Distinguish Yourself From the Crowd: Designing Innovative HR Policies and Practices HRPYR Topic by Table Thursday, April 17, 2008

What Does Innovative Mean? Proactive, ability to anticipate Best in class Creative, new Different Getting at the diversity of the workforce (now and future)

What Are Obstacles or Challenges to Creating Innovative Policies? Convincing leadership Show the $ Signing bonuses reduce recruiting time Sustainability of policies Discussed frequency of review and roll-out. Discussed trials Resistance to change Dealing with legislation (which isn’t “change friendly”

What Are Obstacles or Challenges to Creating Innovative Policies? Union Several approaches discussed. Buzz Hargrove presentation about building trust and win-win bargaining. Finding the agenda. Sticking to the collective agreement

What are the Differences Between Policies and Procedures? Some viewed policy as a broad statement, a rule, with practice as the standard. Practices are more of the “how do we get there”. Clear trend to size down on the volume of policies in order to improve the comprehension of them as employees. Clear trend for multi-stakeholder involvement in the drafting of policy.

Where Do You Find Precedents? Benchmarking ESA SHRM and also HRPAO’s research facilities Carswell Ultimate HR Manual Policy Pro The Employers’ Choice website

Policies Discussed By The Groups Car allowance TBOT has an excellent source of information on car allowance trends Some participants talked about a regular allowance and mileage Policy on policies A lot of concern raised about the volume of policies and simplifying Creating a main and “Coles Notes” versions

Policies Discussed By The Groups Leave policies Comment that if you look at the “50 best” you’ll find that flexibility around leaves is what makes them an employer of choice. One group talked about the challenges of “selling the benefits” of the Canadian environment surrounding leaves. Flexible work schedules Some were encouraging staggered hours Some talked about how to make a “work-from-home” policy work: Monitoring outcomes vs. hours. Creating an agreement. Defining expectations

Policies Discussed by Groups Dealing with inflexible jobs Compressed work weeks Laptops for all Recruitment Referral policy Create a hot list (treat differently) Encourage remote working

Policies Discussed by Groups Showing Innovation Example of TEC’s Green Policy Relationship with the environment means  Structure of work is holistic, greater than the client by looking for the opportunity to be innovative  Flexibility of the team  Culture of continuous improvement

Policies Discussed By The Groups Retirement Innovation means NOT stopping the dialogue about succession. Looking for alternatives for senior workers Part-time Transition to community-based initiatives Mentorship roles

What Are Innovative Ways to Roll-Out Policies? Using focus groups 2-stage roll-outs Tentative with feedback Final version Getting Managers more involved in orientation (e.g. Manager review with 1 st paystub) Multi-staged, through orientation. (e.g. a little more every week) Using fewer words, webinars Instituting “quizzes” More use of intranet Prize-based

References First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curt CoffmanMarcus BuckinghamCurt Coffman It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy by D. Michael AbrashoffD. Michael Abrashoff Canada’s Top 100 Employers TEC’s Green Policy

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