First Reference Talks

Posts Tagged ‘hours of work’

Reduced hours of work and job sharing – an idea suited for North America?

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

In a recent Globe and Mail video, author Juliet Schor discusses how reducing work hours might be the answer to some of the problems facing Canada’s workforce. Schor mentions that having employees work shorter hours decreases unemployment rates, lowers greenhouse emissions, and improves quality of life.

Read the rest of this post »

Tags: career advancement, conflicts between jobs, decreased unemployment rates, employee burnout, financial collapse, Germany, higher quality of life, hours of work, HR, job sharing, lower carbon emissions, minimum wage earners, Netherlands, reduced hours of work, second jobs, time affluent, work-life balance, workforce, working more hours, workplace
Posted in Employee Relations, Employment Standards, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Employment standards update – Learn the latest

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

Historically, Ontario’s employment standards laws have been reviewed and updated frequently to address changes in the workplace. As expected, the provincial government has adopted various changes to employment standards in the last year or so. Understanding and following the Employment Standards Act requires that those affected by changes make the time to read about them and ask questions if something is unclear. In addition, it is your responsibility…

Read the rest of this post »

Tags: Audits, canadian employment law, compliance, early resolution of disputes, employment law, Employment Standards Claim, employment standards claim process, employment standards laws, Employment Standards Officer, Employment Standards Update, ESA, hours of work, Ministry of Labour, Ontario Employment Law Conference, Ontario Labour Relations Board, Ontario workplace, Open for Business Act, overtime, Statutory leaves, Stringer Brisbin Humphrey, temporary agency, temporary agency worker, workplace investigations
Posted in Conferences, Employment Standards | Make a Comment »

Overtime rules can trap the unwary employer

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

In Ontario, the Employment Standards Act (ESA) requires employers to pay at least time and a half for all hours worked by an employee in excess of 44 per week. Employers who, for different reasons, fail to pay overtime pay have faced two types of claims by employees…

Read the rest of this post »

Tags: canadian employment law, Class action suits, employee handbook, employment law, employment standards act, hours of work, overtime, overtime pay, Overtime threshold, policies and procedures, policy manual
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Has your workplace experienced an outbreak of the ‘World Cup Flu’?

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Are your employees suffering from the “World Cup Flu”? Are you finding that there is an unusually high rate of absenteeism in your office these days?

Read the rest of this post »

Tags: Absenteeism, discipline, employment law, employment standards, fifa, flex time, hours of work, Human Resources, soccer, sports in the workplace, time in lieu of overtime, vacation time, working conditions, world cup
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Hours of work: What counts as ‘work’ in the Blackberry era?

Monday, June 14th, 2010

I lifted that title from a presentation at the recent Davis LLP employment law update, because I don’t think I need to improve on it. The question seems simple, but I’m certain that it has got many employers and human resources departments wishing the handy devices had never been invented! (Okay, maybe not that confused.)

Read the rest of this post »

Tags: Blackberry era, employment law, hours of work, hours of work and overtime claims, Human Resources, overtime, overtime hours, vacation, working conditions, working outside regular working hours
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | 3 Comments »

Can employers prevent workplace suicide?

Friday, June 11th, 2010

I was recently reading an issue of SafetyNewsAlert, which indicated that there were over 20 attempted suicides over one year in a single Chinese technology factory—one that manufactures products for Apple, including the iPad, among other things. Out of the 20 attempts, 9 suicides were successful within a period of five months. According to the article, questions are being raised about the sustainability of China’s manufacturing model, which relies on long hours from its workers. Typical workweeks include seven days of twelve hours.

Read the rest of this post »

Tags: China, code of conduct, employment law, employment standards, Foxconn, health and safety, hours of work, Human Resources, labor law, Labour Law, manufacturing model, productivity, suicide, union, working conditions, workplace suicide
Posted in Health and Safety, Human Resources | Make a Comment »

Are your employees surfing the Internet during work hours?

Friday, February 5th, 2010

With the technology at employees’ fingertips, employers worry about whether their employees are engaging in personal Internet use during work hours.

Read the rest of this post »

Tags: canadian employment law, employee Internet use, employee theft, hours of work, Internet use during work hours, Internet use policy, policies and procedures, prohibited Internet use at work, social networking, theft
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | 2 Comments »

Social media = time management? (Part 2)

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Social media are new, and their value is not entirely clear, especially to businesses that are doing just fine as they are, thank you very much. Heck, it’s even possible that blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other Web 2.0 and social networking services will turn out to be passing fads, in which case, maybe companies that ignore them will have the last laugh on the matter. I don’t know about that, but I will say this: the generation that grew up on the Internet and began to enter the labour market over the last decade is unlikely to want to shift to a way of doing things that doesn’t involve the Internet and its associated applications and gadgets. And their children—well, who can say how connected they’ll be. It would take an extremely authoritarian approach to return to the workplace of our parents, and likely an approach that looks backward rather than ahead. But enough of prediction, let’s talk about some interesting stuff!

Read the rest of this post »

Tags: employment standards, facebook, Generation Y, hours of work, LinkedIn, productivity, social media, social networking, twitter, web 2.0
Posted in Human Resources, Internal Controls, IT, Privacy and Security, Privacy and Security | Make a Comment »

Social media = time management? (Part 1)

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

To a casual observer, it might appear that time management has fallen to the wayside at many workplaces today: employees work well beyond their scheduled hours, including while on lunch breaks, during leisure time and social events and even on vacation. But with proper scheduling, time management should prevent work from expanding beyond regular work hours—as was the case before the Internet age. Instead, in the “knowledge economy”, where the smart phone rules, scheduled work hours have become nearly meaningless.

Read the rest of this post »

Tags: cellphone use, facebook, hours of work, IT controls, productivity, social media, social networking, social web, time management, twitter, web 2.0
Posted in Human Resources, Internal Controls, IT, Privacy and Security, Privacy and Security | 1 Comment »

The four-day workweek

Monday, October 26th, 2009

The reality of today’s workplaces is that employees are stressed because they not only face excess work duties, but they work long hours, which keeps them away from their homes, families and leisure for long periods of time. According to many HR and legal experts, the results of overworked employees are distraction and low productivity in the company, forcing employers to demand even more hours from their employees, among other things. Everybody I talk to seems to think that the solution of a four-day workweek should enhance employee effectiveness and productivity, reduce stress, improve employees’ enjoyment of work, and balance their work/life.

Read the rest of this post »

Tags: canadian employment law, compressed workweek, employment law, employment standards, flex time, flexible schedule, flexible work arrangements, flexible work hours, four day work week, four day workweek, hours of work, HR issues, Human Resources, Labour Law, Labour standards, policies and procedures, policy
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | 4 Comments »

After hours access to work may lead to overtime claims

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

We’ve been hearing lately that in the United States employers are being held liable to employees for overtime compensation for using PDAs/BlackBerrys after hours for work and for checking work-related emails. We’ve been made aware of four such class action suits by employees that allege, among other claims, that the company provides them with BlackBerrys or other smart devices, and that they are required to review and respond to work-related emails and text messages at all hours of the day, amounting to 10 to 15 overtime hours per week.

Read the rest of this post »

Tags: Blackberrys, canadian employment law, cellphone use, class action suit, employment law, employment standards, hours of work, HR issues, Human Resources, Labour Law, overtime, PDAs, policies and procedures, policy, portable devices
Posted in Employment Standards, Human Resources | 6 Comments »

Posts Tagged ‘hours of work’

Reduced hours of work and job sharing – an idea suited for North America?

Employment standards update – Learn the latest

Overtime rules can trap the unwary employer

Has your workplace experienced an outbreak of the ‘World Cup Flu’?

Hours of work: What counts as ‘work’ in the Blackberry era?

Can employers prevent workplace suicide?

Are your employees surfing the Internet during work hours?

Social media = time management? (Part 2)

Social media = time management? (Part 1)

The four-day workweek

After hours access to work may lead to overtime claims

Get Free Updates

Categories

Recent Comments

Like us on Facebook!

Links

Blogroll

Post Archives

Questions?