Canada’s labour market is under growing pressure and as employers move quickly to reduce costs, missteps in managing layoffs or employee relations can possibly lead to legal and financial consequences, says Paul Pulver, a labour and employment lawyer at Littler Mendelson P.C.
Across Canada, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for people to deal with some of the changes that have happened politically and geopolitically, notes Pulver, adding there are pressure points in the system, both for employers and employees.
“It’s challenging to keep employees happy and provide for them in the way they need. At the same time, businesses are dealing with major changes, whether it’s cross-border or not, cost of goods, cost of manufacturing and tariffs. Depending on the industry or sector, these things are having a real impact on profitability and [talent management].”
Pulver says he’s seeing challenges in terms of employers’ ability to either scale up or down to meet demand and to address concerns with their employees. “It’s challenging at times, but there are employers who are doing well in this economy and those employers have a different challenge. They might not be talking about a reduction in force or negative compensation changes, they may be talking about positives like scaling up on how to address demand and where to find people.”
When employers have to give employees bad news like layoffs, it’s ideal for them to give as much notice as possible, but that isn’t always possible, notes Pulver. If an employer is unable to provide working notice, there’s a severance obligation in most cases.
“Our employer clients are always looking for advice on how to manage the business properly. The issues tend to be less focused on reduction and negative market forces, and more on profitability, innovation, scaling up and making sure [employees are] happy in their work and compensated fairly for what they do.”
Some of Littler’s most successful clients are harnessing innovation and creativity to properly manage employee relations, he adds. “We’re constantly working with employers to look for ways to improve on benefits and what they can offer employees outside of just a paycheque that enables them to be happy in their work. In my experience . . . employers are interested in doing the right thing and making sure they treat employees fairly, even when market forces are putting pressure on them for the bottom line.”
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