Even more than ever, now is the time for your company to find a competitive edge through talent. We’ve spent the last couple of years talking about the “talent crunch” or the “war for talent” and we’ve seen the resulting numbers in our cycle times, cost of hire or quality of hire metrics. Now is the time, while talent is available, to decide if you will take the risk in a down economy to be a talent leader and swoop in to scoop up otherwise unavailable talent.

Those who know me know I’m not a professional sports fan, at all, whatsoever. (get the point?) However, I’m going to give a sports analogy a shot. Let’s say you are an NHL hockey team and you have a full compliment of players, plus a salary cap that you are $800K away from and you want Sidney Crosby to play for you, but he demands $1MM Well, now we are in a down economy, and you have removed some unnecessary or underperforming players from the team. Do you conserve funds and add the cuts to the bottom line because ticket and concession sales are going to be down? Or do you scoop up Crosby for $1MM (or even try to get him at a reduced rate because he is currently “out of work” – I know, that part is a stretch, but you get the point)?

Now, there are many arguments to be made here. One would be that typically, the top talent is still employed during an economic downturn because companies are laying off only there bottom performers. Well that may be the case sometimes, there have been a lot of company closures and bankruptcies resulting in employees of various skills, tenure and performance becoming available on the labour market – talent that your company otherwise may not have had the means to have access to. There is at least one truth in recruiting, that top talent will always be in demand and will always be harder to find and harder to attract. So, why not use whatever leverage you can to your advantage?

So, the tough question is – do you spend (on labour) in a time of economic downturn? The logical answer, and that which will echo your CEO and CFO is “no”. That logical answer, however, is an unqualified no. You should still be hiring for key positions, those critical to your core business, and those directly related to generating revenue. I would expand that out just a little further to say that you should also be doing whatever you can to retain and hire star performers, so that when things turn around, you are already poised above your competition to hit the ground running. I believe that marketing/advertising is sometimes looked at this way – spend dollars on advertising to create awareness and loyalty in tough times and build, acquire and retain customers while your competition is not.

Often Canadian budgets come and go with little to no impact on those of us in Human Resources. Well, with the current economic times having such a huge impact on jobs and the workforce (not to mention EI, pensions & savings, taxes, and the list goes on), this Conservative government that is fighting for it’s life has presented a budget that is supposed to be both economically appealing as well as poised to please opposition parties. Looks like they pulled it off (and yes, that opinion is subject to its own posting and debate) - and, in doing so, there are a number of items this time around that will affect HR policy and programs at a social, business and personal level.

Here’s some of the highlights (as it pertains to us HR folks):

1. Federally Regulated Pension Plans – The budget includes a change to the rules for solvency valuations. Currently, plans are permitted to smooth asset fluctuations over a five year period when determining cash contribution requirements, given that the smoothed asset value is not in excess of 110% or market value. The language in the budget would increase this limit and thereby reduce required cash contributions for many of the pension plan sponsors that are federally regulated. The government proposes to protect the security of benefits, however, by making the amount of any deferral of funding that results from the use of an asset value in excess of 100% subject to a deemed trust. In addition, the budget confirms the federal government’s prior commitment to temporarily grant solvency funding relief to federally regulated pension plans in respect of solvency deficiencies as at December 31, 2008. The relief would give pension plans under federal jurisdiction ten years to fund a solvency deficiency instead of the normal five years (among other conditions, employers must either obtain the consent of both members and retirees or secure the difference between the 5-year payments and the 10-year payments with a letter of credit).

The obvious impact here is to review your pension plans to understand if you can take advantage, if you need to take advantage, and most importantly, the long term effects and impacts as well as potential risks and opportunities of being able to take advantage of the new rules.

2. Personal Tax Reductions – This is a simple one. As an employer, you need to make sure that your payroll system or payroll provider has been updated with the appropriate patches to reflect the new source deduction rates related to the new deductions. If you are a smaller employer and do no use an in-house system or third party vendor for your payroll, it may be a little more challenging to receive and review and implement the reductions manually, however, it should still be done as soon as possible.

3. Employment Insurance (EI) – For two years, the period for which an individual may collect EI benefits will increase by five weeks (at the end). There will still remain the two week “deductible” at the beginning of eligibility (unless you qualify for an exemption), and, the extension will not apply to other EI benefits such as parental or maternity. This will typically be an increase from 45 to 50 weeks, but may vary depending on the appropriate jurisdiction of the claimant. In addition to these changes, others include an extension of EI benefits related to re-training, changes to expand the work sharing program, and an EI premium rate freeze at $1.73 per $100 of EI insurable earnings. Finally, there is a commitment to establish a task force to look at how it may be possible for self-employed workers to take advantage of the EI program in relation to parental and maternity benefits.

4. Labour Force Tactics – Another program to be aware of if you are an employer that may be downsizing, especially a more seasoned workforce, is additional funding (increase of $60MM) to the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers. An additional spend of $50MM is also being dedicated to a program that would recognize foreign credentials thereby improving the integration of immigrants into the workforce – how this one will work, I have yet to see the specifics, but to sounds very promising on the surface.

5. Expansion to the Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP) – This is a program that is used by employers when their employer declares bankruptcy, and provides unpaid wages or vacation pay to be somewhat recouped for the six month period prior to the bankruptcy. Subject to maximums, the WEPP changes would allow for severance and termination pay owning to also be recouped.

6. Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIF) – Changes here would see relief to those battered by a decrease in their retirement fund assets by a reduction of 25% in the amount of funds that RRIF holders are required to withdraw from a fund on an annual bases – thereby allowing money to stay in the funds longer and hopefully gain back some of the losses accumulated in 2008. For 2008, there is an opportunity for those who withdrew more than the adjusted minimum to re-contribute the difference and receive the appropriate offsetting deductions (this, of course, subject to deadlines and rules). OK, this one is a bit of a stretch from day to day HR life, but does have an impact on your retired, or retiring workforces, and how potential soon-to-retire employees may rethink, or re-rethink, their current situations.

Bottom line is that few, all or none of these may affect your company. If not yoru company, some or none may affect your employees. Personally, I know more people now who have been affected by layoffs, reductions, restructurings, etc than I ever have – so if the above is not relevant to your work life, it may be helpful to those in your personal life. Whatever it is, take heed of the the new (and mostly positive changes) and review them against your current programs and policies.

You’ve heard of the brain drain… Well, recent evidence seems to show that there is a trend in Canada of some of that talent beginning to return home as economical conditions continue to worsen in other countries as well as deteriorating support structures. Below is an article re-posted with permission from the Canadian Expat Network.

Also… on my drive this morning, it is apparent that not all parts of Canada are suffering the same economic conditions in the same way. Word has it that Saskatchewan has 5700+ jobs posted on a common job posting service to attract talent to the province. And we’re not talking about low paying service jobs or manual labour – we’re talking employment requiring highly skilled labour. Once you get over the idea of relocating to Saskatchewan and living in the middle of a wheat field (of course, I exaggerate here) - perhaps there is a gainful employment opportunity there, especially if you are a returning expat seeking new employment.

Here’s the article from the Canadian Expat Network :

Canadian Workers & Students Returning Home?

 

This spring Geny Samson is completing her Master’s work at the College of Textiles at NC State University. A Mechanical Engineer, Samson will be completing her Master’s in Medical Textile Engineering and is planning on returning to Canada. A native of Montreal, she misses things about her homeland and also feels that finding employment in the U.S. at this time will be a challenge.

 

 This is one example of many, with respects to Canadians considering returning home. There’s an estimated 2 million Canadians in the U.S. and according to 2006 Immigration Statistics, there are over 150,000 on temporary visas. The Canadian student population in the U.S. is between 25,000-30,000.

 

As job losses in the U.S.escalate, students are not the only ones affected. Many Canadian workers on TN, H-1B or L-1B status are concerned about the consequences of losing their job while having visas tied to a specific employer. If they cannot find another employer to ‘sponsor’ them for a new non-immigrant visa, they will have no choice but to return home. That could impact their kids in school, mortgages, healthcare benefits and could possibly result in significant relocation costs.

 

At a recent Job Fair, Samson noted a growing trend where employers were not accepting applicants without U.S. residence. “That certainly narrows the window of opportunity for International students, Samson stated.”

 

Maybe this is a reversal of the “brain drain” that occurred during the 90′s. If that trend is reversed, Canadian’s returning home will be further educated, more experienced, and possess new networks.

 

This is strictly a “housekeeping” post to pass along some comments, thoughts and suggestions. Please take a moment to review.

1. I encourage you to take a moment and register as a user on my blog. Nobody will see your registration but me. Please also feel free to respond to me and others with comments from time to time. I enjoy seeing who passes through here and would welcome some additional discussion on the site. To help monitor and prevent spam, I do moderate approval on all posts, so it may take a couple hours for your post to become live on the site.

2. Send me your ideas for topics, or things you would like to hear about, and I will make an effort to post relevant information in the blog.

3. I offered to pass along some information for another Canadian based blog that offers good insights. It is western based and called A Fresh Approach. If you get a moment please check it out. The Fresh Approach team is also bringing Marcus Buckingham (First, Break All the Rules, etc) to Calgary on June 15, 2009 and there is more info on the site as to how you can attend.

That’s it for now. Talk to you soon!

Geoff.

Let me first say that is post is going to be part observation, part rant and part relevant to HR.

I’m not sure if it’s just me, if people are becoming a little more cut-throat during challenging economic times, or if it it just plain rudeness and bad behaviour, but I have noticed lately a decline in general politeness and a decay in acceptable human behaviour over the past little while. And I’m not just talking about a generational trend here (as some of you will jump to perceive the above as being portrayed by a more youthful generation) – however, in my observations, its seems to be almost quite the opposite.

Let me give you a few examples related directly to my experience getting to and from work. Let’s begin with the morning drive to the train station – not so bad itself. However, as I pull around to park in my designated spot in the lot, slow down, signal and begin to reverse into my spot, a car comes whipping around the corner and has to brake quickly to avoid nearly hitting me. Then, rather than backing off so that I can pull into my spot (I usually go in reverse in the morning so it is easier to get out at the end of the day, and visibility through the windows is better if it is frosty or snowing), he sits about a foot off my bumper with an agitated look on his face like I am doing something wrong. I quickly park, and am not quite even in the spot, let alone having a moment to adjust and straighten my car, before the other guy is on his gas and off like a rocket, again nearly hitting me.

OK, so now I’m on the train, lots of seats and a comfortable ride – so no worries here. However, once at union station in Toronto, it is an uncourteous filing off the train to see who can get to the narrow platform staircase first. Because a line usually forms to get down the staircase, it is typical in a morning for several individuals to take it upon themselves to break the law and common sense – and cross the busy station tracks to get to another staircase on an adjacent platform. I can honestly and ethically say that I have NEVER done this! Once finally down the stairs (took all of about 60 seconds of waiting) we’re now below the tracks in an enclosed area that is called the teamway. At the end of the teamway are a couple sets of doors – and while this act is neither selfish or impolite, I find this next bit of behaviour to be lazy and somewhat inconsiderate… You know those buttons on the wall that cause the doors to automatically open and stay that way for a few moments? That’s right, the wheelchair accessible mechanisms?!?! Well, each and every morning, probably hundreds of people hammer on those buttons as they go through, putting unnecessary wear on the buttons and on the opening mechanisms, not to mention the extra cold air that rushes into the building and nearby businesses as the doors remain open while they do not need to be – a couple hundred times a day!!! It’s no wonder when I am in some buildings those devices often are not functional, as this is not the only place I have seen people to lazy to reach out and pull the handle on the door.

Now, one last example - as I am walking up the street. I see a car coming along King street, on slippery roads this morning, with several cars behind it and it is signalling to pull into the parking lot driveway that I am about to walk across in 20 feet or so. I stop walking a couple of feet in front of the driveway, make eye contact with the driver to let him know I am going to be courteous and help keep the flow of traffic moving by letting him go – however, he has to stop anyway. Why? The person behind me continues walking right past me, and someone coming the other way, who was even further back in the other direction and also had plenty of time to stop and wait, kept walking as well. Pedestrian right of way? Sure. Safety, courtesy and general human kindness – nope!

My point is this – I see more and more of this every day. Being in a position where I am recruiting and hiring talent for a company, I like to find ways to screen for behaviours. I often like to consider a holistic approach to recruitment that extends well beyond the interview. In a past position, we hired call centre staff through a process that included a tour of the facility. The candidates we saw were assessed from the moment they stepped in the door and interacted with the receptionist to the moment they left the building – this included feedback from the tour guides and employees that the candidates met along the way, in addition to traditional assessment methods such as technical, situational and behavioural interviewing. At various levels of positions, I have also made use of carefully validated psychometric and skill based assessment tools and in-depth reference checks to round out a process. It is an all encompassing process that will help find the best hire and weed out the weakest links.

This brings me to employee culture. Something I hear about more and more every day as I speak with peers in the industry. I used to say that many inexperienced hiring managers will tend to “hire for skill and fire for will” – that is to say that the skills always seem to take precedent during the hiring phase then seem to take a back seat later as bad behaviours or poor cultural fit take hold and the employee is later terminated by that same hiring manager for poor performance or poor attitude.

I’ve had my time to vent and to put things into perspective. These days, the slightly slower economic conditions have softened the recruitment market a little from a trend over the past couple of years that had created a strong candidate (sellers) market. With more people out of work and less hiring happening, it is now more of an employer (buyers) market and companies can be much more selective about who they hire, as there are more qualified applicants to choose from. So, if you are an employer, it’s a great time to get your selection process fine tuned to make that great hire. If you are a job seeker – take that extra time and focus on not only your skills, but your whole image, attitude and behaviours too. And, if you can find it in you, take heed of an anonymous quote I recently found that has really inspired me… “You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you”. Perhaps it’s worth understanding from a potential hire what inspires them the most, or to provide an example of a recent act of random kindness.