Author Archive - Deveen Hunter

Deveen Hunter M.Sc., CAPM, CHRL is a human resource practitioner and entrepreneur with over 8 years of global human resource success. She is the founder and lead consultant at Select Business Solutions, a boutique consulting firm that is focused on assisting clients evolve the ways in which they create value for stakeholders by leveraging technology, analytics, processes and human capital. With a background in sociology and psychology she is an ardent researcher, continuously searching for insight into human behaviour at the organisational level. When she is not focused on innovating the Human Resource discipline and growing her firm, she is focused on the most fascinating person in her world, her nine-year-old daughter. Deveen is currently working on research to develop a human resource model focused on addressing the unique challenges of recruitment in the Canadian context. Read more here.

A new spin on the HR department design

October 16, 2017 Deveen Hunter Employee Relations, HR Analytics, Human Resources

Like any other element of an organisation, the HR department must be structured in a way that allows it to deliver value to a business. This article explains why. There is a saying that when you point one finger in criticism, there are four fingers pointing back at you. This adage came to my mind […]

center of excellence, employment law, HR Department, HR department design, HR organizational design, Human Resources

How to create an organizational culture

September 11, 2017 Deveen Hunter Employee Relations, HR Analytics, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Training and Development

In our fast paced and ever changing world it is also important to avoid being locked into a single culture in a manner that does not allow for change. The best culture is the best culture at this time, but that doesn’t mean it will be the best culture tomorrow.

culture, employment law, organizational culture, policies

The challenge of organizational culture

August 31, 2017 Deveen Hunter Employee Relations, Human Resources

Culture has become a very contentious political issue in the past few weeks. However, discussions about culture have a very long history and always evoke very strong responses. This is because culture, “the way we do things”, is what distinguishes one group of people from the next.

culture, employee diversity, employment law, external culture, internal systems and structures, organizational culture

Are remote employees the answer?

May 8, 2017 Deveen Hunter Employee Relations, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Recruiting and Hiring

The difficulty with identifying talent has been very well documented. It is a common topic of discussion in both academic and corporate circles. But for people who are unemployed the notion of a scarcity of talent sounds exceedingly ludicrous. How can there be a scarcity of talent when there are so many people unemployed?

employment law, hiring employees, hiring remote employees, remote, remote employee, Talent acquisition

Interviews: 6 reasons why HR should really rethink them

April 10, 2017 Deveen Hunter HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Recruiting and Hiring

Interviews are by nature fraught with problems and really should only be used in cases where some system has been put in place to mitigate the inherent dangers in interviews or supplement their shortfalls. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, here are a few problems with interviews.

employment interviews, employment law, hiring, hiring employees, interviews, job interviews

HR practitioners: The new HR mandate

March 7, 2017 Deveen Hunter Employee Relations, HR Analytics, HR and Technology, HR Policies and Procedures, HRMS, Human Resources, Privacy and Security, Recruiting and Hiring, Training and Development

The trend toward chaos and fear not only exists within the context of politics and social issues, it is also a business or an organizational issue. Albeit for entirely different reasons, businesses are nervous and looking for solutions. A survey of Canadian CEOs revealed that they are concerned about many things; herein the top worries are listed.

branding and marketing, cutting costs, cyber security, digital HR, employee productivity, employee retention, HR, hr analytics, HR practices, HR practitioner, recruitment, recruitment and talent retention

HR and IT: An uneasy alliance

February 6, 2017 Deveen Hunter Employee Relations, HR and Technology, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Privacy and Security

HR is being called on to focus primarily on strategic goals and to add increasing value to organizations. The other field that has become an integral part of business is technology. It is therefore not surprising that in HRs effort to become increasingly relevant, IT is being leveraged in the execution of the HR function in an increasing number of ways. This e–HR revolution has taken many forms, from applicant tracking systems, to machine learning in recruitment and selection to software driven onboarding and employee HR support. The consequence of this is that more and more HR activities are being executed electronically—by a computer instead of by a person.

Data, data interpretation, employment law, e–HR, e–HR revolution, HR, HR management, HR practitioners, IT and HR, PIPEDA, privacy, Protection and Electronic Documents Act, social media, technoethics

Retaining talent in flat organizations

January 27, 2017 Deveen Hunter Employee Relations, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources

As always, economic, business and organizational trends pose challenges for the tidy and harmonious world that HR practitioners want to create. One of the trends posing a challenge is the new rise of very flat organizations. The rise in flat organizations is being driven primarily by cost-cutting initiatives that require the elimination of expensive layers of management.

employment law, flat organizations, flat structures, HR practitioners, Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy, retaining talent, Retention Model, Work life integration

Is recruiting causing unemployment?

December 19, 2016 Deveen Hunter HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Recruiting and Hiring

Recruiting has always been an element of HR that attracts a high level of interest, primarily because it is such a controversial aspect of HR. As a newly converted capitalist I think markets correct themselves unless there is an inherent flaw in the manner in which an element of the market is operating or some element of the market is being unduly interfered with or manipulated. I think the same applies to this problem. I don’t think talent is hard to find I think recruiting may be the problem. I think the way in which recruiting is done is what may really be driving unemployment.

employment law, recruit, recruiters, recruiting, reference check, selection process, unemployment

Trump’s campaign and human resource strategies

November 21, 2016 Deveen Hunter Employee Relations, Employment/Labour Standards, Health and Safety, HR Analytics, HR and Technology, HR Policies and Procedures, HRMS, Human Resources, Human Rights, Payroll, Pensions and Benefits, Recruiting and Hiring, Source Deductions and Reporting, Training and Development, Union Relations, Wages and Compensation

Like everyone else, I watched the US presidential election with much fascination and of course appreciation for Canadian values and the way we in Canada still have the decency to, at least in public, treat some things as unacceptable. But politics aside, I think Donald Trump’s campaign has very key lessons for human resource practitioners. So I would like to relate, in true obsessive form, the key strategies of his campaign to some strategies I think could be useful for human resource practitioners.

employment law, HR, human resource, human resource lessons, Human Resource Management, human resource practitioners, mission statements, organizational values, performance evaluations

Should human resources be waiting for a seat at the table or setting the table?

October 25, 2016 Deveen Hunter Employee Relations, HR Analytics, HR and Technology, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources

Ever since I entered the Human Resources (HR) profession, even in graduate school, there has been dialogue around what HR needs to do in order to get a seat at the table. This dialogue seems to have picked up even more steam in recent years and much of the growth in HR research has been focused on finding a way for HR to get that seat at the table through proving its legitimacy and its value. My view is that HR should, instead of trying to fit in or get a seat at an existing table, focus on agenda setting.

agenda setting, agenda setting role, benchmark processes, business strategy and influence, business success, CEO, competitive advantage, HR, HR discipline, HR practitioner, HR profession, human resources profession, leadership, performance management activities, talent management

Human Resource professionals can actually save the world!!!

September 23, 2016 Deveen Hunter Employment/Labour Standards, HR Policies and Procedures, Human Resources, Human Rights, Recruiting and Hiring

There are some professions that are automatically seen as having a strong impact on our world and are accepted as having the capability of making our world a better place. Human Resource Management however is often seen as having the potential to make significant impact on business success, rarely do we extend that assessment to the economy and nation building. But the Human Resource profession may just be the answer to some of the social, political and economic challenges being faced in Canada today.

aging workforce, Canadian workforce, economic growth and development, employment law, hiring practices, HR, HR issues, HR professionals, HRM, Human Resource Management, Human Resource profession, Human Resource professionals, human rights, immigrate skilled labour, Immigration Law, Multinational corporations, Syrian refugees