The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) was passed on June 13, 2005. The basic purpose of the act is to break down the barriers faced by persons with disabilities. The aim is to make Ontario more accessible to persons with disabilities by 2025 when 1 in 5 Canadians will be over 65 years. (Statistics Canada)

In the report Disability in Canada (2006), 15.5% of Ontarians had a disability and 47.2% of Ontarians aged 65 or over had a disability. Making our workplaces more accessible benefits all of us and it is the right thing to do. The Royal Bank of Canada estimates that the spending power of people with disabilities is about $25 billion each year. So besides being the right thing to do, it also makes good business sense.

Organizations Ontarians that provide goods and services are required to remove barriers that prevent a person with a disability from fully participating in society with dignity, independence, integration, and equal opportunity, in the same way as a person without a disability.

This legislation is being implemented in five phases as follows:

1. Customer Services Standard

2. Communications and Technology

3. Employment

4. Transportation

5. Built-Environment

*Phases 2, 3, & 4 are called the Integrated Standards.

The schedule for compliance is as follows:

It makes sense to be proactive and learn what you need to do to meet the deadlines. And if you’ve missed the Customer Service deadline, it’s never too late to become compliant and help make Ontario accessible by 2025. We provide one-to-one coaching to help create policies, procedures, and practices and training programs suitable for your organization. Contact us if you need help.

Best regards, Joanne Royce

Royce & Associates
A Human Resources and Training Solutions company
Creating Happy, Healthy, & Productive Workplaces

The HR book chat idea started in another chat held on Twitter on November 21, 2011 via #TEPHR.  The Engagement Project in HR originates with Bonni Titgemeyer, an HR professional with experience in Canada and the USA. Her aim is to encourage HR discussions on an international basis. The #TEPHR chat was like a great big brainstorming session and the idea of #HRBookChat was incubated during that discussion.  Alyssa Burkus ran with the idea and made it real, and #HRBookChat was born.

So on Monday, January 9th, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. the first #HRBookChat took place.  According to Hash Tracking, there were 644 tweets, 130 tweeters, and 9.2 million impressions during the chat. Visit Hash Tracking, to view a permanent record of the chat, stats, Top 10 List, and transcript. 

I learned about Storify when Larry Ferlazzo (http://bit.ly/AvvvOD)  And Marissa Brassfield  (http://sfy.co/Tvz)  posted highlights after the book chat, including my Tweet about Trust. The storify highlights and chat transcript are kind of like a book review in 140 character Tweets.

And of course the HR people involved in the chat loved the book, including me as shown by the many sticky notes in my book. Time for an IPad, Kobo, or Kindle!

But now, the hard part starts – implementing the concepts in the workplace. A paradigm shift needs to happen moving away from the carrot and stick approach or punishment and reward, to creating a culture that supports the 3rd drive that allows for engagement through Purpose, Autonomy, and Mastery in the workplace. It starts with a tiny ripple that spreads.

Happy HRBookChatterer, Joanne

P.S. Oh, and my Tweet about Trust was Retweeted by Daniel Pink and many other people. That Tweet must have resonated with people, and it was kind of neat to see it spread across the world getting Retweeted. The Power of Twitter and Twitter Chats!

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.

At the Osgoode Employment Law Conference in December 2011, this is how lawyer Natalie MacDonald started her presentation on determining if a potential new hire is an employee or self-employed.

How do employers know the difference?

There are very good guidelines that help determine if an individual is an employee or self-employed. Sometimes companies pay employees on a short term contract without taking off any deductions. When  they ask a few questions, they find that the individual is really an employee and should have regular payroll deductions. Hopefully this type of situation is an oversight and not a standard process.  It puts the organization at risk for penalties and fines, but it costs the company so much more.

The Canadian Revenue Agency Guidelines  outline steps to determine if an individual is an employee or self-employed and a detailed account of the liability for not making deductions. Here is a quick check list to get you started:

Control – Does the boss direct the person and tell him/her what to do? If the person doesn’t have control over work hours, and work flow, he/she is likely an employee.

Tools and Equipment – Does the employer supply the person with a computer, and a phone at work to do his/her job? An employee is not responsible for bringing his/her own laptop to work.

Subcontracting and hiring assistants – Does the individual have the opportunity to hire or subcontract an assistant and pay them out of his/her own pocket? If not, the person is an employee.

Financial Risk – Does the individual have to pay for mistakes? If a mistake happens that has a negative financial impact, the self-employed contractor most likely will have to discount the project impacting his/her own bottomline, and an employee is not expected to reach into their pocket to pay for his/her mistake. 

Profit – Does the individual have the chance to profit?  An employee earns income and bonus as per the policies and parameters set by the company, but they don’t have potential for profit.

Responsibility for investment and management – Does the individual have a capital investment in the company and make management decisions freely? If not, he/she is an employee.

Some might weigh the chances that they won’t get caught. Some might argue that it’s easy to pay them as a self-employed professional.  But the risk is significant in more ways than one. Why? Because there is a risk to the organization of penalties, fines, and reimbursements as mentioned earlier. But there are other more intangible risks.

The deductions go to fund government programs that provide the Canadian identity of a more equal society. They help fund the Canadian Pension Fund and Employment Insurance when people need it most. What if every employer decided not to make deductions? Our way of living would be very different. And what is the risk of the most important intangible?

Actions speak louder than words. If it is okay for an employer to ignore the legislative criteria and requirements, is it okay for an employee to do the same with his employer?   I don’t think so.

So if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck! 

Best regards, Joanne Royce

Royce & Associates
A Human Resources and Training Solutions Company
Creating Happy, Healthy, and Productive Workplaces

Photo Credit: SXC, am y

I thought about the book when I received an email from a public relations firm this week, looking to write a story about an entrepreneur for a major newspaper.  The story and “The angle is far more about you personally than it about the company you run — so if you live unusually, or on the edge, then you’re the ideal candidate.” Exciting examples included climbing the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, and being personal friends with and playing bridge with Bill Gates. It made me think about the The Five People You Meet in Heaven.  Why?  

Because the book is about Eddie, a maintenance man in an amusement park; a man who feels that his “Days are a dull routine of work, loneliness, and regret.” How often do we hear that at work and in life? But are they? The book has a number of life lessons. Eddie may not have climbed the highest mountain on each of the seven continents or played bridge with Bill Gates but his life had meaning.

Lesson 1: We all have different perspectives on things; and there is no such thing as a random act; we are all interconnected. We can certainly see this in any workplace. Reflect on how someone’s bad (or good) mood or comments impact everyone around them.

Lesson 2: Sacrifice, whether big or small, is not something to regret. We are only passing something on. What a nice way of changing something that seems like a negative (giving something up), to something that is positive (passing a “gift” on)!

Lesson 3: Forgiveness and letting go of things lets you live life to the fullest. Hate is like a poison that eats you from the inside out. You can say that again – life is lighter when we let in the love!

Lesson 4: There are many types of love. Life has to end, but love doesn’t. A lost love is still love. Anyone who has lost a loved one knows this! Love goes on in the memories we cherish.

Lesson 5: Life has a purpose. No matter what you do in life, you are here for a reason. You may not even realize what your actions have meant to others. If someone does something special, don’t hesitate – tell them – make their day – you might even make their life!

Like Eddie “maintenance” man, who impacted many people by his seemingly mundane activities, we are all important. Our words, our actions, and our behaviour, do impact others. We can make a positive difference in this world by the little things we do!

Read the book. The movie, while a shortened version, is pretty good too. Think about the lessons and how they can be applied not only to your personal life but also to the workplace. You don’t need to live life on the edge, climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, or play bridge with Bill Gates, to live a life of meaning.

Wishing you a happy, healthy, and productive New Year,

Joanne

Joanne Royce is the Founder of Royce & Associates, a Human Resources and Training Solutions company.
She is passionate about Creating Happy, Healthy and Productive Workplaces.
She continues to look for the good in people and in life.
Joanne originally published her review of the lessons and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, in the The Royce Formula Newsletter 2005.

Last week I shared some of the lessons and AHA moments that I’ve experienced so far – really my philosophy on life and work. Originally written for my university aged children, I reflected on my thoughts and I realized I often shared the same insights with my coaching clients. This week, at our HRPA Halton event, I had the pleasure of hearing Paul Copcutt, a leading Personal Brand Architect, talk about 3D Branding. He referred to branding as giving yourself permission to be your authentic self.  In his talk he mentioned my brand as being “the happy HR person.” What a nice thing to say … “The Happy HR person.” Life is too short, not to live (and work) a happy one.  You can read Part 1 or start here with Part 2. 

The World So Far According to Me (Joanne Royce)

-Don’t judge or criticize unkindly. Everyone has good in them so look for that. When you do provide feedback, do so from a place of L.O.V.E.

-When your tummy tells you something isn’t right, it probably isn’t right. Don’t ignore it. Use your intuition as a prompt to check things out more rigorously.

-Sometimes the mean folks from school, work, and beyond don’t get what they deserve. Yep, life isn’t fair, so don’t spend another moment thinking about the mean ones. There are plenty of other nicer and kinder fish in the sea, so seek them out.

-Respect others and your self. Don’t be pressured into doing something to please someone else or because you are worried about fitting in. You might think that’s a good thing to do to build a relationship, but in the long run you will end up being resentful. Politely and assertively stand your ground if it is important to you.

-Ask yourself, “Is this really important to me, or can I let it go?” If it isn’t that important then you don’t need to work to have your opinion heard. This makes it easier to stand your ground when something is important to you.

-Budget. Ask yourself – do I absolutely need it or is it just a great big want. A great big want isn’t worth going into debt for.

-”Engage brain before opening mouth.” Wise words from my dearly departed father C. Donald Royce. You can say anything in a thoughtful tactful way that respects another person, but that means thinking before blurting something out that you might regret later.

-”Everyone does something they regret and won’t do again. Learn from it. Pick yourself up, hold your head high and keep going.” Wise words from my dearly departed mother Miriam Royce. Don’t let a mistake paralyze you or destroy you.

-Sometimes to get to living your passion, you need to do the not so fun stuff. The garbage needs to be taken out, the laundry needs to be washed, the Excel spreadsheets need to be created, the files need to be purged and policies written. Do it well, with a smile on your face, and the fun stuff – living your passion – will come.

-Know your strengths and weaknesses. Why? Because you don’t want to spend a life time trying to develop your weaknesses. Your weaknesses will be someone else’s strength and they will always do it better. It’s best to know your strengths and then head in a career that will make good use of those strengths!

-It’s never too late to make a change for the better in your life and in your work. You just have to believe you can do it, rise above the fear of the unknown, and take action to make it happen.

-Don’t compromise your values and principles.  They are your guide through life. If you try to ignore them and live a life or work at a job not in sync with those values, it will make you sick.

-Everything will be alright if you surround yourself with people who care about you and love you!

Royce & Associates
A Human Resources and Training Solutions company
Creating happy, healthy, and productive workplaces

The World So Far According to Me (Joanne Royce)

-Work hard and put in the maximum effort – it is always worth it (and I am not talking about more money either, I’m talking about learning and gaining knowledge and skills).

-You can’t change another person, but you can change how you interact with them and that will change how they react to you.

-Love what you do. If you don’t love it, don’t complain. Do something about it.

-Volunteer. It makes you feel good, and helps make the world a better place.

-Be positive. Be happy. It’s a choice and it starts with you and your thoughts. Stop negative thinking; it will drag you and those around you down. Hang with the positive folks and avoid the energy vampires.

-If you think you can’t, you won’t; if you think you can, you will. (Henry Ford was right then and he’s right now). Get out of your own way and get rid of thinking that stops you from succeeding.

-No matter what life throws at you, somewhere inside of you there is the ability and the power to rise above it all and thrive.

-You can be kind or you can be mean spirited. Being kind is a much nicer way to live.

-You can’t make someone else be happy. They have to do it for themselves.

-Sometimes your most important role models in life can also teach you what NOT to do.

-Love your body especially when you are young, because it does change. Then you’ll wonder why you spent so much time fretting over how you look, your hair, or how you fit into a new pair of jeans.

-Don’t carry a grudge. The only person you are hurting if you do is yourself.

-Don’t live beyond your means. Hand-me-down couches and chairs and a low rent apartment help you save for the future. Lawn chairs and tv trays with candle light and a nice bottle of wine are just as good as a fancy restaurant or a luxury dining room set.

-Take care of yourself; exercise and eat properly. Have balance in your life. If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of anyone else. And if you don’t take care of yourself, no one else will.

-Take accountability for your life. Don’t give your power away by blaming your parents, your boss, your teacher, etc. for where you are in life. You have the power to change it, IF you become accountable for it.

Live a happy, healthy, and productive life,  Joanne Royce  (Stay tuned for Part 2 next week).

Royce & Associates
A Human Resources and Training Solutions company
Creating happy, healthy, and productive workplaces

No young person thinks about actions of the moment and how that might impact the future. This is true of most young people, from any generation. They don’t think about the future when they are enjoying the present. But the difference today is that something they did in their youth can come back to haunt them now or later when they want to be a lawyer, politician, charity worker, teacher, police officer, and even a spouse or parent. Most young people are not thinking about how those old FB pictures and Twitter comments might impact future opportunities. Unfortunately, they live on forever on-line.

Sure we oldies (Boomers and GenX) who are doing most of the hiring at this point in time, did things when we were younger too. But we didn’t have mobile phones and social media making it easy for youthful escapades to be immortalized forever on Facebook. If we were lucky, like I was, we had our mother telling us to “Learn from your mistake, hold your head up high, and carry on.” So we have the moment etched in our mind somewhere, not like today when it is out there for the whole world to see, especially if it’s in the hands of “friends” who think it’s something the whole world should see. (No such thing as privacy or control on the Internet). Of course, moms will still say “Learn from your mistake ….” but it sure must be a lot harder to “hold your head up high, and carry on” with the whole world watching.

It seems unfair that those doing the hiring have the knack of forgetting. Somehow we don’t remember some of the silly events of our own youth. We were allowed to make our mistakes in our small circle of friends and family. We don’t have the “social memory” of on-line media to remind us of our youthful mistakes. (Not that mistakes are reserved for the young – i.e. Mr. Weiner). In a recent poll 4 in 10 students worry that FB might hurt their chances in the job market. Will the percentage increase as more and more students venture out for their first jobs and/or career advancements?  I wonder when GenY get to positions where they will be making hiring decisions will they be more understanding?

I enjoy reading David Hall’s blogs on social media and there are two that stand out. One on reputation management, “92% of employers say they will “creep” potential employees’ profiles: Like, manage your reputation already, OMG! ” (including a great video by Lee LeFever of Common Craft Protecting Reputations Online in Plain English) and the other “Are you bad at technology well then you are bad at life, there I said it” I especially enjoyed the comments on the latter blog. Jeremy McQuigge commented that looking at technology in our lives from a generational standpoint “… is interesting because Generation Y/Z have grown-up with access to some of the most advanced pieces of technology of our society, yet struggle to use it in productive / meaningful ways. Technology without instruction is nothing more than say… a fancy paperweight.”

“A fancy paperweight” to which I might add that can come back to bean you in the head and knock you out of the running for an opportunity in the future that just might be your heart’s desire. I have Gen Y children; I have had the pleasure of teaching Gen Y students, and I coach and mentor some very focussed and dedicated Gen Y individuals starting out in their HR careers.  They are going to do just fine. The generation growing up and in their formative years when FB first arrived on the scene are like guinea pigs at the start of the great big social experiment of living out loud on-line. And anyone doing the hiring today should remember that.

Best regards, Joanne Royce   
Royce & Associates
A Human Resources and Training Solutions Company
Creating Happy, Healthy, and Productive Workplaces

Related Blogs:  More mom’s flocking to Facebook – A lesson for business

Getting Your Job Search Started

Look at your LinkedIn (LI) profile. Is it complete? Does it give a clear picture of your work history, education, professional development and volunteer activities?  Do you need to expand it and add to it? Have you described your awesome experience and your accomplishments from past positions? 

Post a professional looking photo. Look at your picture with a critical eye.  What’s in the background? Does it give the right impression? Ask a senior colleague for their opinion.

Ask people who worked with you and know you well, to provide comments or testimonials of your work. Ask for your direct supervisors, colleagues, and co-workers to add testimonials. Don’t ask people who don’t know you well or weren’t directly involved with your work. It will put them in an awkward position of having to say “No,” or worse, ignoring your request. If they haven’t worked directly with you it would be difficult providing the testimonial you require.

Do some research.  Search and look at other LI profiles of people in roles you would like. Sign up for some of the groups that people in the career you aspire to secure, have joined. Search on LI for all those people you know and have worked with and send them an invite to connect.

Look at the job postings and see who you know in the industry and start connecting that way.  If a job is posted at XYZ company, you can do a quick search to see if any of your connections have contact with someone in that company.

If you see someone who might be able to help you and they you aren’t connected with them, look them up and call them. If you send them a LinkedIn request, tell them why you are asking to connect. Do not send them a invitation asking to connect because you are in the same “group” when, in fact, you are looking for help finding a job. People appreciate honesty and they will help you if they can. If they don’t accept your invitation they wouldn’t be much help anyway.  Do not send them an invite that states you are a friend when you haven’t even met. That is just plain irritating.

Many people advocate that you put a catchy statement that you are looking for a position in your “headline.”  Take a look at what others are doing on LI and let people know how they can reach you. 

Make sure that people in your network know that you are looking for work. All your past colleagues, supervisors, favourite customers, suppliers, friends, and relatives will want to help you find a job. I received a lovely message from a former colleague who was looking for a job.  He sent a very well written email to everyone telling us what he’s been up to, the credentials he had added to his professional development, and what type of job he was looking for.  And he ended by asking us to be on the lookout for him. That was very helpful. People can and will assist you with your job search if they know you are looking AND what you are looking for.

Then there is Twitter - but that’s another blog.

I hope these few tips will help you get started. Good luck. 

Best regards, Joanne Royce

P.S. If you are a company and need outplacement services, contact us. We can help your departing employees with our coaching program – Getting your Job Search Started. Here’s what one former outplacement client had to say after completing the program (part of a 2-page thank you letter) . 

“Thank you so very, very much, Joanne. Your course, your genuine friendly helpfulness, and your ability to improve my resume, LinkedIn profile, and interview performance, without a doubt gave me the confidence and self assurance I needed for a successful career search.”

Photo Source:  SXC -  Szorstki

There certainly was “nice buzz and energy in the room” as the day started which continued throughout the day and even after the event. In fact, several of the participants, myself included, reported going through Impact99 withdrawal! I’ve had colleagues ask me about it after following my Tweets for the day. And on a phone call today, a colleague commented without prompting, “That seminar you went to last week sounded great.” I guess the Tweets told the story about Impact99.  

I loved that the day was action packed with a variety of sessions and deliver styles, fantastic speakers and presenters who shared their knowledge about social media in the workplace. I enjoyed meeting my Twitter colleagues in real life as well as meeting new people, like my Yellow team members.

The Awesome Yellow Team

It was so refreshing looking at social media as a useful tool in the workplace versus something that needs to be banned to increase productivity. Of course, there needs to be guidelines around social media use at work. But if employees are misusing social media at work, it seems to me to be more a management development or engagement improvement issue. In Cisco’s Connected World Technology Report, a survey of young people under the age of 30, found that it’s not all about the money. The reports states, that young professionals want access to social media and their smartphones in the workplace and that might be even more important than higher compensation.

The day started off with Sidneyeve Matrix, a professor at Queen’s University and social media guru. She shared insights about the GenY students she teaches, and trends in social media and mobile technology.  It was quick paced and full of information.

Lights, Camera, Action

One of the activities was an eye opener for me.  It was lights, camera, action when we became video producers, writers, and actors during one activity. As a team, we were instructed to create a video for a company to help showcase the company as an employer of choice. We had to come up with the idea, plan it, film it and upload the finished video to the Impact99 YouTube Channel – all in 30 minutes. Why? Because Google ranking likes videos (it increases Google search by 53%), and so do the up and coming young workforce, but not very many organizations are using videos to highlight their company as the place to work. It is rather amazing that an effective (and funny) video can be created in 30 minutes, with no budget, and using only a Smart phone! Check out the winner with a tongue-in-cheek homage to the make belief company ”Tickle Your Fancy” with “employees” telling us “I love my job.”  

I won’t go into all the details of the day, as there are already several blog posts about the Impact99 event written by attendees, including “Why Human Resources needs to embrace Social Media with enthusiasm #impact99” by Anja Milenkovic (an HR student and fellow Yellow team member), Impact99 Human Resources goes social- 27 Key Social Media Practices  by Shirley Williams, and ”25 reasons why #impact99 is the coolest HR conference ever.”

At the end of the day, a videographer captured highlights of the day long #impact99 event into this awesome energetic video.

Social media is not going away and those organizations that won’t adapt will find themselves falling behind the competition. So what is stopping you from embracing social media in your workplace?

Wish I was (still) at #impact99,  Joanne Royce

HR Trailblazer
Royce & Associates
A Human Resources & Training Solutions company
Creating Happy, Healthy, & Productive Workplaces