February 2012 marked the launch of the IRC's new research initiative, Opinion Polls, that address hot topics facing Canadian human resources (HR), labour relations (LR), and organizational development (OD) practitioners. The IRC's inaugural opinion poll addressed talent management, and the ways in which Canadian organizations recruit, retain, and develop their talent. This article summarizes some of our findings. All reporting is based on aggregated data.(More)
By Heather Swartz, M.S.W., C.Med., Partner, Agree Incorporated
The increased diversity in Ontario workplaces, the benefits and challenges that diversity presents to organizations, and initiatives to increase awareness and make our workplaces more inclusive have been an important focus of Canadian businesses and their human resource professionals over the past several decades. (More)
According to social network theory, people are on average only a few connections away from the information they seek. But in large organizations, this theory falls apart: some employees clearly have longer search paths than others in locating the knowledge they require. Is this simply because they have an inferior network?(More)
There is yawning chasm between practice and research. The gap is twofold: HR practitioners are generally not aware of the latest HR-related research findings that impact on their work; and HR practitioners and researchers are interested in different issues.(More)
We spoke to an educational dream-team about best practices infacilitating learning - and harnessing new knowledge to help overcomean organization's most pressing challenges. Sharing their views areAllyson Thomson of the Ontario Ministry of Finance; her executivesponsor Assistant Deputy Minister Marion Crane; and Queen’s IRC Faculty member Brenda Barker.(More)
Bonus Plan Rx: First Aid for Short-Term Incentive Plans
By Jackie Goldman of Toronto-based Buck Consultants and Arden Dalik of Calgary’s RainTree Consulting.
Is your bonus plan feeling tired and run down? Is it stuck in a rut? If it’s any consolation, your plan is not alone. There appears to be an epidemic of company short-term incentive plans desperately in need of some first aid (and in some cases, major surgery). In this article we explore some of the common bonus plan ailments and how to diagnose them. Then we look at a number of steps you can take, depending on the condition of your plan, to get it back on its feet —or more importantly, back to helping drive and reinforce your business strategy.(More)
Attendance management programs are a new phenomenon among Canadian municipalities. As a result, much of what is known about creating an effective attendance management program at the municipal level comes from arbitral jurisprudence. Arbitral jurisprudence provides human resources practitioners with an excellent skeletal framework for creating an enforceable attendance management program; however, few operational details related to creating an effective one. These case studies utilize research interviews conducted with the senior administrators responsible for attendance management in several municipalities. The results of this study indicate that a core set of best practices for attendance management are emerging in municipalities, and that attendance management may not be the black hole it once was. (Download)
Skill-based pay plans (SBPs) in unionized companies is the subject of this paper. It focuses on a unionized mining company, detailing problems and successes, and also provides guidelines for implementing skill-based pay plans. (Download)
The author outlines for employers what they need to know about principles established in jurisprudence regarding absenteeism and attendance management programs.
This research paper studies characteristics of pay for knowledge (PFK) compensation plans, critical success factors, and their advantages and disadvanatages for employees and companies.
Too often, the determination of just cause and application of discipline is not straightforward. This discussion paper explores why managers have such difficulty dealing with these kinds of situations, and provides a decision-making tool that can significantly reduce the need for discipline, while increasing the opportunity for positive, development-focused approaches for corrective action. It also reviews some of the very persuasive arguments that have been brought forward in recent years regarding why a new understanding and new resolution strategies are needed. Further, the paper builds a case for organizations and unions working together to adopt these new approaches.
This lecture is a discussion of the gender pay gap in industrialized countries. It covers topics including key determinants such as wage structure, as well as trends, and public policy implications of wage inequalities between men and women. (Download)
Edited by Michael G. Abbott, Charles M. Beach and Richard P. Chaykowski
Publisher: IRC Press and John Deutsch Institute for the Study ISBN: 0-88886-443-4 Year: 1997 Price:$50.00NOW $18.00 Buy Now!
This publication represents the culmination of a broader project intended to bring together researchers from Canada and the United States to present and discuss state-of-the-art research concerning various aspects of labour markets and to publish this research for dissemination to a wider audience. (More)
This publication represents a comprehensive effort to bring together international researchers for the purpose of analyzing a broad range of economic aspects of Canadian workers' compensation programs. (More)
HRM Project Series - This review of compensation practices and developments focuses on studies that include non-managerial workers in both unionized and non-unionized establishments in Canada and the United States. (More)
