We are thrilled to announce TPD has been selected by Glacier Media as a recipient of the 2014 Profiles of Excellence Award. […]

In our last edition of Creating Your Dream Team, we talked about September’s Turnover Trend, and how by using turnover as an opportunity, employers can enhance, grow and bring success to their organizations.

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While employment rates may be increasing, employee turnover is also on the rise as resignations increase and employers struggle to retain employees (1) . Turnover can be a positive event for employers as it gives them the opportunity to bring in fresh talent and reassess engagement strategies, but turnover can be extremely expensive to employers. With turnover across industries peaking in the month of September, employers are searching for ways to minimize future turnover and, ultimately, to improve their bottom lines.

While managing voluntary resignations may seem to be ‘out of your control’, in actuality, there are many things that can be done to minimize turnover.

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It’s that time again – summer is finally approaching! Whether you’re an employer or an employee, you know that giving yourself some time away from work can help clear your mind, enhance your productivity, and benefit your company’s bottom line. Yet as magical as summer can be, it can easily be overshadowed by the pandemonium of vacation scheduling.

Vacation scheduling can be a major stressor for employers. From scheduling conflicts with multiple employees requesting the same time off, to working around black-out dates, and ensuring employees are utilizing their vacation allowances. There are many factors that can make summer scheduling a stressful and costly nightmare for employers, that is why we created our Electronic Staff Planner, a FREE tool designed to help you accurately and easily manage your staff’s schedule.

Fully customizable, The Staff Planner allows you to manage 100+ employees, designate unique vacation allowances, track entitlements based on the employee’s start date, and calculate balance of time-owed vs. time-used. With the click of a button, you can accurately track, schedule and balance the following:

• Employee
  • Paid vacation days
  • Sick days
  • Statutory holidays
  • Bereavement leave
  • Maternity leave
  • Extended medical leave
  • Employee start/end dates
• Departmental
  • Leave schedules
  • Vacation coverages
• Company-Wide
  • Entitlement liabilities

Open your Online Staff Planner account now and get started
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As a trade and international business development specialist, Barbara Mowat facilitates relationships between borders. Acting as The State of Virginia’s Trade Mission Partner in Canada, Barbara played an instrumental role in connecting two organizations – TPD and Bannockburn Global Forex, LLC.

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In the last three years, temporary work has grown at three times the pace of permanent work in North America.

Last year, there were 2 million temporary workers in Canada, or, 13.6% of the workforce (1). The same trends were observed in the USA. In August 2012, there were 2.5 million contract and temporary workers in the USA (2). Furthermore, demand for temporary workers in the USA is projected to grow at a rate 5.9% faster this quarter than in the same period last year (3).

Temporary work is becoming popular across a diverse range of fields and levels of expertise. Upward trends in temporary workforce employment have been observed in the education, culture, and accommodation and food services industries (4), as well as in the nursing, information systems, and financial services industries (5).

Across all industries, employers are seeking flexible work solutions to manage productivity and increase competitiveness.

• Cost Advantages

In working with staffing agencies, the agency, not the employer, becomes the employer of record, responsible for the worker’s administration costs. Since the cost of hiring temporary workers (in the short term) is often less expensive than the cost of recruiting and retaining permanent employees, employers can increase capacity and maintain productivity while benefiting from cost savings.

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“Engagement” – it’s the buzzword in today’s HR world. But, what is ‘engagement’, exactly? Can it be measured or quantified? How do you increase it? And most importantly, how does ‘engagement’ impact a business’s overall success in the marketplace?

Habanero Consulting is a Top Employer. They have been named one of the Best Companies to Work For by BC Business Magazine, ranked as one of the top three Best Small and Medium Employers, and, most recently, were awarded as the number one Best Workplace in the Country by the Globe and Mail. Caterina Sanders is the Director of Employee Experience at Habanero Consulting and is a thought-leader in the HR industry. Here, she shares her insights on best practices in HR and building a ‘Best Workplace’:

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Employers understand the importance of recruiting talented people that are the right fit for their organizations. However, once the right people are in place, training employees and providing them with the proper knowledge and tools to do their jobs can be a costly investment.

Performance review programs are often used to help identify important employee issues, such as the need for promotion, extra training, and compensation reviews; but performance reviews now play a much larger role – influencing the engagement of an organization’s employees.

Engagement is a key issue in today’s HR world with statistics indicating that disengaged workers cost North American businesses well over $350 billion annually in lost productivity(1).

With this in mind, we have put together a comprehensive Performance Review Program Guidebook that includes a number of useful tools and resources that will guide you in implementing and managing your Performance Review Program for maximum benefit at minimum cost.

The Performance Review Program Guidebook includes:

• Performance Review Scheduler – an easy-to-use, Excel based organizational tool to schedule multiple performance reviews for your employees – quarterly, semi-annually or annually.
• Employee Self-Assessment Template – a very straightforward self-evaluation form to assist in employee evaluation.
• Performance Review Template – includes a comprehensive list of review criteria, customized to fit your needs.
• 360-Degree Review Template – for gathering feedback to conduct a comprehensive employee review.
• SMART Goals Worksheet – assists you and your employees in defining clear objectives for quality communication.

With the Performance Review Program, you can rest assured that your greatest assets, your people, will be setup to achieve success – improving efficiency, increasing engagement and driving excellence within your organization!

To access the Performance Review Program for $149.99 – click the button below! 
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For more information about conducting performance reviews, or to receive a quote for services, call us toll-free at 1-888-685-3530

(1) Source: Canada HR Centre

In early November, we shared an Expert Series Article with you about Canada’s E-Marketing Legislation. The proposed regulations meant severe impacts for business owners wishing to leverage electronic messaging to market their business.

Thankfully, the Government of Canada has released a revised set of regulations.

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In today’s marketplace, an increasing number of organizations are realizing the importance of being representative of the markets in which they serve. As well, with emerging growth in the global economy, companies are starting to incorporate diversity into all elements of their business – from hiring practices, to procurement, to training and development.

Many companies are already realizing significant advantages of leveraging diversity in both internal performance and external market competitiveness. Because of this, the incorporation of diversity at other levels of business is getting an increasing amount of warranted attention.

Leslie Meingast, an active leader in the Women and SME market shares further insight into the opportunities a diverse culture brings organizations.

TPD: How does diversity make a business more successful?

Meingast: Diversity encompasses language, place of birth, age, gender and more.

Diversity in culture breads diversity in thought. By opening up to differences in opinion and perspective, global viewpoints are seen and heard. Without this diversity, people and organizations can become myopic, impeding growth and hindering opportunity.

At The Personnel Department, diversity is foundational.

• 15 languages are represented
• 40% of staff were not born in Canada
• 2/3 of executive team are women

At The Personnel Department, diversity is foundational.

• 15 languages are represented
• 2/3 of executive team are women

This diversity brings richness to our organization.

TPD: Given your experience in the women’s market, what opportunities do you foresee in the diversity market?

Meingast: Consider these facts:

• 90% of the Canadian economy is driven by the SME market
  • Majority of SME business owners are not Canadian born
• 90% of consumer decisions made in Canada are made by women
• 4 out of 5 businesses being started in today’s economy are led by women
• When women make up 40% or more of an organization’s advisory board, the organization experiences better ROI, fosters stronger culture and is more socially responsible.

Consider these facts:

• 85% of consumer decisions made in the US are made by women
• 4 out of 5 businesses being started in today’s economy are led by women
• When women make up 40% or more of an organization’s advisory board, the organization experiences better ROI, fosters stronger culture and is more socially responsible.[

The women’s market is valued to be $15 trillion. Yet shockingly, very few corporations have developed a Diversity Supplier Program to tap into this market.

In Canada, only 35 corporations take part in WEConnect International. Some of these enlightened companies include: Accenture, BMO, RBC, Telus and Walmart.

In the USA, only about 1000 corporations take part in WBENC. Some of these enlightened companies include: Chevron, Boeing, Nordstrom, and Target.

Looking forward, the opportunities for both corporations and diverse SME’s are limitless. Now is the time to develop diversity initiatives, invest in training programs, and broaden your perspective. By leveraging diversity in both internal performance and external practices, you can catapult your business into a wide-open market space.

TPD: What are the impacts of incorporating women into your executive teams?

Meingast:

Using a spider-web analogy, women tend to envision themselves as the centre of influence, with webs of connection leading to others in their network or organization. While the women may be leaders or managers within their organization, they embrace the expertise of others, leaning on colleagues for support.

Within our company, culture promotes collaboration and invests in the education and training of our greatest assets, our people. As a result, the organizational ‘web’ is continually growing outward – gaining capability, capacity and bandwidth.

TPD is WEConnect International and Employment Equity certified. Given these certification and HR qualifications, we work with our clients to develop diversity initiatives that will enable their business to succeed. To learn more about how to implement diversity programs within your organization, please reach out to us.
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FEATURED EXPERT: Leslie Meingast

Leslie Meingast is the CEO of The Personnel Department® (TPD), an award winning Human Resources Corporation that specializes in Recruitment, Staffing and HR Solutions.

Since 1980, Leslie has grown a global organization which has been named a Best Employer by various institutions over the last 10 years.

Leslie plays an active role in many organizations and advisory boards including:

• Women President’s Organization
• WEConnect Canada
• SME Advisory Board, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
• International Women’s Forum
• ice Chair, Forum for International Trade Training
• Chair, Galt Foundation; a not for profit which expands employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities and other vocational barriers

A mentor, speaker and advocate in diversity, Leslie works tirelessly to break barriers for women in business. “Diversity is a business imperative”, Meingast explains, “I live it, breathe it, sleep it”.

A Deserved Congratulations!

Given Leslie’s contributions to the women’s market and supplier diversity programs in Canada, she was awarded the 2012 WEConnect Internaional Ambassador Award. The award ceremony occurred during the WEConnnect International annual conference, held in Toronto from November 11-13, 2012. Congratulations, Leslie!