HRdownloads Blog

The COVID-19 pandemic has created widespread fear, stress, and anxiety among the population, which has resulted in high levels of stigma. Stigma is a negative association between a person or a group of people who have certain characteristics associated with a perceived risk, in this case COVID-19. As an example, you may have an employee who follows all public health recommendations and feels negative emotions towards those who don’t (or vice versa). So how do you stop the stigma from infecting your workplace?

In the age of informed participation, people are increasingly asking businesses to make decisions based on what is ethically and morally right and focus on their impact rather than just their bottom line.

As an employer, it may be difficult to decide whether it is your place or even in your best interest to act on these issues. Your business may be subject to consequences, such as loss of business, damaged employee morale, turnover, strained business relationships, public boycotts, and more. However, refraining from getting involved is itself a choice that may trigger similar consequences. So how do you decide whether you should get involved?

Canadians are starting to adjust to the new normal, which involves ongoing adherence to strict health and safety measures to slow the spread of COVID-19. However, as changes continue to occur, some people have had a higher comfort level than others with disobeying these guidelines. This has left many employers and HR professionals wondering what they can do if this disobedience becomes (or already is) a problem in their workplace.

We don’t know what we don’t know. An old adage, and truer now than ever. As business leaders, we must future-proof our organizations to cope with the increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world we live in. At HRdownloads, we firmly believe the most effective way to build a future-ready organization is to prepare future-ready leaders and staff. And the best way to do that is with engaging, exciting, and relevant training.

People tend to talk about self-care in apologetic terms, making excuses for why they took vacation or went for a walk on their break, or any of the more expensive and ostentatious behaviours people call ‘self-care’, but why? It seems obvious that self-care is important. Everyone needs a break, and our mental and emotional health need looking after just like our physical health does, so it shouldn’t feel controversial to take steps to protect ourselves from burnout or stress or just not feeling our best. And yet excuse-making persists, suggesting that there’s something about how we conceptualize self-care that feels indulgent or guilty to us.

We received many questions during our recent webinar, “COVID-ucation: Employers, Parents, School, and the Pandemic”. In a difficult time like this, we wanted to make sure the answers to these challenging questions were available, so we’ve created another multi-part question series on our blog to help ensure employers and HR professionals have access to the information they need.

There has been a lot of discussion in the media recently surrounding the second wave of COVID-19. Areas considered to be hot spots are implementing additional public health measures, and provincial governments have reintroduced stricter controls in some areas. Many employers are questioning what to do if their region comes under further restrictions.

We received many questions during our recent webinar, “COVID-ucation: Employers, Parents, School, and the Pandemic”. In a difficult time like this, we wanted to make sure the answers to these challenging questions were available, so we’ve created another multi-part question series on our blog to help ensure employers and HR professionals have access to the information they need.

We received many questions during our recent webinar, “COVID-ucation: Employers, Parents, School, and the Pandemic”. In a difficult time like this, we wanted to make sure the answers to these challenging questions were available, so we’ve created another multi-part question series on our blog to help ensure employers and HR professionals have access to the information they need.

Many schools across Canada finally re-opened in September, leaving most employees who have school-aged children stressed. In fact, according to Statistics Canada, 74% of parents were very or extremely concerned about balancing childcare, school, and work. With disruptions to the school year still possible, employers may find themselves having to make difficult decisions.