Current issue Newswire
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Employee engagement the key at “Best Employer” Novartis Pharmaceuticals |
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| Ranked 3rd among Quebec companies and 29th in Canada for 2010 |
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Written by Workplace Staff
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Sunday, 17 January 2010 |
For the sixth time, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. has been named one of the top employers in Quebec, according to the newly released 2010 annual report of Hewitt's 50 Best Employers in Canada. This is due in large part to the high level of engagement of its 750 employees across Canada, including 350 at its head office in Dorval.
Again this year, the Dorval-based innovative pharmaceutical company moved up the rankings to 29th position across Canada, from 37th last year, and to third position among Quebec companies from fifth a year ago.
The report recognizes Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada for creating an environment that builds commitment from its employees through respectful management, in addition to offering a broad range of employee services and benefits, which have been further improved over the last year.
"This is a great achievement which recognizes both the strong and continued engagement of our employees across Canada and our commitment to making a difference to the health of Canadians," says Julie Bellani, vice-president, human resources. "A vital reason for that strong engagement is our continuous focus on the benefits we bring to Canadian patients through the innovative medicines we develop. Novartis employees take great satisfaction in putting patients at the centre of what we do."
Novartis employees learn directly about the importance of their work in patients' lives by regular involvement by patients in town hall meetings at the Dorval head office. In the past year five patients told their stories directly to employees, telling of the benefit Novartis medicines had made to their lives and those of their families.
Also contributing to the strong employee engagement, Bellani adds, is the company's commitment and involvement in the wider community through a variety of initiatives. This was emphasized this past year with the institution of a program that grants employees two paid days a year, that they can take off from work to contribute to a fundraising organization or other volunteer community activity. This is in addition to the global Novartis Community Partnership Day in April during which Novartis employees volunteer at local non-profit community groups.
In 2009, more than 220 Dorval employees volunteered at 13 Montreal-area centres doing spring cleaning, painting, sorting food for needy families and conducting a fundraising car wash. Novartis employees generously support the Ride for the Cure, a three-day cycling marathon from Toronto to Montreal that, in 2009, raised over $152,000 for breast cancer research. Employees also surpassed the campaign objective for donations to Centraide/United Way as well as for West Island Community Shares, which serves the area of the Dorval head office. For the holiday season, employees conducted a food drive and collected gifts for needy children which were donated to the Salvation Army's Angel Tree.
Another new initiative was the launch of the Novartis Overseas Corporate Social Responsibility Program which enables Canadian employees to contribute their expertise as a free resource to one of many Novartis global health partnerships in the developing world. Under this program, employees volunteer their vacation time to take part in an overseas program, with travel costs covered by the company. The first participant, Mike Lazarovits, a Toronto-based sales manager, traveled to Tanzania to work with the Novartis program Roll Back Malaria.
A global commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion is also an important part of generating positive employee engagement at Novartis. "Our diversity and inclusion program allows associates not just to recognize but also to embrace and leverage individual differences, which creates a very positive environment both for employees and for business success," says Bellani.
The focus of the diversity and inclusion program in 2009 has been on educating leaders on its importance, exploring the motivations and key drivers for women in leadership roles, as well as understanding generational differences in the workplace. In 2010, the focus will be life-work integration, flexible working arrangements and "thinking style" differences.
About the "50 Best Employers in Canada" Report
This is the 11th annual ranking and profiling of Canada's best employers, conducted by The Globe & Mail's Report on Business magazine, with research partner Hewitt Associates, a leading global human resources outsourcing and consulting firm. Again this year, the Hewitt survey involved more than 100,000 employees and 2,000 leaders at almost 200 organizations. To be eligible, companies must have at least 400 permanent employees in Canada and have operated here for at least three years. The rankings are compiled from three surveys for each company: an employee opinion questionnaire filled out by at least 400 employees (more for larger employers); a survey of senior leaders that measures how closely their goals and fundamental values are aligned with those of their staff; and a detailed set of questions for the human resources department on HR policies and practices. The employee survey results account for the largest portion of an employer's ranking. More information is available at www.hewitt.com/bestemployerscanada.
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc., a leader in the healthcare field, is committed to the discovery, development and marketing of innovative products to improve the well-being of all Canadians. In 2008, the Company invested over $96 million in research and development. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. employs approximately 750 people in Canada and its headquarters are located in Dorval, Quebec. For further information, please visit www.novartis.ca.
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Labour force numbers show Albertans still hurting as province emerges from recession |
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| Recovery could be smothered in its infancy by provincial budget and job cuts, warns AFL |
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Written by Workplace Staff
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Sunday, 17 January 2010 |
Year-end employment figures released in early January by Statistics Canada paint a picture of an Alberta labour force that is still hurting even as the provincial economy begins to show signs of emerging from the recession.
"The recovery seems to be coming, but Albertans are still hurting and the provincial labour market is still very fragile," says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.
"The positive news in this report is enough to suggest that the Alberta economy - and along with it, provincial government revenue - will likely return to health sometime this year. But the negative news is enough to suggest that the government should think long and hard before introducing budget cuts that will throw thousands of nurses, teachers and other public sector workers out of work.
“Not only are those kinds of cuts unwarranted when you look at the growing evidence of improving economic and revenue conditions, but, coming at a delicate time like this in terms of the labour market, they would only serve to make a bad employment situation worse. And they would almost certainly undermine the progress of the recovery," McGowan concludes.
The latest statistics show that Alberta had an unemployment rate of 6.7 per cent in December, down from 7.4 per cent in November. But while small month-over-month improvements are always welcome, comparison over the full course of the year - and with October 2008, which represented the top of the boom in Alberta - are much more sobering.
Just how bad have things been in the Alberta labour market since the boom went bust? The AFL provides the following figures:
- Since December 2008, Alberta's population has grown by 71,600 – but the number of people with jobs has dropped by 28,600. The number of Albertans with jobs has fallen even more dramatically when you use October 2008 as a point of comparison (-44,700).
- The number of Albertans with full-time jobs has fallen even more precipitously. There are 52,400 fewer Albertans with full-time jobs today than there were in December 2008 – and 78,100 fewer than there were in October 2008.
- Young Albertans have been particularly hard hit by the recession. Employment for Albertans between the ages of 15 and 24 is down 22,400 since December 2008 and 34,800 since October 2008.
- Male, core-age workers (aged 25 and over) have also experienced a disproportionate share of job losses. 17,500 fewer men in this category are employed in Alberta today compared to December 2008 – and 23,600 fewer compared to October 2008.
- The hardest hit sectors include forestry, mining and oil and gas (down 29,000 jobs compared to December 2008); manufacturing (down 38,600 jobs since October 2008); professional, scientific and technical services (down 24,800 jobs since October 2008); and construction (down 17,100 jobs since October 2008).
- Over the course of the past year, Alberta is second only to B.C. in the number of jobs lost as a proportion of its provincial labour force. On a per capita basis, Alberta has lost more jobs than Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and PEI.
"The real job impacts of the recession have been much worse than the government predicted,” says McGowan. “But the good news is that things seem to be improving slowly.”
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StatsCan reports unemployment rate unchanged in December |
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Written by Workplace Staff
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Friday, 08 January 2010 |
Following a large increase in November, employment was unchanged in
December and the unemployment rate remained at 8.5 per cent. In the
last nine months, employment has stabilized but remains 323,000 (-1.9
per cent) below the October 2008 peak.
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Read more...
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Ontario passes workplace violence and harassment legislation |
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Written by Workplace Staff
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Tuesday, 05 January 2010 |
Bill 168, the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment Act (Violence and Harassment in the Workplace) 2009, received Royal Assent on December 15, 2009 and will come into force in June 2010.
Among other things, the legislation defines what constitutes harassment and/or violence in the workplace, and requires employers to:
- prepare policies relating to workplace violence and harassment,
- implement programs backing up the violence and harassment policies, and
- conduct risk assessments and report findings to their joint health and safety committees.
The text of the bill is available by clicking here.
Workplace will provide further commentary and analysis on what the requirements mean to employers later this month.
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Ont. accessibility standard for customer service now in force |
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Written by Workplace Staff
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Sunday, 03 January 2010 |
Ontario’s first accessibility standard for customer service came into force January 1, 2010 for the public sector. The province's private sector will need to meet these requirements by 2012.
The province's ministries, hospitals, schools, municipalities and other public sector organizations must make sure their services are accessible by meeting requirements such as:
- training staff about meeting the needs of customers with a variety of disabilities
- communicating with a person in a manner that takes into account their disability
- permitting customers to bring their service animals, such as guide dogs, onto their premises.
More than 1.85 million Ontarians have a disability and this number is quickly rising as the population ages. Canadians with disabilities spend $25 billion every year and influence the spending decisions of 12 to 15 million other consumers.
The customer service standard is part of Ontario's plan to make the province accessible for people with disabilities by 2025.
Click here to learn more the status of accessibility standards.
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