Back To Basics Seminar Summary

SEMINAR SUMMARY
BACK TO BASICS - SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
Back To Basics - 09/23/15
The Williamson Group (TWG) went Back to Basics on Wednesday, September 23rd 2015, when their popular seminar
series explored topics intended to guide HR professionals back to the basics of employee recruitment, engagement,
and retention. HR professionals gathered together for the morning-long session, which began with a warm welcome
from host Colleen Baker, Senior Director of Business Development & Global Benefits.
R at t lesnake Po int G o lf C lub - M ilton, ON
A LOOK AT THE OTHER SIDE: FROM HR TO OPERATIONS (AND BACK)
L I Z V O L K , V I C E P R E S I D E N T, H U M A N R E S O U R C E S , LO N G O ’ S B R OT H E R S F R U I T M A R K E T S
Liz Volk, a seasoned HR professional, recently chose to step back from her role as Vice President of Human
Resources at Longo’s Brothers Fruit Markets in order to experience the operational side of her business at
a grass-roots level and learn more about the employee work force. Liz shared her passion for the culture of
which she is so proudly a part, as well as her insights on how the experience affected her personally and
the lessons she was able to bring back to HR and Leadership Team members at Longo’s. Liz’s presentation
illustrated how taking a closer look at all aspects of a business and its people can help bridge gaps,
improve processes and work towards establishing the building blocks that support business growth.
Liz began by sharing a bit about the background and history of Longo’s; a family-run business founded
in the Toronto area by three brothers—Tommy, Joe and Gus Longo—in 1956. Currently operating from 29
locations in the greater Toronto area and running Canada’s largest online grocery, Grocery Gateway, the
family tradition continues today as second and third generation family members remain involved in the
operation. Longo’s vision statement highlights the importance the company places on values, heritage
and customer service. Highly focused on being food experts, the organization works diligently to instill a
strong, integral sense of their corporate culture within all employee levels.
Discussing her own personal journey from HR to operations, and the reasoning for accepting such an
undertaking, Liz focused on:
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The personal challenge involved—the opportunity to further develop business leadership skills,
experience role model lifelong learning in action, and to further understand and build knowledge
The opportunity to go back to the basics— including the chance to get to know customers and team
members on a one-on-one basis, to relearn the business from the ground up and to reevaluate Longo’s
people vision and supporting processes from a different perspective
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The chance to drive change within the business—by establishing the foundations and building blocks
for HR improvements and growth; reevaluating continuous improvement processes within operations
to make the company a better place for both employees and customers
The opportunity to have firsthand experience—of real life in the stores and the chance to truly “own”
the bottom line results by putting a face to the numbers that come into head office; to learn that
operations have a different language and different focus
“We sell groceries but it’s really all about people,” concluded Ms. Volk, as she left the audience with a
few key takeaways as food for thought:
“
We sell groceries
but it’s really all
about people
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- Liz Volk
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Regularly spend time at the ground level of your business to build
credibility and foster relationships
Ensure you understand how your business makes money and HR’s
role in driving those results
Regularly assess your HR processes to determine their ease of use and
confirm they are adding value, not just complexity, at the bottom line
and customer level
Do not underestimate face to face interaction in relationship
building in getting good feedback
“
CRITICAL ILLNESS: PROTECTING EMPLOYEES FROM THE UNKNOWN
D A N T E D E D O M I N I C I S , V I C E P R E S I D E N T, A L L S TAT E B E N E F I T S C A N A D A
Dante DeDominicis, Vice President for AllState Benefits Canada, took to the podium next to share his
insight on critical illness and why individual product offerings can be an important benefit to consider
when reviewing an organization’s overall benefits strategy.
Like technology, benefits continue to evolve as do the reasons behind why they’re necessary. Taking a look
at the fundamental reasons that drive the need for critical illness and financial protection products, Dante
reviewed the latest trends in the Canadian financial landscape and examined how they relate to benefit
programs for plan sponsors and how employees may be safeguarded.
Challenges in personal financial planning
In a perfect financial planning world, there is a continuum that begins with school, and then moves into
a career and eventually retirement at 65. But people are living longer and saving less; spending more and
planning for retirement less frequently. When all the uncertainties that could have a substantial impact on
our savings and our ability to earn are factored in, life becomes a little more risky. The financial cushion
that most people once had to help them bear uncertainty is gone. Excluding mortgages, the current debt
to income ratio in Canada is 163% and the average Canadian family is $60,100 in debt. Debt levels have
increased by 63% since 2005 and illness and medical issues are among the top five reasons for bankruptcy
in Canada, underscoring a need to provide support and security for people living very close to the financial
edge.
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The move towards voluntary benefits
Plan sponsors typically tend to focus on cost containment when considering employee benefit
plans. Challenged to provide flexibility for a multi-generational workforce that wants more choice to
accommodate life stages and circumstances, employers also face pressure from rising drug and disability
costs which makes budgeting inflexible. At this point in the presentation, Barry Noble, managing director
for Allstate Benefits in Canada, took the podium to discuss international examples where these completing
goals have been leveraged, such as in the United States, where development has focused on voluntary
benefits.
Group Critical Illness Coverage provides a lump-sum cash benefit to help
cover out-of-pocket expenses associated with a critical illness and is typically
comprised of essential, comprehensive and optional critical illness benefits.
Dante wrapped up his presentation with an overview of the different types
of group critical illness coverage products available on the market today
with a focus on the benefits of voluntary benefits which leverage a voluntary
approach to health risk management by providing value for both employers
and employees. This is accomplished by offering financial protection and
filling in gaps in benefit plan design and through choice, convenience,
affordability, flexibility and simplified underwriting.
Key features of the critical Illness product include:
•
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•
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No pre-existing condition clause
No benefit waiting period
No survivorship clause
Multiple events are payable (90 days)
Child(ren) coverage at no additional cost
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Waiver of premium included
Fully portable
Guaranteed issue available
Second event coverage available
To sum up, Dante shared a few real-life examples of how this insurance proved to be invaluable for different
employees and their families when confronted with a critical illness.
BUILDING THE RESUME: NEW TACTICS FOR EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT
J U L I A T I E S S E N , S E N I O R O P E R AT I O N S M A N A G E R , N I A G A R A C A S I N O S
The final speaker of the day was Julia Tiessen, Senior Human Resources Operations Manager at Niagara
Casinos. Julia’s presentation focused on how employers can ensure employee job satisfaction and retention
by taking measures at the front end of the hiring process by focusing role appropriateness in terms of
individual skill and talent in the candidates that they select. Of equal importance is hiring employees who
support your company values and following up on this by ensuring that these values are ingrained and
instilled in all programs and messaging.
With company sponsored events such as Valuepalooza, Niagara Casinos walk the talk when it comes to
the promotion of corporate values. An organization’s values shape the actions and behavior of everyone
involved. Values align behaviours and give a clear idea of expectations for all employees, regardless
of position, and should be integrated into everything that a company does to promote consistency,
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cohesiveness and to foster engagement and retention. A new hire should have a good idea of what a
company’s values are prior to applying for a position through branding and messaging.
There is a proven link between the bottom line and strongly imbedded values. Customers tend to stay with
companies when they know what they can expect in terms of quality of service or product, so be sure to
attract with culture—invest in branding and communicate to convey what motivates your staff and what
the company values are—what makes them engaged and what makes them successful. A strong social
media presence helps with this.
What you promise needs to be in line with reality
It’s critical that candidates understand “the good, the bad and the ugly” of the position for which they are
applying. Make sure to demonstrate what a potential employee can expect and where they’ll be working
within your organization—including the difficult, challenging or not-so-glamourous aspects of the job.
Suggestions of how to facilitate candidate exposure to the reality of a position before hiring included:
scheduling a tour during the recruitment process rather than the orientation phase; recruiting and hiring
within the operation itself instead of keeping it outside of the actual working environment; and using
simulations and scenarios to promote realism.
Julia is an enthusiastic proponent of innovative interview techniques, such as the group interview, once
the best candidates have been selected. She finds this to be an efficient interview process that spotlights
peoples natural behaviour and showcases how potential employees will interact as a team while being less
contrived than a one-on-one interview. It also enables multiple interviewers from different levels of the
company to take part in the process.
In many companies tools and processes are created for hiring managers to follow. Julia suggests instead
to try changing the procedure to be one where HR determines what is working—and what is not—when it
comes to hiring and then create a process based on those findings.
One of Julia’s key messages was that getting real people to give real feedback that can then be used to
create realistic job profiles is a crucial piece that is missing in many recruitment programs. The best results
occur when employer expectations dovetail with the expectations of the job candidate.
TWG’s Back to Basics seminar was an opportunity for attendees to gather and discover what other HR professionals
are working on today to build a better tomorrow—let The Williamson Group help guide the way to a better future for
you and your employees.
For more information, please contact:
COLLEEN BAKER, SENIOR DIRECTOR
B U S I N E S S D E V E LO P M E N T & G LO B A L B E N E F I T S
519-751-8226 cbaker@williamsongroup.com