Undue Hardship

A. What constitutes “undue hardship”?

B. According to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, "undue hardship describes the limit, beyond which employers and service providers are not expected to accommodate". Stephen Hammond described the Supreme Court’s criteria for undue hardship in his book, “Managing human rights at work”. He says, although not exhaustive, “in determining undue hardship, the Court has said employers should consider the following:
· Financial cost
· Disruption of a collective agreement
· Problems of morale of other employees
· Interchangeability of workforce and facilities
· Size of the employer’s operation
· Safety and who bears the risk”

In other words minor interference will not be sufficient. Instead, to be considered an undue hardship the interferences with the rights of other employees must be substantial.

A. How do supervisors get employees to accept the idea of accommodating?

B. Stephen provides two great suggestions. One, “try to get people to understand accommodating someone is not the same as allowing him or her to slack off”. Rather, accommodating “allows the individual to honor a higher set of principles or deal with a physical or mental obstacle”. Second, Stephen suggests letting the other employees know that they will be accommodated if needed. By allowing the employees to feel they too can be accommodated, the supervisor is showing that accommodation is a principle of equality.


Reference
Hammond, S. (2004). Managing human rights at work. Harrassment Solutions Inc. Inc.

Canadian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved June 5, 2008 from http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/preventing_discrimination/page3-en.asp

Interview mistakes

What are some common interview mistakes?

Some common interview mistakes include: making snap judgments based on the candidates resume or test scores. Interviewers may also be influenced by the candidate’s attractiveness or gender or even non-verbal behaviours which may be attributed to cultural background or ethnicity, such as: eye contact, smiling, and nodding. Some interviewers may have poor job knowledge which may lead to bad hiring decisions. Other mistakes include focusing on a candidate’s unfavourable attributes over his or her favourable attributes or distorting one’s opinion about a candidate as a result of a positive initial impression, also known as the halo affect.

Career Counselling and HR

A. What are some aspects of career counseling HR practitioners are using?

B. HR has a variety of career-based activites it can use to promote longevity with the company and increase employee motivation. In fact, through career counseling, employee recruitment, development, performance, and retention can be linked together. Career development activities include: career and job profiling; career pathing; career management; and professional development and training.

A. Can you explain the differences between these activities?

B. Sure. Career or job profiling identifies the skills and skill levels needed to perform the job effectively. This can be achieved through task and skill analysis. So, by defining the skills required, HR, managers, and employees can identify areas where the employee needs to improve, as well as identifying potential areas of interest. Career pathing, as Linda Pharr, President and COO of Batrus Hollweg, so nicely describes, “shows employees what their future can look like within a company and provides a roadmap of how to get there”. Elements of career pathing include: a visual map outlining career progression which is available to all employees; detailed competency and behaviour models which communicate clear performance expectations; and performance management tools and succession planning tools and processes to measure progress. Whereas, career management plays more of a supporting role by communicating the organization’s goals, ensuring opportunities for movement, and offering career-related workshops. Finally, professional development and training are specific activities, includeing: in-house training; coaching or mentoring; or external training, used to build the skills required for maintaining a specific career path.



References
http://www.batrushollweg.com/InsightsAndResearch/InsightArticles/CareerPathing.pdf

Wage Compression

A. What is wage compression?

B. Wage or salary compression is a compensation problem that occurs when "salary structures are not proportional to professional maturity."(1) By professional maturity, I mean, rank and time in rank. In other words, the increase in starting salaries is creating a smaller gap between new employees and more senior employees. Wage compression can occur in tight labour markets, where demand exceeds supply or in companies where senior employees experience a lack of mobility.

A. How can companies deal with this concern?

B. Higher learning educational institutions like, UBC have created a compression fund to supplement their faculties’ salary based on specific qualifying guidelines. Another option is to implement progressive employee benefits such as sabbatical leave, professional development, or special privileges.

References
1. Snyder, J.K., G.W. McLauglin, and J.R. Montgomery. "Diagnosing and Dealing with Salary Compression." Research in Higher Education, vol. 33, (February, 1992), pp. 113-24.

Collective Bargaining Process

A. What are the steps involved in collective bargaining?

B. Collective bargaining can be broken into five steps: pre-bargaining, phase one, phase two, phase three, and ratification.

• In the pre-bargaining stage participants prepare for the bargaining session. This includes determining proposal goals and gathering the necessary data to support those goals.
  
• During phase one of the bargaining process, members should be introduced and ground rules established. Following, both participants present and justify their proposal.
  
• Phase two involves reaching a tentative agreement on many of the language issues.
  
• Phase three is where the economic factors are introduced. These are discussed near the end of the negotiations because they usually cause the most disagreements and have the greatest potential to stall discussions.
  
• During the final ratification stage, union members are presented with the proposed contract and vote to accept the terms of the negotiated agreement.
  

A. So, what happens if labour and management can not come to an agreement?

B. In the case where an agreement can’t be made, the dispute can be taken to conciliation, mediation, or arbitration.

A. What’s the difference between these?

B. During conciliation the third party’s purpose is to help continue negotiations in hopes that labour and management will voluntarily reach a solution. Mediation is similar in the fact that no solution is imposed, rather the third party helps by producing facts that may clarify positions. However, during arbitration, the third party makes the final decision.

Flexible Benefits

A. When designing a flexible benefits program, what are some options employers have?

B. Flexible benefits options include cafeteria-style benefits plan, modular benefits plan, and core-plus options plan. Similar to a buffet, the cafeteria-style benefits allow employees to choose the benefits that suit their particular needs or wants. The modular benefits plan, on the other hand, has a number of pre-packaged benefit sets that employees can choose from; while, the core-plus options plan provides employees with a basic level of protection and then allows employees to augment their plan by choosing various options.

Performance Appraisal Methods

A. What do performance appraisal measure?

B. Performance appraisals measure traits, behaviours, or results.

Trait-based performance appraisals include the employees characteristics, what an employee is, such as dependability, creativity, leadership, and initiative. Trait- focused performance appraisals include graphic rating scale or forced-choice method. While these methods are fairly inexpensive to implement they are prone to rater errors such as halo error, leniency error, or central tendency.

Behavior-based performance appraisals include what the employee does and should do different; in other words, specific actions exhibited by the employee on the job. Behavior methods include: critical incident and behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS).

Results-based performance appraisals focus on the employees accomplishments. Quantitative data such as: sales, production numbers, and errors, can be used. Common methods for performing results-based appraisals include: productivity measures and management by objectives (MBO)

Gender Equity

A. What are some steps companies can take to achieve gender equity?

B. First, companies need to ensure that talented men and women are given the same opportunities to grow, develop, and contribute with in the company. As well, companies with management support systems and networks need to ensure that both men and women are participating. Once that is in place, other initiatives can be put in place; such as, creating succession plans, which identify women as potential managers early in their careers and helping them advance, or fast-track programs, which accelerate the development of qualified women.

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Selection Process

A. Can you tell me about the purpose and importance of selection for an organization?

B. Okay, let’s start with the purpose. So, you’ve got your pool of candidates gathered from your recruiting process, selection is the process of finding the best candidate who not only possesses the knowledge, skills, abilities, and personality for the job but also will perform well, embrace the company’s mission and values; and fit the company’s culture.

A. How does a company ensure that this criterion is met?

B. Well, there’s a process involved. You see, proper selection is important because employees affect the company’s performance and success. In addition, there are high costs associated with poor hiring; and legal implications related to human rights and employment equity legislation.

A. You mentioned about selection process. What are the steps involved?

B. The process can be broken down into six major steps:
(1) prescreening applicants,
(2) initial selection interview,
(3) selection testing,
(4) background investigation and reference checking,
(5) supervisory interview, and
(6) hiring decision and offering the job.

A. So by pre-screening you mean reviewing application forms and resumes?

B. That’s right, but pre-screening also includes contacting the candidates to verify information, confirm interest, and ensure salary requests are compatible. All these activities save the company time and money.

A. So, the next step is the initial selection interview?

B. Yes, also known as the preliminary interview.

A. Are there different types of selection interviews?

B. Yes, selection interview can be classified in three ways: according to structure: unstructured, structured, or mixed; the type of questions: situational or behavioural; and the way in which the interview is administered: serialized, panel, or computerized.

A. What is the difference between a situation interview and a behavioral interview?

B. Well, both interviews use ask situational questions, however; a situational interview focuses on how the candidate would behave, whereas; the behavioral interview focuses on how the candidate did behave.

A. Which of the structures would you say is more common?

B. The mixed or semi-structured interview format is extremely popular because it involves a combination of preset structured questions based on the job description and specifications and a series of preset candidate-specific, job-related questions based on information provided on the application form and resume.

A. I noticed you used the word preset for both types of questions.

B. Yes, pre-set questions help employers ensure legal compliance by treating all candidates equally and avoiding inappropriate questions.

A. Okay. Now are there other problems associated with the effectiveness of a selection interview?

B. Definitely, I mentioned earlier that meeting the criterion takes planning; therefore poor planning, including not knowing the job requirements or talking too much or too little, can undermine the effectiveness of the interview. Other problems include: making snap judgments, having a negative or positive bias, lowering standards under pressure to hire, being unduly influenced by non-verbal behaviour, telegraphing desired responses to the interviewee, or being influenced by the attractiveness or gender of the applicant.

A. So, how does an interviewer avoid such problems?

B. Well, it begins by designing an effective interview. There are five 5 key points:
(1) decide who will be involved in the selection process and developing selection criteria;
(2) specify musts and wants and weight the wants;
(3) determine assessment strategies and develop an evaluation form;
(4) develop interview questions to be asked of all candidates;
(5) develop candidate specific questions.

A. Can you give me some examples of assessment strategies?

B. For example, word processing skills are best assessed through hands-on testing rather than interview questions. The evaluation form is then used to compare and evaluate the candidates’ knowledge and skills.

A. Are there other types of testing?

B. For sure, there are different types of tests used for selection that measure cognitive (thinking) abilities, motor and physical abilities, personality and interests, or achievement.

A. What are some examples of cognitive ability testing?

B. Three types of cognitive ability testing are:
(1) intelligence quotient (IQ) tests, that measure general intellectual abilities, such as verbal comprehension, inductive reasoning, memory, numerical ability, speed of perception, spatial visualization, and word fluency;
(2) emotional intelligence (EI), that measure ability to monitor one’s own emotions and the emotions of others and use that knowledge to guide thoughts and actions; and
(3) aptitude tests, that measure an individual’s aptitude or potential to perform a job, provided he or she is given proper training.

A. Okay.

B. I want to go back to the topic of interviewing for a moment. We talked about the key points in designing an effective interview. Now let’s look at the delivery. Key points include: establishing a rapport, asking questions and taking notes, giving information, closing the interview, and reviewing the notes and evaluating the candidate.

A. Taking notes?

B. Definitely! Taking notes increases the utility of the interview process by:
(1) reducing the likelihood of forgetting job-relevant information and subsequently reconstructing forgotten information in accordance with biases and stereotypes;
(2) reducing the likelihood of making a snap judgment and helps prevent the halo effect, negative emphasis, and candidate-order errors; and
(3) helping ensure that all candidates are assessed on the same criteria. Detailed interview notes also provide documentation in the case of a human rights challenge.

A. Okay, that’s makes sense. You also mentioned giving information.

B. That’s right. Candidates also need to make a decision as to whether or not this position and organization meets their professional and career goals, it is important to ensure that all relevant information is given regarding the position, the organization, and career prospects.

A. Let’s move on to step four now, background investigation and reference checking.

B. Sure, Background investigation and reference checking serve two key purposes:
(1) verifying the accuracy of the information pertaining to job-related educational qualifications and experience provided by candidates on their application forms and résumés; and
(2) validating the information obtained during the other steps in the selection process.

A. Okay, so what strategies can make reference checking effective?

B. Reference checking can be made more effective by using a structured form to ensure that important questions are not overlooked, using the references offered by the applicant as a source for other references, and being persistent.

A. What do you mean by using the references as a source for other references?

B. For example, for a company reference, the applicant can identify individual co-workers which can verify information. It is important to mention that failure to check references can lead to negligent or wrongful hiring suits that may involve significant damages.

A. So how does the supervisor fit into this process?

B. Actually, that’s the next step. There are five key reasons why the supervisor should be involved in the selection process:
(1) the supervisor tends to know the technical aspects of the job best and is the most qualified to assess the applicants’ job knowledge and skills;
(2) the supervisor is typically best equipped to answer any job-specific questions;
(3) the immediate supervisor generally has to work closely with the selected individual and must feel comfortable with that person;
(4) if the supervisor is not committed to the selected individual, he or she can easily set the new hire up for failure; and
(5) the selected individual must fit with the current members of the department or team, something that the supervisor is often best able to assess.

A. Well, great. I guess that leaves us with one more step; the hiring decision and job offer.

B. That’s correct. Two common strategies used to make the final decision are clinical strategy, which involves making a subjective evaluation of all of the information gleaned about each candidate and arriving at an overall judgment, and statistical strategy, which involves combining all of the pieces of information according to a formula and giving the job to the candidate with the highest score.

A. So, how is the job offer usually made?

B. First by telephone, followed up with an official letter. I would like to one more additional step. And that’s evaluation.

A. You mean evaluation of the newly hired employee?

B. Yes. The contribution value of the individual selected should be compared with the cost of selection.

A. Alright. So let’ just review the main points of the selection process:
(1) prescreening applicants,
(2) initial selection interview,
(3) selection testing,
(4) background investigation and reference checking,
(5) supervisory interview, and
(6) hiring decision and offering the job.

Key Terms
This week’s HR terminology includes:
- structured interview
- unstructured interview
- intelligence tests
- statistical strategy
- aptitude tests
- halo effect

References
Organizational culture. (n.d). Sharing the organizational vision. Retrieved from http://www.bensilver.ca/OB_Disc/chapters/ch09.pdf

Multiple-choice quiz
*Answer found at the end of the post.

1. The clinical strategy used to make the final decision involves:
A. combining all of the pieces of information according to a formula and giving the job to the candidate with the highest score.
B. forming a group, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate, and the ranking the individuals from mostly likely to least likely.
C. making a subjective evaluation of all of the information gleaned about each candidate and arriving at an overall judgment
D. None of the above

2. A common interview mistake is:
A. Halo effect
B. Contrast (candidate-order) error
C. Snap judgments
D. Poor planning
E. All of the above

3. Which is not one of the major steps in the selection process?
A. creating and posting job advertisement
B. background investigation and reference checking
C. supervisory interview
D. prescreening applicants



Answers: 1) c, 2) e, 3) a