOURCES deals with the various steps
in acquiring human resources. Chapter 4 details key provisions of
human rights legislation and the Canadian Constitution along with their
implications for hiring employees; it also discusses the issue of
diversity. Chapter 5 (Recruitment) and Chapter 6 (Selection) deal with
the various tools, options, and strategies open to the human resource
manager in attracting and selecting qualified applicants for the job.
PART 4: PLACING, DEVELOPING, AND EVALUATING HUMAN
RESOURCES deals with all key activities involved in orienting, training,
developing, and evaluating employees. Chapter 7 outlines the key steps
involved in the orientation and training of employees; it also focuses on
the development of employees to take on greater responsibilities in the
future, including career counselling to staff. Chapter 8 deals with various
appraisal techniques that help an organization to monitor and improve
employee performance.
PART 5: MOTIVATING AND REWARDING HUMAN RESOURCES discusses
the critical tasks of motivating and rewarding employees. Chapter
9 deals with direct compensation, including methods of evaluating the
worth of each job and the incentive schemes currently available. Chapter
10 discusses how careful planning enables an organization to make the
most of its benefits package. It also deals with various work options and
other arrangements that have implications for employee motivation.
PART 6: MAINTAINING HIGH PERFORMANCE focuses on the various
human resource actions to ensure high performance. Chapter 11 details
the methods of improving communication and enforcing discipline when
employees violate organizational policies. Chapter 12 discusses two
types of security offered by modern human resource departments:
financial and physical. Chapter 13 discusses strategies for dealing with
unions and outlines the human resource manager’s role during
negotiations with unions. Page 27
Spotlight on HRM
Human Capital: A Key to Canada’s Competitiveness
What makes an economy accelerate or stagnate? In answering this
question, many will point to key economic indicators such as real gross
domestic product (GDP), consumer price index (CPI), and consumer
confidence. Others may point to effective policy or the flow of goods and
services among the numerous individuals and companies in an economy.
Regardless of the micro- or macro-economic drivers, the shape of an
economy is highly influenced by people. It is people who set policy and
regulations. It is people who lead the many micro, small, medium, and
large organizations that make up our economy. It is people who purchase
or use the goods and services within an economy.
With people at the core of an economy, the importance of human
resources or human capital cannot be overstated. Part of the human
capital equation is productivity, that is, how much output an individual
can create in relation to the inputs. According to the Conference Board of
Canada, Canada scores a B for productivity and growth.a
At points in history, organizations have turned to technology as the basis
for improving productivity. Today, however, this approach is insufficient
for Canada to keep pace or to catch up with the productivity
improvements in other developed countries. The Conference Board of
Canada has pointed to the importance of innovation in strengthening
Canada’s productivity.b
Similar to productivity, human ideas and ambitions rest at the core of
innovation. As a result, an increased focus is being placed on the role of
human capital in creating long-term and sustainable productivity
improvements.
The role of human talent in creating long-term sustainable economic and
social benefits to organizations and communities through productivity
necessitates a collaborative and long-term approach among
organizations, governments, communities, and numerous other support
structures.
Among the key elements to creating innovation and, in turn, productivity
is education.c Because knowledge is a necessary precursor to realizing
the full potential of human capital in creating productivity
improvements, governments, communities, and education systems must
come together in developing and enhancing citizens’ overall knowledge
base. Canadian communities must also understand the importance of
life-long learning. Because of the time required for learners to progress
through education systems, a long-term approach to planning in relation
to the development of human talent must be taken.
More recently, we have seen growing examples of how productivity
enhancements are often found through new innovations. Similar to
developing a learning city, significant lead time and planning is needed
to create a community in which innovation thrives. Examples abound of
communities that have come together to create ecosystems in which
innovation and entrepreneurism are strong (e.g., Silicon Valley).

SUMMARY
The central challenge for organizations today is to thrive in a highly
complex and continuously changing world. To do this, most
organizations find it necessary to maintain high productivity and
effectiveness levels and to have a global focus. Strategic management of
organizations is one approach to adapting to a continually changing
global context. Human resource management aims to optimize the
contribution of employees to the organization’s goals. The field of human
resource management thus focuses on what managers and human
resource specialists do and what they should do.
This chapter pointed out that human resource management is the
responsibility of every manager. The HR department provides a service
to other departments in the organization. In the final analysis, however,
the performance and well-being of each worker is the dual responsibility
of that worker’s immediate supervisor and the HR department.
Strategic human resource management is systematically linked to the
strategic needs of an organization and aims to provide the organization
with an effective workforce while meeting the needs of its members and
other stakeholders. It is important that human resource strategies and
tactics are mutually consistent and provide direct support to the
organization’s mission, goals, and strategies. Even the best-conceived
strategies may fail if they are not accompanied by sound programs and
procedures and aligned with organizational strategies.
Strategic human resource management necessitates an exhaustive
evaluation of an organization’s internal and external environments. This
chapter discussed factors that should be reviewed before formulating
human resource strategies. These include economic, technological,
demographic, and sociocultural challenges. As well, the chapter pointed
out that continuous evaluation of strategy and proactive management
are critical to ensuring the successful management of human resources.
This section of the text has emphasized a strategic approach to human
resource management. This is because, increasingly, HR managers are
expected to contribute to the organization’s strategic thinking and be
strategic business partners to other executives in organizations.
Marketing, production, and financial strategies depend upon the abilities
of the firm’s human resources to execute these plans. The status of the
HR function within an organization is likely to be determined by its
contribution to the organization’s overall success. Strategic management
of human resources may be one key to this success. To assist with the
“people side” of implementation, HR professionals will be forced to
uncover, through audits and research, the causes of and solutions to
people-related problems. Their diagnostic abilities to assess present and
potential human resource issues will be needed as they and their staff
increasingly serve as internal consultants to others who are facing HR–
related challenges. They then will be called on to facilitate changes in the
organization that maximize the human contribution. In short, the
traditional administrative skills associated with human resource
management must grow to accommodate diagnostic, assessment,
consulting, and facilitation skills.
 PART 2

Planning Human Resources

This part introduces you to the important task of
planning for human resources. Chapter
2 discusses the various approaches to conducting
a job analysis. Steps used to create valid job
descriptions, specifications, and performance
standards are outlined in this chapter. Chapter
3 discusses the various factors that need to be
considered when forecasting the demand for and
supply of human resources. It also outlines
several popular techniques for making such
forecasts. Together, these two chapters help you
to identify the type, number, and degree of
sophistication of human resources needed by
your firm.
 CHAPTER 2
Job Analysis and Design*
Job analysis is considered by many HR practice
leaders to be a pivotal aspect of effective human
resources administration. It has the potential to
impact every major core competency area of HR.
SAGAR JIVANI1
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
1. LO1Describe the uses of job analysis information for human resource
professionals.
1. LO2Discuss the various steps in conducting job analysis and methods of job
data collection.
1. LO3Describe the contents of a job description and a job specification.
1. LO4Discuss the various approaches to setting performance standards.
1. LO5Define what competencies are and describe competency models.
1. LO6Outline the key considerations in job design.
In this part of the book, we will explain how knowledge about jobs and
their requirements must be collected through job analysis (see HR-
Guide.com) before any other HR functions can begin. From making the
right hiring decision, to developing training programs, to dismissing
employees who are not performing to expectations and more, decision-
makers need accurate information about a variety of aspects of the job in
question.
Job analysis and design knowledge is vital to the effective functioning of
an organization, as shown in the following example:
At Purolator, which employs 11,600 Canadians, including 3,000 couriers,
300 line-haul truck drivers, and 500 call centre operators, the Workers’
Compensation Board bill came in at $13 million. Purolator traced 90
percent of the workers’ compensation claims to employees in two
occupations: couriers and sorters. These two jobs require constant lifting,
hauling, pushing, and pulling, leading to soft tissue, orthopaedic, and joint
injuries—and the majority of the WCB claims. By conducting job analyses
for the 25 jobs where most of the injuries were occurring, Purolator was
able to identify suitable modified or transitional duties for injured workers.
Through its early and safe back-to-work initiative, Purolator was able to
reduce its lost day severity, total number of lost days, and number of
modified or accommodated days, and keep workers engaged within their
workgroups.2
Page 33

Jobs are at the core of every organization’s productivity. If they are not
well designed and done right, productivity suffers, profits fall, and the
organization is less able to meet the demands of society, customers,
employees, and other stakeholders.
For HR to be effective, there must be a clear understanding of the jobs
found throughout the organization. A job consists of a group of related
activities and duties. A job may be held by a single employee or several
persons. The collection of tasks and responsibilities performed by an
individual employee is called a position.
In a department with one supervisor, three animators, and 12
programmers, there are 16 positions, but only three jobs.
With hundreds—or even thousands—of positions, it is nearly impossible
for the human resource professionals in large companies to know the
details of every one. It is, however, unnecessary to collect information on
identical positions separately. Consider this example:
One transmedia storytelling company has 20 game developers. Each
position is the same. Rather than study each position separately, the job
analyst can collect data from a random sample of the positions to generate
an accurate understanding of the game developer job.

LO1 Uses of Job Analysis Information

Figure 2-1 lists major HR actions that rely on job analysis information.
For example, without job analysis information, HR specialists would find
it difficult to evaluate how environmental challenges or specific job
requirements affect employees’ quality of work life. To match job
applicants to openings, HR specialists must understand what each job
requires and know what information to place in job advertisements.
Similarly, compensation analysts cannot determine a fair salary without
detailed knowledge of each job. HR formalizes the collection, evaluation,
and organization of this information.
1. Careful study of jobs to improve employee productivity levels
2. Elimination of unnecessary job requirements that can cause
discrimination in employment
3. Creation of job advertisements used to generate a pool of qualified
applicants
4. Matching of job applicants to job requirements
5. Planning of future human resource requirements
6. Determination of employee onboarding and training needs
7. Fair and equitable compensation of employees
8. Identification of realistic and challenging performance standards
9. Redesign of jobs to improve performance, employee morale, and
quality of work life
10. Fair and accurate appraisal of employee performance
FIGURE 2-1

Major Human Resource Activities That Rely on Job Analysis Information

Table Summary: Summary

This chapter describes the information sought by job analysts and the
techniques to collect it.
LO2Steps in the Job Analysis
Process
Page 34
Job analysis has three phases: preparation, collection of job information,
and use of job information for improving organizational effectiveness
(see Figure 2-2). Each phase consists of several actions, discussed below.
FIGURE 2-2

The Job Analysis Process

Phase 1: Preparation for Job Analysis

Three key activities are performed in this phase:

Step 1: Become Familiar With the Organization

and the Jobs
Before studying jobs, it is important to have an awareness of an
organization’s objectives, strategies, structure, inputs (people, materials,
and procedures), and desired outcomes. Job analysis procedures are
influenced by the organization character, discussed in Chapter 1. In
unionized organizations, job analysis steps also have to meet the various
provisions of the collective agreement between the management and the
union (more details about this relationship are discussed in Chapter 13).
Job analysts may also study industry and government reports about the
jobs to be analyzed. In all instances, the intent is to collect relevant and
accurate information about jobs and factors determining job success.

Step 2: Determine Uses of Job Analysis

As shown in Figure 2-1, job analysis plays a critical role in many HR
functions. The most common uses of job analysis information are in the
recruitment process, the design of performance appraisal and
compensation systems, and training.3 Job analysis may also be done to
ensure fair treatment across all employee groups4 or to assist in job
redesign, as shown in the following example:
Jobs in traditional print journalism have declined dramatically. The
emergence of digital media in the newspaper industry beginning in the
early 2000s transformed the skills required by journalists. Although
writing, print design, and editing copy were the top three skills required
30 years ago and are still required today, multimedia skills including
multimedia production, video shooting, and social media skills are now
fundamental to many journalism jobs.5
The details collected during a job analysis are influenced by the
objectives of the study, so it is critical to define the objectives early on.

Step 3: Identify Jobs to Be Analyzed

Although almost all jobs might benefit from an in-depth analysis,
resource and time constraints often preclude organizations from
conducting job analyses. Likely targets of job analysis are jobs that are
critical to the success of an organization; jobs that are difficult to learn or
perform (to determine the extent of training); jobs in which the firm
continuously hires new employees (identification of clear job
requirements assumes great importance); or jobs that exclude members
of the protected classes described in Chapter 4. Jobs should also be
analyzed if new technology or altered work environments affect how the
job is performed (see HR Guide.com).
If inappropriate job requirements are used, the organization may even be
in violation of laws, as the following example illustrates:
Page 35

In the past, the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services required that all
successful job applicants be at least 175 centimetres (five feet, nine
inches) tall. After one of the applicants complained, the Human Rights
Board looked into the department’s selection practices and could not
find any correlation between the height of a firefighter and injuries or
employee productivity. The department was found to be in violation of
the Human Rights Act.6

Discriminatory practices for firefighters are prohibited as long as a person is able to do the
job. Women usually are able to carry less weight than men. Should that be taken into
account during hiring?

In general, senior management and all key supervisors of the firm should
be consulted before selecting jobs for in-depth analysis, as the jobs
selected for analysis can affect the firm’s strategic success and overall HR
policies (e.g., hiring, training). The type, number, and geographical
dispersion of the jobs selected for analysis also influence the choice of
data collection method.

Phase 2: Collection of Job Analysis

Information
This phase contains three interrelated activities: determining the sources
of job data, identifying the data required, and choosing the method for
data collection.

Step 4: Determine Sources of Job Data

Although the most direct source of information about a job is the
jobholder, various other sources— both human and nonhuman—may be
used for this purpose. Figure 2-3 lists alternative sources of job
information.
Nonhuman Sources Human Sources
Existing job descriptions and specifications Job incumbents
Equipment design blueprints Supervisors
Equipment maintenance manuals and records Job experts
Training and safety manuals Work colleagues
Organization charts and other company records Subordinates
National Occupational Classification Customers
Videos supplied by appliance/machine manufacturers
Professional journals/magazines/publications
Internet sources
FIGURE 2-3

Sources of Job Data

Table Summary: Summary

Occasionally, materials published in professional journals and magazines

provide information about how jobs are performed in other
organizations and settings. This information can be valuable when
establishing performance standards and benchmarks for quality.
The National Occupational Classification (NOC) in Canada (discussed in
greater detail later in this chapter), and the U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration’s electronic database,
the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), provide information on
various jobs. As well, the websites of several professional associations
and private consulting firms offer a wealth of material relevant to job
analysis and job descriptions.
Supervisors and those who know the job really well provide the most
valid information about the way jobs are performed.7 However, the job
incumbent and other parties can also provide important information
about jobs:
In the case of a salesperson, contacting past customers provides
additional insights about job behaviours. In the case of college or
university faculty, students may be able to provide important
information on in-class behaviours related to effective teaching
performance.

Step 5: Identify the Data Required

To study jobs, analysts must establish the data about the job that must be
known for the uses identified in Step 2. Figure 2-4 shows an outline of
types of information the job analyst may seek, which can be modified to
suit the needs of specific situations.
Page 36
A. Job Analysis Identification
1. Job analysis date
2. Job title
3. Department
4. Reports to
5. NOC code
6. Job analysis process (Describe the collection of job analysis
information)
7. Verification signatures
B. Duties
1. Job summary (Briefly describe the purpose of the job, its
scope, and how the job is done)
2. List duties and the proportion of time each involves:
a. %
b. %
c. %
3. What constitutes the successful performance of each of these
duties?
C. Responsibilities (What are the responsibilities involved in this job
and how great are these responsibilities?)
1. Decision-making authority (Level of discretion or authority
allowed under company policies, procedures, and practices)
2. Supervisory responsibility (Extent to which position controls,
directs, or is accountable for work of others)
3. Equipment operation (Use of tools and materials, protection of
equipment, tools, and materials)
4. Safety (Personal safety and safety of others)
5. Travel (Percentage of travel time expected for the position,
where the travel occurs such as local or in specific countries,
and whether the travel is overnight)
6. Other (Please specify)
D. Human Characteristics
1. What are the physical attributes or skills necessary to perform
the job and how important are they (unnecessary, helpful,
essential)?
i. Vision (near acuity, far acuity, depth perception,
accommodation, colour vision, field of vision)
ii. Hearing
iii. Tasting or smelling
iv. Talking
v. Walking
vi. Standing
vii. Lifting
viii. Climbing
ix. Kneeling, stooping, or crawling
x. Pulling or reaching
xi. Hand–eye coordination
xii. Height
xiii. Attention
xiv. Reading
xv. Arithmetic
xvi. Writing
xvii. Mental functions (such as comparing, copying,
computing, compiling, analyzing, coordinating,
synthesizing)
xviii. Money skill
xix. Other (Describe)
2. Describe the education or training requirements for the job
(Indicate levels of training, formal education, and required
credentials)
3. Outline the experience required for the job:
i. Amount of experience required in years
ii. Type of expertise (academic, technical, or commercial)
iii. Prerequisite job experience (list previous job titles)
iv. Specific expertise requirements (such as languages,
office or other equipment, required licences)
4. Describe the equipment used:
i. Office equipment (e.g., computer, specific software
capabilities)
ii. Hand tools (e.g., hammer, shovel, screwdriver)
 iii. Power tools (e.g., radial saw, reciprocating saw, drill,
pneumatic hammer)
iv. Vehicles (e.g., automobile, tractor, lift, crane)

E. Working Conditions
1. Describe the working conditions of the job including
environmental conditions and physical surroundings
encountered on the job:
i. Exposure to weather (hot, cold, wet, humid, or windy
conditions caused by the weather)
ii. Extreme cold or heat (exposure to non–weather-
related cold or heat temperatures)
iii. Wet and/or humid (contact with water or other liquids
or exposure to non–weather-related humid conditions)
iv. Noise (exposure to constant or intermittent sounds or
a pitch or level sufficient to cause marked distraction
or possible hearing loss)
v. Vibration (exposure to a shaking object or surface)
vi. Atmospheric conditions (exposure to conditions such
as fumes, noxious odours, dust, mists, gases, and poor
ventilation that affect the respiratory system, eyes, or
skin)
vii. Confined/restricted working environment (work is
performed in a closed or locked facility providing safety
and security for clients, inmates, or fellow workers)
2. Describe safety and health features:
i. Is there exposure to any hazards (such as high heights,
electrical shock, toxic or caustic chemicals)?
ii. Safety training requirements
iii. Safety equipment requirements
 F. Performance Standards
1. Describe how performance in the job is measured
2. Describe identifiable factors that contribute to successful
performance on the job
FIGURE 2-4

Information Sought in the Job Analysis

Table Summary: Summary

Page 37

Data requirements typically fall into the following six categories:

• IDENTIFICATION The information in this section includes job title,
division, and title of supervisor(s), and sometimes a job
identification number, such as an NOC code. Without these
entries, users of job analysis data may rely on outdated
information or apply the information retrieved to the wrong job.
Because most jobs change over time, outdated information may
misdirect other HR activities:
At IC&RC, the world leader in addiction-related credentialling, a new job
analysis for alcohol and drug counsellors was released in 2015. All new
candidates seeking the Alcohol and Drug Counsellor designation have to
complete a test based on the four domains revealed in the job analysis to
be essential for practice and knowledge in that field: screening,
assessment, and engagement; treatment planning, collaboration, and
referral; counselling; and professional and ethical responsibilities. The
job analysis for alcohol and drug counsellors is updated every five to
seven years to stay relevant to current trends and practices for
counselling people with alcohol and drug addictions.8
• Page 38
DUTIES A job analysis explains the purpose of the job, what the
job accomplishes, and how the job is performed. Often both a
summary and specific duties are listed to give detailed insight
into the position.
• RESPONSIBILITIES Questions on responsibility are expanded
significantly when the checklist is applied to management jobs.
Additional questions map areas of responsibility for decision
making, controlling, organizing, planning, and other
management functions.
 • HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS Besides information about the job,
analysts need to uncover the particular skills, abilities, training,
education, experience, and other characteristics that jobholders
need. This information is valuable when filling job openings or
advising workers about new job assignments.
• WORKING CONDITIONS Working conditions may explain the need
for particular skills, training, knowledge, or even a particular job
design. Likewise, jobs must be free from recognizable health and
safety hazards. Knowledge of hazards allows HR to redesign the
job or protect workers through training and safety equipment.
• PERFORMANCE STANDARDS Performance standards describe to
what level an employee needs to be doing the job to be a good
performer versus an average or a poor performer. This
information is collected on jobs with objective, measurable
standards of performance.

Step 6: Choose Method for Data Collection

There is no one best way to collect job analysis information. Analysts
must evaluate the trade-offs between time, cost, and accuracy associated
with each method. Once they decide which trade-offs are most
important, they use questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, employee
logs, observations, or some combination of these techniques.

Questionnaires
A fast and cost effective option is to survey sources using job analysis
questionnaires. These questionnaires are used to collect job information
uniformly. Questionnaires are particularly important when collecting
information from human sources. However, depending on the sources
surveyed, there can be issues associated with misunderstood questions,
incomplete responses, and low response rates. Using multiple sources
can help to get clear and comprehensive job analysis information.
Various standardized forms have been designed to collect job analysis
information. Four of the more popular ones are O*NET, Position
Analysis Questionnaire, Functional Job Analysis Questionnaire, and
Critical Incident Method:
• OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION NETWORK (O*NET) The O*NET
website contains generic questionnaires for specific domains of
information (e.g., abilities, generalized work activities, work
 context) that can easily be customized to particular
organizational needs and branded with the company logo.
• POSITION ANALYSIS QUESTIONNAIRE (PAQ) Designed to apply to
all types of jobs, the PAQ9 is a survey designed to determine the
degree to which 194 different task elements in six divisions
(information input; mental processes; work output, including
physical activities and tools; relationships with others; job
context, including the physical and social environment; and other
job characteristics, such as pace and structure) are involved in
performing a particular job. The PAQ allows grouping of job
elements in a logical and quantitative manner and enables easy
comparisons between jobs. Past research, however, has indicated
the PAQ to be more useful for lower level jobs.10 Job analysts
must purchase the PAQ for each job they analyze.
• FUNCTIONAL JOB ANALYSIS QUESTIONNAIRE (FJA) The
Functional Job Analysis Questionnaire is designed to classify jobs
based on types and amounts of responsibility for people, data,
and things. The questionnaire also identifies performance
standards and training requirements for each job.
• Page 39
CRITICAL INCIDENT METHOD (CIM) The CIM involves
identifying and describing specific events (or incidents) when an
employee performed really well and when that employee
performed very poorly (such as inducing an accident). From
these incidents, the job analyst identifies critical components of
the job relating to the situation leading up to the event, the
employee’s actions, the results of the employee’s actions, and the
effectiveness of the employee’s behaviour. The goal of the CIM is
to create a behaviourally focused description of work and related
performance standards, in particular, those that differentiate
excellent from average or poor performance.
When asked to provide critical incidents, train engineers from CP
Rail may recall a train derailment near Guernsey, Saskatchewan, on
February 6, 2020.11 The job analyst will ask the train engineers about
the behaviours and circumstances that led up to the event as well as the
duties and tasks that are necessary to prevent this type of incident.
The job analyst will translate descriptions of critical incidents into
specific job responsibilities, such as these for the position of train
engineer found on O*NET:
• Observe tracks to detect obstructions.
• Interpret train orders, signals, or railroad rules and regulations
that govern the operation of locomotives.
• Confer with conductors or traffic control centre personnel via
radiophones to issue or receive information concerning stops,
delays, or oncoming trains.12
For job analysis purposes, about 10 job responsibility statements will
suffice.

Interviews
An interview is an effective way to collect job information. The analyst
may use the job analysis questionnaire as a guide but can add other
questions as needed. Although the process is slow and expensive, it
allows the interviewer to explain unclear questions and probe into
uncertain answers. Typically, both jobholders and supervisors are
interviewed. The analyst usually speaks with a limited number of
workers first and then interviews supervisors to verify the information.
This pattern ensures a high level of accuracy. The validity of the
information received depends on the representativeness of the sample of
the respondents and on the types of questions used. For all of the
interviews, a structured list of questions similar to those that appear
in Figure 2-4 should be used.

Focus Groups
In a focus group, typically five to seven jobholders or others who are
knowledgeable about the job are brought together by a facilitator to
interactively discuss the job’s duties and responsibilities. Focus groups
are useful to allow ideas from participants to build off one another and to
gain consensus on job duties and responsibilities. One uncertainty,
however, is whether jobholders will be willing to share their opinions if a
supervisor is included in the focus group as well.

Employee Log
In an employee log, workers periodically summarize their tasks and
activities. If entries are made over the entire job cycle, the diary can
prove quite accurate. However, logs are not a popular technique because
they are time-consuming for jobholders and HR specialists, which makes
them costly. Managers and workers often see them as a nuisance and
resist their introduction. Moreover, after the novelty wears off, accuracy
tends to decline as entries become less frequent. Infrequently performed
tasks may be challenging to capture if they are not performed during the
span of keeping the employee log.

Observation
Another approach is direct observation. Accuracy of observations may
be low because the analysts may miss irregularly occurring activities, and
workers may perform differently when they know they are being
watched. But observation is the preferred method in some situations.
When analysts question data from other techniques, observation may
confirm or remove doubts. The existence of language barriers with
foreign-language-speaking workers may also necessitate the observation
approach.
In the famous Hawthorne studies, while trying to examine the effects of
lighting on productivity, observers found that employee performance
went up under conditions of bright light and light as dim as moonlight.
The conclusion? Employee performance went up because employees
knew they were being watched and interest was taken in their
performance, not because of lighting conditions.13
Page 40

Combinations
Since each method has its shortcomings, analysts often use a
combination of two or more techniques concurrently, especially if
locations are geographically dispersed.
A survey of 459 HR professionals revealed the most common job analysis
methods used in their organizations, as shown in Figure 2-5.14 Key
considerations in the choice of job analysis method should include
method–purpose fit, practical feasibility, cost, and reliability of the data
collected for making valid decisions.
FIGURE 2-5

Job Analysis Methods in Common Use

Phase 3: Use of Job Analysis Information

The information collected about various jobs is put into such usable forms as job
descriptions, job specifications, and job standards, and, more recently, competency
models. Together, these applications of job analysis information provide the
minimum human resource information system and data necessary to formulate
various HR strategies. The remainder of this chapter discusses using job analysis to
assist with job design.
Job Description
A job description is a written statement that explains the duties,
working conditions, and other aspects of a specified job.

LO3 Contents of a Typical Job Description

Within a firm, all the job descriptions follow the same style; between
organizations, however, form and content may vary. One approach is to
write a narrative description that covers the job in a few paragraphs.
Another typical style breaks the description down into several subparts,
as shown in Figure 2-6. This figure shows a job description that parallels
the job analysis checklist that originally generated the data (see Figure 2-
4).
Job Title: Retail Sales Associate NOC Code: 6421
Job Analysis Date: January 16, Department: Consumer
2021 electronics
Reports To: Sales Manager Signatures:
Job Summary: Sells a range of electronics products (e.g., TVs, computers)
directly to customers. Interacts with customers, promptly responding to
all inquiries with detailed and comparative product knowledge in a
courteous and efficient manner. Encourages the sale of company products.
Duties and Responsibilities:
• Greet customers and ascertain what each customer wants or
needs.
• Describe merchandise and explain use, operation, and care of
merchandise to customers.
• Recommend, select, and help locate or obtain merchandise based
on customer needs and desires.
• Display and stock merchandise on shelves.
 • Compute
sales prices, total purchases, and receive and process
cash or credit payment; balance accounts at the end of each
shift.
• Answer questions regarding the store and its merchandise,
product warranties, and delivery terms.
• Interact with the store’s gift registry database and Lightspeed
POS point of sale system, and respond to customer email
inquiries using Microsoft Outlook.
• Watch for and recognize security risks and thefts and know how
to prevent or handle these situations.
Working Conditions:
• Works in a well-ventilated retail store environment. Must be able
to work shifts.
FIGURE 2-6

Sample Job Description

Table Summary: Summary

A comprehensive job description for a retail sales associate can be found on O*NET OnLine.

The key parts of a job description are as follows: job identity, job
summary, job duties, and working conditions. Most job descriptions also
identify the author, the work supervisor, and the date on which it was
prepared.

Job Identity
The section on job identity typically includes job title, job location, job
code, job grade, and whether or not it is exempt from overtime laws.
A job code uses numbers, letters, or both to provide a quick summary of
the job and to provide comparisons between jobs. Figure 2-7 explains
the coding used in the National Occupational Classification (NOC). The
two major attributes of jobs that were used as classification criteria in
developing the NOC were skill level (amount and type of education and
training) and skill type (type of work performed). Four skill level
categories describe the educational and training requirements of
occupations. Skill type is defined generally as the type of work performed
and is divided into 10 broad occupational categories (0 to 9) in the
NOC. Figure 2-8 gives some sample NOC codes. Other factors, such as
industry and occupational mobility, were also taken into
consideration.15
When the First the Skill Type Category Is . . .
Digit Is . . .
1 Business, Finance, and Administrative Occupations
2 Natural and Applied Sciences and Related
Occupations
3 Health Occupations
4 Occupations in Education, Law and Social,
Community, and Government Services
5 Occupations in Art, Culture, Recreation, and Sport
6 Sales and Service Occupations
7 Trades, Transport and Equipment Operators, and
Related Occupations
8 Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Related
Production Occupations
9 Occupations in Manufacturing, and Utilities
When the Second the Skill Level and the Education Level Is . . .
Digit Is … Category Is . . .
1 Skill Level A University education
(Professional Occupations)
2 or 3 Skill Level B College education (Technical,
Paraprofessional, and Skilled
Occupations)
4 or 5 Skill Level C High school (Intermediate
Occupations)
 When the First the Skill Type Category Is . . .
Digit Is . . .
6 Skill Level D On-the-job training (Labouring
and Elemental Occupations)
FIGURE 2-7

NOC Skill Type and Skill Level Categories

Table Summary: "The table has 2 sections titled: The first has 2 columns titled, When the First
Digit Is . . .; the Skill Type Category Is . . .. The second has four columns titled: When the
Second Digit Is . . . the Skill Level Category Is . . . and the Education Level Is. . ."

SOURCE: Based on Employment and Social Development Canada, National Occupation Classification.
Reproduced with permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2011.
NOC Coding System. A two-digit code is assigned at the major group level.
A third digit is added at
the minor group level, and a fourth digit is added at the unit group level.
For example:
• Major Group 31—Professional Occupations in Health
• Minor Group 314—Professional Occupations in Therapy and
Assessment
• Unit Group 3142—Physiotherapists

Using the above coding system, some sample occupations with codes
include:
0211 Engineering Managers
0212 Architecture and Science Managers
2231 Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians
4163 Marketing Consultant–Market Research
6531 Tour and Travel Guides
4012 Tutor–Post-Secondary Teaching Assistant
5241 Graphic Designers and Illustrators
 1226 Conference and Event Planners
1123 Professional Occupations in Advertising, Marketing, and Public
Relations
FIGURE 2-8

Examples of NOC Unit Groups and Codes

Table Summary: Summary

SOURCE: Based on Employment and Social Development Canada, National Occupation Classification.
Reproduced with permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2011.

Job Summary and Duties

Following the job identification (in Figure 2-6), the next part of the
description is the job summary. It summarizes the job in a few sentences,
telling what the job is, how it is done, and why.
Page 41

Then, in a simple, action-oriented style, the job description lists the job’s
responsibilities or duties. In essence, this section explains what the job
requires. The effectiveness of other HR actions depends upon this
understanding because each major duty is described in terms of the
actions expected.

Working Conditions
A job description also explains working conditions, which may go
beyond descriptions of the physical environment. Hours of work, safety
and health hazards, travel requirements, and other features of the job
expand the meaning of this section.

Approvals
Because job descriptions affect most HR decisions, their accuracy should
be reviewed by selected jobholders and their supervisors. Then,
supervisors are asked to approve the description. This approval serves as
a further test of the job description and a further check on the collection
of job analysis information.
There are many form-fillable templates available online to assist in
creating job descriptions. A variety of template formats can be found
at templatelab.com/job-description/. Employment and Social
Development Canada (ESDC) has a downloadable handbook to guide
generating job descriptions on the NOC website.

Job Specifications
Page 43
Whereas the job description focuses on the job tasks and duties, the job
specification indicates the human knowledge, skills, abilities, and other
characteristics (KSAOs) necessary to do a job. These requirements
include experience, training, education, and physical and mental
demands. Whether part of a job description or a separate document, job
specifications include the information illustrated in Figure 2-9. The data
to compile specifications also come from the job analysis checklist.
Job Specification—Retail Sales Associate
Job Title: Retail Sales Associate NOC Code: 6421
Job Analysis Date: January 16, Department: Consumer
2021 electronics
Reports To: Sales Manager Signatures:
Education: High school diploma or equivalent
Experience: Prior selling experience of 1 year in a consumer goods
industry is desirable
Knowledge:
• Customer and Personal Service—Knowledge of principles and
processes for providing customer and personal services
(including assessing customer needs, meeting quality standards
for services, and evaluating customer satisfaction)
• Sales and Marketing—Knowledge of principles and methods for
showing, promoting, and selling products or services (including
marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales
techniques, and sales control systems)
• English Language—Knowledge of the structure and content of the
English language, including the meaning and spelling of words,
rules of composition, and grammar
• Mathematics—Knowledge of arithmetic, statistics, and their
applications
 Job Specification—Retail Sales Associate
Technology Skills:
• Database User Interface and Query Software: Gift registry
software
• Email Software: Microsoft Outlook
• Point of Sale (POS) Software: Lightspeed POS
Skills:
• Active Listening—Giving full attention to what other people are
saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking
questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate
times
• Persuasion—Persuading others to change their mind or behaviour
• Speaking—Talking to others to convey information effectively
• Service Orientation—Actively looking for ways to help people
• Negotiation—Bundling product offerings together and achieving
optimal sales
FIGURE 2-9

Sample Job Specification

Table Summary: Summary
A comprehensive job description for a retail sales associate can be found on O*NET OnLine.
A job specification should include specific tools, actions, experiences,
education, and training (i.e., the individual requirements of the
job).16 For example, it should describe “physical effort” in terms of the
special actions demanded by the job. “Lifts 40-kilogram bags” is better
and more specific than “Lifts heavy weights.” Clear behaviour statements
give a better picture than vague generalities. Specifications of mental
effort help HR experts to determine the intellectual abilities needed to
perform the job. Figure 2-9 contains several examples of the kind of
information about physical and mental efforts needed by customer
service representatives working for a retail store.
Page 44
Do the working conditions make any unusual demands on jobholders?
The working conditions found in job descriptions may be translated by
job specifications into demands faced by workers. Figure 2-10 provides
examples for the job of hospital orderly and helps to show how tasks and
duties from a job description can produce human requirements for a job
specification. It shows that a simple statement of working conditions
found in the job description can have significant implications for
jobholders. For example, compare points 2 and 3 in the job description
column with points 2 and 3 under job specifications.
Hospital Orderly
Job Description Job Specification
Statement of Working Interpretation of Working
Conditions Conditions
1. Works in physically 1. This item on the job
comfortable description makes no
surroundings demands on jobholders.
2. Deals with physically 2. Exposed to unpleasant
ill and diseased situations and communicable
patients diseases
3. Deals with mentally ill 3. May be exposed to verbal and
patients physical abuse
FIGURE 2-10

Translation of Working Conditions for Job Description to Job Specification

Table Summary: The table has a primary column titled Hospital Orderly which is
further divided into 2 sub columns for Job Description and Job Specification.

© Evgeniy Zhukov/Shutterstock

The job specifications for this worker should clearly state that working outdoors under
extreme conditions is a regular part of the job. What consequences could there be if that
information was not provided?

LO4Job Performance
Standards
Job analysis has a third application: job performance standards. These
standards serve two functions. First, they become objectives or targets
for employee efforts. The challenge or pride of meeting objectives may
serve to motivate employees. Once standards are met, workers may
appreciate their accomplishment and achievement. Second, standards
are criteria against which job success is measured. They are
indispensable to managers or HR specialists who attempt to promote
good work performance. Without standards, there is no yardstick for
good versus average or poor job performance.
Job performance standards are developed from job analysis information,
and then actual employee performance is measured. When measured
performance strays from the job standard, corrective action is taken. The
corrective action, in turn, may result in changes in either the standards
(if they were inappropriate) or feedback to improve actual job
performance.
TD Bank made headlines after anonymous salespeople suggested that
they were pressured to make sales “by not acting in their customers’ best
interest, behaving unethically, and sometimes breaking the
law.”17 Performance standards were reviewed to determine whether
they needed to be lowered to serve customers’ best interests, or whether
employees required additional training to meet customer interests along
with sales targets.
Page 45

When the standards are wrong, they alert managers and HR specialists
to problems that need correction. The example also underscores the need
for keeping job analysis information current.
Spotlight on HRM
Job Descriptions Can Help Meet New Hires’ Expectations of the Job
Sixty-one percent of employees participating in a survey by Glassdoor
said aspects of their new job differed from expectations set during the
hiring process. Employee morale was most commonly cited to be
different from what new hires expected, followed by job responsibilities,
work hours, and the supervisor’s personality.
When job expectations are unmet, it can lead to a psychological contract
breach, where the new employee feels that the organization failed to meet
its promises.
Job postings and information conveyed by recruiters during hiring
should both accurately reflect the duties, responsibilities, and working
conditions of the job. However, some aspects of the job can be difficult to
convey, such as company culture and characteristics of the work group
and supervisor. How can you create a comprehensive job description to
minimize unmet new hire expectations? Beyond the job description, how
else can you ensure that new hire expectations are met on their first day?
Job performance standards are obtained either from job analysis
information or from alternative sources. For example, industry
standards may be used as benchmarks for performance in certain jobs
(especially service functions such as HR).18 Job analysis information is
usually sufficient for jobs that have the following features:
• Performance is quantified.
• Performance is easily measurable.
• Performance standards are understood by workers and
supervisors.
• Performance requires little interpretation.
Jobs with short work cycles often exhibit these features. An example is
an assembly-line job. For these jobs, questions on the job analysis
checklist may generate specific, quantitative answers. When confirmed
by supervisors, this information becomes the job performance standard.
In the case of some service jobs, quantifiable “outputs” may not be
readily available; but even here, performance can be appraised by
looking at the behaviours of the jobholders. More details of performance
standards will be discussed in Chapter 8.

LO5 Competency Models

More recently, competency-based job descriptions and specifications
have become increasingly popular. A competency is a knowledge, skill,
ability, or behaviour required to be successful on the
job.19 Competencies are broader in scope than the KSAOs discussed
earlier in this chapter; examples are interacting and presenting, leading
and deciding, and creating and conceptualizing.20 A competency model
(competency framework) describes a group of competencies required in
a particular job, with typical jobs defined with between 10 and 15
competencies. Competency models can be developed for individuals,
specific jobs, teams, work units, or the total organization.
Page 46

There are three key differences between competency-based job analyses

and other forms of job analyses. First, whereas duties or tasks might
apply only to a single job within an organization, competencies might be
job spanning, meaning that they contribute to success on multiple jobs
(or even all jobs) within the organization. All jobs within the organization
may require a particular competency, albeit how the competency should
be enacted for strong performance will vary across jobs.
A product knowledge competency may span multiple jobs, including
sales associates and product maintenance staff. However, product
knowledge may be demonstrated differently in the varying roles.
Whereas sales associates might demonstrate their product knowledge by
answering customer inquiries on product features, prices, services, and
delivery terms, product knowledge for maintenance staff might include
troubleshooting when a product is not functioning properly.
A second difference is that job-spanning competencies may vary in
importance across job roles. A competency matrix lists different levels
of skill for a combination of competencies and indicates to what level
multiple jobs across the firm should have mastery of each
competency. Figure 2-11 shows an example of a competency matrix in
an engineering firm. Each of the six competencies is measured at seven
levels (Level 1 being the lowest; Level 7, the highest). Employees may be
expected to possess all competencies, albeit to varying degrees. An
engineer may be required to possess high technical expertise and
medium problem-solving abilities, whereas a manager may have to
possess more sophisticated higher problem-solving skills and lower
levels of technical expertise; both are expected to have adequate
communication abilities. Use of a competency matrix shifts the focus
from performing specific duties to developing broader skills. It also
empowers employees to assume new responsibilities. Such a system
must be supported by an effective training and development strategy and
a competency-based compensation system. These will be discussed in
later chapters.
FIGURE 2-11

An Example of a Competency Matrix in an Engineering Firm

Table Summary: Summary

A third distinct feature of competency-based job analyses is that

competencies contribute not only to job performance but also to the
success of the organization. Competencies explicitly support the firm’s
vision, strategic direction, and values.
At the YMCA of Greater Toronto, seven association-wide competencies
and seven leadership competencies support the organization’s vision,
values, and strategic plan, and they are the foundation for all jobs. The
14-competency framework helps employees to understand what is
expected of them, how to be successful, and how they will be rewarded.
These competencies are used in job descriptions, training and
development, recruitment and selection, performance evaluation, and
succession planning. They are also a critical component used in the Y’s
employment branding.21
Some organizations have used competencies as the foundation for job
design, new performance management systems, selection and career
paths, compensation, training, and development. Competencies are
identified after a careful analysis of the work of high performers and a
thorough examination of the organization’s strategic direction. This may
be done through observation, listings of critical incidents at work,
interviews, focus groups, employee logs, or otherwise, and by examining
the organization’s mission, vision, and values.22 In generating job-
 specific competencies, the process of data collection and sources
discussed earlier in the chapter for job analysis will be useful. Consistent
with job analysis, the process for generating the competency model
should be well documented.23
However, it is important to offer one cautionary note: When
competencies become increasingly job-spanning and are no longer
supported by specific duties and tasks, the legal defensibility of decisions
based on these competencies is unknown. As competency models are
tested within the legal system in Canada over the coming years, HR
professionals will have a better indication of how broad or narrow
competencies can be to support their staffing practices and decisions and
to avoid unintentional discrimination. Page 47
Spotlight on ETHICS
Job Design, Supply Chain, and Company Values
A small Canadian wild foods company prides itself on providing specialty
restaurants with hand-picked wild and foraged ingredients. It promises
customers wild fruits and vegetables, and foraged mushrooms, herbs,
teas, honey, and nuts without needing to clear or till land, plant seeds, or
irrigate. Many of the staff work on short-term contracts during the short
foraging seasons. They hike into various backcountry territories, being
knowledgeable about where to find and how to identify and pick the
specific products they forage for (e.g., morel mushrooms), often camping
out in the woods during the foraging season.
Relying only on picking and foraging products in the Canadian climate
means that not all products are available throughout the year. The
company is considering adding a greenhouse to stabilize its product
supplies, but the greenhouse would go against the original value
proposition made by the company of only wild and foraged foods.
Moreover, a different skill set would be required for employees in a
greenhouse versus those required for foraging (e.g., hiking, product
identification, withstanding insects).
Is it possible for the company to (a) be profitable, (b) provide consistent
year-round supplies to its customers, (c) meet its wild and foraging
promises, and (d) create jobs that are meaningful and yet provide a living
for employees? How might the company best move forward?
LO6 Job Design
Worldwide competition, complex technology, and increasing worker
expectations have necessitated the redesign of many jobs. Technological
advances have brought about a revolution that has changed millions of
jobs. While some jobs have grown more challenging, others are
increasingly being automated or eliminated altogether. And yet, despite
this vast increase in automation and computerization, human resources
have become more, not less, important in today’s organizations. For
example, the cost of human error in a nuclear plant or in flying a
supersonic jet can be enormous. Whether it is the high-speed computer
or the traditional auto assembly plant now run by robotics, the
contribution of human beings continues to be critical. Indeed, new
technologies may be dangerous or unforgiving when operated by
uncommitted or poorly skilled persons.
A good example of human error is the meltdown in the reactor of the
Chernobyl nuclear power station in April 1986 in Ukraine, caused by a
faulty test execution. The explosion released 100 times more radiation
than the atomic bomb explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The long-
term impact to the health of over 7 million people is still unfolding. The
contamination stretched to Norway and Germany.
Page 48
How well people perform is shaped, at least in part, by the characteristics
designed into their jobs. Not only is productivity affected, but quality of
work life is also tied to job design.24 Jobs are the central link between
employees and the organization. Poorly designed jobs not only lead to
low productivity but can cause employee turnover, absenteeism,
complaints, sabotage, unionization, and other problems. One high-end
purse and bag maker’s experience of redesigning jobs is noteworthy in
this context:
At Louis Vuitton, each worker had narrowly defined responsibilities,
such as cutting leather or canvas, attaching zippers or buckles, and
stitching seams. Each worker performed a specific function and sent the
product to the next person in the line of 20 or 30 workers. The result was
that no one was responsible for completion of a single product. Vuitton
moved to a team-based design where workers were trained to complete
multiple tasks and could shift production quickly according to consumer
demands. Workers learned new skills, job satisfaction went up, and the
time to produce the same bag dropped from eight days to one day.25
In this case, the company had to consider the various environmental,
organizational, and employee-related factors before redesigning the jobs.
Typically, job redesign results in some trade-offs. Under the new
structure at Vuitton, each worker needed to have knowledge of several
activities. Therefore, more training for these workers was necessary.
And, as the workers became more qualified, the company needed to pay
them higher salaries.
Figure 2-12 illustrates five critical elements that deserve consideration
when designing jobs: organizational, ergonomic, employee, job
specialization, and environmental. Each is discussed below.
FIGURE 2-12

Key Considerations in Effective Job Design

Organizational Considerations
Simply put, each job should contribute to the overall organizational
objectives effectively and efficiently. The overall organizational mission
is accomplished through a series of interrelated tasks or activities. If the
organization is to remain successful and grow, these tasks and activities
should be performed in a timely, effective, and efficient manner. This
involves two interrelated concepts: efficiency and work flow.

Efficiency
High task efficiency is concerned with achieving maximum output with
minimum expenditure of time, effort, or other resources. As discussed
earlier, time standards are established by recording the time needed to
complete each element in a work cycle. Industrial engineers study work
cycles to determine which, if any, job elements can be combined,
modified, or eliminated to reduce the overall time needed to perform the
task. Task specialization was suggested as a key strategy to improve
efficiency. According to these engineers, when workers are limited to a
few repetitive tasks, output is usually higher because specialized jobs
lead to short job cycles. The automotive industry is a good example of
such industrial engineering practices:26
For example, an assembly-line worker may pick up a headlight, plug it
in, twist the adjustment screws, and pick up the next headlight within 30
seconds. Completing these tasks in 30 seconds means this worker’s job
cycle takes half a minute. The job cycle begins when the next headlight is
picked up.
Page 49

Headlight installation is a specialized job, so specialized that training

takes only a few minutes. The short job cycle means that the assembler
gains much experience in a short time. Said another way, short job cycles
require small investments in training and allow the worker to learn the
job quickly. Training costs remain low because the worker needs to
master only one job.
The above approach stresses efficiency in effort, time, labour costs,
training, and employee learning time. Today, this technique is still
widely used in assembly operations. But the efficient design of jobs also
considers such organizational elements as work flow, ergonomics, and
work practices.

Work Flow
The work flow in an organization is strongly influenced by the nature of
the product or service. The product or service usually suggests the
sequence of, and balance between, jobs if the work is to be done
efficiently. For example, the frame of a car must be built before the
fenders and doors can be added. Once the sequence of jobs is
determined, the balance between jobs is established:
Suppose it takes one person 30 seconds to install each headlight. In two
minutes, an assembler can put on four headlights. If, however, it takes
four minutes to install the necessary headlight receptacles, the job
designer must balance these two interrelated jobs by assigning two
people to install the receptacles. Otherwise, a production bottleneck
results. Therefore, the work flow demands two receptacle installers for
each headlight installer.

Ergonomic Considerations
Optimal productivity requires that the physical relationship between the
worker and the work be considered in designing jobs. Derived from the
Greek words ergo meaning “work” and nomos meaning
“laws,” ergonomics in a general sense means the “laws of work” and
focuses on how human beings physically interface with their
work.27 The study of ergonomics is multidisciplinary, using principles
drawn from biology (especially anatomy and physiology), the
behavioural sciences (psychology and sociology), and physics and
engineering. Although the nature of job tasks may not vary when
ergonomic factors are considered, the locations of tools, switches, and
the work product itself are evaluated and placed in a position for ease of
use. In other words, ergonomics focuses on fitting the task to the worker
in many instances rather than simply forcing employees to adapt to the
task.28
On an automobile assembly line, for example, a car frame may actually
be elevated at a work station so that the worker does not become fatigued
from stooping. Similarly, the location of dashboard instruments in a car
is ergonomically engineered to make driving easier.
Attention to details of work settings can lead to significant improvements
in efficiency and productivity:
As seen in this video clip, Ford uses state-of-the-art manufacturing and
job design techniques—including industrial engineering, ergonomics,
and behavioural considerations. Cars pass through the assembly line on
hydraulic lifts that allow employees to raise or lower the cars to suit their
own height. Employees are allowed to ride the platform to minimize
their steps walking to and from cars, thereby conserving energy.
Ergonomic considerations are also important to maintaining safety in
the workplace. Job analysis data can provide doctors with information
about the job to determine an injured employee’s ability and timeline to
safely return to work. Job analysis data are also used to provide work
options to employees during their recovery from an illness or
injury.29 Ignoring a proper fit between work station and worker can be
catastrophic.
In Canada in 2018, 264,000 lost time claims were reported to the
provincial Workers’ Compensation Boards. These claims came at a cost
to Canadian firms of $6.68 billion.30 A significant percentage of these
accidents stemmed from poor workplace or task design.

© Adam Gault/age fotostock

If an employee has to remain in a seated position for many hours, an ergonomically correct
seat and a suitably placed monitor are essential. What are other benefits of ergonomic
considerations?
Page 50

Ergonomics will become more important in the future as the Canadian

workforce ages:
Because aging results in a decrease in several hand functions (e.g., grip
strength, precision), lowered muscular strength, and reduced vision and
hearing, the need for ergonomics-based work improvements to reduce
physical demands will be higher than ever before. Items such as
mechanical assists for lifting (e.g., tilters, vacuum lifts) and for assembly
(e.g., screw guns, adjustable tables) will be essential. Such improvements
will also be needed for lighting arrangements and size of character
displays in terminals to respond to older workers’ diminished visual
capabilities.31
Employee Considerations
Jobs cannot be designed by using only those elements that aid efficiency.
To do so overlooks the human needs of the people who are to perform
the work. Instead, job designers draw heavily on behavioural research to
provide a work environment that helps satisfy individual needs. In
general, jobs have to be designed not only to maximize productivity but
also to help employees achieve better work–life balance.32
This section briefly describes the job characteristics model, shown
in Figure 2-13, which discusses the importance of high autonomy,
variety, task identity, feedback, and task significance in a job design
context.33 According to this model, these five characteristics result in
three psychological states: meaningfulness, responsibility, and
knowledge of outcomes. Employees who find themselves in jobs that
provide these experiences tend to have higher motivation, job
satisfaction, and productivity, and lower absenteeism and turnover.

FIGURE 2-13

The Job Characteristics Model

Autonomy
Autonomy refers to the concept of assuming responsibility for what one
does. It is the freedom to control one’s response to the environment.
Jobs that give workers the authority to make decisions tend to increase
employees’ sense of recognition, self-esteem, job satisfaction, and
performance. The absence of autonomy, on the other hand, can cause
employee apathy or poor performance:
In the online marketing field, Chase Sagum provides his recruits with
autonomy on multiple fronts to avoid losing them to his competition.
Rather than concern himself with how much time employees spend on
personal social media sites or watching videos, he focuses only on
whether his employees get their job tasks done and done well.
Additionally, he provides employees with a sizable credit card budget
and autonomy in choosing their technology, and allows them to assign
tasks up to him when changes are needed.34
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Variety
A lack of variety may cause boredom. Boredom in turn leads to fatigue,
and fatigue causes errors. By injecting variety into jobs, HR specialists
can reduce fatigue-caused errors. Past research studies have found that
variety in work may be related to effective performance and can be a
major contributor to employee satisfaction.

Task Identity
One problem with some jobs is that they lack any task identity. Workers
contribute to one part of the piece of work but do not get to point to a
complete piece of work. They have little sense of responsibility, may lack
pride in the results, and have little sense of accomplishment. When tasks
are grouped so that employees feel they are making an
identifiable contribution—to see the job through to completion—job
satisfaction may be increased significantly.
In the earlier Louis Vuitton example, we saw that productivity and
satisfaction increased when employees became responsible for an
identifiable and sensible group of tasks.
Feedback
When jobs do not give the workers any feedback on how well they are
doing, there is little guidance or motivation to perform better.
For example, by letting employees know how they are doing relative to
the daily production quota, Louis Vuitton gives workers feedback that
allows them to adjust their efforts. Providing feedback leads to improved
motivation.

Task Significance
Closely related to the above dimensions is task significance. Doing an
identifiable piece of work makes the job more satisfying for employees.
Task significance, knowing that the work is important to others within
the organization or outside it, makes the job even more meaningful for
incumbents. Their personal sense of self-importance is enhanced
because they know that others depend on what they do. Pride,
commitment, motivation, satisfaction, and better performance are likely
to result.
A good example was the Porsche car company. Mechanics who
assembled complete engines punched their names into the engine block,
an action that was for them a source of extreme pride but also was useful
for feedback purposes. Rationalization eliminated this procedure,
resulting in lower satisfaction, lower quality, and higher turnover.

Job Specialization Considerations

As workers become more educated and affluent, routine jobs that are
very specialized, such as assembly-line positions, hold less and less
appeal for many people. These jobs seldom offer opportunities for
accomplishment, recognition, psychological growth, or other sources of
satisfaction. To increase the quality of work life for those who hold such
jobs, HR specialists often use a combination of job rotation, job
enlargement, job enrichment, and employee involvement and work teams.

Job Rotation
Job rotation moves employees from job to job. Jobs are not actually
changed; only the workers are rotated. Rotation breaks the monotony of
highly specialized work by calling on different skills and abilities. The
organization benefits because workers become competent in several jobs
rather than one. Knowing a variety of jobs improves self-image, provides
personal growth, and makes the worker more valuable to the
organization.
The shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic gave employees at Quail’s
Gate Winery in British Columbia the opportunity to try out many
different jobs at the winery. Staff who usually work in the storefront and
offer tastings to patrons were given the chance to work on the vines,
work with the wine makers, conduct maintenance and cleaning tasks,
and deliver food from the restaurant. The result is a greater knowledge of
operations at the winery, cross-training to cover for future absences and
vacancies, and a strong sense of loyalty to the organization for creatively
keeping all staff employed when not all jobs were possible.
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A caution about the use of job rotation: it does not improve the jobs, as
the relationships between tasks, activities, and objectives remain
unchanged. It may even delay the use of more effective techniques while
adding to training costs. Implementation should occur only after other
techniques have been considered.

Job Enlargement
Job enlargement expands the number of related tasks in the job. It adds
similar duties to provide greater variety although the duties are not more
complex. Enlargement reduces monotony by expanding the job cycle and
drawing on a wider range of employee skills.
When looking to prevent musculoskeletal injuries in poultry processing,
the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that risk
factors were reduced when employees were cross-trained so that
sufficient support was available for peak production, to cover breaks, and
when job enlargement programs were instituted.35

Job Enrichment
Job enrichment adds new sources of needs satisfaction to jobs. It
increases responsibility, autonomy, and control. Adding these elements
to jobs is sometimes called vertical loading. Enrichment views jobs as
consisting of three elements: plan, do, and control. Whereas job
enlargement (or horizontal loading) adds more related tasks, enrichment
(vertical loading) attempts to add
more planning and control responsibilities. This, coupled with rethinking
the job itself, often leads to increased motivation and other
improvements:
For over 20 years, Statistics Canada has sampled information from over
6,000 Canadian workplaces about workforce characteristics and job
organization, with specific questions regarding decision-making, quality
circles, teams, suggestion programs, feedback, and self-directed work.
Two researchers used the data to determine whether enriched jobs result
in higher motivation and job satisfaction. The study included feedback
from 43,917 employees. The results strongly support the hypothesis that
enriched jobs increase motivation and satisfaction.36
When the diagnosis indicates that jobs are unchallenging and limit
employee motivation and satisfaction, HR professionals may find job
enrichment to be the most appropriate strategy. However, job
enrichment techniques are merely tools, and they are not applicable
universally.

Employee Involvement and Work Teams

To increase employee involvement at the workplace, work teams are
often used. Work itself is increasingly being organized around teams and
processes rather than activities or functions. A survey by Lee Hecht
Harrison Knightsbridge revealed that 92 percent of leaders view teams as
critical for workplaces to be successful.37 Self-managed and
autonomous work teams have become a normal part of many Canadian
organizations, including CIBC, Xerox Canada, and Vancity. These and
other employee involvement approaches are discussed in detail
in Chapter 11. The intent of all such approaches, however, is to provide
more autonomy, feedback, and task significance to workers, and they
may also lead to increased innovation:
Multinational giant IBM uses innovation portals in the form of specially
designated chat rooms, where employees with new ideas or projects can
recruit team members, secure resources, or tap into location or domain
expertise across the entire firm within hours. More than 90,000 IBM
employees have worked on these global teams, decreasing project launch
times from six months to 30 days.38
As in the case of job enrichment, employee involvement and teams may
not be appropriate for all organizations or all situations. The
introduction of team management, if not accompanied by changes in
other systems (e.g., performance appraisal, compensation), may cause
frustration. To be successful, top management has to be truly committed
to the notion of employee empowerment—that is, granting employees
the power to initiate change and take charge of what they do.
Page 53

Use of Job Families in HR Decisions

Often, in the context of job design, HR looks at job families rather than
single jobs. Job families are groups of jobs that are closely related by
similar duties, responsibilities, skills, or job elements. The jobs of barber,
hairstylist, hairdresser, and cosmetologist constitute a job family, for
example.
Job families can be constructed in several ways. One way is by careful
study of existing job analysis information. Matching the data in job
descriptions can identify jobs with similar requirements. A second
method is to use the codes in the National Occupational Classification
discussed earlier in this chapter. Similarities in the job codes indicate
similarities in the jobs. A third approach is to use the PAQ, also
discussed earlier in this chapter, and statistically analyze information on
tasks and worker traits to identify clusters of similar jobs.
Job families allow HR to plan job rotation programs and make employee
transfer decisions. The compensation levels of jobs that form a family
should also be comparable; this means that equitable compensation
strategies cannot be formed without considering the entire job family. In
some instances, it may also be economical to use similar recruitment
methods and sources to hire individuals who belong to the same job
family.

Environmental Considerations
The environments within which the firm and job exist also need to be
considered when redesigning jobs. As with most HR activities, job
designers cannot ignore environmental considerations—the influence
of the external environment, which affects workforce availability, values,
and practices.
Workforce Availability
Efficiency considerations must be balanced against the abilities and
availability of the people who will actually do the work. An extreme
example underlines this point:
Governments of less developed countries often think they can “buy”
progress. To be “up to date,” they seek the most advanced equipment
they can find. Leaders of one country ordered a digital oil refinery,
necessitating a level of technology that exceeded the abilities of the
country’s available workforce. As a result, these government leaders
hired expatriate Europeans to operate the refinery.
In less developed nations, the major risk is jobs that are too complex. But
in industrialized nations with highly educated workers, jobs that are too
simple can produce equally disturbing problems.
For example, even when unemployment rates are high, many simple and
overly specialized jobs are sometimes hard to fill, as longstanding job ads
for janitors attest.

Social Expectations
The acceptability of a job’s design is also influenced by social
expectations. For example, working conditions that would have been
acceptable to some early Canadian immigrants are no longer acceptable
to our present generation.
When rail lines were being laid across Canada, many persons were
willing to work long hours of hard labour. They had fled countries where
jobs were unavailable, which made a job—any job—acceptable to them.
Today, industrial workers are much better educated and have higher
expectations about the quality of work life.
Even where work flow might suggest a particular job design, the job must
meet the expectations of workers. Failure to consider these expectations
can create dissatisfaction, poor motivation, and low quality of work life.
Work Practices
Work practices are set ways of performing work. These methods may
arise from tradition or from the collective wishes of employees. HR’s
flexibility to design jobs may be constrained, especially when such
practices are part of a union–management relationship. Failure to
consider work practices can have undesired outcomes.
Job analysis identified process changes for cereal production companies
in Turkey that could save 75 percent of the labour cost of enterprise in
logistics activities and reduce the total time of packaging and loading by
47 percent.39 However, new work practices would have to be adopted by
employees before these efficiencies could be realized.

Job Analysis in the Gig

Economy
Page 54
Global competition, fast technological obsolescence, changing worker
profiles, and rapid increases in knowledge requirements for various jobs
have made accurate and timely job descriptions difficult. Many
employees are no longer responsible for producing specific outcomes;
rather, they are members of teams entrusted with many responsibilities.
Other employees work short-term contracts rather than work at
permanent jobs. Another trend is towards job crafting, where employees
are allowed to customize the work they do for an organization according
to their preferences and strengths. When job crafting is done to increase
job resources and add challenging job demands (as opposed to removing
hindrances), the result is higher work engagement and less burnout.40
How do organizations that operate in fast-changing environments
conduct valid job analyses? How can the task and person requirements
identified today be relevant for an unknown tomorrow?
Of course, there are no simple solutions. A few attempts have been made
to meet these challenges. One strategy has been to adopt a future-
oriented style when describing job activities and specifications. Rather
than asking what the current jobholder does, the focus is on what the
jobholder must do to effectively carry out and further organizational
strategies and the new competencies required of the jobholder. Thus,
present and future requirements, rather than past actions, guide job
descriptions and the hiring and training of employees.
Regardless, job analysis will continue to be relevant for legal compliance
and defensibility in the event of a court action.41 Traditional sources of
information (such as jobholders and supervisors) may, however, need to
be supplemented by data emerging from customers, peers, and technical
experts to incorporate the ever-changing job demands.

SUMMARY
Job analysis information provides the foundations for many other HR
functions, such as recruiting, training, and compensation. Analysts seek
to collect specific data about jobs, jobholder characteristics, and job
performance standards. Job analysis information can be collected
through interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, employee logs, direct
observation, or some combination of these techniques. Once collected,
the data are compiled into job descriptions, job specifications, and job
standards. Competencies have emerged as another approach to
collecting job information.
Job analysis information is used for job design. Essential elements of job
design include organizational considerations (such as efficiency and
work flow), ergonomic considerations, employee considerations (such as
autonomy, feedback, variety, task identity, and task significance), job
specialization (and increasing quality of work life through job rotation,
job enlargement, job enrichment, and work teams), along with
environmental considerations (such as workforce availability, social
expectations, and work practices).
 CHAPTER 3

Human Resource Planning

... a methodological process of analyzing the
current workforce, determining future workforce
needs, identifying the gap between the present
and the future, and implementing solutions so
that the organization can accomplish its mission,
goals, and objectives.
ANDREW MAYO1
Page 58
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
1. LO1Explain the importance of human resource plans for strategic
success.
1. LO2Describe the human resource planning process.
1. LO3Discuss methods for estimating an organization’s demand for
human resources.
1. LO4Explain the various methods of estimating a firm’s supply of
human resources.
1. LO5Identify solutions to shortages or surpluses of human resources.
1. LO6Discuss the major contents of a human resource information
system (HRIS).
1. LO7Explain how data and analytics has contributed to enhancing HR
service delivery.
In Chapter 1, we addressed how different organizational strategies and
tactical plans require different human resource practices, strategies, and
tactics in order to be successful. In this chapter, we elaborate on this
concept by addressing human resource planning—a fundamental step in
strategic human resource management. Recall that strategic human
resource management enables leaders and HR professionals alike to
align the human resource systems, policies, and practices to the
organizational strategy. Human resource planning, in turn, enables
organizations to ensure that the right people are in the right place at the
right time to support the completion of organizational strategies. It is
also the opportunity to consider whether there is a gap in the current HR
practices and procedures to enable success in the organization’s strategic
plan. Perhaps more than any other HR activity, planning allows HR
specialists to be proactive and strategic. Planning is a critical HR
process—particularly over the long term, since without planning, an
organization may find itself with an office without the employees or the
business processes to run it effectively. HR plans themselves range from
simple frameworks based on past trends to highly sophisticated
modelling based on live-time data analytics. Regardless, it is important
that some form of planning exists.
Page 59
In 1924, International Business Machines was created. Better known today
as IBM, the company has made major shifts in business strategy over the
last 95 years. With origins in creating and manufacturing hardware
(including clocks), IBM has undertaken a strategy of “making markets by
transforming industries and professions with data.”2 To undertake a
strategy focused on big data and data analytics, an appropriate shift in
human resources would have needed to take place to ensure that the right
individuals with the right skill sets were in place well in advance of
executing this strategy. Without an appropriate human resource plan, the
leaders at IBM would likely be addressing the age old phenomena. That is,
they would be rushing to hire people in a reactive way rather than in a
proactive way.

LO1Relationship of Human
Resource Planning to
Strategic Planning
Human resource planning (HRP) is a strategic and proactive process
used to determine future human resource requirements and the business
processes that will be needed to support and enable those resources by
anticipating future business demands, analyzing the impacts of these
demands on the organization, determining the current availability of
human resources and the applicable business processes, and making
decisions on how to effectively adapt and utilize firms’ human resources.
HRP helps identify what human resources are needed to ensure that the
organization can respond to change and provides plans to help the
organization respond effectively.3 Although the term human resource
planning has been used interchangeably with other terms, such
as employment planning, human capital planning, and human capital
management, the process of human resource planning has expanded well
beyond simply predicting the number of employees an organization will
need. Because of the interdependence of organizational strategy and
human resources, HR planning is often referred to as strategic human
resource planning (SHRP).
One major objective of human resource planning is to ensure that the
organization has the right people with the right skills at the right time in
order for the organization to fulfill organizational objectives.4 Simply
putting the right people in the right place at the right time, however,
does not ensure success. Having the appropriate human resource
practices in place to create the right environment and enable and motivate
people to do the right things is equally important. Complementing the
“people resource” element, planning also involves planning for the
appropriate HR practices and activities. For example, consider an
organization that is planning a major expansion into a new market when
employees are resistant to change, lack trust in leadership, and have
generally low morale. In a case like this, human resources will need to
figure out how to attract, hire, and retain more employees while
simultaneously developing and implementing strategies to improve the
organization’s culture.
By anticipating the number and types of employees and the activities
that will be needed, HR leaders help improve the utilization of human
resources, attempts to achieve economies of scale by securing the right
type of resources, and aligns its activities with the organization’s overall
strategic direction.
However, getting the right people in the right place at the right time does
not ensure organizational success. For discussion purposes, this chapter
focuses on creating a workforce plan and introduces concepts and tools
that will be more fully developed throughout Part 2 of the text. Enabling
and motivating “people” resources to do the right things is the focus
of Part 3 of this text.

Linking Strategy to Planning

In Chapter 1, we outlined a number of forces—both internal and
external—that would impact an organization’s ability to successfully
achieve its goals. Adopting a strategic focus on HR enables managers to
proactively anticipate the long-term “people” and “process” needs of an
organization and to create a human resources strategy that brings those
elements together. It is important to recognize, however, that a firm’s
long-range strategic plan is accomplished by the thoughtful execution of
a series of short-range tactical (or operational) plans that focus on
current needs and operations. Purchasing a new information
management system to improve efficiency, recalling a defective product,
and managing inventory more effectively are some examples of tactical
activities. Whatever the plan, it is made and carried out by people, which
necessitates the proper staffing of an organization. As such, each tactic
also requires managers and leaders to consider short-range HR needs.
Page 60

Consider the interaction between performance consulting and digital

learning. Performance consulting is a systems approach to enabling
people in their jobs by focusing on the knowledge, skills, and abilities
they need to successfully improve on a performance problem.5 In many
cases, organizations will turn to asynchronous, online, modular, and on-
demand learning to enable these new skills.6 Organizations that operate
using traditional classroom-based learning and performance
management systems would need to pivot their short-term human
resource needs to adapt to current technology and approaches to enable
long-term HR goals.
When Nordstrom, an upscale U.S. retailer, announced that it would
open a flagship store in Toronto, the underlying HR system would have
gone to work. To be ready to execute this major initiative, Nordstrom
must have had the proper staff available with specific skills. For example,
to staff its stores, Nordstrom needed retail clerks, managers,
merchandisers, and cashiers. In addition, it required regional managers,
a country manager, and an executive to oversee this expansion.7
Figure 3-1 shows the relationship between an organization’s strategic
plans and its human resource plans. As illustrated, the overall
organizational strategy defines the human resource objectives that are
accomplished through the implementation of appropriate human
resource plans. Successful organizations—both large and small, and
public as well as private—recognize the importance
of intellectual or human capital. An effective human resource plan is a
critical tool to take advantage of this valuable asset.
FIGURE 3-1

Relationship Between Strategic and Human Resource Plans

HR Planning Can Vary From Capturing

Basic Information to Live-Time Predictive
Analytics
Organizations are unique; they use different approaches for planning the
allocation of human resources. It is typical to expect that, as
organizations grow, they develop more robust planning practices, largely
due to the significant impact on labour costs. Large Canadian employers,
such as ONEX (170,000 employees), George Weston (140,800
employees), Magna International (169,000 employees), and RBC Royal
Bank (85,000 employees), pay considerable attention to employment
planning since even a one percent increase or decrease in the total
workforce can result in significantly different labour costs. In some
cases, organizations have hired “chief human resources officers,”
asserting that organizations need to bring together strategy, research,
data, planning, and employee engagement and well-being to create high-
performance organizations.8 However, this type of planning is
exceptional. Some organizations think very short term, their planning is
informal, and their resource plan is static. For illustrative purposes, one
may consider these differences in terms of four levels of sophistication.
NO FORMAL PLANNING In these companies, HR activities tend to be
done in a reactionary way. Recruitment and hiring are done based on the
immediate needs of the organization. Little attention is given to how
talent development and motivation support better organizational
outcomes. In these organizations, human resource professionals may be
seen as “firefighters.”9 In very small companies, such as a sole
proprietorship or small family business, the absence of HR planning may
not create large scale problems. For larger organizations, however, the
absence of HR planning can become very expensive because of poor
decisions.
Page 61

BASIC PLANNING These organizations recognize the need to plan for

their human resources. Planning activities may be a mix of proactive and
reactionary. Planning will be driven by hiring managers and focused on
the immediate and short-term (1–2 years) needs of a particular
workgroup. Planning is often based on the number of employees
(headcount) and that the number of employees is based on some
“standardized” workload per employee. HR professionals may be
involved, but are not fully integrated into the planning environment.
ADVANCED PLANNING These organizations will make a direct
connection between the organization’s strategic plan and strategic
human resource planning initiatives. Planning will balance the
immediate needs and anticipate needs 3–5 years in advance. Employee
mobility through promotion and development will be integral to the
planning process. Trends that are described in Chapter 1 will be a key
factor in making planning decisions. HR professionals will be integral to
the planning process and planning will consider needs among and
between different workgroups. These organizations will likely be
supported by a functional human resource information system (HRIS).
SOPHISTICATED PLANNING Senior HR professionals are integral to the
organization’s strategic planning process. This enables strategic human
resources to both inform the development of organizational strategy and
support it more effectively once the organization’s strategy is set.
Planning will effectively balance the organization’s immediate needs with
its future (5+ years out) needs through a robust and integrated talent
management system. In addition to a robust HRIS, these organizations
will often rely on third-party expertise and technologies to supplement
their internal planning process.10 Examples include cloud-based digital
infrastructure as well as large scale data and predictive analytics to
create predictive modelling. Strong system evaluations enable long-range
planning to be continuously improved.
For example, some organizations turn to companies like SAP to create
software solutions to predict certain events, such as employee
turnover.11 This has created a new challenge for HR professionals—
namely, how to use data analytics without creating concern from
employees.12

This is not to suggest that all organizations eventually progress through

the levels. In some cases, an organization may not make it past no
planning. This may be due to a lack of knowledge or simply a lack of
time.
According to the Chartered Institute for Personnel Development, HR
analytics is using people-centric data in analytic procedures to solve
business problems.13 In creating evidence-informed decisions, the field
of HR is still coming into its own. Some authors argue that the primary
challenge for HR is to use data at all, simply because the appropriate
type of data doesn’t exist in most companies today.14
The remainder of the chapter is going to focus on the workforce planning
portion of strategic human resource planning (see Figure 3-2): the
process of putting the right people in the right place at the right time.
This process is complemented by creating the right environment, which
will be developed robustly in Part 3 of the text. The discussion begins
with a look at factors causing human resource demand, followed by
strategies to estimate demand and supply and match current and future
supply with demand. The chapter ends with a brief look at human
resource information systems (HRIS), the importance of using these
systems to manage talent, and the various ways we can use the
information to effectively utilize our human resource capabilities.

FIGURE 3-2
The Workforce Planning Process
Table Summary: Summary

LO2The Human Resource

Planning Process
As seen in Figure 3-2, human resource planning is a process with a
specific order of activities helping managers to focus on the issues that
are most important so they can plan effectively to ensure that
organizational objectives are met.
Page 62

The steps are as follows.

Step 1: Forecast Demand for Resources

This activity answers the following questions: How many human
resources will we need? When will we need them? Where will we need
them? It forecasts demand by looking at the many factors that cause
labour need to exist and uses various forms of forecasting techniques.

Step 2: Assess Supply of Resources

This phase assesses the internal and external supply of labour. It answers
these questions: What resources do we have available both inside the
organization and in the external environment? What skills and
competencies do these resources possess? What skills and
competencies will these resources need?

Step 3: Develop HR Objectives

This step identifies what the planners expect to accomplish as a result of
their actions. Planners carry out an analysis to determine the differences
between demand and supply, and write HR objectives that will
determine the choice of programs.

Step 4: Design and Implement Workforce

Systems to Balance Demand and Supply
Here the planners decide what types of human resource programs will be
developed to achieve their objectives. These programs attempt to balance
demand and supply. For example, if the organization is projecting a
shortage, it may choose to outsource or use overtime, or, if a surplus is
expected, it may decide to allow employees to job share as opposed to
downsize.

Step 5: Establish and Conduct Evaluation

With any process it is important to evaluate its effectiveness, using some
form of quantitative or qualitative measurement. Evaluation of the
process answers this question: Is there a tangible link between
investments in human resource programs and organizational
sustainability, and, if so, to what degree?15
Forecasting Labour Demand
A challenge facing organizations is that “people” resources are rarely in a
state of being perfectly balanced. Because organizations and their
environments are continually changing, organizations quite likely will
find themselves in a position of having either too many employees or not
enough. This underscores the importance of effective human resource
planning. While it may not completely eliminate it, a good HR plan
reduces the risk of being out of balance. To have an effective HR plan,
organizations need to have a clear understanding of what they need in
terms of employees, what they have, and what the difference is between
the two. Moreover, a good HR plan will identify and anticipate shifts in
either an organization’s demand or its supply of human resources.
The best place to begin is to forecast the need for resources. To this end,
we need to consider the factors that cause a demand to exist.

Forecasting: Identifying the Causes That

Will Drive Demand
To understand how to forecast demand, we need to consider what would
cause an organization’s need for employees or specific skill sets to change
in one direction or another. Note that the examples provided are not
exhaustive but, rather, provide some illustration of what may impact
human resource demand. As well, some forces may create either an
undersupply or an oversupply, depending on other factors. For example,
sales projections may create an oversupply if sales projections are falling
or an undersupply if sales projections are increasing. Some of these
causes are within the organization’s control, and others are not. Human
resource forecasts are attempts to predict an organization’s future
demand for employees.

Strategic Plan
As discussed earlier in the text, the organization’s strategic plan commits
the firm to long-range objectives, such as growth rates, new products,
markets, or services. These objectives determine the numbers and types
of employees needed in the future. Obviously, a fast-growing firm has
more beginning-level vacancies. The number of higher-level openings
also depends on how well the HR department assists employees to
develop their capabilities. If workers are not encouraged to expand their
capabilities, they may not be ready to fill future vacancies.

Demographic Impacts
In Chapter 1, a series of demographic impacts were identified, including
age and gender. Like national, regional, or even local demographics, each
organization will have a demographic profile of its own. This profile
helps inform HR leaders regarding impending changes in their
workforce. For instance, HR leaders may capture the average age of
employees against the average retirement age to gain insight into future
retirements. Consider the impact of the shrinking population of
Newfoundland and Labrador on employability and on the cost of health
care.16
Page 63

A key consideration for an organization's demographic profile is the role

of equity, diversity, and inclusion in HR systems. With more than 30
percent of individuals who identify with a diverse group having
experienced some form of discrimination in the workplace,17 effective
human resource planning needs to consider not only the current and
desired demographic profile of the organization, but also the conscious
and unconscious biases of hiring managers and HR professionals that
may systemically impact the organization’s demographic profile.

Turnover
Turnover is the departure of employees from an organization. In some
cases, such as resignations, the decision to leave the organization is made
by the employee. In other cases, the employer makes the decision, such
as in terminations. In yet other cases, the turnover may be temporary
(e.g., leaves of absence). Turnover may be functional (i.e., good) or
dysfunctional (i.e., bad). Regardless of the cause, effective human
resource planning needs to be prepared to understand and predict
employee departures as well as possible. At the end of April 2020, the
annual resignation rate in Canada was down to 7 percent, largely due to
the disrupted labour market caused by COVID-19.18 In stark contrast,
two years earlier in February 2018, the number of employees voluntarily
leaving their jobs in the United States was at the highest point in 17
years; this was due to individuals’ confidence that they would find
another job because of a strong U.S. economy.19

Legal Changes
Changes occurring in social, political, and legal spheres are easier to
predict, but their implications are seldom clear. As demographics
change, so do employee attitudes toward work and their employers. The
impact on human resource planning of the Canadian Human Rights Act,
passed more than 40 years ago, is still somewhat unclear. Major judicial
verdicts, changes in employment laws (such as minimum wages),20 and
federal and provincial government regulations all have great implications
for the human resource planner. Although many large firms have
established employment equity programs, the results of a change from
the notion of equal pay for equal work to that of equal pay for work of
equal value (see Chapter 4) will have profound implications.

Technological Changes
Technological changes, which are normally difficult to predict, can affect
both demand for, and supply of, human resources and appropriate HR
practices and tools.21 As an example, many thought the computer would
mean mass unemployment. While it is true that digitization and
automation have eliminated certain types of jobs, the high-tech and
electronics industry today employs hundreds of thousands of people and
is a high-growth business. In some cases, it is the high-tech jobs that are
in the highest demand. An example is the artificial intelligence
sector.22 Very often, technological changes tend to reduce employment
in one department while increasing it in another, making planning
tricky. The rapid automation, digitization, and technology of many work
activities may necessitate new skills on the part of employees.
A study by McKinsey notes that automation may affect 50 percent of the
world economy or 1.2 billion employees and 14.6 trillion wages.23
The World Economic Forum predicted that 75 million jobs would be
displaced by automation, however, 133 million jobs would be created by
automation by 2022.24

Competitors
Competitors affect an organization’s demand for human resources,
though not in any uniform manner. Employment in some of the
traditional sectors (such as the steel industry) barely grows because of
foreign competition and a push for productivity improvement. But in the
high-tech and electronics industries, competition causes lower prices,
larger markets, and additional employment. In yet other cases, the
arrival of a competitor may create demand because employees leave to
work for the competitor or an organization fails to compete.

Budgets and Revenue Forecasts

Budget increases or cuts are the most significant short-run influence on
human resource needs. Related to budgets are revenue forecasts. While
less exact than budgets, revenue forecasts may provide even quicker
notice of short-run changes in human resource demand.
If a sharp decline in sales were to occur, retailers might quickly discard
the short-run human resource plan and impose an employment freeze.
Consider Bombardier’s needing to potentially lay off hundreds of
workers because the company was not successful on a bid to build new
trains for the city of Montreal.25
Historical sales and production forecasts can be used as the operational
index to which HR planning forecasts its future human resource
demands.
Page 64

New Ventures
New ventures mean new human resource demands. When initiated
internally to the organization, the lead time may allow planners to
develop short-run and long-run employment plans. But new ventures
begun by acquisitions and mergers cause an immediate revision of
human resource demands. A reorganization, especially after a merger or
an acquisition, can radically alter human resource needs. Several
positions or jobs may have to be eliminated to avoid duplication, while
new integrating roles may have to be created for the smooth operation of
merged units.
For example, consider the takeover of Whole Foods by Amazon in 2017.
Following the takeover, employees began to fear the deployment of
drones, which would lead to layoffs.26
Organizational and Job Design
Changes in the organization structure have major implications for
human resource needs. In some cases, new roles may be created. In
others, roles may be eliminated.
Prior to 2014, Nokia, a Finnish company, was heavily invested in the
cellphone market. Recognizing that it could no longer be profitable in the
device market, Nokia sold its interests in cellphones to Microsoft. In
doing so, Nokia swung more heavily into the networking equipment
industry. After buying out a partnership with Siemens, Nokia shifted its
strategy, corporate structure, business plan, and management team—all
resulting in a need for the HR team at Nokia to pivot and adapt.27

Forecasting Techniques for Estimating

LO3
Human Resource Demand
As Figure 3-3 shows, forecasting techniques range from the informal to
the sophisticated. Even the most sophisticated methods are not perfectly
accurate; instead, they are best viewed as approximations. Most firms
make only casual estimates about the immediate future. As they gain
experience with forecasting human resource needs, they may use more
sophisticated techniques (especially if they can afford specialized staff).
Expert Trend Other
• Informal and • Extrapolation • Budget and
instant planning
decisions analysis
• Formal expert • Indexation • New-venture
survey analysis
• Delphi technique • Statistical • Simulation
analysis models
FIGURE 3-3

Techniques for Estimating Future Human Resource Needs

Table Summary: Summary

Each of the forecasting methods in Figure 3-3 is explained below.

Expert Forecasts
Expert forecasts rely on those who are knowledgeable to estimate future
human resource needs. At the first level of complexity, the manager may
simply be convinced that the workload justifies another employee. The
idea that workload justifies a recruit illustrates an informal and instant
and often inaccurate forecast. The primary risk in doing so is that it is
not part of a systematic planning effort. A better method is for planners
to survey managers, who are the experts, about their department’s future
employment needs, identify differences in perspectives, and place the
data in context. The centralization of this information permits formal
plans that identify the organization’s future demand.
The survey may be an informal poll, a written questionnaire, or a focused
discussion using the nominal group technique (NGT).28 The NGT
presents a group of managers with a problem statement, such as, “What
will cause our staffing needs to change over the next year?” Then each of
the participants writes down as many answers as possible. These ideas
are then shared in round-table fashion until all written ideas and any
new ones they stimulated have been recorded. The group’s ideas are then
discussed and ranked by having each member of the group vote for the
three to five most important ones.29
If the experts cannot be brought together, sophistication can be added to
the survey approach with the Delphi technique.30 This technique
solicits estimates from a group of experts, usually managers. Then HR
planners act as intermediaries, summarizing the various responses and
reporting the findings to the experts. The experts are surveyed again
after they get this feedback. Summaries and surveys are repeated until
the experts’ opinions begin to agree on future developments. The main
difference between the two techniques is that in the NGT they meet face-
to-face, whereas in the Delphi technique they utilize a lead coordinator to
collect, summarize, and disseminate the information to and from the
experts.
Page 65

Trend Projection Forecasts

Perhaps the quickest forecasting technique is to project past trends. The
two simplest methods are extrapolation and
indexation. Extrapolation involves extending past rates of change into
the future. For example, if an average of 20 production workers were
hired each month for the past two years, extrapolation indicates that 240
production workers will probably be added during the upcoming year.
Indexation is a method of estimating future employment needs by
matching employment growth with a selected index. A common example
is the ratio of production employees to sales. For example, planners may
discover that for each million-dollar increase in sales, the production
department requires 10 new assemblers. The relevant business factor
here is sales figures in dollars. That is, an overall productivity index for
all relevant sales personnel is computed. This ratio, with appropriate
modifications, enables the firm to estimate its demand for personnel for
the next period. However, the growth or decline rate in the labour force
may be different during growth and downsizing periods (typically, the
growth of the management tier happens at a somewhat faster pace than
its compression). When using indexation, this factor must be recognized.

By analyzing the staffing needs of existing oil rigs, planners of a new rig can forecast their
human resource needs until changes in technology occur. How can planners react to
shortages of skilled staff?
Extrapolation and indexation are crude, short-run approximations
because they assume that the causes of demand—external,
organizational, and workforce factors—remain constant, which is seldom
the case. They are inaccurate for long-range human resource projections.
More sophisticated statistical analyses make allowances for changes in
the underlying causes of demand, yet still do not provide the predictive
power of data analytics described shortly.

Other Forecasting Methods

There are several other ways planners can estimate the future demand
for human resources with more accuracy.

Budget and Planning Analysis

Organizations that need human resource planning generally have
detailed long-range plans, short-term operational plans, and budgets to
support those plans.
A study of long-range planning may show planned growth or contraction.
Analysis of these plans plus extrapolations of workforce changes
(resignations, terminations, and the like) can provide short-run
estimates of human resource needs. Short-term operational plans along
with budgets can then be used to validate these projections.

New-Venture Analysis
When new ventures complicate employment planning, planners can
use new-venture analysis, which requires planners to estimate human
resource needs by comparison with firms that already perform similar
operations.
For example, an integrated steel company that owns steel plants and iron
ore mines decides to explore iron ore at a new site. The management can
estimate its employment needs in the new mine by looking at
employment levels of other iron ore mines and making necessary
adjustments for productivity improvements.

Simulation and Predictive Models

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As we discussed earlier, the most sophisticated organizations use robust

technology to forecast effectively. Data analytic models are a series of
mathematical formulas and algorithms that simultaneously use
extrapolation, indexation, survey results, and estimates of workforce
changes to compute future human resource needs. They simulate and
forecast changes in demand for human resources caused by various
internal and external factors.
A study conducted by PwC revealed that 41 percent of HR professionals
believe they are up to speed on the role of emerging technology and its
use for HR. In contrast, only 25 percent of business leaders surveyed
were confident that HR professionals held a firm grasp on emergent
technologies. Regardless, HR professionals need to advance in this
arena.31

Converting a Forecast Into Human

Resource Requirements
Forecasts translate the causes of demand into short-range and long-
range statements of need. The resulting long-range plans are, of
necessity, general statements of probable needs. Specific numbers are
either omitted or estimated. To summarize forecasts, organizations often
create staffing tables.
A staffing table may be a specific number or an approximate range of
needs, depending on the accuracy of the underlying forecast. Staffing
tables are neither complete nor wholly accurate; they are only
approximations. But these estimates allow HR specialists to match short-
run demand and supply. They assist HR departments in writing HR
objectives, they help operating departments run more smoothly, and
they can enhance the image of the HR department with specific
estimates of future human resource needs, allowing HR specialists to
become more proactive and systematic.
For example, a review of Figure 3-4 shows that the city’s HR department
must hire 32 police academy recruits every three months. This
knowledge allows recruiters in the HR department to plan their
recruiting campaign so that it peaks about six weeks before the
beginning of the next police academy class. The advanced planning
allows the department to screen applicants and notify them at least three
weeks before the class begins. For those still in school or otherwise
unable to be ready that quickly, recruiters can inform them when the
following class begins. If the HR department waited for the police
department to notify them, notification might come too late to allow a
 systematic recruiting and screening process. Staffing tables enable
recruiters to be proactive and to better plan their activities.

Metropolis City Government Staffing Table

Date Compiled:
Budget Job Title (as Using Anticipated Openings by Month of the Year
Code found on Department(s) Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Number job
description)
100-32 Police Police 128 32 32 32 32
Recruit
100-33 Police Police 3 2 1
Dispatcher
100-84 Meter Police 24 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Reader
100-85 Traffic Police 5 2 1 1 1
Supervisor
100-86 Team Police 5 2 1 1 1
Supervisor—
Police
(Sergeant)
100-97 Duty Police 2 1 1
Supervisor—
Police (Staff
Sergeant)
100-99 Shift Police 1 1
Officer—
Police
(Inspector)
200-01 Car Washer Motor Pool 4 1 1 1 1
200-12 Mechanic’s Motor Pool 3 1 1 1
Assistant
200-13 Mechanic III Motor Pool 2 1 1
200-14 Mechanic II Motor Pool 1 1
200-15 Mechanic I Motor Pool 1 1
(Working
Supervisor)
300-01 Clerk IV Administration 27 10 5 6 6
FIGURE 3-4

A Partial Staffing Table for a City Government

Table Summary: The table has four primary columns. The fourth columns titled: Anticipated Openings by
Month of the Year is further divided into 13 sub columns.

LO4The Supply of Human

Resources
Page 67

Once the HR department makes projections about future human

resource demands, the next major concern is filling projected openings.
There are two sources of supply: internal and external. The internal
supply consists of present employees who can be promoted, transferred,
or demoted to meet anticipated needs. The external supply consists of
talent from outside the organization that can be hired or contracted.

Internal Supply Estimates

Estimating the internal supply involves more than merely counting the
number of employees in an organization. Planners audit the present
workforce to learn about the capabilities of present workers. This
information allows planners to tentatively estimate which openings can
be filled by present employees. These tentative assignments usually are
recorded on a replacement chart. Considering present employees for
future job openings is important if workers are to have careers with their
employer and feel engaged. The patterns of employee transitions among
jobs must be carefully assessed and taken into consideration. Audits,
replacement charts, and employee transition matrices (more popularly
called Markov analysis and discussed in detail below) also are important
additions to the HR department’s information base. With greater
knowledge of employees, the department can more effectively plan
recruiting, training, and career-planning activities. The HR department
can also help meet its employment equity goals by identifying internal
minority candidates for job openings.
An economic force that is making internal supply estimates more
difficult is the increase of voluntary temporary work, or the gig economy.
This is because transitions in and out of roles in an organization are
happening faster, leading to greater complexity in prediction. Temporary
work will be discussed more fully later in the chapter.

Human Resource Audits

Human resource audits summarize the employees’ knowledge, skills, and
abilities. They generate skills, management, and leadership inventories
that, in turn, facilitate the preparation of a replacement chart and
replacement summaries. Following is a brief discussion of skills
inventories in the context of human resource planning.

Skills Inventories
An inventory catalogues the capabilities found in the organization’s
workforce. Skills inventories may be applied to both managerial and
nonmanagerial roles.
A skills inventory will bring together data about specific employees. This
may include, but is not limited to, an employee’s educational history,
work history, extra-work experiences, core skills, knowledge, abilities,
and key project accomplishments. From these profiles, planners learn
about the mix of employee knowledge, skills, and abilities and whether
the current staff will be able to meet the organization’s goals.32 One may
note the similarities between a skills inventory and a typical applicant
resumé. In many ways, a resumé that covers these key areas enables HR
professionals to determine if an applicant can fill a gap in the
organization’s skills, knowledge, and abilities.
Skill inventories may also summarize an employee’s potential by
describing the employee’s performance history and readiness for
promotion, as well as any deficiencies in the employee’s profile.
To be useful, inventories of human resources must be updated regularly.
A robust review and update every two years is often sufficient for most
organizations if employees are encouraged to report major changes to
the human resource department when they occur. Major changes include
new skills, degree completions, changed job duties, and the like. Failure
to update skills inventories can lead to present employees being
overlooked for job openings within the organization and may create an
inaccurate profile of the organization’s available skills. As the average
length of term that employees have with a company decreases, managers
may need to reconsider the length of time between instances of
refreshing information. To make the process easier and more efficient,
inventories are more often being conducted electronically. For
example, Cognology has developed a digital skills audit platform.33
Page 68

Some organizations are complementing skills audits with competency

audits. As the nature of work continues to change, having a robust
understanding of employees’ competencies allows human resource
managers to mitigate the risks associated with an under- or oversupply
of human resources.

Management and Leadership Inventories

An audit of management talent is called a management or leadership
inventory. As in the case of skills inventories, management inventories
are comprehensive reports of available management and leadership
capabilities in the organization. Like skills inventories, management
inventories should be updated periodically since they also are used for
key human resource–related decisions. In fact, some employers use the
same form for managers and nonmanagers. When the forms differ, the
management inventory requests information about management
activities. Common topics include the following:
• Number of employees supervised
• Types of employees supervised
• Total budget managed
• Management training received
• Duties of subordinates
• Previous management duties
Skill inventories and leadership inventories are not mutually exclusive.
The 9-box grid (discussed in Chapter 8) is an example of an individual
evaluation tool that integrates an employee’s current contribution to the
organization (i.e., skills inventory) with that employee’s potential level of
contributions to the organization (i.e., leadership inventory).34
Recently, a great deal of attention has been paid to the domain of talent
management. Understanding who in an organization may be transferred
into a management or leadership role is a fundamental component of
talent management. In some organizations, leaders at all levels are
issued leadership profiles, such as the Leadership Practices Inventory
(LPI).35 By accumulating information on employees’ leadership
behaviours, organizations are able to more accurately identify who from
within the organization may be suitable to put in a leadership role.

Replacement Charts
Replacement charts are a visual representation of who will replace
whom in the event of a job opening. The information for constructing the
chart comes from the human resource audit. Figure 3-5 illustrates a
typical replacement chart. It shows the replacement status of only a few
jobs in the administration of a large city.

FIGURE 3-5

A Partial Replacement Chart for a Municipal Government

Table Summary: Summary
With mandatory retirement abolished, it becomes increasingly
unnecessary to include age in replacement charts. It may, however, be
desirable to gather retirement intentions to facilitate long-term planning.
Alternatively, organizations may compare someone’s age with the
average age of retirement from the organization to predict when
someone may retire.
Although different firms may seek to summarize different information in
their replacement charts, the figure indicates the minimum information
usually included or needed. The chart, which is much like an
organization chart, depicts the various jobs in the organization and
shows the status of likely candidates. Replacement status consists of two
variables: present performance and promotability or potential. Present
performance is determined largely from supervisory evaluations.
Opinions of other managers, peers, and subordinates may contribute to
the appraisal of present performance. Future promotability is based
primarily on present performance and the estimates by immediate
superiors of future success in a new job. The HR department may
contribute to these estimates through the use of psychological tests,
interviews, and other methods of assessment. This information is also
captured in the 9-box chart example mentioned earlier.
HR and management decision-makers find that these charts provide a
quick reference. Their shortcoming is that they are built on the
assumption that the organizational structure is quite static. They also
contain little information. To address the lack of information,
replacement summaries may be prepared, as discussed next.
Page 69

To supplement the chart—and, increasingly, to supplant it—human

resource specialists develop replacement summaries. Replacement
summaries list likely replacements and their relative strengths and
weaknesses for each job. As Figure 3-6 shows, the summaries provide
considerably more data than the replacement charts. This additional
information allows decision-makers to make more informed decisions.
Replacement Summary for the Position of City Manager
Present Office Holder Harold Jarvis Age 63
Probable Opening In two years Reason Retirement
Salary Grade 99 ($86,000) Experience 8 years

Candidate 1 Jondula
Smythe
Current Position Assistant City
Manager
Current Performance Outstanding Explanation Jondula’s
performance evaluations by the
City Manager are always the
highest possible.
Promotability Ready now for Explanation During an
promotion extended illness of the City
Manager, Jondula assumed all
duties successfully, including
major policy decisions and
negotiations with city unions.
Training Needs None
Age 58
Experience 4 years

Candidate 2 Larry Katz

Current Position Utilities
Manager
Current Performance Outstanding Explanation Larry’s
performance has kept costs of
utilities to citizens 10 to 15
percent below that of
comparable city utilities
through careful planning.
Promotability Needs more Explanation Larry’s
experience experience is limited to utilities
management. Although
successful, he needs more
broad administrative
experience in other areas. (He
is ready for promotion to
Assistant City Manager at this
time.)
Training Needs Training in
budget
preparation
 and public
relations
would be
desirable
before
promotion to
City Manager.
Age 52
Experience 5 years
FIGURE 3-6

A Replacement Summary for the Position of City Manager

Table Summary: The table has three sections. Sections 2 and 3 are for candidate 1 and 2.

Transition Matrices and Markov Analysis

Markov analysis is a fairly simple method of predicting the internal
supply of human resources in the future. This is particularly useful in
organizations where employees move from one job (or rank) to another
on a regular basis. It is also useful in organizations where jobs do not
fluctuate rapidly due to external (e.g., technological) or internal (e.g.,
strategic) change.
Markov analysis reflects the patterns in these human resource
movements using transition matrices. A transition matrix describes the
probabilities of an incumbent’s staying in the present job for the forecast
time period (usually one year), moving to another job position in the
organization, or leaving the organization. When this matrix is multiplied
by the number of employees in each job at the beginning of a year, the
forecaster is easily able to estimate the number of persons who will
remain in the job at the end of the year.
Figure 3-7 shows a sample transition matrix. It indicates that 80 percent
(or 0.80) of the incumbents in Job A remain in their present position at
the end of the year, 10 percent (or 0.10) move to Job B, 5 percent (or
0.05) move to Job C, none of them move to Job D, and 5 percent (or
0.05) leave the organization (through resignations or otherwise). When
these probabilities are multiplied by the number of persons in Job A at
the beginning of the year (namely, 200), we see that 160 of them remain
in their present position, 20 of them move to Job B, 10 of them move to
Job C, and the remaining 10 leave the organization. When similar
calculations are performed for all the jobs (in the case of this firm, for
Jobs A, B, C, and D), we are able to predict the approximate number of
employees who will remain in each job position.
Page 70

(a) Transition Probability Matrix

Year Beginning Year End
Job A Job B Job C Job D Exit
Job A 0.80 0.10 0.05 0.00 0.05
Job B 0.10 0.70 0.00 0.10 0.10
Job C 0.00 0.00 0.90 0.05 0.05
Job D 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.90 0.10
(b) Expected Movements of Employees
Initial Job A Job B Job C Job D Exit
Staffing
Level
Job A 200 160 20 10 0 10
Job B 70 7 49 0 7 7
Job C 60 0 0 54 3 3
Job D 100 0 0 0 90 10
Predicted End-of-the- 167 69 64 100 30
Year Staffing Level
FIGURE 3-7

An Example of Markov Analysis

Table Summary: "The table has 2 sections titled: (a) Transition Probability Matrix and (b)
Expected Movements of Employees."

Markov analysis is popular because of the ease of its use. However, it is

only as good as the transition probabilities used. The probabilities are
not very reliable if there are only a few incumbents in each job. This
makes it appropriate only for medium-sized and large organizations.
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Markov analysis can also be used speculatively to assess the impact of

possible changes in transition analysis. Thus, “what if” analyses can be
undertaken to understand the impact of possible future scenarios. For
example, “What if the quit rate for Job A doubles from its present 6
percent per year?” This makes it a useful tool for human resource
forecasting, especially in the context of strategic planning.

External Supply Estimates

Not every future opening can be met with present employees. Some jobs
lack replacements to fill an opening when it occurs. Other jobs are entry-
level positions; that is, they are beginning jobs that are filled by people
who do not presently work for the organization. When there are no
replacements or when the opening is for an entry-level job, there is a
need for external supplies of human resources.
When estimating external supplies, three major factors must be
examined: trends in the labour market, community attitudes, and
demographic trends. These are briefly outlined below.

Labour Market
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The HR department’s success in finding new employees depends on an

accurate labour market analysis. Even when unemployment rates are
high, many needed skills are difficult to find. This is a key distinction for
human resource managers. A labour market analysis defines the people
potentially available for work. A skills market, however, narrows the
available people to those who have the appropriate skill set.
In the short run, the national unemployment rate serves as an
approximate measure of how difficult it is to acquire new employees. HR
specialists realize that this rate varies for different groups, as well as
from province to province and city to city.
A significant challenge with using an employment rate as a measure of
potential employee recruitment opportunities is that it represents only a
moment in time. That is, it provides a measure of how many people are
unemployed during a certain historical period. It does not identify what
the future looks like. To address this shortcoming, some jurisdictions
have undertaken an analysis to determine what the future supply and
demand is for specific occupations.
The province of Manitoba conducts analyses on a short-term and long-
term basis. Manitoba’s Labour Market Occupational Forecast predicts
surplus or undersupply of potential employees in Manitoba over a six-
year period.36
Regardless of the unemployment rate or regional demand outlook,
external needs may be met by attracting employees who work for others
or in other regions. In some professions—such as teaching and
engineering—labour mobility between provinces is quite high.37 In
other industries, such as the infrastructure trades, there is less mobility
relative to university graduates.38
In the long run, local developments and demographic trends have the
most significant impact on labour markets. Local developments include
community growth rates and attitudes.
For example, labour shortages in Canada’s agriculture industry have
doubled over the last 10 years and are expected to double again before
2025. This labour gap is forcing agricultural companies and farms to
turn to temporary foreign workers to fill the gap.39
The lack of jobs results in still more people leaving the local labour
market. This is particularly so in the case of minorities and other
underrepresented groups of society.
During a recessionary period, the job prospects of minorities and new
immigrants are more adversely affected. As an example, during the
global economic downturn in late 2000, a study out of Ireland
demonstrated that immigrants were losing jobs at an annual rate of 20
percent, whereas domestic Irish persons were losing jobs at a rate of 7
percent.40
While people move across labour markets, language and cultural barriers
may often act as deterrents. Sometimes, migrants from other areas may
receive a hostile welcome in the local labour market:
In 2014, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program came under great
scrutiny when the program was linked to joblessness.41
This experience is troubling in that a strong source for external workers
for Canadian employers is the Canadian Temporary Foreign Worker
Program.42 This program was overhauled in 2014 to ensure that
employers were putting Canadian workers first in their hiring
decisions.43 As of 2018, Canada was seeing an increase in temporary
foreign workers gaining permanent residency.44 With border
restrictions created by the COVID-19 health crisis, the Canadian
government focused its attention on granting citizenship to those
temporary foreign workers already in the country.45 This has not slowed
the back and forth opinions on the program, which continues to be
contested because of the policies associated with it.46

Community Attitudes
Community attitudes also affect the nature of the labour market. Anti-
business or nongrowth attitudes may cause present employers to move
elsewhere. An example of this is activist investing.
In 2013, an activist investor group tried to break apart Agrium—a
Calgary-based fertilizer company—into its wholesale and retail
businesses. This action would have divided Agrium into two companies
and would likely have had a dramatic effect on the employee
pool.47 Agrium was later merged with PotashCorp to form Nutrien.48
A further example is the influence of the social justice movements
of Indigenous, Black, and people of colour on organizations’ hiring
intentions and practices.
In July 2020, RBC announced that it would increase its target for
executives identifying as Indigenous, Black, or people of colour from 20
percent to 30 percent.49

Demographic Trends
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Chapter 1 provided a detailed account of a number of demographic

influences on an organization. Demographic trends are another long-
term development that affects the availability of external supply.
Fortunately for planners, these trends are known years in advance of
their impact. Two examples serve to illustrate such trends:
Consider the 2011 research study released by the Information and
Communication Technology Council. It found that a major technology
labour crunch was looming in Canada. The study predicted that there
would be 106,000 openings in the five years that followed in the
information and technology sector, and the study highlighted the specific
skill sets needed.50 Driven by baby boomer retirements, the lack of
hiring during the prior recession, and the significant changes in
technology requirements, a major shortage existed then and exists now
for these types of skills.
Another example relates to the shipping industry. A shortage of truck
drivers in the United States is forecast to reach 900,000 as fewer people
enter this industry. A career in driving is not one that all people aspire to
and, as a result, this industry is experiencing a staffing shortage. Finding
ways to attract people to trucking careers is difficult. Taken in
combination with the observation that 70 percent of goods sold in the
United States are transported by truck, some companies are needing to
stop nonessential shipments.51
There are several sources of information available to planners. For
example, major sources of data include Statistics
Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).
Another source of information is the Conference Board of Canada,
which generates excellent research reports on many other HR-related
topics.
Statistics Canada publishes reports on labour force conditions on a
monthly, quarterly, annual, and occasional basis. Information available
on total labour force projections includes geographic, demographic, and
occupational variables, and labour income, census data, and population
projections by sex at birth and province over various years.
The Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS) was designed by
Employment and Social Development Canada. The COPS provides a
highly detailed projection of the Canadian economy up to 10 years in the
future.52
Job Bank is a group of products available from ESDC that identifies
trends in the world of work. It outlines job outlooks by occupation as
well as by field of study and estimates the prospect of finding jobs in a
specific occupation or field in a specific location. Job Bank provides
Canadians with the latest information available about work—information
that is important for anyone in the process of making decisions or
advising others in the area of career planning.
For example, Job Bank forecasts that the chance of finding work as a
registered nurse in Edmonton, Alberta, and Fredericton, New
Brunswick, is very strong. Of note, however, it also identifies that the
average wage in Edmonton is $44.00/hour whereas the rate in
Fredericton is $38.00/hour.
Figure 3-8 provides a summary of the HR tools used to estimate internal
and external supply of labour.
Internal Supply Indicators External Supply
Indicators
• Human resource audits • Labour market
▪ Skills inventories analysis
▪ Management inventories • Community
▪ Replacement attitudes
charts/summaries • Demographic trends
• Transition matrices and Markov
analysis
FIGURE 3-8

Summary of HR Tools Used to Estimate Internal and External Supply of

Labour
Table Summary: Summary

HR Objectives
The identification of supply and demand forecasts and summaries only
provides the human resource professional with context and information.
It does not address the process by which any gaps can be addressed. As
such, the next step in the process identifies what the organization
expects to accomplish as a result of its actions. It directs the planning
process of the organization, identifies what the planner will do to achieve
its goals, and sets a baseline to determine whether the organization has
achieved its goals. For example, if the organization’s strategy were to
grow its market share by 20 percent, the HR objective would be to add a
certain number of “head count” with a certain set of skills by a
predetermined date. However, if the organization’s objective is to reduce
labour costs by 20 percent, then the objective might be to reduce the
workforce in each department by 5 percent by a certain date, carefully
taking into account the preservation of individuals with critical skill sets
and significant ongoing potential. Once these objectives are identified,
then the planner can decide what specific HR programs and strategies
will be appropriate.
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LO5HRM Strategies to Achieve Objectives

in Supply and Demand
Typically, human resource planners face two decision situations: the
available supply of human resources is either less or greater than their
future needs. It is only the rare, fortunate planner who finds that the
supply and demand are equal. Each of the above two situations requires
somewhat different corrective actions, which are discussed next.

Strategies to Manage an Oversupply of Human

Resources
When the internal supply of workers exceeds the firm’s demand, a
human resource surplus exists. There are various strategies that HR can
consider. It can group each of these strategies under three main
headings: head-count reduction, attrition, and alternative work
arrangements.

Head-Count Reduction
Here are four main ways to ensure a head-count reduction: layoffs,
leaves without pay, incentives for voluntary separation, and termination.
LAYOFFS Layoffs, the temporary withdrawal of employment to workers,
are used in cases of a short-run surplus. Layoffs are the separation of
employees from the organization for economic or business reasons. The
separation may last only a few weeks if its purpose is to adjust inventory
levels or to allow the factory to retool for a new product. When caused by
a business cycle, the layoffs may last many months or even years.
Employees who have been laid off will typically be placed on a “recall”
list. When the organization needs the employee again, they are recalled
to work. However, if the layoff is the result of restructuring or rescaling
of an industry, the “temporary” layoffs may become
permanent. Furlough is a term that is increasingly being used in Canada
as a synonym for temporary layoff.
As unpleasant as layoffs are for both workers and management, they may
be required when attrition (see below) is insufficient to reduce
employment to acceptable levels. In some organizations, each employee
who is laid off may receive a supplemental employment benefit over and
above government EI benefits. However, during severe economic
downturns, the employer’s ability to provide these benefits may be
seriously jeopardized.
While the terms of a collective agreement dictate layoff procedures in
unionized settings, nonunion employers may have to consider other
factors or be exposed to constructive dismissal claims.
For example, in Ontario, the province’s Employment Standards
Act permits a temporary layoff of an employee without pay for up to 13
weeks in a consecutive 20-week period. If the unpaid layoff exceeds that
period, it will no longer be deemed “temporary” and the employer will
become liable for reasonable notice and severance pay, if applicable.53
LEAVES WITHOUT PAY One way to temporarily reduce the number of
employees on the payroll is to offer, or in some cases request, a leave of
absence without pay. A leave without pay (LWOP) program is often used
to provide employees an opportunity to take a short “sabbatical” for
personal reasons (e.g., education, family issues). In some cases, such as
with significant budgetary cuts, the employer may initiate the leave
without pay.54 By one survey, 25 percent of Canadians are actively
planning for an unpaid leave of absence.55
INCENTIVES FOR VOLUNTARY SEPARATION Sometimes organizations
decide to offer employees some form of an “enticement” to leave the
organization early. This practice is often referred to as a buyout. It may
be referred to as a voluntary severance package (VSP) and contain a cash
incentive, pension support, and outplacement services. A key aspect of
these programs is that they need to be voluntary.56
TERMINATION Termination is a broad term that encompasses the
permanent separation from the organization for any reason. This term
can imply that the employee was fired as a form of discipline. However,
this is not always the case. When employees are discharged for business
or economic reasons, and the employer has no plans to rehire them, it is
also referred to as a termination.
A key consideration when using termination as a strategy is the
requirement to provide terminated employees with sufficient notice, pay
in lieu of notice (i.e., severance pay), or a combination of the two. While
employment standards vary between provinces, it is common for
terminated employees to receive the equivalent of one week per year of
service with the organization.
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The blow of discharge may be softened through

formal outplacement procedures, which help present employees find
new jobs with other firms. External consultancy firms are typically used
to provide services such as resumé writing, job search, and interview
preparation. Not only do such efforts help the former employee, but they
also give evidence to the remaining employees of management’s
commitment to their welfare.57
A recent study highlighted that only about 30 percent of firms in the
United States focused on outplacement services. That said, the same
study highlighted that $1.5 billion was spent on outplacement services in
2001 in the United States.58

Attrition
Attrition is the normal separation of employees from an organization as
a result of resignation, retirement, or death. It is initiated by the individual
worker and not by the company. In most organizations, the key
component of attrition is resignation, which is a voluntary separation.
Although attrition is a slow way to reduce the employment base in an
organization, it presents the fewest problems. Voluntary departures
simply create a vacancy that is not filled, and the staffing level declines
without anyone being forced out of a job. Two common attrition
strategies are hiring freeze and early and phased retirement offers.
HIRING FREEZE Most employers initially respond to a surplus with a
hiring freeze. This freeze stops the HR department from filling openings
with external applicants. Instead, present employees are reassigned.
Faced with a drop in heavy oil commodity prices in early 2015, Suncor
cut 1,000 jobs and announced a hiring freeze.59
EARLY AND PHASED RETIREMENT OFFERS A special form of attrition
is early retirement. It is one form of separation that the HR department
can actively control. It is used to reduce staffing levels and to create
internal job openings. Early retirement plans are designed to encourage
long-service workers to retire before the normal retirement age in the
organization (say, 65 years). Since employees who retire before age 65
will draw benefits longer, their monthly retirement benefits may be
reduced proportionately.
Some companies are allowing older employees to reduce their work
activity and gradually phase into retirement without loss or reduction of
pension benefits. The most typical pattern in phased retirement is to
allow gradually shortened workweeks, a preferred schedule among older
workers according to some surveys.60 Most companies in the survey
required that an employee first work a minimum of five years in the firm
and be at least 55 years old in order to participate in a phased retirement
program, and over half allowed employees to later change their minds.
An example of phased retirement is provided by the University of
Toronto:
The University of Toronto offers its faculty members a pre-retirement
package that allows them to scale down their workload over three years
provided they are between 57 and 68.61

Alternative Work Arrangements

If the head count of employees is not to change, other options are to
adjust the work term by reducing the number of work hours through job
sharing, using part-time workers, transferring employees where
resources are needed, or loaning employees to other organizations.
JOB SHARING Reducing the number of total work hours through job
sharing is the first of the above options to adjust the work term. Job
sharing, also called job splitting, involves dividing duties of a single
position between two or more employees. From the employer’s
perspective, this eliminates the need to lay off one employee completely.
But the employees also benefit by having more free time at their disposal
and maintaining employment.
A more recent twist on the concept of job sharing is whether jobs can be
shared with artificial intelligence. In a 2018 blog, author Ceilidh Higgins
described how technologies such as building information management
systems enable her as an architect to focus on design rather than on
repetitive tasks as an architect.62
Work sharing programs are also used to avoid layoffs. A major initiative
is the federal work-sharing program administered by ESDC. It allows
employees to voluntarily reduce their hours to spread available work
around.63
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The major advantage claimed for job sharing is increased productivity

from workers who are not fatigued. Problems arise from the increased
paperwork and administrative burden associated with two employees
doing the job of one. Another problem is that of benefits. HR specialists
are forced to decide whether job sharers should be given benefits equal
with other employees or benefits that are scaled-down in proportion to
the employee’s hours. Employers may also need to pay for a crossover
day.64
USING PART-TIME EMPLOYEES Eliminating full-time positions and
replacing them with part-time positions, thus reducing the total work
hours and labour costs, is another strategy used in several settings.
Very often, part-time employees are paid no benefits. The significant
decrease in total benefit costs, especially health care and pensions,
provides a great incentive for employers to make more use of
regular part-time work. Employers that do pay benefits tend to be in the
public sector, such as health care facilities and municipal governments.
Another advantage of part-time work is that it increases flexibility so that
employers can match the workforce with peak demands. Part-time
employment is also popular for a few other reasons, such as the
following:
• The higher demand in the service industries, which employ more
than 40 percent of all part-timers65
• The need for cost-cutting

Part-time work has public costs. Part-time employees have limited

entitlement to government-run employment insurance and disability
benefits, resulting in potentially serious financial problems should they
be unable to work. Without disability benefits they have no income and
may end up on the welfare rolls. In some settings, converting full-time to
part-time work may be fraught with legal challenges as well.
Strategies to Manage Shortages of Employees
A labour shortage occurs when there is not enough qualified talent to fill
the demand for labour and organizations cannot fill their open positions.
A skills shortage refers to specific skills that the organization requires. It
occurs when the demand for workers with specific skills exceeds the
available supply of workers with these specialized skills. Because labour
and skills are different concepts, it is possible for an organization to
simultaneously have a labour surplus and a skills shortage (e.g., too
many employees with an inappropriate skill set).
Organizations that are effective at HR planning utilize a variety of
staffing strategies to ensure that they have the right people with the right
skills at the right place and at the right time. There are several staffing
options available to choose from, depending on the sense of urgency,
economic conditions, and productivity gains. The staffing options to
consider are as follows: hire employees, contract out the work to another
firm, develop existing employees, and leverage existing work
arrangements. A summary of these options is shown in Figure 3-9.
Hire Source Service Develop Existing Work
Employees Providers Employees Arrangements
Internally
• Full-time • Independe • Replacemen • Overtime
• Part- nt t charts • Flexible
time contracto • Succession schedul
• Tempora r planning es
ry • Third • Career • Flexible
party developme time
• Outsource nt and
• Crowdsour • Float and location
ce transfer • Flex
policies
FIGURE 3-9

Alternative Staffing Strategies

Table Summary: Summary

Hire Employees
One way to address a labour shortage is simply to hire an employee to fill
the open position. However, whether to hire a full-time or part-time
employee or an internal or an external candidate is an important
decision that managers make. A more fulsome discussion of the hiring
process is found later in the text.
FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES For several positions, hiring full-time
employees is the only alternative. This may be the case for key roles such
as the CEO. Many organizations are averse to this strategy since it incurs
additional fixed costs. Hiring full-time staff also requires a more detailed
look at their competencies in terms of the organization’s long-term
strategies. Full-time work in Canada is defined as more than 30 hours
per week.66
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Some organizations have sought to mitigate some of the risk of hiring

full-time employees by bringing them on first as probationary
employees. These employees are hired on a full-time basis but can be
released from the organization at any time during their probationary
period for any reason. This enables organizations to more effectively
assess the skill set of full-time employees before committing indefinitely
to them. For instance, a probation period of 90 days is outlined in
legislation in Alberta.67
PART-TIME EMPLOYEES An increasingly popular strategy for meeting
human resource needs is to use part-time employees. Part-time
employees are an attractive option to the employer since using them
adds flexibility in scheduling. Traditionally, part-timers have been
employed by service businesses, such as restaurants and retail stores,
that experience considerable fluctuation in demand during peak and off-
peak times. However, more recently, many firms, after a downsizing or
restructuring, employ part-timers to provide services that had previously
been offered by full-timers.
For example, in the past, United Parcel Service created 25-hour-per-
week part-time jobs for shipping clerks and supervisors who sort
packages at its distribution centres.68
Employment of part-timers reduces overall payroll costs since part-
timers are, typically, not eligible for several of the expensive benefits
offered to the full-time workforce. However, there are variations across
provinces, and the HR manager should carefully check the legal
requirements before introducing new policies. For example,
Saskatchewan has extended a number of benefits to part-time workers
under specific conditions:
In Saskatchewan, a full-time employee is anyone who works 30 hours or
more per week. All businesses with 10 or more full-time equivalent
employees must provide benefits to eligible part-time employees. To
qualify, part-time employees must have been employed for 26
consecutive weeks and have worked 390 hours in those 26 weeks. To
maintain eligibility, the employee should work for at least 780 hours in a
calendar year. Eligible benefits include dental plans, group life,
accidental death or dismemberment plans, and prescription drug
plans.69

Contract Out the Work

The next alternative that organizations may consider to manage a labour
shortage is to enter into a service agreement with a contract (or
contingent) worker. A contract worker is a freelancer who is not part of
the regular workforce and who provides goods or services to another
entity under the terms of a specific contract. Contractors are not
employees of an organization. They are governed under contract law, not
employment legislation. The contractor typically invoices the
organization, and the organization pays for these services via the
accounting function. The contractor’s “contract” ends when the services
that they had agreed to provide are complete and the services have been
delivered. On occasion, organizations will choose to engage
a consultant who, by definition, is a professional who provides expert
advice and counsel in a particular area.
Contractors determine their own work hours, typically have their own
offices, and can work on multiple contracts at the same time. They can
hire other persons to perform the work, they are not eligible for benefits,
and they provide their own equipment and supplies. The Canada
Revenue Agency has provided a number of tests that can be used to
determine whether someone is a contractor. They are strict and assess
companies’ practices to ensure that the relationship is at arm’s length.
The tests are related to control, ownership of tools, chance of profit, and
risk of loss and payment (see Figure 3-10).
Control • Is the person under the direction and control of
another with respect to the time the person
works, where the person works, and the way
in which the work is done?
 • The greater the control, the more likely that the
person is a contractor. The contractor
determines the result. For an employee, the
employer has the right to determine the way
the task is carried out.
Ownership of • Does the person use the tools, space, supplies,
Tools and/or equipment owned by someone else? If
so, this may be an indicator.
• Contractors supply their own tools.
Profit • Does the person make a profit?
• A person who profits could be a contractor. If
the person’s income is the difference between
the cost of providing the service and the price
charged, then the person is deemed an
independent contractor.
Risk of Loss • An employee has no risk of loss.
• If the person risks losing money if the cost of
doing the job is more than the price charged,
then they can be considered to have
contractor status.
Subcontracting • Does the individual need to complete the work
personally?
• If the individual does not need to complete the
work personally and can hire someone else to
do it, they are considered to be a contractor.
FIGURE 3-10

Key Tests to Determine Contractor/Employee Status

Table Summary: Summary

OUTSOURCING The term outsourcing has been used extensively in the

past decade. Outsourcing work refers to a formal agreement an
organization makes with a third party to perform a service rather than
using internal resources. Outsourcing or “contracting out” work is
typically associated with work that is noncore to that organization and
one where the outsourcing firm has special skills, technology, and
expertise to manage this work. Outsourcing is a business decision made
by executives and human resource leaders. It allows the organization to
save money, improve quality, or free company resources for other
activities so that the organization can focus on those activities that it
does best. Offshoring, a subset of outsourcing, also implies transferring
jobs to another country by hiring local subcontractors.
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Outsourcing can often be a source of disruption in organizations, as

evidenced by the backlash toward CIBC when it announced it was
outsourcing some Canadian operations to India.70
Human resource management plays a significant role when HR is
outsourced. It must focus on service delivery and ensure that the
transition is seamless. Ultimately, human resource management has
direct responsibility for service quality and results, and it must manage
the vendor to ensure that the service is value-added and that business
objectives are met.
CROWDSOURCING—A NOVEL WAY TO “SOURCE
TALENT” Crowdsourcing is a term that describes how companies meet
their resource requirements by taking a function once performed by
employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large)
network of people in the form of an open call.
In this model, the organization has a need for human resources. It then
communicates this need to the public via the Internet. It is an open call to
interested parties on the web who decide, based on their own interests
and their own time, whether they want to help the organization with its
problem, provide a service, or fill the need in some way. A large network
of potential labour exists. These individuals use their time to help the
company solve their problems. The work is done outside the traditional
company walls. If the organization feels that the contribution is valuable,
the organization will pay the contributors for their efforts in some way.
In outsourcing, the organization typically sends out a formal request for
proposal (RFP), and it reviews potential vendors before deciding on the
best one. Typically, lower-paid professionals do the work itself. In
crowdsourcing, the problem is communicated through the net or social
networks for those individuals who are interested to respond.
The main advantage of crowdsourcing is that innovative ideas can be
explored at a relatively low cost. Furthermore, it also helps reduce costs
and makes use of the crowd to communicate its requirements.
In 2014, McDonald’s crowdsourced new ideas for burgers that the public
would like to see in store.71
CO-SOURCING A recent trend in technology and audit services is co-
sourcing, a form of contracting that brings together an external team to
support and work with an organization’s internal team to achieve the
goals of the organization. A co-sourcing model represents more of a
collaboration than a contracting out of business goals.
Page 79

Develop Employees Internally

Another option to be considered, which can address a shortage in human
capital, looks at leveraging the current supply of existing employees
within an organization. This option considers the strength of an
organization’s internal workforce with respect to the skills and
knowledge employees possess and the future skills and knowledge
employees will need for the organization to meet its human capital
requirements. Organizations use various mechanisms, such as
promotions and replacement charts and succession and career plans, to
ascertain employees’ interests, the types of training and development
required, and when employees will be ready to fill a future labour
requirement. Organizations utilize their internal HR-related processes to
facilitate these activities, optimizing their human resources’ talent
pool. Chapter 7 will discuss this option in more detail.

Create Flexible Work Arrangements

The last staffing option focuses on the various types of work
arrangements. A work arrangement refers to a firm’s use of work hours,
schedules, and location to ensure that the goals of the organization and
the needs of employees are optimally met. We will be discussing three
types of arrangements: overtime, flexible retirement, and float and
transfer. Flexible work arrangements were widely adopted during the
early phases of the COVID-19 global health crisis to enable both
organizations and employees to adapt to a widespread remote work
situation.72
These types of arrangements are all based on choices: The organization
can make a choice to offer these options to the employees, and the
employees make a choice whether to accept. In this reciprocal
relationship, both the employer and employees typically receive a benefit
as a result. For example, if employees agree to overtime, then they will
receive money or time off in lieu, and the organization will be able to
meet its staffing shortage.
OVERTIME A popular strategy is to ask existing employees to work
beyond normal hours. Indeed, even during a non-shortage situation,
regular overtime has become a fact of life in many firms that do not want
to incur additional fixed expenses of hiring permanent employees.
In many organizations, employees—especially, supervisory and
managerial staff—are expected to work overtime, most of it unpaid. The
culture of the organization requires the employee to put in the extra
effort without expecting any reward. This is particularly so in
nonunionized settings. This, however, can have detrimental effects on
employee morale.
Higher employee fatigue, stress levels, accident and wastage rates, and so
on, are some of the unwanted consequences of using overtime on a
recurring basis. Recognizing this fact, some progressive employers have
gone against the mainstream—namely reducing the number of work
hours—and ended up improving their productivity levels and
competitiveness in the labour market. One U.S. manufacturer’s
experience is noteworthy:
Metro Plastics Technologies Inc. in Columbus, Indiana, could not fill
eight vacancies in its plant as the unemployment rate in the area hovered
between 1 percent and 3 percent. To get a recruiting advantage, it
adopted an innovative “30-hour work week for 40-hour pay” strategy
under which an employee had to put in only 30 hours a week instead of
the traditional 40 hours. A single newspaper ad brought hundreds of
qualified applicants to the firm and the firm was able to fill the vacancies
immediately. The benefits did not stop there. Within two years, customer
returns had fallen by 72 percent and many internal costs had dropped
dramatically. The same results have been reported in a number of other
plants, in a variety of industries.73
FLEXIBLE RETIREMENT Another opportunity for firms to manage
shortages is to target those employees who are close to retirement with a
view to extending their contributions. The challenge has been how to
balance the needs of these employees with the needs of the organization.
A relatively new approach to managing retirement is called flexible
retirement. This is an approach to optimizing the talent of these recent
retirees, thus extending their contributions and continuing their
engagement in organizational activities. These “retiree-return” programs
provide retirees with the opportunity to work after they have retired,
with significant flexibility in terms of how they work, what they work on,
 when they work, and where. These programs are flexible in the sense
that they take into account the retirees’ needs and tailor the work
accordingly. These programs typically begin prior to retirement and
continue after the employee has officially retired. One can say that these
retirees take on an active retiree status, whereby they continue their
involvement in the organizations long after they have officially retired.
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The benefits are substantial as the organization will be able to retain its
intellectual capital long after employees have left the organization. The
firm will be able to retain its talent to fill unexpected gaps; institutional
knowledge and transfer of this knowledge will not be lost; and the
organization will be able to control its labour costs, as retirees do not
receive any additional benefits. It is projected that phased retirement
programs will double over the next several years, from 26 to 55 percent.
However, employers have a duty to accommodate workers who suffer
from age-related health issues as age is a protected ground from
discrimination.74
FLOAT AND TRANSFER Another flexible arrangement that organizations
use to manage shifts in work is to use a flexible policy that enables full-
time resources to be transferred when needed; or, if the need is for a very
short time, they float the worker. These organizations rely on their
training programs to ensure that their employees are cross-trained and
that they can secure these resources when they need them and for the
length of time necessary. Another term that we can use to describe this
arrangement is job rotation. For example, Fidelity Investments
Canada uses this arrangement to cover leaves and develop a talent
pipeline.75 That said, job rotation is not without its challenges.
Arrangements such as the above not only enhance organizational
flexibility and efficiency and help reduce costs, but also enable HR
departments to better respond to employee needs. To ensure that HR is
actually achieving these goals, evaluation and measurement must be an
integral part of the HRP process.
Spotlight on ETHICS
Cutting Costs
When carrying out human resource management activities, HR planners
often face ethical challenges. Consider the following two situations and
respond to them. Once you have written down your answers, compare
them with those of your team or classmates. Are there differences in your
approaches? What facts and arguments seem to justify one action over
the other?
Facing fierce price-based competition, your firm, which employs over
470 people, has been trying to reduce costs in a variety of ways.
1. One action currently being considered is to move Production Unit
1 from its present location in an interior Canadian town to a
developing country. Your manufacturing unit is the sole employer
in that town and currently employs 128 people. Most of the
employees are semi-skilled and would find it hard to find
employment elsewhere. You know that many employees are the
sole income earner for their family. Your firm located in this town
because of a variety of tax advantages and subsidies the
province offered to you for the first two years of your operations.
Under those terms, your firm was expected to operate for a
minimum period of four years. This is your sixth year in the
province.
2. Your firm is also considering converting a number of your full-
time employees in the head office and Production Unit 2 to a
part-time workforce. (You may assume that this is legal in the
province where you are employed.) Approximately 200 people
will be affected by this plan. This can generate significant savings
for your firm since a number of benefits currently offered to full-
time employees need not be offered anymore to the part-timers.
You realize that a number of your employees depend on the
company benefits to take care of their children and the elderly in
the family.
Program Measurement and
Evaluation
Page 81
A major goal of human resource measurement is to enhance decisions
about human capital and to connect human resources to strategy. The
final step in the process is to evaluate workforce planning activities. In
many ways, workforce planning assessment serves as a starting point. As
noted earlier, goals must be established for workforce planning to occur.
Inherent in these goals is defining what success looks like for workforce
planning and how it will be measured.76 For instance, the goal of
workforce planning may be to reduce vacancy times for key roles in an
organization. Alternatively, a measure of effectiveness might be the
percent of internal versus external candidates who are hired within a
given year. To measure human capital effectively, the planner is
responsible for evaluating its processes and continuously improving the
technical and strategic aspects of this process.
Even with the best planning, however, context may impact plans and
outcomes significantly. Take Target Canada, for instance. In 2015, after
posting billion dollar losses and filing for creditor protection, Target
Canada moved to close all 133 Canadian locations. These closures would
result in the loss of 17,600 full- and part-time jobs across the country.
This represents one of the largest mass layoffs in Canadian history.77
Improvement must be evident from year to year based on human
resource planning. To ensure continuous improvement, all processes
must be measured, a baseline developed, and initiatives put in place. It is
imperative that the human resource professional use key business
metrics and develop a thorough understanding of how human resource
planning can contribute to the bottom line. Evaluation is dependent on
the criteria the organization uses to discern whether the human resource
planning function is effective. Typically, processes are measured in terms
of time and cost associated with their deployment. For example, a
measure might be the time it took to find an appropriate resource to fill a
particular position and include the cost of recruiting and time to
interview.
There are a variety of mechanisms or tools that can be used to ascertain
this value, and the ability to do this in a comprehensive way largely
depends on the organization’s level of technological sophistication and
the robust nature of the tools chosen.
A 2015 Harvard Business Review article cited talent-related concerns as
the primary issues facing CEOs.78 It is no surprise, therefore, that
human resource planning is a key function of human resource
professionals. Technology influences have added further complexity to
the planning environment. At the same time, technology is enabling
human resource professionals to be more effective in contributing to
organizational strategy and success. One such technology arena is data
analytics and evidence-informed decision making. Having begun out of a
need to support payroll in the 1940s,79 modern day human resource
information systems (HRIS) provide human resource professionals with
live-time data and business intelligence to make effective decisions.

LO6Human Resource
Information Systems
A human resource information system (HRIS) is used to collect, record,
store, analyze, and retrieve data concerning an organization’s human
resources. This is most often done at the enterprise level (i.e.,
organization-wide). These systems are comprised of different software
applications that work with various relational databases or data lakes. All
good human resource decisions require timely and accurate information.
A good HRIS enables the HR department to be responsive to its
customers’ needs and is critical for the effective functioning of the HR
department and the larger organization. The major stakeholders who use
the information from an HRIS are HR professionals, managers, and
employees. Each of these “customers” expects a responsive HR
department that can provide accurate and timely information. The larger
the organization and the more dynamic an organization’s environments,
the greater the need for a sophisticated HRIS.
HRIS Functions—Breadth and Size
Not all HRISs are the same. In fact, there are many different systems to
choose from, depending on the organizational requirements. Key
considerations that organizations take into account when deciding on an
appropriate HRIS to match their needs include the following:
• The size of the organization
• What information needs to be captured
• The volume of information transmitted
• The firm’s objectives
• Managerial decision needs
• The importance of reporting capability
• Technical capabilities
• Available resources
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Typically, a small firm may begin with a simple HRIS as its information
needs are very basic and used solely for the purposes of HR
administration. The type of employee information captured may include
the employee name, address, emergency contact, employment status,
which position the employee holds, how much the employee is paid,
benefit coverage, and birth date. The technology is also low tech as these
firms typically use generic software applications like Excel, and their
entire database is maintained on one computer or a few networked
computers and in one database. The application itself is “nonrelational,”
meaning that information on employee name, home address, job title,
pay rate, and so on, will have to be separately entered into the payroll
file, the benefits file, performance appraisal records, and several other
places. Any change in employee information will have to be updated
separately in each file. The probability of an error in inputting
information is very high in nonrelational systems. The probability of
delays and inconsistencies in information updating is also higher.
As organizations grow and their information needs become more
complex, they typically require a more sophisticated HRIS. These
systems can vary considerably in price depending on their degree of
functionality and system integration capabilities. Given the recent
increase in people analytics, even large organizations find it difficult to
integrate systems that cover the entire organization, including finding
the talent to run them.80
Firms may choose an HRIS that is self-contained and relational. In this
type of system, information about an employee only needs to be entered
once. In addition, these systems have the capability to prevent errors and
catch inconsistencies. This feature, called referential integrity, ensures
that an organization’s policies are operationalized or implemented
consistently throughout the organization. Referential integrity is a very
important function as it enables HR to build into the HRIS its policies
and set up parameters. An example illustrates this function:
Take sick leave. A company’s policy might require a doctor’s note after
four days, and, in terms of pay, an employee may be entitled to 100
percent pay for four weeks and then 60 percent of pay for the balance of
leave. The system will flag this parameter and a report will be generated
indicating the action required. An example of a relational system with
referential integrity is Sage HRMS Software.81
Taking HRIS one step further, some systems will integrate seamlessly
across an organization's entire IT infrastructure. These enterprise-wide
systems link an organization’s entire software application environment
into a single enterprise solution. This means seamless integration of data
from the various functions, such as sales, operations, distribution, and
HR. The information not only is entered just once, but is accessible
within other system applications and can be viewed in real time.
For instance, an organization has decided on an annual salary increase
for all employees. The information will appear instantly on the employee
file and also in the general ledger within finance. The transaction is
updated in “real time” only once. This information will appear in all
appropriate tables and resonant in the appropriate files. The system
behind the HRIS will know how to use this new information for all
relevant decisions affecting this employee—for example, compensation,
skills listing, performance competencies, benefits, and so on.
These systems often possess several technological features. They have
the ability to offer web-based and mobile applications, linking to the
employer’s intranet and databases. A common feature of a web-based
system is to offer intranet applications, such as employee self-service
(ESS) and manager self-service (MSS) functions. ESS allows employees
to access and view their own records and make changes where
applicable. An example would be updating address or banking
information. MSS refers to managers being able to access their
employees’ records and view and add relevant information, such as a
performance appraisal rating, or review their employees’ performance
records. In addition to these web-based applications, these systems also
possess exceptional reporting capabilities and links to payroll and benefit
providers. Examples of these systems are Oracle, and its affiliated
application PeopleSoft, and SAP.
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Enterprise information management is a growing industry. In many

respects, it has emerged out of the risks identified by companies in
relation to the data they create, collect, and store. HRIS is a key element
of enterprise information and may become a cornerstone in predictive
data analytics and knowledge transfer.

Components of an HR Information System

The most common components of an HRIS are recruitment and
applicant tracking, time and attendance, training and development,
performance management, career planning, compensation, benefits and
pension administration, employment equity information, performance
evaluation, health and safety, and labour relations (see Figure 3-11).
Within each component, there may be multiple points of data. For
example, within training, some common data points would include the
type of training an employee took, the cost of the training, the vendor
who delivered the training, and the method of training delivery.
Having a robust data set enables HR to generate more meaningful
reports. Next we will discuss the types of reporting capabilities and why
this information is so important for organizational effectiveness.
Examples of the types of information contained within an HRIS and
common reporting capabilities of the system are shown in Figure 3-12.
FIGURE 3-11

Components of a Human Resource Information System With Relational Features

Table Summary: Summary
 HR Function Typical Information HRIS Reporting
Contained Within an Outcomes
HRIS
HR • Employee • Time and
Administration information/dem attendance data;
ographics (all absenteeism data
relevant data for • Division,
tax and pension department, and
plan purposes, job categories
staff profiles, • Employee records
etc.) and employment
• Organizational histories
data (structure, • Employee positions
levels, reporting and progressions
pattern)
• HR policies
Compensation/ • Pay structure • Salary budget
Payroll • Wage/salary information
histories of • Pension and
employees retirement plan
• Raises received by information
employees • Benefits utilization
• Types of benefits categorized by
and choices benefit type or
available employee group
• Cost summaries
and projections of
benefits
programs
• Job evaluation
information
Recruitment & • Job postings • Applicant tracking
Selection • Job • Recruitment costs
descriptions/spec • Number of job
ifications postings filled
• Selection decision
criteria
 HR Function Typical Information HRIS Reporting
Contained Within an Outcomes
HRIS
• Number of external
hires vs. internal
promotions
• Employment equity
reports
• Diversity statistics
Training & • Types, dates • Training data on
Development offered, training courses and
records of vendors
employees, • Career paths
training needs of • Training ROI
personnel,
training costs
Health & Safety • Accidents, costs, • Health and safety
tolerance limits records and
for various trends
dangerous • Short- and long-
substances term disability
records
Performance • Performance • Performance
Management records, records—
appraisals, performance
productivity data appraisal data
• Employee rating
percentages
Strategic HR • Succession plans • Turnover indices
Planning (skills, • Employee
specialties, work movements/rede
experience, ployments
performance • Skills inventories
record, • Succession plans
promotion • Human resource
capabilities of plans
employees),
 HR Function Typical Information HRIS Reporting
Contained Within an Outcomes
HRIS
career planning—
job families (jobs,
number, training
needs, salary)
Labour • Grievances (types, • Union contract
Relations frequency, details
decisions by • Grievance statistics
adjudicator) • Costing models
FIGURE 3-12

HRIS Database Information and Reporting Outcomes

Table Summary: Summary

Type of Outputs—Reporting Capabilities

All HRISs produce some regular reports, such as employee records,
salary and benefit details, retirement benefits, and so on. However, as a
firm’s HRIS increases in sophistication, it goes beyond these regular
reports and is able to produce special reports, answer questions
interactively, and play an important role in supporting organizational
decision-makers.
For example, suppose an organization is considering a new dental
benefit program. A sophisticated HRIS will be able to generate
predictions of not only how many employees are likely to qualify for and
probably accept the new program, but also how much it will cost the firm
over a specific period of time and how it will affect recruitment success,
employee turnover, and other relevant data.
One Canadian university’s HRIS enables the institution to create timely
reports about service, statutory holiday pay, sick time, vacation
entitlements, and much more, thereby supporting the finance function of
the university when compiling financial statements.82
Page 84
Access to HRIS Information—Privacy and
Security Considerations
Who should have access to the information contained in an HRIS?
Access always needs to be weighed against the need for confidentiality
and the need to respect employees’ privacy. Most HRISs collect and
retain only the employee information needed for business or legal
reasons and establish controls for internal use and external release of
this information. Sensitive information—such as security and medical
reports, investigative and grievance files, insurance and benefits records,
information related to performance and disciplinary actions, and so on—
should be tightly protected and offered to persons only on a need-to-
know basis. The decision about who should have the right to change
input data is also critical. On the one hand, restricting data entry to a few
persons can improve consistency and prevent errors; on the other hand,
it can also result in delays and a complete lack of flexibility.
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A key feature of any HRIS is how effective it is at providing the tools with
which to manage these security issues. The more robust systems enable
the organization to set up “security profiles” based on “role” and whether
the holder of the role can view the information or change it and what data
fields are accessible. For example, consider the security parameters
around things like social insurance numbers, banking information, and
emergency contact information. Security profiles take a lot of time to
create and to set up, but they are critical to ensuring that proper security
measures are in place.

LO7The Role of Data and

Analytics in Advancing
Strategic HRM
With the increasing need for HR professionals to meet the needs of all
stakeholders, HR professionals recognize the importance of leveraging
technology capabilities to deliver greater value-added services. By
leveraging automation and system capabilities, HR professionals can
spend more time working at the strategic level rather than the
transactional level. As a result, the HR role has evolved in several ways to
enhance its service delivery to the organization. There are several ways
that illustrate HR’s transformation.

Increased Efficiency—Enhanced Service

Delivery
Technological advances have enabled HR to focus less on administrative
transactions and compliance requirements. With day-to-day activities
being automated and data readily available, HR is better equipped to
provide just-in-time service delivery to all its stakeholders on an as-
needed basis. For employees, they are able to garner the information
they need from self-service delivery rather than needing to speak with an
HR leader in person. With applicable security profiles in place for
relevant roles, managers and HR professionals are able to work more
closely together to solve business-related challenges based on accurate,
timely, and readily available data.

Increased Effectiveness—Helping
Stakeholders Make Better Decisions
Fewer administrative transactions have meant that the HR department
can focus more on strategic issues. Now HR has the time to focus on
understanding which HR metrics are important to helping the
organization achieve its business goals and objectives. Choosing the
appropriate data and analyzing them has become an integral part of how
HR helps managers make better decisions. Using predictive analysis, HR
helps managers to detect trends. Predictive analysis is the process of
selecting, exploring, analyzing, and modelling data to create better
business outcomes. From this system, HR can collect applicable
information, analyze it, and use it to predict how best to address future
events, develop future strategies, or manage human resource-related
issues. Consider how HR data can be used to help managers make better
decisions.
Organizations such as DBS Bank in Singapore utilize data and analytics
to increase productivity, reduce turnover, and recruit more
effectively.83 Similarly, HR technology companies are creating HRISs to
increase retention and performance through machine learning
solutions.84

Increased Contribution to Organizational

Sustainability—Talent Management
Throughout the text we refer to how important it is for organizations to
value their human resources and to effectively manage their talent,
optimizing the skills and competencies resonant within the firm. The
term talent management was coined by McKinsey and Company in 1997
and appeared in its report on the “War on Talent,” which took into
account a number of HR processes critical for organizational
sustainability. Talent management refers to “a systemic attraction,
identification, development, engagement/retention and deployment of
those individuals with high potential who are of particular value to the
organization.”85
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Combining human resource and business-related data and analytics

helps managers and HR leverage employees’ capabilities and skills and
design opportunities for development to solve business needs. By
bridging HRIS data such as career planning, succession planning, and
training and development with manager-identified business needs, HR
leaders can quickly adapt and create replacement charts and succession
models and then generate a list of employees who have the skills and are
ready to move into the next role, or they can generate what type of
development would be appropriate for these individuals to pursue. The
opportunity to use this information to ensure that the organization can
deploy its high-potential workforce when needed is invaluable to
organizational sustainability, especially as organizations manage
unforeseen challenges. We will discuss talent management in more detail
in Chapter 7.

Increased Visibility—Enhanced HR
Competencies
Not only has technology enabled HR to provide greater value-added
services, but it has also afforded the HR professional the opportunity to
interact at a more sophisticated level with client groups regarding their
business informational needs. Clients expect HR to possess knowledge of
their financial and strategic business challenges and to explore the
various technological solutions that will meet their needs. This
expectation has enabled HR to demonstrate a greater degree of
professionalism and has raised the credibility of human resource
professionals’ knowledge within the organization.86

Human Resource Accounting

More recently, some organizations have considered examining the
impact of human resource capital development in organizations using a
financial model. This approach considers “human resources” as an asset
and an investment and measures from a financial perspective the return
of those investments.87 This value is quantified using human resource
accounting (HRA), a process method of identifying, measuring,
accounting, and forecasting the value of human resources in order to
facilitate the effective management of an organization.88 HRA attempts
to put a dollar figure on the human assets of an organization using a cost
or a value model. The cost model is based on some kind of cost
calculation—acquisition, replacement, or opportunity costs—while the
value-based models strive to evaluate human resources on the basis of
their economic value to the organization.
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HRA is a managerial tool that can help managers make better decisions.
It can be a blessing to salary administrators, trainers, human resource
planners, and union–management negotiators if it provides them with
the kind of objective and reliable information they have long needed to
plan these functions.
Spotlight on HRM
Emergent Human Resources Trends That Were Accelerated
by the COVID-19 Pandemic
Employee well-being
Although employee well-being was a topic of importance at the
beginning of 2020, it had taken centre stage by the beginning of 2021. In
its December 2020 update, Morneau Shepell reported that Canadians’
Mental Health Index was at its lowest point since the inception of the
 index.a With many employees working remotely, the line between work
and life has effectively blurred.b As a result, strategies to foster employee
well-being and mental health will become core to supporting employees
and their families not only at work but also as a recruitment incentive.c
Redefining flexible, but not for everyone
Pre-pandemic, flexible work schedules would often focus on blended
work arrangements (i.e., working certain days from home), flextime, or
remote work (i.e., working from home with the ability to go to a nearby
office). Post-pandemic, flexibility will be redefined. It will enable
independence for employees for both time (when) and space (where)
they work.d Home will become the new office.e The metric to measure the
distance of employees to the office will change from kilometres to
continents.
Increased flexibility will not be available to everyone, however. Flexibility
is much easier to achieve for knowledge workers than for other forms of
employment (including place-based). The tailoring of recruitment,
support systems, and job descriptions to attract talent on a global scale
remotely may further deepen socioeconomic divides.f

Employee analytics and their limits

A surge in employees working from home left employers wondering
whether productivity would decrease.g Perhaps somewhat expectedly,
numerous employers increased their use of employee surveillance
technologies.h While these types of systems open the potential to solve
challenges using people analytics,i the increased usage has not yet taken
into consideration the balance of people analytics for business purposes
and employees’ privacy.j
What other dramatic shifts in the way people work have you noticed
since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic? What impacts will these
shifts have on human resource planning?

SUMMARY
Human resource planning is a proactive approach to ensuring that the
organization has the right people at the right place with the right skills at
the right time and in the right environment. The human resource
planning process signals the beginning of an organization’s ability to
“manage its talent.” The planning process directs the organization to
decide what talent it needs and suggests several ways in which to source
that talent. It is an attempt by companies to estimate their future needs
and supplies of human resources as well as the business processes to
effectively enable that talent.
Through an understanding of the factors that influence the demand for
workers, workforce planners can forecast specific short- and long-term
needs. Given some anticipated level of demand, planners try to estimate
the availability of present workers, both internal and external to the
organization, to meet that demand. Such estimates begin with an audit of
present employees. Possible replacements are then identified. Internal
shortages are resolved by seeking new employees in the external labour
markets. Surpluses are reduced by normal attrition, leaves of absence,
layoffs, or terminations. Both external and internal staffing strategies
can be used to meet human resource needs.
Planners use various tools to gather information and analyze the data,
such as HRIS and HRA, so that they can provide meaningful information
to their stakeholders. Effective use of data and analytics has afforded HR
the opportunity to demonstrate enhanced service delivery and offer
greater strategic services to its stakeholder.
The HR plan can be considered as a road map for HR professionals, as it
directs the recruitment, selection, and training and development
processes. Once HR professionals understand an organization’s human
resource needs and available supply, then they will be able to decide how
best to recruit that resource and establish the framework for the
selection criteria. Once onboard, employees’ capabilities will need to be
understood and their talents and skills optimized so they can perform
effectively. Future value-added contributions will depend on how the
organization develops its employees and successfully aligns its needs
with its employees’ developmental paths. Talent management is an
important HR activity to ensure organizational sustainability. Later,
in Chapter 5, Chapter 6, and Chapter 7, we will discuss those HR
functions that support effective talent management processes.
Before that, it is important to study the impact of governmental policies
on a firm’s human resource policies and practices. This will be attempted
in the next chapter.
 PART 3

Attracting Human Resources

A company hires employees to meet its
objectives. First, it has to identify potential
employees and find the ways and means to get
the necessary information to them, taking into
account the requirements of human rights
legislation. Then it has to select those candidates
who best meet its needs.

Page 91
 CHAPTER 4

Legal Requirements and

Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion
All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights.
ARTICLE 1, UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN
RIGHTS, DECEMBER 1948, UNITED NATIONS
All individuals should have an equal opportunity
to make for themselves the lives that they are
able and wish to have, consistent with their
duties and obligations as members of society,
without being hindered in or prevented from
doing so by discriminatory practices based on
race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion,
age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status,
family status, disability or conviction for an
offence for which a pardon has been granted.
SECTION 2, CANADIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACT
Page 92

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
1. LO1Explain how HR determines the federal and provincial employment
and labour standards that apply to various workers.
1. LO2List the groups who are protected from discrimination under
the Canadian Human Rights Act.
1. LO3Describe the purpose of equity legislation.
1. LO4Describe the purpose of privacy legislation.
 1. LO5List various types of employment policies that organizations may
adopt.
1. LO6Define harassment and the role that HR plays in addressing it.
1. LO7Describe the strategic importance of diversity for Canadian workplaces.
1. LO8Discuss a diversity perspective versus an inclusion perspective.
Canada has a series of laws that affect the employment of workers. It
may be useful to think of these laws like a building with supporting
pillars and a ceiling. Figure 4-1 shows that some of these laws can be
thought of as foundational pillars that define the minimum standard for
treatment of Canadian workers, such as minimum wage, minimum
vacation days, and protecting employee personal information. Three
types of pillar legislation exist at both federal and provincial levels:
employment and labour standards, human rights legislation, and privacy
legislation.
FIGURE 4-1

Grouping Canadian Employment Legislation

Referring back to the building analogy in Figure 4-1, a second series of
employment legislation can be grouped into the ceiling. Recognizing that
healthy organizations will not provide only the minimum treatment to
employees, the ceiling begins to guide the ideal treatment of employees
within a workplace and how to address issues when they do arise. In
some cases, organizations may be legally required to have policies in
specific areas. For instance, organizations in Ontario are required to have
policies on workplace violence and harassment;1 each organization will
have to write out and adopt its own policy on how it will address
instances of violence and harassment. In other cases, HR writes and
adopts a policy to guide best practices that may not be legally required.
For instance, an organization may write a policy for working alone to
enhance worker safety.

This chapter will focus on compliance with government legislation and

explain employment-related laws that guide HR actions. The chapter
also addresses how HR can build and implement policies to promote
healthy, safe, and inclusive workplaces. Finally, the chapter discusses
diversity, equity, and inclusion and their strategic importance to
Canadian firms.

Which Employment Laws

LO1
Apply?
To ensure that the organization is compliant with employment
legislation, the first step for HR is to determine which laws apply to the
organization. Three questions can guide HR regarding the laws to abide
by.
Question 1 Is the person an employee of the company or an independent
contractor?
Employees are governed under employment standards and have the
right to vacation pay, statutory holidays, overtime pay, and notice or
severance pay in lieu of notice upon termination, and the right to collect
employment insurance benefits2 (discussed in Chapter 10). An
independent contractor, however, is governed solely by the contract they
sign with the employer. Determining whether someone is an employee or
 an independent contractor depends on the level of employer control, who
owns the tools used, and whether the worker has the opportunity for
profit and risk of loss. Figure 4-2 provides guidance on how HR can
determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent
contractor.

FIGURE 4-2

Is a Worker an Employee or an Independent Contractor?

If a worker has signed a contract—and does not rely on the employer to

set hours and assign the work to be done, owns their own tools and
equipment, and has the opportunity for profit and risk of loss—then the
worker is likely an independent contractor.
Question 2 Is the organization provincially or federally regulated?
Page 94
Federal employment laws cover the approximately 10 percent of
Canadian employees who work in federally regulated industries. These
industries include communications, interprovincial or international
transportation, banks, postal service, and the federal government.
The Canada Labour Code covers the minimum employment standards
(e.g., minimum wage, termination provisions) that must be given to all
employees in federally regulated industries. It also applies to businesses
in the territories and on First Nations reserves, and to certain Crown
corporations.
The other 90 percent of all employees fall under provincial legislation,
and the employment laws of the province the employee works in would
apply. Each province has a pair of provincial employment regulations—
one for unionized and one for nonunionized employees—that guide the
minimum employment standards of workers.

Question 3 Is the employee unionized or nonunionized?

Each province has its own employment standards act or code that
defines the minimum standards for wages, vacation days, and
termination provisions for nonunionized employees. The workplace
standards of each province along with a comparison between provinces
can be found at workplace.ca/laws. Unionized employees, on the other
hand, are covered under each province’s labour laws. These labour
relations acts set rules for how unions and employers will organize and
collectively bargain to determine the minimum employment standards.
Information about the labour relations act for each province can be
accessed at canadianlabourrelations.com/canadian-labour-laws.html.
Finally, some employees are exempt from many employment laws. These
vary by province and may include farmers, municipal police, inmates,
politicians, temporary election workers, and family members working in
a family business.
In sum, there are many different sets of legislation, and the particular
laws that apply to a worker and their organization depend on the
industry, status as an employee (vs. independent contractor), and
whether or not the worker is part of a union. HR navigates to the laws
that correspond to their employees and then seeks to ensure that the
organization is minimally compliant.
LO2Human Rights
Legislation
Usually, employment-related laws and regulations are limited in scope;
their impact on HR is confined to a single HR activity. For example,
minimum-wage laws specify the lowest amount an employer can pay for
each hour worked; in spite of their importance, these laws affect only the
compensation management function. Human rights legislation, however,
is an exception in that it affects nearly every HR function: planning,
recruiting, selection, training, compensation, and labour relations.
Page 95

Human rights legislation is about not treating any Canadians differently

because of their membership in a protected group. What constitutes
membership in a protected group was defined in an extremely important
piece of legislation: the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
In the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms3 (which is part of
the Constitution Act of 1982), fundamental rights including the following
were provided to every Canadian:
• Freedom of conscience and religion
• Freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression, including
freedom of the press and other media of communication
• Freedom of peaceful assembly
• Freedom of association
Implications of the Charter to HR and industrial relations issues are still
unfolding. This is because of how the court system operates in
Canada.4 When a person or group challenges that their rights were
infringed upon, the dispute may be settled through a dispute resolution
process, it may be heard by an administrative board or tribunal, or it
may end up in court. The courts interpret and apply the Constitution, as
well as legislation passed by both the federal and provincial levels of
government. They also develop and apply the common law (i.e.,
precedents set from previous cases). Each province and territory has
lower courts, which are the first to hear a case and make a ruling. The
case may proceed to provincial higher courts, through courts of appeal,
and ultimately may reach the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court only
hears cases of public importance or of national significance and is the
ultimate interpreter of the Charter.
Section 1 of the Charter guarantees rights and freedoms “subject only to
such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified
in a free and democratic society.” Of course, such adjectives as
“reasonable” and “demonstrably justified” will lead to different
interpretations by different judges. This is one of the reasons why many
cases wind their way through the judicial system up to the Supreme
Court, just to get a final opinion. Every time a court invokes one of the
rights or freedoms, it must determine if the infringement is justified.
Section 2 of the Charter guarantees freedom of association, a very
important aspect in industrial relations, especially for unions. A key
question in this context is whether the freedom to associate carries with
it the right to bargain collectively and the right to strike, which are the
main reasons for the existence of unions.
Section 15—the equality rights part—came into effect on April 17, 1985,
having been delayed to allow the federal government and the provinces
to create or change laws to ensure compliance with the Charter. It states
in its first paragraph:
Every individual is equal before the law and under the law and has the
right to the equal protection and benefit of the law without
discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race,
national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or mental or physical
disability.
This section of the Charter was expected to—and has—caused a flood of
litigation. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies only to
individuals dealing with federal and provincial governments and
agencies under their jurisdiction, but its impact is far-reaching, since
potentially every law can be challenged.
The Canadian Human Rights Act
While the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees equality
before the law for every Canadian, human rights legislation seeks to
provide equal employment opportunities and prohibits discrimination
on all prohibited grounds.5 The Canadian Human Rights Act governs
federally regulated employees, whereas provincial human rights
laws govern provincially regulated employees. Both the provincial and
the federal human rights bodies of legislation exist to provide equal
employment opportunity for members of protected groups and to
prevent discrimination. Figure 4-3 summarizes these two layers of
employment laws.
Page 96

Type Source Objectives and

Jurisdiction
Federal Passed by Parliament and To ensure equal
law enforced by federal Canadian employment
Human Rights opportunities with
Commission/Tribunal employers under federal
jurisdiction
Provincial Enacted by provincial To ensure equal
law governments and enforced by employment
provincial human rights opportunities with
commissions/tribunals employers under
provincial jurisdiction
FIGURE 4-3

Types, Sources, Objectives, and Jurisdiction of Canadian Human Rights

Legislation
Table Summary: Summary

Figure 4-4 compares federal and individual provincial human rights

legislation as to different grounds of discrimination prohibited in
employment. While discrimination in the provision of services is also
prohibited, the grounds are often very similar to employment and are not
provided in the table.
Prohibited Jurisdiction Comments
Ground
Race or Colour All jurisdictions In addition, Saskatchewan
prohibits discrimination on
the basis of “perceived race.”
 Prohibited Jurisdiction Comments
Ground
Religion All jurisdictions Manitoba’s Code and Yukon’s
Act read “religion or creed, or
religious belief, religious
association or religious
activity.”
In addition, Saskatchewan
prohibits discrimination on
the basis of “religious creed.”
Ontario uses the term “creed.”
Nunavut’s Act says “creed
[and] religion.”
Physical or All jurisdictions Quebec uses the phrase
Mental “handicap or use of any means
Disability to palliate a handicap.”
Ontario has prohibition on the
basis of “both current and
previous disabilities as well as
the perception that one may
have or have had a disability.”
Nunavut uses the word
“disability.”
Dependence on All except Yukon and Policy to accept complaints in
Alcohol or Northwest Territories British Columbia, Alberta,
Drugs Saskatchewan, Manitoba,
Ontario, New Brunswick,
Northwest Territories, and
Prince Edward Island.
Included in “handicap” ground
in Quebec.
Previous dependence only in
New Brunswick and Nova
 Prohibited Jurisdiction Comments
Ground
Scotia.
Included in “disability” ground
in the Yukon, Alberta, and
Nunavut.
Age All jurisdictions British Columbia: 19+;
Alberta: 18+; Saskatchewan:
18+; Ontario: 18+;
Newfoundland: 19+; Quebec:
except as provided for by law;
Nunavut: applies with no age
restrictions in the Act.
Sex (includes All jurisdictions Alberta uses the term
pregnancy and “gender”; Manitoba includes
childbirth) gender-determined
characteristics; British
Columbia and Ontario include
breastfeeding; Ontario
recognizes the protection of
transgender persons and
accepts complaints related to
“gender identity”; Ontario
accepts complaints related to
female genital mutilation; in
Quebec, pregnancy as such is
considered a ground of
discrimination; in the
Northwest Territories, gender
identity as such is considered
a ground of discrimination;
Nunavut Act says “sex, sexual
 Prohibited Jurisdiction Comments
Ground
orientation, marital status,
family status, pregnancy.”
Marital Status All jurisdictions Quebec uses the term “civil
status.”
Family Status All except New Saskatchewan defines family
Brunswick and as being in a parent–child
Newfoundland and relationship; Quebec uses the
Labrador term “civil status”; Northwest
Territories have prohibition
on the grounds of “family
status” as well as “family
affiliation.”
Sexual All jurisdictions The Supreme Court of Canada
Orientation read sexual orientation into
the Alberta Human Rights,
Citizenship and
Multiculturalism Act in 1998.
National or All except British Saskatchewan and Northwest
Ethnic Origin Columbia Territories use the term
(including “nationality”; Manitoba Code
linguistic uses “nationality” or “national
background) origin”; Manitoba Code uses
“ethnic background or origin”;
Ontario’s Code includes both
“ethnic origin” and
“citizenship”; Alberta uses the
term “place of origin.”
Ancestry or Yukon, British
Place of Origin Columbia, Alberta,
 Prohibited Jurisdiction Comments
Ground
Saskatchewan,
Manitoba, Northwest
Territories, Ontario,
Nunavut, and New
Brunswick
Language Ontario, Quebec, New Ontario accepts complaints on
Brunswick, Northwest the grounds of ancestry, ethnic
Territories, and Yukon origin, place of origin, and
race; New Brunswick and the
Northwest Territories will
accept language-related
complaints filed on the basis
of ancestry, although it is not
an enumerated ground;
included under “linguistic
background” in Yukon;
Nunavut: no specific mention
in the Act.
Social Quebec, Northwest
Condition or Territories, New
Origin Brunswick, and
Newfoundland and
Labrador
Source of Alberta, Defined as “receipt of public
Income Saskatchewan, assistance” in Saskatchewan;
Manitoba, Quebec, included under social
Yukon, Prince Edward condition in Quebec and New
Island, and Nova Brunswick; Nunavut says
Scotia “lawful source of income.”
 Prohibited Jurisdiction Comments
Ground
Assignment, Newfoundland and Included under “social
Attachment, or Labrador and Quebec condition” in Quebec.
Seizure of Pay
Based on Yukon, Manitoba, Northwest Territories has
Association Ontario, New prohibition on basis of
Brunswick, Nova “political association.”
Scotia, Northwest
Territories, Nunavut,
and Prince Edward
Island
Political Belief Yukon, Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador
and Labrador, British has prohibition on basis of
Columbia, Manitoba, “political opinion”; Manitoba
Quebec, Nova Scotia, Code includes political activity
Prince Edward Island, and political association.
New Brunswick, and
Northwest Territories
Record of Yukon, Manitoba, Manitoba and Yukon’s Acts
Criminal British Columbia, read “criminal charges or
Conviction Quebec, Ontario, and criminal record”; Ontario has
Prince Edward Island prohibition on basis of “record
of offences”
Pardoned Federal, Yukon, Ontario has prohibition on
Conviction Ontario, Nunavut, and basis of “record of offences”
Northwest Territories
FIGURE 4-4

Prohibited Grounds of Discrimination in Canada (Employment)*

Table Summary: Summary
SOURCE: Based on data from Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (2018, January), Overview of Human
Rights Codes by Province and Territory in Canada, https://ccdi.ca/media/1414/20171102-publications-
overview-of-hr-codes-by-province-final-en.pdf

Discrimination Defined
Collins English Dictionary defines discrimination as “the practice of treating
one person or group of people less fairly or less well than other people or
groups.” What grounds of discrimination occur most frequently? When
examining the annual reports of the various human rights
commissions/tribunals, the ground alleged most frequently is
discrimination on the basis of disability (alleged in about 52 percent of
claims), 20 percent were based on sex, 27 percent on national or ethnic
origin, and 26 percent on race. Note that a complainant may allege more
than one ground of discrimination.6

Direct Versus Indirect (Systemic) Discrimination

Normally, intentional direct discrimination on grounds specified in the
human rights legislation is illegal. However, under certain
circumstances, intentional direct discrimination is acceptable. A fashion
store catering to women will be allowed to advertise for female models,
and schools controlled by religious groups are permitted to limit their
hiring to members of the specific faith. This legal discrimination is called
a bona fide occupational requirement (BFOR).
Indirect, unintentional, or systemic discrimination takes place if there
is no intention to discriminate, but the system, arrangements, or policies
allow it to happen. Such employment practices may appear to be neutral
and may be implemented impartially, but they exclude specific groups of
people for reasons that are neither job-related nor required for safe or
efficient business operations.
Examples of systemic discrimination include the following:
• Minimum height and weight requirements for employment with
police forces, which make it more difficult for women and
Canadians of Asian origin to be hired
• Minimum scores on employment tests, which discriminate against
distinct groups (e.g., the use of culturally biased intelligence tests,
which tend to screen out a disproportionate number of
minorities)
• Internal hiring policies, word-of-mouth hiring, or the requirement
to submit a photograph with the application form
 • Limited accessibility of buildings and facilities, which often makes
it impossible for persons with disabilities to be employed with
organizations using such places
• Psychological inability of people to deal with persons with
disabilities
• Unavailability of alternative formats or forms of tools (e.g.,
publications in Braille for the blind or telephone devices for
people who are deaf)
• Job evaluation systems that tend to undervalue jobs traditionally
held by women (e.g., give more points to compensable factors
that favour men, such as physical strength, and fewer points to
such factors as dexterity)
• Promotion criteria that favour factors such as seniority and
experience in traditionally male-dominated organizations in
which women have not had the chance to acquire either
• Page 97Page 98Page 99
An organizational culture in which minority groups feel
unwelcome and uneasy, resulting in a disproportionate turnover
rate for such groups
• Lack of explicit anti-harassment guidelines, which allows an
atmosphere of abuse to develop in the workplace
Indirect or systemic discrimination is more difficult to detect and to fight
because often it is hidden and requires a special effort to deal with
effectively. The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) has taken
specific steps to define and detect the causes and sources of indirect or
systemic discrimination.
When looking globally, some airlines have a height requirement for flight attendants, such
as being at least five feet tall. Others may have a minimum vertical reach requirement to
ensure that flight attendants can reach high enough to secure overhead bins. Is height a
bona fide occupational requirement for the flight attendant job?7

Case Examples by Protected Group Status

To prevent discrimination, employers must provide employees
with reasonable accommodation up to the point of undue hardship. To
aid in determining what is “reasonable” accommodation and when the
accommodation would result in “undue” hardship, many cases have been
heard before tribunals and courts. In this section, a series of case
examples will be used to highlight the complexity and scope of human
rights legislation and important human rights concepts.

Race and Colour

It is sometimes difficult to see which of these two characteristics is the
actual basis of discrimination; often both are involved. The
discrimination can be intentional or unintentional, subtle or very open:
The Armour Group, a property management firm in Halifax, decided to
change cleaning contract companies, resulting in the layoff of seven
Black janitors at historic Founders Square. The new contractor hired
only one employee from the former contractor—a white janitor. The
Armour Group is alleging that the decision to change contractors was
based on a dissatisfaction with the quality of cleaning services being
provided and said that more than 200 complaints were received. The
seven janitors believe that they were fired after revealing their plan to file
a human rights complaint alleging racial discrimination.8
It is important that employers respond appropriately if a human rights
violation is alleged:
Priti Shah, a Winnipeg lawyer born in Canada, was told to “go back to my
own country” by another patron at the Fort Garry Hotel after she spoke
to a server about a problem with her meal. The employer took more than
half an hour to intervene and failed to conduct a thorough investigation
or ask the perpetrator to move to another table. Under Manitoba human
rights law, the employer has a duty not to harass people and also an
obligation to ensure that no one else knowingly harasses people at the
employer’s place of business.9

National or Ethnic Origins

It is also illegal for HR decisions to be influenced by the national or
ethnic origins of applicants or of their forebears. Although
discrimination on the basis of national or ethnic origins may be indirect,
on some occasions there is clear, documented evidence:
Ottawa Valley Cleaning and Restoration was ordered to pay $8,000 to a
foreign-born job applicant after a human rights tribunal found multiple
violations of discrimination based on the applicant’s race, colour, and
place of origin. Among the text messages sent to the applicant, who
during an initial phone call indicated that he was not from Canada, were
“Try learning English you will have better luck I don’t hire foreners [sic] I
keep the white man working,” and “Go file a complaint he will probably
be a white man and he will probably laugh at you and tell you to go
away.”10
Religion
Page 100

A person’s religious beliefs and practices should not affect employment

decisions. An employer has a duty to accommodate an employee’s
religious practices, unless those practices present undue hardship to the
employer.

A Supreme Court judgment forced the RCMP to accommodate its Sikh officers’ religious
requirement to wear a turban at all times. What other uniform accommodations might need
to be made to accommodate a diverse workforce?

The terms “undue hardship” and “duty to accommodate” were examined

in an important decision by the Supreme Court of Canada in a ruling
against Central Alberta Dairy Pool (1990). The complainant worked at a
milk-processing plant. After becoming a member of the Worldwide
Church of God, he requested unpaid leave for a particular Monday in
order to observe a holy day of his church. The request was refused
because Mondays were especially busy days at the plant. When the
employee did not report for work, he was fired. The court ruled that
Dairy Pool had discriminated on the basis of religion. Although the
company had not done so directly, it had an adverse effect on the
complainant due to his religion.
The court did not define “undue hardship.” However, it stated that
relevant considerations would include financial cost, health and safety,
disruption of a collective agreement, interference with other workers’
rights, the size of the operation, problems of morale of other employees,
and interchangeability of workforce and facilities. It found that Dairy
Pool could cope with employee absences on Mondays because of
illnesses. Therefore, it could also accommodate a single instance for
absence due to religious reasons, particularly if the employee had tried to
accommodate the employer.11

Age
The use of age as an employment criterion has also received considerable
attention in the past. Many employers consider that establishing a
minimum or maximum age for certain jobs is justified, although
evidence is rarely available that age is an accurate indication of one’s
ability to perform a given type of work. In recent years, mandatory
retirement in jurisdictions across the country has been abolished. Still,
older workers may be the victims of indirect or subtle discrimination.
The Human Rights Tribunal of Alberta awarded a woman to be
reinstated and be given approximately five years of back pay and
$15,000 for general damages. The woman had not been offered a
contract she was qualified for at age 67. The tribunal found this
constituted age-based discrimination.12
Canadian human rights legislation prevents age discrimination against
anyone aged 18 or 19 or older (and younger in some jurisdictions). While
discrimination against younger workers is notoriously hard to prove
because age and years of work experience go hand in hand, it is age
discrimination not to hire any person specifically because of their age.13

Sex
The Canadian Human Rights Act also prevents discrimination on the basis
of an individual’s sex (often erroneously referred to as gender; the Act
specifically uses the term sex). Consider the following case where the
employer tried to force a pregnant employee to quit her job:
The new owner of a Vancouver sports bar reduced the number of shifts
of a server who was six months pregnant from four shifts to about one
 per week in an effort to get the employee to quit. The tribunal held that
the server was in an inhospitable, discriminatory work environment and
the bar was unable to show that not being pregnant was a bona fide
occupational requirement. Consequently, the server was awarded
$2,000 in lost wages and $7,500 for injury to dignity and self-respect.14
Page 101

It should be noted that the Ontario Human Rights Commission updated

its policy on discrimination on the basis of pregnancy to include
protection for women trying to become pregnant.15 As well, the
Supreme Court of Canada, in Dionne v. Commission scolaire des Patriots,
made it clear that an employer may not discriminate against a pregnant
employee who refuses to work because of a risk to the person’s health
and safety. In that case, Dionne refused to work because her doctor had
advised her that she was susceptible to several harmful viruses and that
her work environment constituted a health risk because children are
frequent carriers of a number of viruses.16
Not only is it illegal to recruit, hire, and promote employees because of
their sex, but it is unlawful to have separate policies for men and women.
For example, it is discriminatory to reserve some jobs for men only or
women only. It is even illegal to apply similar standards to men and
women when such standards arbitrarily discriminate against one sex
more than the other. When standards (such as a height or physical test
requirement) discriminate against one sex (or race, national or ethnic
origin, religion, age, or marital status), the burden is on the employer to
prove that the standards are necessary.
An Ontario Human Rights Commission report entitled Not on the Menu:
Inquiry Report on Sexual and Gender-Based Dress Codes in Ontario
Restaurants is aimed at the issue of some restaurant dress requirements.
In one case, a visibly pregnant server working at a sports bar indicated
that she was uncomfortable wearing the new form-fitting uniform. In
response, the bar reduced her shifts. The Ontario Human Rights
Tribunal awarded the woman close to $3,000 in lost wages and $17,000
for injury to her dignity.17
Spotlight on ETHICS
A Weighty Problem
Most countries do not prohibit discrimination based on a job candidate’s
weight. For instance, in the United States, 49 of 50 states do not include
weight as a prohibited ground of discrimination. Jackson Jefferson III is
the managing partner of a long-established public relations firm.
According to Jackson, a person’s looks and image are of major
importance when hiring a new employee: “Our clients have certain
expectations and we need to meet them. If a person is overweight, there
is no place for him or her in our firm. Also, piercings and tattoos are not
acceptable.” Jill Andrew, co-founder of the Body Confidence Canada
Awards, argues that people are discriminated against based on several
personal characteristics such as height, weight, facial features, and hair
loss, and such individuals are “often not placed in front positions or do
not travel to represent the company.”
Are there circumstances in which employers should be able to
discriminate against people based on their personal characteristics?
A far-reaching Supreme Court decision relating to sex discrimination
concerns the earlier mentioned bona fide occupational requirement. The
case involved a woman who had been employed by the Province of
British Columbia in an elite firefighting unit for more than two years.
In 1994, Tawney Meiorin failed one of several new fitness tests, a 2.5
kilometre run to be completed in 11 minutes, and lost her employment. A
subsequent grievance launched by her union was appealed to the
Supreme Court. The court decided in favour of Meiorin, agreeing with an
earlier arbitrator’s ruling that the government had failed to justify the
test as a BFOR by providing credible evidence that her inability to meet
the standard created a safety risk.18
The court established three new criteria to assess the appropriateness of
a BFOR:
1. Is the standard rationally connected to the performance of the
job?
2. Was the standard established in an honest belief that it was
necessary to accomplish the purpose identified in stage one?
3. Is the standard reasonably necessary to accomplish its purpose?
The stricter rules may make it more difficult for HR to establish and
defend BFORs. However, one report suggests that the promise
of Meiorin—that human rights legislation would take adverse effects
discrimination seriously—is under attack, with intensified efforts to
prevent complainants from going beyond the prima facie stage of
discrimination. According to the report, “For many people with
disabilities, the duty to accommodate, as it is being applied today, simply
does not go far enough to ensure their equality and inclusion in the
world they live in.”19
Page 102

Sexual Orientation
Discrimination based upon sexual orientation is prohibited under
human rights legislation. Consider this case:
Robert Ranger, a gay correctional officer, alleged harassment and
discrimination based on his sexual orientation. While the main
antagonist was a fellow union member, the employer knew the
environment was poisoned and did nothing to accommodate Ranger
when he was able to return to work. Ranger suffered from “profoundly
humiliating homophobic harassment” and eventually went on long-term
disability. He still suffers from anxiety attacks and depression. Ranger
was awarded $53,000 in compensatory damages for the employer’s
failure to accommodate, $244,000 for lost wages, and $45,000 in
compensatory damages for discrimination, harassment, and a poisoned
workplace. In the words of vice-chair Deborah Leighton, “There is no
case before me where the complainant has suffered such extensive
harm.”20
The issue of discrimination against same-sex relationships was
effectively addressed by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1999 when it
decided that same-sex couples must be treated the same way as
heterosexual couples. A human rights tribunal ordered the federal
government to extend medical and dental benefits to the same-sex
partners of its employees back in 1996. The same year, the government
amended the Canadian Human Rights Act to add sexual orientation as a
prohibited ground of discrimination. Since then, several Supreme Court
decisions have forced provinces to amend their benefit and tax laws to
include same-sex couples in their considerations.
Former Iraq hostage James Loney says that a Catholic youth camp, where he was on staff,
was ordered to close down because he is gay. Should sexual orientation be allowed to play a
role in staffing decisions in religious organizations?

In one case, a supervising engineer working on a road construction

project was subject to repeated negative comments and emails relating to
his race, religion, and sexual orientation by a foreman also working on
the project but for a different company. The engineer argued that he was
a victim of employment discrimination but the foreman’s company
asserted that the relevant human rights legislation did not apply because
the engineer and foreman were not in a direct employment relationship.
The Supreme Court of Canada held that “the code is not limited to
protecting employees solely from discriminatory harassment by their
supervisors in the workplace … This may include discrimination by their
co-workers, even when those co-workers have a different employer.”21
Still, not all workplaces are safe and inclusive for LGBTQ+ employees:
About one-third of Canadians do not believe that their workplace is safe
and inclusive for gay and lesbian employees (and 45 percent do not feel
the workplace is safe and inclusive for transgender employees). In
addition, more than 85 percent of LGBTQ+ employees would be more
likely to consider working for an organization that is LGBTQ+-
friendly.22
Gender Identity
All Canadian provinces and territories have legislation protecting gender
identity or “gender identity and expression.” In June 2017, the Senate
passed Bill C-16, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender
identity or expression. However, while some countries are introducing
legislation to advance LGBTQ+ rights, there has been a backlash in other
parts of the world (including the United States). Shortly before Bill C-16
was passed, an 18-year-old Malaysian youth was beaten, burned with
cigarettes, and sodomized in his country because he was considered
effeminate. He was brain dead by the time medical personnel arrived.23
Page 103

Service Canada recently issued a directive asking managers and team

leaders to use gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language, and to use a
client’s full name or ask how the person would prefer to be addressed.
Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada (a national LGBTQ+
human rights organization), supported the initiative and indicated that
“it needs to be accompanied by more awareness training and education
around non-binary and gender-neutral language.”24
The switch to non-binary language began several years ago in the
Canadian Coast Guard, and now their uniform catalogue is keeping pace.
New recruits choose their uniforms based on sizing and fit with
modernized, functional, and gender-neutral styles A and B.25

Marital Status
The idea of what constitutes a family has undergone considerable change
in Canadian society over the course of its history. The Canadian Human
Rights Act spells out quite clearly that any discrimination based on
marital status is illegal:
A Canada Post worker was denied entry into a leadership development
program because of her relationship with a superintendent. The
Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that this was discriminatory
based on marital status because the woman could have become a leader
in an area or location that would not have reported directly to her
husband.26

Family Status
A family status case highlights the complexity of discrimination
allegations:
Tina Peternel worked as a scheduler for Custom Granite & Marble Ltd.
When she had one child, she often started work at 10:00 a.m. although
the company had asked her to arrive at 8:30 a.m. Following a maternity
leave, the company insisted that Peternel start at 8:30 a.m. The
employee refused to return to work, alleging that the company
discriminated against her on the basis of family status. The court denied
her allegations, citing: the employee did not show how placing her
school-aged children in a before-school daycare would negatively impact
her family needs, there were several pre-school daycare options available
to the employee in her community and the hours of work requested by
the company were reasonable, the employee failed to participate in the
accommodation process, and the employee was financially secure and
part of a two-parent home who could find other child care
arrangements.27
Some recent human rights decisions relating to family status suggest that
employers may have a duty to accommodate employees with child care
obligations unless such accommodation results in undue hardship. A
number of the cases have dealt with work schedule issues and whether
the employer would adjust the timing of shifts:
In the case of Miraka v. ACD Wholesale Meats, a delivery truck driver
informed his manager that he would need to be off work the next day
because his wife was ill and unable to care for their two young children.
The manager gave him permission to be absent for the day. His wife’s
condition did not improve so he stayed home the day after to care for the
children. However, he did not contact his manager until later that day
because he assumed his manager knew he was home caring for his
children and no one from work contacted him regarding his absence.
Upon returning to work, Miraka suffered a workplace injury and asked to
leave early. His employer responded by terminating his employment,
arguing that Miraka had not made sufficient efforts to find an alternative
solution, such as finding a babysitter. The Human Rights Tribunal found
in favour of Miraka and awarded him $10,000 for injury to his dignity,
feelings, and self-respect. The Tribunal distinguished between long-term
accommodation needs and short-term accommodation such as the need
to care for an unexpected illness of a child.28
However, voluntary family activities (such as vacations or extracurricular
sporting events) appear not to fall under the duty to accommodate.29
Disability
No person should be denied employment or terminated from a job
because of a disability. However, in the 2017 Elk Valley Coal decision
(discussed in Chapter 11), the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed the
principle that terminating an employee with a disability is not always a
violation of human rights law.30
The principle of reasonable accommodation has been established. It
means that an employer can be expected to take reasonable measures to
make available a suitable job to a person with a disability if it does not
impose undue hardship on the organization:
Coffee giant Starbucks was sued by a barista in El Paso, Texas. The
woman, who is a little person, was hired on a trial basis and she
requested that she be able to use a stool or stepladder to help her
perform her job. The company decided that using a stool was not
reasonable accommodation considering the work environment and
argued that the woman could represent a danger to customers and co-
workers. The case was ultimately settled with Starbucks agreeing to pay
the woman $75,000 and to provide training on disability issues to all
managers and supervisory staff in its El Paso locations.31
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The labour force participation rate is about 54 percent for people with
disabilities, and almost 800,000 Canadians are not working even though
their disability does not prevent them from doing so (with about half of
these people having post-secondary education).32
Mackenzie Whitney has a math degree from the University of Alberta but
was working marginal jobs owing to his autism. Eventually, he started
working at Meticulon Consulting in Calgary as a junior tester monitoring
quality assurance. Company co-founder Garth Johnson stated that he
looks for people with autism because they offer unique skills, such as
precision, diligence, attention to detail, and an ability to sustain focus.33
Many organizations have established rigid physical standards for certain
jobs without being able to show that these standards are truly relevant to
the requirements of the job. Some complainants have been refused jobs
when their disability might be a problem in a speculative situation; for
example, a firm might argue that a deaf person would be unable to hear a
fire alarm. Other complainants have been disqualified for jobs not
because they are physically disabled now but because they may become
so in the future.
Being alcohol or drug-dependent can also be interpreted as a disability.
Employees with a dependency on drugs or alcohol must be reasonably
accommodated to the point of undue hardship on the employer. Typical
requirements include providing an employee assistance program or
giving an employee time off to attend such a program. However, an
employer is not obligated to accept long-term absences unrelated to
rehabilitation.34
Recent Ontario legislation addresses workplace issues relevant to
employees with disabilities. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities
Act (AODA) requires employers to make workplaces accessible to
members of the public with disabilities. It is estimated that one in seven
people in Ontario has a disability, and that number is projected to
increase. The Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation requires that
emergency procedures and plans be available in accessible formats if
requested and that employers develop an individualized workplace
emergency response plan for employees with a disability.35
Scotiabank changed its funding relating to accommodation to include
services:
According to Deanna Matzanke, director, Global Employment Strategies
(Diversity & Inclusion; HR Policy & Compliance), at the bank, “A lot of
episodic disabilities (such as multiple sclerosis and chronic fatigue
syndrome) don’t actually need assistive technology or an electronic door.
What they need more often are types of services like a job coach to help
organize the workplace.” About one-third of employers indicated that
their knowledge of how to support people with episodic disabilities was
low. Accommodations for people with episodic disabilities may include
such things as providing flextime, working from home, adjusting work
duties, and providing a private space at the workplace where employees
can rest or take medications.36
Also consider the experience of a Tim Hortons franchisor:
Over the years, Mark Wafer’s Tim Hortons franchises have employed
more than 125 employees with disabilities. Currently, 46 of his 250
employees have a disability (ranging from intellectual challenges to
mental health issues to multiple sclerosis). While more than 15 percent
of Canadians have a disability, there are about 450,000 high school
graduates with a disability (270,000 of whom have post-secondary
education) who have not worked a day in the past five years. Wafer notes
that the absenteeism rate for his 46 employees with disabilities is 85
percent lower than for the 200 employees without disabilities, and
employee turnover is under 40 percent (compared to the 100 percent
norm in the quick-service sector). Moreover, Wafer has never filled out a
workplace safety form for an employee with a disability.37

Pardoned Convicts
The Canadian Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination against a
convicted person if a pardon has been issued for the offence. A pardon
may be granted by a parole board after five years following release,
parole, or the completion of a sentence:
A person convicted and paroled on a drug offence applied for a job with a
government agency dealing with drug abuse. He was denied employment
because of his conviction. Subsequently, the National Parole Board
granted his request for a full pardon. The government agency
maintained, however, that, pardoned or not, he remained a security risk
and that being without a criminal record was a BFOR of a correctional
service’s staff. He appealed to the Canadian Human Rights Commission,
and after the Commission’s investigation, the government agency
decided that a criminal record would not, in fact, inhibit the applicant’s
ability to meet the requirements of the job, and, satisfied that he was
suitable, offered him the position.38
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The Canadian Human Rights Commission has also been approached by

persons who claim to have been refused employment on the basis of their
arrest record, even when the arrest did not lead to a conviction. These
persons are without legal protection because the Canadian Human Rights
Act does not address this type of discrimination. For HR, this does not
mean that all applicants can be asked for their arrest record; it must still
be shown that doing so is relevant to the job. For this reason, the
Commission has advised employers under federal jurisdiction that
applicants should not be asked, “Have you ever been convicted of an
offence?” It is recommended—if such information is legitimately needed
for employment purposes—that the question be phrased as “Have you
ever been convicted of an offence for which you have not received a
pardon?”
Administration of the Canadian Human Rights Act
The responsibility for the administration of the Canadian Human Rights
Act lies in the hands of the Canadian Human Rights Commission
(CHRC). The role of the CHRC is to investigate and try to resolve
allegations of discrimination in employment and the provision of
services within the federal jurisdiction. The CHRC administers
the Employment Equity Act discussed below. The Commission is also
mandated to develop and conduct information and prevention programs,
to conduct and sponsor research, and to report annually to Parliament.
The Commission is not a tribunal and does not rule on cases. If a
complaint cannot be resolved, the Commission may recommend
mediation or ultimately ask the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to
hear the case. Figure 4-5 describes some of the remedies available to the
tribunal in settling a complaint. Should the tribunal find that the
discriminatory practice was maintained purposely or recklessly, or that
the victim’s feelings or self-respect have suffered as a result of the
practice, it may order the person or organization responsible to
compensate the victim appropriately.
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has several remedies at its
disposal. For example, it can order a violator to do the following:
• Stop the discriminatory practice.
• Restore the rights, opportunities, and privileges denied to the
victim.
• Compensate the victim for wages lost and any expenses incurred
as a result of the discriminatory practice.
• Compensate the victim for pain and suffering.
• Develop and implement employment equity programs to equalize
opportunity for certain groups that have suffered from
discriminatory practices in the past.
FIGURE 4-5

Remedies for Violations

Table Summary: Summary

A person who obstructs an investigation or a tribunal, or fails to comply

with the terms of a settlement, or reduces wages in order to eliminate a
discriminatory practice can be found guilty of an offence punishable by a
fine or jail sentence or both. On summary conviction, such a person can
be liable to a fine not exceeding $50,000.39
LO3 Employment Equity Act
To ensure effective, efficient, and equitable methods of promoting
employment opportunities, the federal government proclaimed
the Employment Equity Act in 1987. Its intent is to remove employment
barriers and promote equality of the members of four designated groups:
women, persons with a disability, members of visible minorities, and
Indigenous people (many of whom, but not all, prefer the
term Indigenous to Aboriginal although Aboriginal appears in the
legislation). The Act requires employers with 100 or more employees
under federal jurisdiction to develop and submit annual plans setting out
goals and timetables for progress.
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Virtually every HR function is affected by employment equity plans:

• Human resource plans must reflect the organization’s employment
equity goals.
• Job descriptions must not contain unneeded requirements that
exclude members of protected classes.
• Recruiting must ensure that all types of applicants are sought
without discriminating.
• Selection of applicants must use screening devices that are job-
relevant and nondiscriminatory.
• Training and developmental opportunities must be made available
for all workers, without discrimination.
• Performance appraisal must be free of biases that discriminate.
• Compensation programs must be based on skills, performance,
and/or seniority and cannot discriminate against jobholders in
other respects.
Even when HR specialists know that their intent is not to discriminate,
they must carefully review the results of these HR functions to ensure
that the results are not discriminatory. Otherwise, lawsuits may arise and
the current employment equity plan may need to be revised or scrapped.

Employment Equity Programs

Employment equity programs are a mechanism for improving the
opportunities of a group through the elimination, reduction, or
prevention of discrimination. They are developed by employers to
remedy past discrimination or to prevent discrimination in the
future. Employment equity programs exist for several reasons. From a
practical standpoint, employers seldom benefit from excluding people
who belong to a particular group. To exclude an entire class of workers,
such as women or visible minorities, limits the labour pool available.
Open discrimination can also lead to negative public relations, boycotts
by consumers, and government intervention. To ensure that such
discrimination does not occur, employers often develop equity programs
voluntarily.
It should be noted that mandated equity programs take place mainly at
the federal level—that is, in organizations and industries under federal
jurisdiction. At the provincial level, such programs are implemented
almost exclusively on a voluntary basis. Regardless of the reasons or
goals of such programs, HR groups should adhere to the guidelines here:
• Step 1: Exhibit commitment. No matter how favourably HR is viewed
by others in the organization, the CEO/president of the company
should support the program in writing. Anything less than total
support from top officials raises questions about the sincerity of
the organization’s commitment in the eyes of government
agencies, courts, and employees. To exhibit this commitment
forcefully, company officials may make raises, bonuses, and
promotions dependent upon each manager’s compliance.
• Step 2: Appoint a director. One member of the organization should
be responsible for equity issues. Commonly, the vice-president of
HR is appointed director, although day-to-day implementation
may be delegated to a compliance specialist in HR.
• Step 3: Publicize commitment. An employment equity program is
ineffective unless publicized externally and internally. Outside
the company, sources of potential recruits must be made aware of
the new policy. Organizations should include the phrase “An
equal opportunity employer” on company stationery and in
employment ads to further publicize the policy. Internally, the
practice should be conveyed to everyone involved in the hiring
process. Otherwise, top management may pursue one policy and
lower levels, another.
• Step 4: Survey the workforce. HR needs to know how the
composition of the employer’s workforce compares with the
 composition of the workforce in the labour market. For example,
if the employer’s mix of male and female employees differs
significantly from the labour market from which the employer
attracts workers, it is possible that discrimination has occurred.
When a survey of the employer’s workforce indicates such
differences, the employer may find examples of underutilization
or concentration. Underutilization exists when a company or
department has a smaller proportion of protected class members
than is found in the labour market. Concentration is just the
opposite, occurring when protected class members are
concentrated in a few departments, out of proportion with their
presence in the labour market.
• Page 107
Step 5: Develop goals and timetables. When, through surveys,
underutilization and concentration are found (possibly as
consequences of past discrimination), HR specialists should set
up goals and timetables to eliminate them.
• Step 6: Design specific programs. To reach goals, HR specialists must
design remedial, active, and preventive programs. Remedial
programs correct problems that already exist. Active
programs imply that management goes beyond instructing
supervisors about new hiring policies and waiting for things to
happen. It means going to high schools in areas dominated by
minorities, approaching community leaders in such areas for
assistance, inviting residents to attend information sessions, and
advertising in newspapers or other media outlets accessible to
minorities and special target groups:
In 1985, the law school at Dalhousie University (now the Schulich
School of Law) in Halifax developed an Indigenous Blacks and
Mi’kmaq Initiative to train more Black and Mi’kmaq lawyers. The
program director visits high schools and universities and holds
information sessions at reserves and community centres. An
advisory board made up of law school representatives,
community leaders, and the two student groups assists in
identifying ways to reach the target groups. To date, the program
has more than 150 graduates.40
Preventive programs are more proactive. They involve an
assessment of HR policies and practices. Policies that
 discriminate (such as height rules) or practices that continue past
discrimination (such as hiring exclusively from employee
referrals) must be eliminated.
• Step 7: Establish controls. An employment equity program is likely to
fail unless controls are established. HR specialists and line
managers must perceive their rewards as depending upon the
success of the program. To evaluate that success, monthly,
quarterly, and yearly benchmarks should be reported directly to
the director of the program and to the CEO/president or another
senior official.
In addition to companies or agencies under federal jurisdiction, the
federal government requires compliance with the Employment Equity
Act from any company doing business with the federal government.
Companies with 100 or more employees bidding on contracts for goods
and services of $1 million or more are subject to the employment equity
criteria listed in the Act. Under this policy, companies are required to
certify in writing at the tendering stage of a contract their commitment to
implementing employment equity. Employers will be subject to random
reviews to ensure their compliance with the Act.

Pay Equity
Women aged 25–54 earn about 87 percent as much per hour as male
employees, and the gap has shrunk by about 10 cents since 1981.41 Pay
equity legislation attempts to remedy these inequities. At the federal
level, the Canadian Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on
sex; it is therefore illegal to pay women less than men if their jobs are of
equal value, a principle known as “equal pay for work of equal value,”
which is discussed in more detail in Chapter 9. Pay equity policy
frameworks exist in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and pay equity
negotiations with public sector unions exist in Newfoundland and
Labrador. Legislation in Nova Scotia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and
Prince Edward Island applies to public service employees, but only
Quebec and Ontario have laws covering the public and private sectors. At
the federal level, the Pay Transparency Act regulates publication of wage
gap information as part of annual reports.42
In November 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada decided in favour of
female Canada Post workers in a pay equity case that was brought 28
years ago. Originally, about 2,300 employees worked in the affected
classification (office workers), but about 6,000 employees (including
some men) have been in the classification at some point in time. It is
estimated that workers employed in the classification between 1983 and
2002 will share about $250 million. The main issue was whether it was
appropriate for the Human Rights Commission to compare the office
group with a male-dominated group that had some female members.43
The implication for HR is that they must make very sure the wage and
salary system does not subtly discriminate on the basis of sex.

Reverse Discrimination
The use of employment equity programs can lead to charges of reverse
discrimination against employers. The charges usually arise when an
employer seeks to hire or promote a member of a protected group over
an equally (or better) qualified candidate who is not a member of a
protected group. For example, if an employer has an employment equity
program that gives preference to women over men when promotions
occur, a qualified male may sue the employer and claim that he was
discriminated against because of his sex.
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Charges of reverse discrimination may put HR in a difficult position. On

the one hand, HR is responsible for eliminating concentration and
underutilization. On the other hand, giving preference to members of a
protected class (such as women) raises questions about whether the HR
group is being fair. Although preferential treatment will always raise
questions of fairness, the Canadian Human Rights Act declares
employment equity programs nondiscriminatory if they fulfill the spirit
of the law.

LO4 Privacy Legislation

A relatively newer set of laws in Canada relates to the privacy of personal
information. Canada has privacy legislation to guide the information that
can be collected, stored, and accessed by individuals, employers, and the
government. Personal information is data about an “identifiable individual.”
It is information that, on its own or combined with other pieces of data, can
identify a specific individual. The definition of personal information differs
somewhat under the various privacy laws in Canada, but generally, it can
mean information about:44
• race or national or ethnic origin,
• religion,
• age or marital status,
• medical, education, or employment history,
• finances,
• DNA,
• identifying numbers such as Social Insurance or driver’s licence
numbers, and
• views or opinions about a person as an employee.

Information that is generally not considered to be personal information

includes the following:
• Information that is not about an individual, because its connection to
a person is too weak or far-removed (e.g., a postal code that covers
a wide area)
• Information about an organization such as a business
• Information that has been rendered anonymous, as long as it is not
possible to link that data back to an identifiable person
• Certain information about public servants such as their name,
position, and title
• A person’s business contact information that an organization collects,
uses, or discloses for the sole purpose of communicating with that
person in relation to their employment, business, or profession.
Canada has two federal privacy laws that are enforced by the Office of the
Privacy Commissioner of Canada. The Privacy Act relates to a person’s
right to access and correct personal information that the Government of
Canada holds about them. The Act also applies to the government’s
collection, use, and disclosure of personal information in the course of
providing services such as Old Age Security pensions, Employment
Insurance, border security, federal policing and public safety, and tax
collection and refunds.
The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents
Act (PIPEDA) sets rules for how private sector organizations collect, use,
and disclose personal information in for-profit, commercial activities
across Canada. It also applies to the personal information of employees
of federally regulated businesses. PIPEDA generally applies to personal
information held by private sector organizations that are not federally
regulated, and in all provinces except Alberta, British Columbia, and
Quebec, which have their own provincial privacy legislation.
Generally, HR can ask for and store personal information that relates to
the employment relationship but should refrain from collecting or
storing information that is not directly related to employment.
Employees can also refuse to provide personal information that infringes
on their right to privacy.

LO5 Workplace Policies

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A healthy organization will not just meet minimum legal standards, but
will also promote a positive workplace through workplace policies.
Having defined HR policies in the workplace should be a principal
objective for every HR group. A set of HR policies for the organization
are often provided as part of an employee handbook or welcome package
for new employees. A 2018 small business survey45 found that 84
percent of businesses provided employee handbooks and formal written
policies and 85 percent required employees to acknowledge receipt of
these policies. Current, ethical, and effective HR policies serve many
purposes:46
• Outlining expectations in the workplace, such as defining
acceptable and unacceptable behaviours and safe work practices
• Meeting statutory requirements, such as having a working alone
policy in Alberta or a workplace violence policy in Ontario
• Outlining how to address complaints, problems, and grievances by
employees

• Helping to protect employees from their colleagues’ poor behaviour

and from misdeeds by the organization
• Helping to train and develop employees in line with the needs of
the organization, and to guide acceptable parameters
• Outlining breaks, vacations, and statutory holidays which may
meet or exceed requirements from employment standards to
eligible employees
LO6 Types of HR Policies
Some HR policies may be specifically needed to meet jurisdictional
legislative requirements, and others may be prudent to create a safe and
productive workplace. HR must develop the policies required by law, and
should consider developing some additional policies that are described
next. HR may choose to develop some or all of these policies or others
specific to their organization’s context.

Harassment Policy
Also called a respectful workplace policy or code of conduct policy, a
harassment policy outlines desired treatment of employees in the
organization, and prohibits harassment and discrimination from taking
place. Provincial or federal regulations may stipulate specific policy
requirements, so it is important to review the applicable laws and ensure
that all components are included.
In short, harassing behaviour may be verbal, physical, deliberate,
unsolicited, or unwelcome; it may be one incident or a series of
incidents. Protection against harassment extends to incidents occurring
at or away from the workplace, during or outside normal working hours,
provided such incidents are employment-
related.47 Specifically, harassment may include the following:
• Verbal abuse or threats
• Unwelcome remarks, jokes, innuendo, or taunting about a person’s
body, attire, age, marital status, ethnic or national origin,
religion, and so on
• Displaying of pornographic, racist, or other offensive or derogatory
pictures
• Practical jokes that cause awkwardness or embarrassment
• Unwelcome invitations or requests, whether indirect or explicit, or
intimidation
• Leering or other gestures
• Condescension or paternalism that undermines self-respect
• Unnecessary physical contact, such as touching, patting, pinching,
or punching
• Physical assault
Harassing behaviour is assumed to have taken place if a “reasonable
person ought to have known that such behaviour was unwelcome.”48
Ostracism, or social exclusion, is a form of bullying and can be overt or
subtle and should be included in harassment policies.49 Cyberbullying is
also a growing concern. A study of employees in 10 countries revealed
that almost 10 percent of employees have had a manager use information
against them that was obtained from a social media site, 53 percent
believe that workplace privacy has been eroded due to social media, and
11 percent have had embarrassing photos or videos taken at a work event
and then uploaded onto social media. Common forms of cyberbullying
include sending unpleasant or defamatory remarks to or about a
colleague and posting negative comments on a social media site about a
colleague’s appearance.50
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Sexual harassment is usually specifically addressed within a harassment

policy. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal identified three
characteristics of sexual harassment:
1. The encounters must be unsolicited by the complainant,
unwelcome to the complainant, and expressly or implicitly
known by the respondent to be unwelcome.
2. The conduct must either continue despite the complainant’s
protests or, if the conduct stops, the complainant’s protests must
have led to negative employment consequences.
3. The complainant’s cooperation must be due to employment-
related threats or promises.
How common is sexual harassment? A recent Angus Reid survey
revealed that 52 percent of Canadian women report being subject to
sexual harassment at work during their lifetime, and 28 percent indicate
that they have been subject to nonconsensual sexual touching. A survey
by Employment and Social Development Canada revealed that 94
percent of respondents experiencing sexual harassment were women;
men experiencing sexual harassment were usually reporting other men.
About half of respondents reporting harassing or violent behaviour said
that the perpetrator was an individual with authority over them, while 44
percent said that the behaviour was by a co-worker. Although about
three-quarters of people experiencing harassment or violence took
action, 41 percent stated that no attempt was made to resolve the issue.
Employees experiencing harassment or violence were most likely to
discuss the matter with a co-worker (64 percent) or supervisor (58
percent), with only 22 percent talking to an HR professional.51
A study by the NRG Research Group found that about 82 percent of
participants believed that stalking or cyberstalking were examples of
sexual harassment or sexual violence. Other examples included asking
someone on a date more than once after being told no (47 percent) and
greeting someone and telling them they look nice today (5 percent).
About 51 percent of respondents indicated that recent sexual harassment
allegations of high-profile individuals (such as Harvey Weinstein and
Kevin Spacey) have had a very large or somewhat large impact on
reducing the occurrence of sexual harassment at work. In addition, 50
percent of participants were very or somewhat aware of the #MeToo
campaign, and 84 percent of those aware of #MeToo felt that the
campaign was very or somewhat effective in raising awareness of sexual
harassment and sexual violence.52
A landmark case involving sexual harassment was Robichaud v
Department of National Defence (DND), which went to the Supreme Court.
The court ruled that the employer shared the responsibility for the
actions of one of its supervisors, who had sexually harassed Robichaud.
It added that “only an employer can remedy undesirable effects [of
discrimination]; only an employer can provide the most important
remedy—a healthy work environment.” The DND was ordered to pay
Robichaud $5,000 for pain and suffering, to issue a written apology, and
to post the written apology in all DND facilities.53

Attendance, Leave, and Break Policies

Attendance policies communicate employees’ scheduled start times,
procedures for informing their supervisors of unscheduled absences or
late arrivals, and discipline for unexcused absences. Leave policies
should outline the organization’s rules and procedures regarding
holidays, vacation, sick leave, study leave, and any other time-off
benefits. They should also cover leaves required by law, such as isolation
requirements (a new consideration that arose during COVID-19), voting
leave, bereavement leave, and domestic violence leave. Meal and break
period policy communicates the frequency and duration of breaks, and
any additional rules or restrictions relating to them. These policies must
comply with the applicable provincial and federal employment
standards.

Occupational Health and Safety Policies

These policies describe an extensive range of topics in health and safety
from hazards to diseases to ergonomics to emergency procedures. They
outline reporting procedures for work-related injuries and processes for
investigating incidents. Legislation covers policy requirements for each
province, the three territories, and the federal level, although they share
much in common. The applicable occupational health and safety acts will
require employers to have specific policies in place if certain workplace
hazards exist. For example, a hazard communication program will be
required for workplaces with certain chemicals.
Page 1111

Workplace Violence
From threatening behaviour, to verbal or written threats, to verbal
abuse, to physical attacks, workplace violence policies define
unacceptable forms of behaviour in the workplace. A policy on weapons
in the workplace may be included within a workplace violence policy or
exist as a stand-alone policy. These policies need to comply with
jurisdictional laws, which may include posting requirements, listing
specific examples of prohibited violent conduct, and explaining
workplace responsibilities for violence prevention.

Remote Workers Policy

In particular following work-from-home requirements during the
COVID-19 pandemic, more and more employees are working remotely. A
remote workers policy will outline the jobs and workers who are eligible,
any limitations on remote work, and how remote workers will be
monitored. It may stipulate the organization’s ability to end the remote
working, and any specific compensation provisions during remote work
periods. The policy should include check-in procedures for remote
workers working alone.
Technology Use Policy
When the organization owns the technology and computer equipment, it
can choose what is appropriate or inappropriate use of that equipment. A
technology use policy may outline what is acceptable on an employee’s
break time at the workplace, or during off-hours away from the worksite.
These policies outline whether the company-owned equipment can be
used for personal purposes, and describe inappropriate uses on a taboo
list (e.g., pornography, religious webpages).

A technology use policy may also relate to employees’ using their

personal devices—such as phones, laptops, and tablets—for business.
When personal devices are used, issues related to privacy, security,
monitoring, and theft need to be considered. The policy should include
an end-of-employment procedure and any risks or liabilities associated
with using personal devices for work.
Social Media Policy
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A social media policy will provide guidelines for employees who post on
social media or respond to social media using either work-related social
media accounts or personal accounts. They may address how social
media use is controlled in the workplace, guide treatment of confidential
information, and describe disciplinary measures for policy violations.
The Spotlight on HRM describes considerations for HR when developing
a social media policy.
Spotlight on HRM
Considerations for a Social Media Policy
A social media policy may help organizations to accomplish three things
with respect to employees’ use of social media:
1. Clearly set employee expectations (and reduce confusion). To
generate an effective social media policy, HR may want to
consider outlining multiple groups of social media users within
the organization. For instance, Coca-Cola’s social media policy
differentiates between the online community, company and
agency associates, and company online spokespeople and clearly
 outlines the expectations for each group. For instance, only
online spokespeople may respond to negative comments from
the community.
2. Protect brand reputation, disclosure, and confidential
information. Social media policies should consider adding
transparent disclosure statements. For instance, Intel stipulates
using #iwork4intel when employees make postings about Intel.
Outlining expectations for treatment of confidential information,
trade secrets, and so forth should also be included within a social
media policy.
3. Increase employee engagement and advocacy. Best practices for
social media policies include clearly outlining how employees can
engage through social media and add their advocacy for the
employer. Ford provides a list of 11 social media commandments
that give employees a clear sense of how to use social media.
Some of these include being honest about who you are, making
it clear that the views expressed are your personal views,
keeping in mind that the Internet remembers, and asking when
in doubt.
SOURCE: Bouman, J. (2020, December 22), “Need Social Media Policy Examples? Here Are 7 Terrific Social
Policies to Inspire Yours,” retrieved March 30, 2021, from https://everyonesocial.com/blog/need-sample-
social-media-policies-here-are-7-to-inspire-yours/

Substance Use Policy

Substance use policies are growing in popularity owing in part to the
legalization of marijuana in Canada in 2018. Impairment from substance
use creates lost productivity, increased absenteeism, liability problems,
reduced employee morale, and injury risk for harm to the employee,
other staff, and customers, making it seem that an outright ban on
substances in the workplace might be preferable. However, addictions to
substances are considered to be a disability in Canada. As such,
employers need to think through reasonable accommodation and undue
hardship in their particular work context as part of the policy as well.
The substance use policies may differ based on the potential safety risks
to the employee and others in the work environment (e.g., operating
heavy equipment versus working in an office setting).
A review of workplace substance use policies in Canada by the Canadian
Centre on Substance Use and Addiction54 indicates that the best policies
will make clear that substance use impairment will not be tolerated but
will encourage a supportive environment for workers afflicted by
substance use issues. While substance use policies may include
disciplinary procedures for non-compliance, they should also discuss
treatment, support, and return-to-work programs as supportive
measures.

Confidentiality Policy
Confidentiality policies indicate the types of information that employees
should keep confidential, which may include information about trade
secrets, non-public information, and even information about wages and
working conditions. They should also include the consequences for
violating confidentiality, and provide specific examples of the
confidential material in question.
While the list of HR policies that an organization may develop seems
potentially long and daunting, priority policies to have in place and
communicate about with employees regularly may vary depending on
legislation compliance, industry, and work context of the company.

Other Legal Challenges

This chapter has dealt mainly with employment standards, human rights
legislation, privacy legislation, and HR policies. Of course, there are
many other potential legal challenges, not all of which can be detailed
here. The following are some of these relevant issues, most of which will
be discussed in later chapters:
• The Canada Labour Code. The Industrial Disputes Investigation Act of
1907 was modified and re-enacted in 1971 as the Canada Labour
Code. It regulates union certification, the right to organize, union
prosecution, and mediation and arbitration procedures, all of
which are discussed in more detail in Chapter 13. Provincial
equivalents to the code are the employment (or labour) standards
acts.
• Dismissal. According to common law, all employees have a contract
with their employer, even if there is nothing in writing. An
 employee or employer can terminate an employment relationship
by giving reasonable notice (see Chapter 8). An immediate
dismissal is possible if an employee is compensated through
appropriate severance pay (see Chapter 11).
• Minimum wages. These are set by provincial and federal boards and
discussed in Chapter 9.
• Occupational health and safety. The Canada Labour Code also
regulates occupational health and safety issues, discussed
in Chapter 12.
• Weekly rest day. The Canada Labour Code specifies that employees
must be given at least one full day of rest during the week,
preferably on Sunday.
• Workplace Hazardous Material Information System (WHMIS). WHMIS
regulates the handling of dangerous material, discussed
in Chapter 12.
These are some of the federal laws that have an impact on HR. Most of
them have their provincial equivalent. It is ultimately HR that is
responsible for knowing and enforcing the law and for developing
policies to advise on acceptable behaviours and procedures to follow
when issues arise. Involvement in legislation and policy generation
creates three important responsibilities. First, HR must stay abreast of
the laws and the interpretation of the laws by regulatory bodies and court
rulings. Second, HR must develop and administer programs and policies
that ensure company compliance. Failure to do so may lead to the loss of
government contracts, to poor public relations, and to lawsuits by
regulatory bodies or affected individuals. Third, HR must pursue its
traditional roles of obtaining, maintaining, and retaining an optimal
workforce.
Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion in Canadian
Workplaces
Page 113
Within Canadian organizations, HR holds primary responsibility for
diversity, equity, and inclusion. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
campaigned on increasing equitable treatment of women in Canadian
organizations and introduced Canada’s first ethnically diverse cabinet
with equal numbers of men and women in 2015.55 Many recent events—
including the killings of George Floyd and other Black people in the
United States—galvanized growth in the Black Lives Matter movement
around the world.56. In Canada, the uncovering of mass graves at
residential schools has brought new and renewed attention to the
importance of truth and reconciliation work with our Indigenous
peoples.57 Undoubtedly there is a greater focus on and awareness of
diversity, equity, and inclusion in Canadian workplaces than ever before.

Can sports bring people of diverse backgrounds together? The Canadian Football League
(CFL) introduced its Diversity Is Strength campaign in 2017. T-shirts with the Diversity Is
Strength logo also include names of players from diverse backgrounds. Critics of the
initiative argue that the CFL is trying to promote diversity and multiculturalism as a way to
increase business and attract more fans.58
Consider some of these statistics on Canadian diversity:
• According to the most recent census (2016), Canada has a total of
72,880 same-sex common-law couples, representing 0.9 percent
of all couples in the country.59 The number of same-sex couples
increased by 60.7 percent between 2006 and 2016.
• In July 2005, Canada became the third country in the world to
legalize same-sex marriage, after the Netherlands (2000) and
Belgium (2003).
• Some 21.9 percent of Canadians were born outside the country, and
this is expected to increase to 25–30 percent by 2036.
• Nearly 7.7 million Canadians, or 22.3 percent of the total
population, are visible minorities. About 70 percent of visible
minorities live in Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver.
• About 3.8 million Canadians (13.7 percent) reported having a
disability. Women (14.9 percent) were more likely to report a
disability than men (12.5 percent).60
The same person may be diverse along multiple diversity dimensions.
A person can be an Asian–Canadian (race) woman (sex) who is older
(age), married (marital status), and from a low-income family (income
status).
Ensuring that treatment of others is equitable and just regardless of
differences on diversity dimensions is the central goal of diversity,
equity, and inclusion within organizations.

Challenges for Diverse Workers

Historically and currently, members of diverse groups experience
specific challenges in Canadian workplaces owing to their diversity. Four
such challenges are stereotyping, the old boys’ network, the glass ceiling,
and “from pet to threat.”
Recognition of a person’s unique background, capabilities, and
individuality may generate better workplace outcomes. Multiple people
may share commonalities in their background dimensions, but grouping
people can result in stereotyping. Further, the differences between
groups need not be intrinsic or innate; they can be differences attributed
to history or prevailing culture and subject to change.
Google cited a breach of its code of conduct and fired James
Damore after he published a 10-page manifesto referring to women as
more neurotic, prone to stress and anxiety, and agreeable than men, and
less assertive. He also wrote that women care more about work–life
balance and are less status driven than men.61
Of course, these generalizations that all women and all men act and think
and believe in the same manner are simply untrue and based on his
personal stereotype. Although some stereotypes can be positive (e.g.,
about ethnicities who are good in math), there is, in general, much more
difference among people in the same group than between people of
different groups, making stereotyping dangerous.
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Many women are hindered by lack of access to the old boys’ network,
the set of informal relationships that develop among male managers and
executives.62 The friendships and contacts built through the network
become the basis for assignments and promotions, and the network
becomes the informal communication link that provides vital
information about business from which women are excluded. This
network may limit the number of women who reach positions of power.
A global study by Oliver Wyman revealed that 25 percent of executives at
financial services firms in Canada are female, placing Canada third in the
world behind Norway (33 percent) and Sweden (32 percent) and ahead
of the United States (20 percent). Japan ranked last of 19 countries, with
2 percent of women holding executive roles at major financial
institutions. The Back to Bay Street program, which assists women
returning to the financial sector after taking time off to have children,
was cited as part of a web of support.63
The Canadian Board Diversity Council’s Annual Report Card (2018)
revealed that women held about 19.5 percent of C-suite executive
positions and 24.5 percent of board seats in FP500 companies. Women
were more likely to be on the board of firms in finance and insurance
(33.1 percent), utilities (30.1 percent), and retail and trades sectors (23.7
percent). About 23 percent of board seats in manufacturing and mining,
oil, and gas were held by women.64
Although it is projected that visible minorities will make up about one-
third of the country’s population in 15 years, representation on the
boards of public institutions and agencies tends not to be reflective of the
community. About 95 percent of board directors agreed that board
diversity is very or somewhat important to them (up from 85 percent in
2010). However, 76.1 percent of female directors indicated that board
diversity is very important to them, compared with 52.4 percent for male
directors. When considering diversity of board directors, about 6.2
percent are visible minorities, and less than 1 percent are Indigenous
peoples.65
The existing values, norms, and patterns of interactions among
managers may also act as a glass ceiling that stunts the career growth of
women, LGBTQ+, and visible minorities beyond a certain level.
Promotional opportunities are visible, but invisible obstructions seem to
block the way. The perception of the existence of a glass ceiling results in
frustration, reduced job and career satisfaction, alienation from the
workplace, and ultimately higher employee turnover. However, some
organizations are making major strides in advancing promotional
opportunities for female, LGBTQ+, and visible minority employees.
The City of Saskatoon was recognized nationally as a diversity employer
in 2020. Indigenous awareness training is mandatory for employees and
there is a Truth and Reconciliation Resource Kit for ongoing learning.
Other training initiatives include cultural bridging, understanding
invisible disabilities, and inclusive practices for LGBTQ2S identities.66
Despite the transformation of Canadian cities and towns into
multicultural mosaics, prejudices against visible minorities continue to
exist in the workplace. In addition, the stereotypes faced by women
belonging to specific religious groups prevent them from gaining even
lower-level jobs:
Discriminatory hiring practices and workplace racism toward Muslim
women are common in Toronto, according to a study by Women
Working With Immigrant Women, a nonprofit organization that works
with immigrants. Of the 32 Muslim women surveyed, 29 said that
employers had commented on their hijab and 13 women reported that an
employer told them they would have to take the hijab off if they wanted a
job. The study also included a field experiment where three teams of
applicants—matched in every way except that one wore the hijab and one
didn’t—visited 16 job sites to apply for a job. At more than half of the
sites, the applicant without the hijab was asked to fill out an application
or leave a resumé while the applicant with a hijab was not. At two job
sites, the woman without the hijab was told there was a job available
while the woman with the hijab was told there weren’t any jobs.67
A more recently labelled challenge is “from pet to threat.” A shared
experience by many Black women is that the managers, mentors, and
sponsors who once supported them later undermine them because they
are perceived to be a threat or competition.68 Despite being high
performers, they feel ostracized when people who formerly supported
them withdraw their support. A study by MLT (Management Leaders of
Tomorrow) found that 50 percent of their alumni who were women,
Black, Latinx, and Indigenous peoples felt that a white person who
supported them had later undermined them.69
Page 115

LO7 Strategic Importance of Diversity

Canada’s cultural mosaic raises several challenges for the manager who must successfully
manage a diverse workforce. What advantages and disadvantages would a team made up of
members from different cultures have?

Diversity, equity, and inclusion recognizes that an organization is a

mosaic where employees with varying beliefs, cultures, values, and
behaviour patterns come together to create a whole organization and
where these differences are acknowledged, valued, and accepted. It
assumes that differences among employees can add value to an
organization and that diversity includes all types of differences and not
simply obvious ones such as sex/gender, race, and so on. Also,
organization culture and working environments are key items to focus on
to create diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations. Several factors
make diversity, equity, and inclusion strategically important.

Changing Workforce
As detailed in Chapter 1 and Chapter 3, the Canadian labour market is
undergoing rapid and continuous transformation. Years ago, the average
member of the workforce was male, white, and approximately 30 years
old, and usually held a high school diploma or lower. These men also
worked within the region of their birth, were married, and had children.
In contrast, today’s workforce is considerably more diverse. Given this
change, diversity, equity, and inclusion is not merely desirable but
mandatory if an organization is to effectively attract, utilize, and develop
human resources.
The Government of Canada is responding to the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 92 by urging the Canadian
corporate sector to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples as a reconciliation framework and to apply its
principles, norms, and standards to corporate policy and operational
activities related to Indigenous people, their land, and their resources.
This includes but is not limited to:70
1. Commit to meaningful consultation, building respectful
relationships, and obtaining the free, prior, and informed consent of
Indigenous peoples before proceeding with economic development
projects.
2. Ensure that Aboriginal peoples have equitable access to jobs,
training, and education opportunities in the corporate sector, and
that Aboriginal communities gain long-term sustainable benefits
from economic development projects.
3. Provide education for management and staff on the history of
Indigenous peoples, including the history and legacy of residential
schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples, treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and
Aboriginal–Crown relations. This will require skills-based training
in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and
anti-racism.
Importance of Human Capital
Changes in production technology have dramatically increased the
importance of human capital. In today’s world of “intellectual
capitalism,” the knowledge worker may be the key to the success or
failure of the firm. Often the departure of even a few key workers can
spell disaster for the firm. The most valuable parts of the firm’s operation
may be reflected in human tasks of sensing, judging, and making
decisions. In today’s information age (and the growing advancement of
artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digitization; see Chapter
11), the importance of human capital is critical.
Page 116

The vast majority of employers believe that they have programs aimed at
the successful integration of foreign-trained employees into their
workplaces. However, a study of 560 professionals who earned their
degrees outside of Canada, but who have been in the country for between
six and 15 years, found that only 49 percent of participants felt that their
workplaces had policies to integrate non-Canadian employees. There was
a perception that employer orientation programs should include more
information on the culture at Canadian workplaces. Less than half of
employers reported having a way to assess whether foreign credentials
are adequate.71

Diversity as a Competitive Advantage

Proactive organizations recognize that competitive strength often lies in
focusing on their employees and their clients. Globalization and
changing domestic markets (demographic changes, immigration, etc.)
mean that a firm’s customers are incredibly diverse. Further, many of the
growing export markets for Canadian firms are located in Asia, Latin
America, and Africa.
“It makes perfect sense that Mercedes-Benz Canada’s corporate strategy
prioritizes diversity: this country’s highly competitive luxury automotive
sector is incredibly diverse, not just in terms of vehicles but audience as
well. In order to thrive, we must continue to bring together people who
are able to provide valuable insights about our organization, customers,
and communities.” —Virginie Aubert, VP, marketing, Mercedes-Benz
Canada Inc.72
Diverse employees can provide insight into how to meet the needs of
diverse customer groups.
Although the great majority of organizations report that diversity,
inclusion, human rights, and equity are strategic initiatives at their
workplaces, a study by the Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion
revealed that only about 19 percent of employers are measuring the
impact, efficiency, or return on investment (ROI) of their diversity
initiatives. In addition, very few employers measure the diversity impact
over an employee’s life cycle.73

Increasing Role of Work Teams

Work teams have always reflected some degree of diversity. Functioning
on an effective work team requires skills to facilitate involving,
understanding, embracing, and valuing multiple perspectives. Valuing
differences can result in improved creativity and innovative problem
solving.
Does diversity matter? Based on a review of research on workplace
diversity and firm performance published in nine leading journals from
2000 to 2009, McMahon found that the relationship was curvilinear—
the effects are stronger in more stable environments and more dramatic
in service industries compared to manufacturing. Diversity alone cannot
explain firm performance—resources, capabilities, and core
competencies are stronger predictors of performance. However, diversity
that enhances these variables is associated with better
performance.74 Similarly, Herring, using data from a sample of for-
profit firms in the United States, found that racial diversity was related
to greater sales revenue and market share, higher relative profits, and
more customers. In addition, gender diversity was associated with all of
the above outcomes except for greater market share.75
Diversity affects all strategies and processes of the organization.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion ties to the strategic plan and involves
every employee across the whole workforce.
LO8Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Initiatives
While diversity may be defined as “all the ways in which we differ,” and
equity refers to treating people the same, inclusion involves establishing
and maintaining work practices and a work environment where everyone
can be fully themselves and make contributions. Many organizations are
now moving from a strictly diversity and employment equity approach
toward leveraging inclusion. One primary reason behind this shift is that
“managing diversity” requires first a label or classification of a person
along a dimension of diversity (for instance, older, female, gay,
Lebanese, transgender). Inclusion leapfrogs this labelling and moves
right into creating practices and conditions where all employees are able
to contribute effectively regardless of their differences.
Page 117

For organizations seeking to move toward an inclusive environment, one

of the first steps is to articulate the ideal future state the organization
would achieve through inclusion. Creating an inclusive culture is not
accomplished merely by stating it within the organization’s vision and
values, but these statements provide guideposts for the organization to
develop practices and conditions toward living inclusion.
A study by the Royal Bank of Canada of 64 major Canadian organizations
revealed that almost 90 percent of participants strongly believe that
diverse and inclusive teams make better decisions, while 66 percent
strongly agree and 20 percent agree that leveraging diverse backgrounds
and individuals is fundamental to their organizational performance. A
bit over half of respondents indicated that they use scorecards to track
annual diversity performance, about 60 percent train executives and
managers on how to manage diverse teams, 55 percent publicly
communicate how the organization is progressing in meeting diversity
and inclusion goals, and a bit over 40 percent hold leaders accountable
for diversity and inclusion results.76
Current policies, systems, practices, rules, and procedures have to be
examined for their appropriateness for an inclusive culture. Included
here are work assignments, recruitment and hiring, onboarding,
training, compensation, employee communication, employee
development, and performance appraisal. As one example, recruitment
practices may need to be revised, as seen in this example:
Shopify, a recipient of the 2018 Employer Excellence Award from Hire
Immigrants Ottawa, launched an Android Bootcamp in 2017. This
program involves reaching out to software developers who are recent
immigrants to Canada, selecting candidates for a 2.5-day Android
Bootcamp, and considering Bootcamp participants for employment.
According to Meghan Herman, “Diversity and inclusion are integral
tenets of Shopify’s culture.”77
Senior management commitment to inclusion is one of the most
important elements of ensuring the success of inclusion efforts; so is
whole-hearted support from the unions. Inclusion efforts will fail unless
all managers and employees see them as an integral part of the firm’s
business philosophy. This means that particular attention should be paid
to communication, hiring, and reward structures to promote inclusion. A
number of managers do not know what their specific role is when it
comes to managing inclusion. According to Siu, “A lot of managers are
saying ‘I know how great diversity is but exactly what can I accomplish to
prove that and align what I am doing with the senior management
agenda?’”78

Many women participate in careers that decades ago were exclusive to men. Still, the glass
ceiling remains. How can it be cracked?

Changes in internal systems and procedures must be communicated to

all members. Information should be provided on what changes will
occur, what the likely results will be, how important these changes are
for the success of the organization, accomplishments up to this point,
and responses to questions related to diversity initiatives. More on
employee communication strategies is discussed in Chapter 11.
For a long time, Canada Post had a very stable and homogenous
workforce. Over time, the organization attempted to enhance its diversity
by recruiting more women, Indigenous persons, and African–Canadians
into its workforce. Today, women account for about 50 percent of its
employees, and 33.3 percent of senior managerial positions are held by
women. Targeted initiatives such as the Progressive Aboriginal Relations
Program helped the organization to attract more Indigenous persons
into its workforce. Members of visible minorities and persons with
disabilities account for more than 20 percent of its workforce. To widely
communicate its commitment to diversity, Canada Post runs special
events such as celebrations around Aboriginal Day or Black History
month.79
Page 118

Unless the firm monitors the progress of the diversity, equity, and
inclusion effort on a systematic basis, corrective actions may not follow.
Monitoring will also ensure that quantitative and qualitative indices of
change are available to the management, the union, and the workforce.
These results should be widely communicated and the gaps between
targets and accomplishments publicized along with the proposed
corrective actions. Indices such as number of hires, promotions,
absenteeism, turnover, salary levels, grievances, harassment complaints,
and so on, are useful for gauging progress, but should not be used
exclusively since qualitative responses from employees may convey other
dimensions of work climate and the intensity of employee feelings. More
progressive organizations make use of diversity and inclusion audits on
a regular basis to uncover the underlying dimensions, causes, and
progress-to-date on diversity, equity, and inclusion matters. A good and
honest survey of employees will indicate how well the organization is
currently doing in terms of supporting inclusion, as seen in the example
below:
Part of RBC’s strategy of diversity is asking employees to examine their
blind spots and banish their mind bugs. RBC’s unconscious bias
campaign is part of the company’s commitment to progress in all areas of
diversity, including women, visible minorities, people with disabilities,
LGBTQ+, and Indigenous communities. According to senior VP Rod
Bolger, diversity has evolved from an initiative seen as “the right thing to
do” to a business strategy conferring competitive advantage to today’s
drive for inclusiveness.80
In terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion, in addition to determining
where an organization currently is, designing HR practices and policies
to support, getting senior leadership buy-in, and communicating about
efforts, there are some other efforts organizations can undertake. Some
of these are discussed next.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training

Managers and lower-level supervisors need to learn new skills that will
enable them to manage and motivate an inclusive workforce. Often,
outside experts are invited to provide diversity, equity, and inclusion
training programs in organizations. Such training programs help to
create awareness of the bottom-line impact of diversity, equity, and
inclusion and the role of managers, supervisors, and co-workers in
creating a work climate that is comfortable for all employees, irrespective
of their differences.
Experts suggest two types of training: awareness training and skill-
building training. Awareness training focuses on creating an
understanding of the need for managing and valuing diversity, equity,
and inclusion. It is also meant to increase participants’ self-awareness of
diversity- and inclusion-related issues, such as stereotyping and cross-
cultural insensitivity.
Once individuals develop an awareness, they can then monitor their
feelings, reactions, and so on, and make conscious decisions about their
behaviour, often resulting in improved interpersonal
communication. Skill-building training educates employees on specific
cultural differences and how to respond to differences in the workplace.
Often awareness and skill-building training are combined.
In the long run, it is therefore more practical, although more difficult, to
focus on process training; that is, supervisors and employees have to
learn about diversity. Participants in a process-oriented diversity
training program develop an understanding of how management style,
the interpersonal communication process, teamwork, and other
managerial issues are affected by diversity. After such a training
program, participants may not have all the answers, but they will have
plenty of questions.
Alternate Work Arrangements
Often, removal of negative factors can enhance employee performance
and career growth. This is especially so in the case of women who have
multiple and conflicting role demands from work and family, or older
workers who find the traditional work arrangements difficult.
Several alternate work arrangements such as flexible work hours,
telecommuting, extended leave, and job sharing have been used in the
past to accommodate the unique needs of employee groups. These
arrangements are discussed in more detail in Chapter 3.
Page 119

Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships are similar to mentoring programs except that they
relate to junior-level or technical jobs and often involve working with
prospective employees before they formally join the organization. Such
programs are particularly useful to attract members of visible minorities,
women, people with disabilities, and other disadvantaged group
members to nontraditional jobs within the firm:
Temisan Boyo, a native of Nigeria with an interest in law, was pretty sure
she would not want to work for a major corporate law firm like Blake,
Cassels and Graydon (Blakes). Boyo stated that she thought it would be
“very white, very male, very formal, and very unaccepting of things that
were not part of the status quo.” However, Boyo became the recipient of
an Equity & Diversity Pre-Law Internship at Blakes and she found out
that the firm was very flexible and more diverse than she had expected.
Blakes is involved in several other initiatives, such as its Indigenous
Summer School program, and supports a number of affinity groups,
including Women@Blakes, Pride@Blakes, and the Diversity and
Inclusion Network.81

Support Groups
Employees belonging to diverse groups that are underrepresented in the
organization may feel lonely and uncomfortable at the workplace.
Sometimes, this might be simply a feeling of loneliness and distance
from mainstream workers. In other instances, the new employee may
even face hostility from other members of the work group, especially
when others perceive that the employee’s group status resulted in
preferential treatment during hiring. Often the result is employee
alienation, which in turn results in high turnover.
To overcome this problem, many organizations form support
groups that are designed to provide a nurturing climate for employees
who may otherwise feel unwanted or shut out. Socialization in such
groups enabled the newcomer not only to share concerns and problems
but also to assimilate the organization’s culture faster.

SUMMARY
The legal framework for Canadian workplaces can be thought of as sets
of legislation to protect the minimal treatment of workers, and
aspirational policies to promote safe and healthy Canadian workplaces.
In terms of minimal treatment, employment standards at the federal and
provincial levels guide minimums such as pay, vacations, and overtime.
Unionized employees will refer to the standards negotiated within their
collective agreements with employers. Human rights legislation guides
protection of workers from discrimination based upon their membership
in protected groups (e.g., race, ethnicity, sex, family status, sexual
orientation, religion). Equity legislation aims to remove employment
barriers and promote equality of the members of four designated groups:
women, persons with a disability, members of visible minorities, and
Indigenous people. Privacy legislation describes the types of information
that employers can request and store about employees. HR has
responsibility for determining which pieces of legislation are applicable
to the organization, and for ensuring compliance with the minimum
standards.
To foster safe and healthy workplaces, HR should also develop policies
and procedures to guide behaviour within the organization. Some
policies are required by law, and HR must develop and implement these
required policies. Other policies help employees to meet the employer’s
expectations of them. Types of HR policies include but are not limited to
harassment and sexual harassment; attendance, leave, and breaks;
occupational health and safety; workplace violence; remote workers;
technology and social media use; substance use; and confidential
information.
Many organizations are moving toward creating a diverse, equitable, and
inclusive organizational culture, which is an HR responsibility within
organizations. This involves creating work practices and an environment
where all employees are valued and included regardless of their
differences. Current policies, systems, practices, rules, and procedures
have to be examined (and perhaps modified or eliminated) in terms of
their appropriateness for a diverse and inclusive workforce. The progress
of the diversity, equity, and inclusion effort is monitored on a systematic
basis, and corrective actions must be taken.