First Reference Talks

Discussions on Human Resources, Employment Law, Payroll and Internal Controls

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By | 3 Minutes Read

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recruiting

Stories about artificial intelligence (AI) stealing our jobs and robots going rogue have been in our collective consciousness for years. Elon Musk has also sounded the alarm bells’, calling AI the "biggest risk we face as a civilization". While he may know a few things I don’t, I can’t say that I agree. Always one to embrace technology, I think AI has great potential to be used by businesses in the HR space, such as to make hiring practices more efficient and more fair.

By | 3 Minutes Read

Company ordered to pay $8,000.00 for discriminatory text messages during job application process

A company in Ottawa has just landed itself with a damage award from the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and a lot of embarrassing media coverage in how one of its employees discriminated against a potential candidate for employment on the basis of “race, colour and ethnic origin” during a telephone job interview and subsequent texts. The case of Bouraoui v. Ottawa Valley Cleaning and Restoration, is a shocking example of discriminatory conduct on the part of an employer.

By | 5 Minutes Read

Implicit bias in the workplace studies: The HR implications

We like to think we are all fair and objective. However, implicit bias is apparent in everyone, regardless of if you accept it or not. An Implicit Association Test by Project Implicit at Harvard University reminds us that while people don’t often speak their minds, we might actually not even know our minds. Are we purposely hiding something from others, or are we implicitly hiding something from ourselves? When it comes to strategic recruitment, implicit bias plays a big role.

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Established in 1995, First Reference provides organizations with practical and authoritative resources to help ensure compliance with constantly changing Canadian legislation and best practice

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