Calendar of Events

‘Every advance, every achievement of mankind, has been connected with an advance in self awareness.’ C. G. Jung, Psychological Reflections In this presentation, Mr. Arsenault will address the need for us to become more aware of behaviours and how this relates to conflict in the workplace. We are what we think. What we think influences our emotions and vice versa. This, in turn determines our behaviour. Our behaviour is manifested in our communication, in our leadership and in our ability to manage difficult situations. The key is to learn to react positively and effectively to personality differences that can result in conflict. Before you can work on dealing with other people’s personalities and behaviours, you have to know your own first. The more we become aware of our own personalities and that of others, the more we can make conscious choices in our behaviour.

Workplace bullying (WPB) is a prevalent form of abuse that affects as many as 1 in 5 Canadian workers. Bullying has negative effects for workplaces and workers and is a costly workplace health and safety issue. Research shows that bullying lowers productivity, commitment, and morale and raises costs for health service and medication use, sickness absence, and recruitment and replacement. Workers who are bullied and those who witness it both report effects on their work and their physical, emotional, and social well-being. Because human resource professionals are well positioned to assist in preventing and managing WPB, this presentation will focus on strategies for identifying bullying (including recognizing or distinguishing it from normal management practices and working relations), the costs for targets and organizations, and support needs and mechanisms for addressing the problem. Finally, because the HR role in managing and addressing WPB is an important area of research and practice that has been under addressed, discussion about the challenges and concerns of dealing with WPB will be encouraged.

HR Professionals need to be involved with the strategic direction and management of their organizations. They must also be able to develop and implement strategy for the services and functions they provide to their internal customers. Pierre will speak about how HR professionals can develop a plan and skill set to allow them to be more strategic in their roles and management practices.

Please join us in attending McInnes Cooper’s presentation on new and current legal developments affecting HR professionals. Lucie LaBoissonnière and Dominique Fontaine will present summaries of recent cases from across Canada and discuss how developments in the law may affect you in your day-today duties. A few big cases have made headlines in the legal community in 2013, such as the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision on random drug testing and the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision on the definition of “workplace” pursuant to occupational health and safety legislation. There are other decisions which have not been quite so groundbreaking but that provide guidance on thorny issues that HR professionals regularly face. Lucie and Dominique look forward to presenting a selection of interesting cases at the breakfast meeting of October 17, 2013.

Case studies, best practices, recommendations and questions/answers on the following five topics: 1. Absenteeism 2. Privacy 3. After Acquired Cause 4. Age Discrimination 5. Social Media