Most individuals are not natural born leaders. Most have to work at acquiring and fine tuning their leadership skills. Often times when new managers/team leads are brought into a leadership position, they try to do everything in order to prove why they belong in that position, when instead they should be surrounding themselves with good people who specialize in specific areas. A leader’s role should be to provide direction and coordinate the expertise of the teammates allowing the team to function effectively. It is no different than in sports. The best hockey, soccer or baseball player is not usually going to be the best coach, and more times...

Many people see the Human Resource function time consuming and a necessary evil. While the Human Resource function is important to any company, many business owners and executives spend up to 25% of their time managing these duties instead of focusing on strategic objectives of the company. Many of these duties are dealt with more appropriately by a Human Resource professional, or team of Human Resource professionals, with up to date knowledge on industry trends and current labour practices.   While hiring an in-house specialist is an option, it can be costly, especially for a well seasoned professional or in many situations, where fulltime assistance is not required.   ...

An article posted on the Human Resources Networking Group site, brought to light many good points regarding the need to review outside influences and factors, in addition to performance, when dealing with what are perceived as difficult employees, or “Bad Apples”. A lot of employers assume that if an employ has a poor attitude, or is difficult then they are a trouble maker, and should be let go from the company. This article discusses the fact that maybe they are creating waves within the company because they are more productive then others and this is frustrating to them, or maybe they are not good in a group environment,...

In recent years we have seen an increase in employee pregnancies in our company and I’m sure that most of you have seen the same. This can be tough on employers as Canada has one of the most generous maternity leave policies in place. Combined maternity and parental leave is a total of 52 weeks. That is one year!! This is extremely nice for a family but hard on an employer as you have to fill that gap for that year.   First, you cannot fire or demote an employee because they are pregnant. Even if that employee has not worked for you for 52 weeks, you still...

The following information is drawn from a fact sheet from the website for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.  To view the full article, follow this link:  Link to Complete Article   The use of social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn in the workplace raises privacy implications for both employees and employers. Organizations should develop policies on the appropriate use of SNS in the workplace.   While many employers have guidelines and codes of conduct for e-mail and Internet use, SNS pose different privacy challenges which should be specifically addressed in conjunction with these other workplace rules.  Clear rules and policies drafted...

In Canada, it is important to have a Safe Driving Policy in Place.  If you are an employer whose employees are required to drive a company or their own personal vehicle for work purposes, now is the time to review your policies.  Ontario will soon be enforcing Bill 118, an amendment to the Highway Traffic Act.   Bill 118, which comes into effect on October 23, 2009, bans drivers in Ontario from using handheld devices with display screens while operating a vehicle on the road.  Some of the new rules of Bill 118 are as follows:   ·         Holding or using a wireless communication device (a cell phone) or...

If success rests on the cohesiveness of our work groups, how can we achieve proactive, dedicated and united teams?   Teambuilding should be part of every Managers daily routine, in one form or another; however, it often comes in the form of a planned event or meeting.  There are two common characteristics of successful teambuilding: increased synergy, meaning the contributions of two or more employees is greater than the sum of their individual efforts, and enhanced collaboration.  Does having a potluck create synergy?  Will golfing with your three favorite work friends foster enhanced collaboration?  Far too often teambuilding events are viewed by the employer as a reward rather...

Alternative views to staff cutting in economic downturns...by Diane Heavens     Given the current economic downturn, we have seen many of our clients taking a closer look at staffing levels as employee compensation has a direct affect on the company’s bottom line.  Many employers jump to the conclusion that the easiest and most effective method to reduce costs is to reduce the number of employees on staff.  Depending on your business and how you generate profit, there are many different cost cutting factors to consider before making any staffing decisions.  Often, employees will share the same initial reaction; cutting staff is a good idea because it will...