HR Policy Global’s First Regional Roundtable Event Features Practice, Policy Discussions

HR Policy Global hosted its first regional Roundtable Lunch Discussion on April 25 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. HR Policy Association Chair and Manulife Chief Human Resources Officer, Pam Kimmet, graciously hosted the three-hour event at Manulife Global Headquarters. This new series of Regional Roundtable Networking Events brings unique peer sharing opportunities and educational sessions to key international cities where it is convenient for global members to attend. 

The group discussed top of mind issues in Canada, including: 

• Assessing, maintaining, and expanding employee engagement, especially in the virtual environment;
  
  
• Defining and evolving company culture post-pandemic, and focusing on the “new joiner” experience, especially in the virtual environment;
  
  
• Inclusion and diversity, retaining underrepresented employees and expanding the pipeline of diverse talent, as well as providing equal opportunity for indigenous workers;
  
  
• Compliance with issues such as paid leave, which are regulated at the federal and provincial levels;
  
  
• Talent recruitment and retention, especially in industries that may not be as attractive to certain disciplines;
  
  
• Expanding an internal talent culture among leaders that fosters learning, internal mobility and succession planning; and
  
  
• Addressing the impact of generative artificial intelligence and the need to cultivate trust on issues such as electronic monitoring. 

The discussion concluded with a labor and HR law “Top Ten” update from John Mastoras, Senior Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright and Tiffany O’Hearn Davies, Senior Associate, Norton Rose Fulbright. They discussed the increase in class actions related to worker classification and overtime and employer liability for an employee’s breach of customer’s privacy. Mr. Mastoras and Ms. Davies also detailed new prohibitions on wage fixing and no-poach agreements under the Canadian Competition Act that take effect in June and will impact compensation benchmarking and information sharing. Additionally, they cautioned about the need to review employment contracts for “just cause” termination clauses in Ontario, due to unique legislation in the province.

Our next event will be hosted by Oracle Corporation in London on September 21 and is open to all HR Policy members. Register for the networking event here.