April 6, 2009
- Federal Government Study on the Crisis in the Automotive Sector in Canada
- Downsizing?
- Health and Safety Matters
- Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure 2009
- RCMP Win Right to Unionize
- Great Places to Work
- Sexual Behaviour in the Workplace
- Easing Job Interview and Workplace Anxiety
- The Value of Teamwork
- The Dwight Schrute Effect
- Flexible Work, Layoffs, Sabbaticals – it could be an interesting career move
- Book of the Week
Federal Government Study on the Crisis in the Automotive Sector in Canada
A Study of the Crisis in the Automotive Sector in Canada, a Report of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, has been released by the Government. The report includes responses by the NDP and a dissenting report by the Liberal Party of Canada.
Also available on the website of the Subcommittee on the Automotive Industry of Canada is Evidence presented to the Committee on Monday, March 9, 2009 and includes statements by Ken Lewenza, National President, Canadian Auto Workers Union and Dr. Jim Stanford, Chief Economist, Canadian Auto Workers Union.
Report: A Study of the Crisis in the Automotive Sector in Canada, March 31, 2009 (41 pages, PDF) (Committee recommendations to the government are on PDF page 26 document page 20)
(also available in HTML)
Downsizing?
An article in the Globe and Mail by Jim Stanford, an economist with the Canadian Auto Workers Union, points out the problem with downsizing during recessionary times. Stanford calls upon government to act as a mediating force to help build businesses rather than force more cutbacks.
Globe and Mail, April7, 2009: Inspire, don't fire by Tim Jeffery
Health and Safety Matters
The report, Recommendations for Experience Rating: for discussion with Stakeholders, prepared by Morneau Sobeco is available on the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board's website. The report makes recommendations on strengthening the link between workplace incentives and real performance in health and safety. The need for a review of the WSIB’s incentive program was influenced by the Toronto Star's multi-part series, the Working Wounded, published over the past year. The investigative series found that companies with deaths and injuries in the workplace were still receiving cash rewards for good health and safety practices.
Report, released February 27, 2009 (29 pages, PDF)
Toronto Star, March 4, 2009: Audit slams Ontario workplace safety rebates
Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure 2009
The Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act requires organizations that receive public funding from the Province of Ontario to disclose annually the names, positions, salaries and total taxable benefits of employees paid $100,000 or more in a calendar year. Links are available on the website for salary information on Ministries, Legislative Assembly and Offices, Judiciary, Crown Agencies, Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation, Municipalities and Services, School Boards, Universities, Colleges, Hospitals and Boards of Public Health. The salaries of Ontario campus employees were critiqued in a recent Globe and Mail article.
Public Sector Salary Disclosure, 2009 website, March 31, 2009
RCMP Win Right to Unionize
Mr. Justice Ian MacDonnell, an Ontario Superior Court judge, has awarded the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's 22,000 members the right to unionize. "Why does the wider jurisdiction of the RCMP or its status as a unique Canadian institution make the labor relations modes in place for other police forces inappropriate?" questioned Justice MacDonnell in his ruling. The section of the RCMP Act that precludes unionization was found unconstitutional. The ruling gave the federal government 18 months to establish a unionization mechanism for the force. It has been 10 years since the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against a RCMP unionizing effort that started in Quebec.
Globe and Mail, April 7, 2009: Court strikes down section of RCMP Act by Colin Freeze
CBC News, September 2, 1999: Supreme Court says no to RCMP union
Great Places to Work
The Great Places to Work Institute has released its annual Best Workplaces in Canada list for 2009. The two survey instruments used are: the Trust Index, which measures employees’ perception of camaraderie, credibility, fairness, pride and respect in the workplace; and the Culture Audit which surveys human resource managers for a description of company practices. Google Canada was ranked number one -- at Google employees dedicate 20 per cent of their time to personal projects-- gmail originated from this practice.
Great Place to Work Institute website, April 6, 2009: List of winners
Insert in the Globe and Mail, Monday April 6, 2009: A special report for the Great Place to Work Institute – available in PRINT ONLY (10 pages)
Sexual Behaviour in the Workplace
In a paper published in the Journal of Applied Psychology the researchers looked at the effect of sexual behaviour in the workplace -- including sexual jokes, innuendo, discussions of sexual matters or flirtation. The study found that although some employees reported enjoyment of the behaviour they tended to withdraw from work, feel less valued and reported depressive symptoms more often than employees who experienced little to no sexual behaviour at the office. The results were found among both women and men, working in manufacturing, social service and university jobs.
Easing Job Interview and Workplace Anxiety
Professor Julie McCarthy of the Rotman School of Management and U of T Scarborough is a specialist in organizational behaviour and an expert on anxiety in the workplace. Her recent anxiety research has been conducted by focusing on one of the most high-stress work environments there is – police services. She offers tips in the article below for coping with stress on the job and in job interviews. An earlier study on job interview anxiety is also available online.
The Value of Teamwork
A study titled, “Suckers or Saviors? Consistent Contributors in Social Dilemma,” recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology shows that one person acting for the good of a group will eventually be emulated by group members to the benefit of everyone. This information can be used by human resources managers to reward consistently co-operative employees.
The Dwight Schrute Effect
A recent study, “Is the Pain Worth the Gain? The Advantages and Liabilities of Agreeing with Socially Distinct Newcomers,” looks at the value of a newcomers in groups. The “new” individual to the group may be a social outsider but group work proved more successful with the newcomer than without.
“Is the Pain Worth the Gain? The Advantages and Liabilities of Agreeing With Socially Distinct Newcomers,” by Katherine W. Phillips, Katie A. Liljenquist and Margaret A. Neale, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2009; 35; 336 originally published online Dec 19, 2008.(may only be available to members of the University of Toronto)
Flexible Work, Layoffs, Sabbaticals – it could be an interesting career move
Firms such as KPMG, Deloitte & Touche are offering their employees sabbaticals or leaves of absence in these tough economic times. There is always the fear that the job will not be there when one returns but according to many who have taken the risk leaving has proven to be a valuable career move.
Globe and Mail, April 4, 2009: Worst of times might be best of times to take off by Tavia Grant
Book of the Week
The Romantic Economist: Imagination in Economics, by Richard Bronk. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009. 382 p. ISBN 978-0-521-73515-5
"Bronk's The Romantic Economist is a highly original exploration of the ways in which an understanding of the Romantic tradition can help enrich and improve our economic thinking. With a rare command of orthodox economics, philosophy and literature, Bronk shows how our view of economic life is shaped by metaphors that limit our vision. Arguing that absorbing some of the insights into human action of Romantic writers enables us to correct these distortions, Bronk liberates economics from the stultifying effects of an over-mechanical view of human action. His book will be read with profit by political theorists, historians of ideas and - not least - practising economists." - John Gray, Emeritus Professor of European Thought, London School of Economics.
About the Author:
Richard Bronk is a visiting fellow at the European Institute at the London School of Economics.
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