Is there Really a Labour Shortage? Shawnee Love   •   March 21, 2024 Yes! Yes there is a labour shortage in Canada. We knew it was coming. We could see it a generation away. Boomers (the last big boom of a generation) are retiring. An economist I listen to mentioned that currently 20% of the people in the workforce are retiring in the next 5 years and we only have enough workers on deck (Gen Z) to make up about 10%. Moreover, even though we have a large contingent of Millennials (Gen Y) working away and those Gen Zers in the pipeline, you need at least 3 of them to rep ..read more

Compensation Increases in 2024 Shawnee Love   •   February 29, 2024 If your RRSP contribution and T4 deadlines have been met, you may now be turning your mind to compensation increases for 2024. Certainly, money is crossing your employees’ minds with every purchase of staples and necessities given how high interest and inflation rates in Canada have become. The compensation oracles in Canada (by that I mean the folks who poll organizations for their budgets and then share the aggregated average) are predicting lower increases in 2024 compared to the last few years. For ..read more

Best Practices for Managing an Employee Leave Shawnee Love   •   February 13, 2024 When someone is ill or injured and can’t work, there are things managers can and should do which are good for the employee and good for business. First, is communicate. Reach out regularly, establish a cadence when the employee can expect to hear from you. While you don’t want to isolate the employee off work, having a single point of contact from the company with respect to the leave management is helpful to ensure employee and employer are fully in the loop. Next is set expectations. E ..read more

Work is Good for Us Shawnee Love   •   February 6, 2024 The latest update to WorkSafeBC’s regulations is good news if you ask me. January 1, 2024, WorkSafeBC officially implemented two new requirements: For employers (with more than 20 workers), the duty to maintain employment, and For employees (and employers), the duty to cooperate in returning employees to suitable work in a timely and safe fashion. The duty to maintain employment in the event of injury is not new to most employers. We already have the obligation to accommodate physical and mental injuries, illnes ..read more

5 Initiatives to Support Employee Mental Wellbeing Shawnee Love   •   January 29, 2024 In the last few years, I have been thinking a lot about work and the prevailing sentiment (at least if media reports are to be believed) that work is often at the heart of employees’ poor mental health. The fact is negative news along with information that we have already heard or know about are a lot easier to report and get more attention online than truth and facts which are often more complicated and nuanced. So here goes my attempt on the untold story about work and mental healt ..read more

Is Work the Problem? Shawnee Love   •   January 29, 2024 In HR, it is common to receive reports on the escalating costs of mental health issues via lost productivity and absences as well as increased health care costs. However, it is a fairly recent phenomenon (last few years or so) that these alarming reports have argued work, the work environment, and financial woes (attributable to work) are the problem when it comes to mental health. While there is no question that employers can help support their people’s mental wellness (more on that here), and things at work can ..read more

Supporting Employees Through Crises Shawnee Love   •   August 18, 2021 These are immensely trying times for everyone I know (including myself)! While employers are not responsible for the mental health of their employees, they can support their employees’ mental health. Personally, I have been finding it difficult to keep up with my blog due to the volume of HR need out there and what has been going on in the world with the fires and pandemic (and don’t get me started about the liberals calling an election). I hope through this blog I can support employers in supportin ..read more

Communicable Disease Policies Shawnee Love   •   July 5, 2021 The Covid-19 state of emergency is over in BC, and we thought it might help to share some information about what that means for employers in BC. Even though you no longer need a COVID plan published on your website, employers still need to be conscious of the health and safety risks associated with their workplaces. Chances are you already had good protocols for handling dangerous chemicals, fall protection, or work alone, and those are still as important as ever. In addition, effective July 1, 2021, all BC ..read more

Be the Employer… Shawnee Love   •   June 25, 2021 I have been interviewing a lot of young people lately for what will be their first or second jobs. I am also the proud parent of someone newly embarking upon his first job. These two experiences caused me to reflect on what kind of employment experience we as parents want for our kids? I don’t know about you, but I told my son that the first job is a rite of passage. Creating a resume, walking in a door or sending in an email and not receiving a call back is part of the experience, as is the exilaration when that specia ..read more

Can We Heal? Shawnee Love   •   June 10, 2021 You don’t have to look very far around or back to recognize human beings do terrible things to each other individually and institutionally or societally. Sometimes those horrible things are intentional and sometimes not. While ignorance isn’t a defence, it is a reality. People behave how they know. I hope our children and children’s children can forgive us for what we have unknowingly done today. And at the same time, I own my own responsibility to learn and grow and do better while I can. When I know better, I will do bett ..read more