This month we talk with Zaida Fazlic, vice president of people, culture, and change management at Taiga Building Products, the national building materials wholesaler.

Ask a simple question: what’s changed? and Zaida Fazlic, HR lead at Taiga Building Products, has a thorough—and thoughtful—answer, one that involves compensation, company culture, and coaching.

“A lot of companies and employers are feeling pressure from the employee side on wage increases. They’re feeling the pressure. It’s a difficult position to be in because, yes, you want to provide that for your employees, because we all understand the cost of living has gone up.”

However, raising salaries may be a tough decision to make, with the possibility of the economy entering a recession. “You have to make sure that you’re fair and on-market with that, but there are all these other things as well, as an employer, that you can focus on to motivate your employees.”

Those “other things” can and should include maintaining a good culture. That, says Fazlic, requires business leaders to focus on their managers, who in turn interact with employees. She cites Gallup polls indicating that middle management is the most important part of your ability to retain employees, because they are the link between C-suite executives and frontline workers.

Those managers must be aware of increasing pressure from below as well as above. “They’re kind of stuck in the middle.” But the pressures aren’t strictly generational. Though values may differ among age groups, Fazlic says, “there are basic things that all humans need regardless of your gender, age, et cetera.”

Fazlic regularly takes a couple of days out of her office to get out to branches and spends 10 to 15 minutes with individual employees. “I like to meet as many as I can, to put a name to a face and to get feedback.” Being out in the field meeting workers is an important part of her role, and now connecting with managers to guide them is part of that. “Being a good manager is basically like being a good coach. You’ve got to be able to give good feedback, you’ve got to be a good communicator, you’ve got to be able to inspire people. These are not easy things!”

That kind of pressure means coaching and leadership development are important at the management level. Things like giving tough feedback effectively can create a lot of stress for managers. These leaders need to be taken care of. “It cascades down all the way from ownership to executives to management. What they model cascades down all the way to your front line.”

By HR and health & safety consultancy Peninsula Canada

It’s finally spring, making it the perfect time to get organized and get rid of clutter. Rather than falling into the same routine, why not refresh your workplace and spring clean the HR department?

Here are some tips on how to best organize your HR department:

Prepare for a surge of vacation requests. It should come as no surprise that this summer will be a very popular time for travel. But how do you properly and fairly manage vacation requests? To avoid any issues, employers should make sure they have a good system in place to prepare for the surge in vacation requests. The vacation policy should inform employees of how far in advance they must request their vacation. It should clarify the procedure for making the request. The policy should also list the reasons a request may be declined.

Employee files. When was the last time employee files were looked at and updated? It’s important to check employee files to ensure all the information needed, such as address and emergency contacts, is up to date. It’s also important to have only the files that are required so you don’t have a pile of unneeded paper taking up space.

Policy check. Are all policies and employee handbooks up to date? Not only is it important to ensure employees are made aware of all changes, but handbooks must be current and compliant with any legislative changes.

Review projects. Looking over the status of current and future projects will help keep your team on track. Checking due dates, tasks, and responsibilities will not only ensure the project is done on time but will also be able to see if there are any gaps in the process and handle them ahead of time.

Peninsula is an HR and Health and Safety consulting firm serving over 80,000 small businesses worldwide, including dealers in home improvement. Clients are supported with ongoing updates to their workplace documentation and policies as legislation changes. Additionally, clients benefit from 24/7 employer HR advice and are protected by legal insurance.

How many times have you gone through the hiring process, set up a new worker in the schedule, then waited on Monday morning for them not to show up? You are not alone.

A study by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business has determined that small businesses across Canada are dealing with this growing trend in the hiring process. More than one-third of small business owners said they’ve hired people over the previous 12 months who never showed up or stopped coming into work shortly after starting. If that isn’t concerning enough, some job candidates stopped responding before they even got the job, said 37 percent of respondents, who found that job seekers failed to reply to requests for interviews or further information that would have secured them a job.

“Employers are already having an incredibly hard time filling certain positions. Ghosting is not only a frustrating waste of their time, but it’s a big drain on their already limited resources,” said Dan Kelly, president of the CFIB. “Job candidates and employees don’t have to take or stay in jobs they don’t like, but they should at least communicate their intentions clearly to their employer instead of leaving them scrambling and wondering.”

Shortages of skilled, or semi-skilled and unskilled, labour continue to limit business growth for 53 percent and 38 percent of businesses, respectively, according to the latest CFIB Business Barometer. Over half (52 percent) of small businesses have yet to return to normal revenue levels and 58 percent haven’t repaid their pandemic debt.

The CFIB has speculated that many unemployed persons are happy to remain on EI and apply for jobs even though they have no desire to get hired. As the federal government is working on potential reforms to the Employment Insurance system, the association has urged Ottawa to take into consideration the impact of potential EI changes on small businesses.

“We’re hearing from business owners who have experienced ghosting that some candidates prefer to stay on EI for as long as possible and may be applying for or taking jobs just to satisfy the requirements of the program,” added Kelly. “While the vast majority of EI recipients may be looking for work in good faith, any changes the government is considering making to the program should not disincentivize people from accepting or starting jobs, especially with the current labour shortages we’re experiencing.”

As an owner of Mountain View Building Materials, Joel Seibert shares many challenges facing business owners today, including the need to find and keep good people. Mountain View has two locations, one in the Calgary market and the other in Kelowna, B.C.

Working with Pete Baran, CEO of Blueneck Consulting, who has acted as a mentor and business coach to Seibert over the past four years, Seibert developed an employee retention and motivation strategy, which he presented in a seminar called “It’s Time to Get Your Sales Team Excited to Sell” at the Western Retail Lumber Association’s Building and Hardware Showcase, held in Winnipeg earlier this year. (Part One ran in our February edition of HR Advisor).

Using the personality profile of each salesperson (based on a breakdown developed by the McKinsey Institute), Seibert laid out three steps to connect with those employees: understanding and identifying, providing transparency and clarity in your communications, and developing a system of rewards including salary to incentivize and compensate those workers. In this issue, we look closer at how Seibert provides that transparency in his workplace.

Start with well-defined job descriptions, he says. Letting staff understand clearly what they can—and cannot—do provides strong guidelines for managers and staff alike. It can also enable workers to feel more assured and confident in their roles, knowing what they can say “yes” to when dealing with a customer.

Seibert lays out some clear ways to provide clarity and transparency. These include setting challenging yet attainable targets, not just annually but on a more immediate and attainable basis each month. And each week, he uses one-on-one meetings to get supporting information from each salesperson that can help them achieve their sales goals.

“Together, we review where they are in relation to their targets and expectations,” he says. From there, both sides can discuss upcoming opportunities and identify key customers that could help drive sales, and then set priorities for the week.

Above all, he stresses that the company strategy must be openly discussed with the team. Don’t shy away from tough questions either, such as collectibles, which can plague any dealer. And be sure and ask what your salespeople need from you to succeed. A great company is built, he says, when both the employees and the employer are working in unison toward each other’s goals and vision.

“Getting your new team members excited about selling begins with us!”

Donald Cooper is a Toronto-based speaker and business coach. Using his vast experience as a manufacturer (Cooper Canada sports equipment) and an award-winning retailer, Cooper has helped hundreds of companies in over 40 industries around the world to create compelling customer value, clarity of purpose, and long-term profitability.

This year you could have lunch alone or skip lunch altogether. But imagine what you could learn and accomplish if, just once a week, you chose to have lunch with someone new on your team. It’s a great way to connect with employees from various parts of your business.

Before the lunch, make sure you know what they do, and whether there have been any challenges with them or their department recently. Have they been promoted or taken any training recently? Then, at the lunch, thank them for being part of the team and, in a kindly way, ask them a few questions such as these:

1. How can we help you do your job better?
2. What frustrates you or slows you down?
3. Is there anything we can do to operate more safely?
4. What could we do to be more environmentally responsible?
5. From your perspective, what do we do that frustrates or confuses our customers?
6. What are three things that we could do better?
7. Do we as a company ever make promises that we don’t keep?
8. What would you like to know more about regarding the business and how we operate?
9. Where would you like to be in your career and life in three to five years? How can we help you get there?

Assure them that if they have any thoughts about any of these subjects in the future, you’d like to hear them and then tell them how they can reach out. If you’re not their immediate supervisor or manager, make sure that the person who is knows about the lunch ahead of time and why you’re doing it.

Pick a lunch spot that will make conversation easy and comfortable. A spot that will honour but not intimidate your lunch guest. It can be close to your place of business. Or it could just be sharing a great pizza with a small group of employees in a quiet corner in the office, warehouse, or production facility.

When we listen to our staff, two things happen. We learn from them and we honour them. So, if you think this makes sense, announce to your team that you’ll be doing this on a regular basis and that it’s not to go behind anyone’s back. It’s a simple way to stay in touch with the HR realities of your workplace.

By HR and health & safety consultancy Peninsula Canada

Employees may be at risk of developing repetitive strain injuries (RSI) when performing work tasks that are ongoing or involve uncomfortable postures for a prolonged period of time. Employers need to do their part and ensure they create a safe workplace for all staff to avoid any injuries. Here are RSI signs employers need to look out for and tips on how to keep staff protected.

What are repetitive strain injuries and what are some of the symptoms? RSI is an umbrella term used to describe painful disorders that affect muscles, nerves, tendons, and joints anywhere in the body such as the neck, back, and arms. Symptoms can be minor or progress into chronic disorders which sometimes cannot be reversed or fixed.

Educate and train staff. Since RSIs typically develop slowly, it’s important to educate and train staff on the causes, how to recognize early signs and symptoms of RSIs, and how best to prevent them. That way employees can take it upon themselves to be aware and do their part in protecting themselves.

Provide staff with the right ergonomic tools. Depending on the nature of the job, employers can make office adjustments to help limit RSIs. It’s not practical to completely eliminate the repetitive aspect of a job. However, providing staff with the right ergonomic tools that are adjusted to fit for the worker can greatly help.

Allow staff to take breaks. Staff who sit at their desks all day should be encouraged to take short breaks. They can either go on a quick walk or just stand up and stretch: this allows the muscles to get some rest.

Peninsula is an HR and Health and Safety consulting firm serving over 80,000 small businesses worldwide, including dealers in home improvement. Clients are supported with ongoing updates to their workplace documentation and policies as legislation changes. Additionally, clients benefit from 24/7 employer HR advice and are protected by legal insurance.

Joel Seibert started out trying to make his business more competitive. He ended up creating a strategy to make his workplace a more effective selling environment for his staff. And once he’d figured out the secret sauce, he wanted to share it with other dealers. So he presented it in a seminar called “It’s Time to Get Your Sales Team Excited to Sell” at the Western Retail Lumber Association’s Building and Hardware Showcase, held in Winnipeg on Jan. 19 and 20.

As owner of Mountain View Building Materials, Seibert is also the lead on business development for the company’s two stores in Calgary and Kelowna. The challenge, he said, is getting people interested in making money in the home improvement industry, “which meant getting new people to our industry excited about selling things that are unexciting!”

He broke his approach down into three steps. The first involves understanding and identifying the people who make your sales team—and making sure you can properly support and reward them according to their values.

Second, it’s important to provide transparency and clarity on how their contributions add to the business. He said clarity is essential to define the contribution of each player on the team. Clear job descriptions and expectations result in “clear boundaries, which encourage free thinking in the middle” and can foster creative solutions among team members.

Third is the issue of reward. It’s not a cookie-cutter process, Seibert said. It’s based on the values of each salesperson. He identified his workers by demographic, and in turn by the expectations each group represents. For example, those 50 and older have lots of experience, while the 20 to 30 group has limited experience. More broadly, sales staff who fall into the 25-to- 50 range with transferable skills often end up looking for a career change.

Understanding the expectations and values of each group helps make rewards more meaningful. For example, Seibert said, these could involve more vacation days, donations to causes they believe in or non-taxable perks such as gift cards or fuel cards. It can be as simple as welcoming dogs into the workplace.

“You have to be able to ask them, ‘What do you need from us to succeed this week?’ This reinforces their accountability and how we support them.” And, he added, it helps you, as an owner or manager, to guide them to think about selling better.

Focusing on the divergent needs of your staff helps you identify their goals and tie them in with your own. And guess what? It has made Seibert’s business more competitive.

A large 62,000-square-foot Home Hardware Building Centre store under construction in Clarington, Ont., will obviously need a full complement of staff when it opens soon. This at a time when retailers across Canada are finding it difficult to hire.

Savvy multi-store owner-operators Dan and Emily Moulton were up to the challenge. They turned to a local community college, Durham College, to run a job fair for their forthcoming new store east of Toronto on Feb. 9. They advertised that they were looking for up to 60 staff.

The full-day job fair went extremely well, said Lindsay Karch, a job developer for Durham College Community Employment Services. Karch estimates that about 180 job seekers attended the event. “There was such a big interest that we had to have more staff from the stores” to come and interview all the applicants.

While the organization that Karch works for is affiliated with Durham College, she stressed the “Community Employment Services” part of the name. Indeed, Karch said that the majority of the applicants who attended the Moultons’ job fair were not Durham College students, but from the wider community.

Durham College’s three employment centres are funded by Employment Ontario. They are open to anyone seeking work—or anyone with businesses that are looking for workers. Similar assistance is available for businesses looking for workers in each province, from Work BC, Alberta Works, SaskJobs, Nova Scotia Works, and more.

The Moultons’ new Clarington store joins an impressive cluster of southern Ontario Home Hardware Building Centres that the couple have built up since they purchased Hanover Home Hardware Building Centre in 2012—as 24-year-olds. The Moultons also own Home stores in Alliston, Bowmanville, Haliburton, and Minden. Another branch of the Moulton family operates Home stores in Ontario in Allandale (Barrie), Ingersoll, Strathroy, and Woodstock.

Walter Pranke is the lead at WP HR Consulting & Coaching, specializing in manufacturing, technology, and not-for-profit companies. As the former vice president, human resources at Lee Valley Tools, a chain of tool and gift stores based in Ottawa, he is also familiar with the retail side. A certified executive coach, he has returned to private consulting following his contract with Lee Valley.

With inflation, rising interest rates, and a Covid pandemic that hasn’t really gone away, HR people are facing an evolving set of challenges. We talked with HR and coaching consultant Walter Pranke about what companies should watch out for in the coming months.

At the top of Pranke’s list is the issue of returning to in-person work. “I think what’s changed is: what’s the work style? Are we in-person, are we hybrid?”

Through the first years of Covid, lots of companies offered a choice of remote or in-person work, with lots of leeway for working from home. “But it feels like many organizations are talking about coming back to work.”

He says that can be a day per week or a few days a week. But regardless of the mix, many issues are attached to that decision, such as finding daycare for kids as people find themselves returning to a more traditional nine-to-five scenario.

Pranke urges companies to maintain transparency and communicate every step of the changes clearly. He says people returning to work have parking costs, childcare, and commute times to contend with. He calls managing that change the number-one situation. “If you don’t communicate the change effectively, you’re going to have people who are going to be pushing back.”

Finding people remains the next big challenge, whether it’s in the store or on the manufacturing floor. And Pranke admits that it’s difficult to pinpoint why it’s still a challenge. Many older people are at or near retirement age and leaving the workforce. At the other end of the spectrum, many younger people are reluctant to return to the service industries like restaurants. Tech workers are getting laid off in large numbers, but it doesn’t necessarily migrate over to retailing or manufacturing.

“I don’t know if that’s because we’re coming out of Covid and people are still thinking about what they do next, how they reshape their thinking about ‘where am I going to work, how am I going to work, where do I want to work—do I want to work?’”

Meanwhile, inflation remains high. “That is going to have an impact for companies. How do they recession-proof themselves as a business—operations, staffing?” For many firms that may have given big raises last year, can they do that again? “It’ll be very challenging, I think, for businesses to have healthy compensation and increases.”

By HR and health & safety consultancy Peninsula Canada

Business productivity is directly related to how engaged a person is with their work and employer. The more productive your company is, the easier it is to boost profits and improve business relationships.

Here are some key strategies to improve productivity in the workplace:

Encourage open communication. If employers are wondering how to improve workplace productivity, why not ask employees? They can shed light on areas for improvement and share ideas on how it can be resolved. Additionally, asking employees for recommendations and their opinion will make them feel heard and valued, which also plays a major role in productivity.

Provide the necessary tools. Staff cannot do their jobs successfully without the proper tools and equipment. Outdated technology can often cause staff to feel frustrated, slowing down their work and leaving them feeling unmotivated. The right tools keep workers productive by showing you’re invested in their success.

Consider offering flexible working options. Consider giving employees flexible options to best fit their lifestyle. This can entail working from home, four-day work weeks, or allowing them to work their required working hours anytime during the day. This can help employees work during the hours or space where they feel the most productive.

Acknowledge hard work. Awards are a great way to recognize great achievement within the workplace. Providing incentives for all employees to meet certain targets or expectations is a great way to encourage great performance.

Encourage work breaks. If employees work nonstop, it can lead to burnout. To prevent this from happening, encourage employees to go on a quick 15-min walk or create a break room where they can relax and recharge. This will leave staff feeling more energized and motivated to get the job done.

Peninsula is an HR and Health and Safety consulting firm serving over 80,000 small businesses worldwide, including dealers in home improvement. Clients are supported with ongoing updates to their workplace documentation and policies as legislation changes. Additionally, clients benefit from 24/7 employer HR advice and are protected by legal insurance.