Duty to Accommodate. These 3 words can bring about fear in even seasoned human resource professionals. And why wouldn’t you be scared of it? When you typically think of accommodation, extra costs, extra effort and great difficulty and complexity probably come to mind. Human Resources is a field where there is not always a right …
Author: Vanessa Salopek
Vanessa is one of our Business Associate with over 15+ years of small business operational and management experience. Over the years Vanessa has had vast hands-on experience with start-ups, small-medium size business and franchises. She has proudly started, owned, and operated several businesses, including Canadian franchises and a award-winning Restaurant in Calgary Alberta. She is an advocate for entrepreneurs and small business owners and understands the unique needs and circumstance of businesses in various industries. Vanessa is also a proud to sit on the Board of Director for AARCS, and understands the importance of aligning Board strategy with daily operations of the organization. Vanessa is a CPHR candidate with a Business degree from the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. She combines years of industry experience with a strong broad and practical skillset that helps organizations look at their people strategy as a full entity of their business to help them grow and develop.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T in the Workplace
Multiculturalism and unlimited opportunity are just two examples of values that are largely important and prevalent within our country’s society today. Diversity and inclusion are hot topics that are often discussed not only within the area of human resources, but across all functions and all levels of organizations. As a requirement from the Alberta Human …
Mentorship – Developing Leaders at Every Level
Being a Recruitment Specialist, I spend my days sourcing candidates and speaking with applicants. The number one thing that candidates seem to be looking for in a company is career development and an organization that is going to take a vested interest in their professional growth. Some companies have very extensive training and development programs …
The Role of HR in Health & Safety
Traditionally, the makeup of organizations have included departments like Accounting & Finance, Human Resources, Sales & Marketing, Operations, etc. This old-style model was quite rigid and didn’t allow for much fluidity in the structure, even when there was crossover between business units. Nowadays, although organizations may physically map out their structure, the lines between departments …
Age Discrimination in the Workplace
Canadian workplaces are diverse environments, comprised of individuals from varying backgrounds, cultures and experience. However with diversity, may come discrimination. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was created as part of our constitution to protect all Canadians from prejudice in the form of equality, language and legal rights, but the unfortunate reality is that …
Reference Checking 101
We talk about due diligence all the time in today’s business world. In order to make a good decision, information and data are required to verify that your organization is moving in the right direction. Hiring decisions are no different and back checking is a very important step in the recruitment process. But how come …
Becoming an HR Best Practice Leader
As a human resources professional, I am oftentimes enlisted by my clients to bring forward recommendations and advice based on current HR best practices. Companies want confirmation that they are competitive in today’s market and that they are ahead of the 8-ball with respect to their organizational practices. However, the challenge is that best practices …
Progressive Performance Management
Performance management is an important human resources initiative that helps organizations manage their people, reward top performers and identify those employees who are struggling to meet organizational expectations. Having formalized performance management processes in place helps organizations become more efficient and effective by ensuring that their employees are meeting and exceeding performance goals. When …
Staying Positive in a Depressed Economy
2015 was a tough year for the province of Alberta and 2016 isn’t shaping up to be any better. The drastic dip in oil price has led to mass layoffs and unemployment rates that have not been seen since the previous recession in 2007-2008. Although there is no way to predict economic factors with 100% …
Job Search Strategies for the Newly Unemployed
2015 was a tough year for Alberta. Drastically lower oil prices have led to layoffs in the thousands and with no guaranteed uptick in the near future, economic conditions look to remain tougher for longer. If you are one of the thousands of people who have recently found yourself unemployed, it is easy to get …