The TTC and their HR woes

I have been holding my tongue about the TTC for a while, so I've decided I can throw in another rant. If you've read my previous TTC rants, you know I feel their bottom line issue is their industrial relations. Their Union has far too much power, and has pretty much dictated where every new cent goes - higher wages for people with a high school degree and a driving license to be able to make $75,000 driving a bus/train, often poorly, and sometimes under the influence of things that lead to passengers dying.

In February I signed up for the MDP program. Through this, I could get the metropass 10 bucks off, so long as I agree to buy one every single month. The added bonus is that they mail it to you at least a week in advance, so no need to even get it, and you either pay for the whole year in advance or they charge you monthly. Over the past 8 months, I have learned that there is a special section in hell dedicated to the incompetent and rude people that seem to be specially picked out to work in this program, which is really something when one knows my already low opinion of most employed there.

When we came down to submit the application, we had a member of their team help us complete it and vet it for correctness. We used 2 tokens to get down there. The next day, we get a call that the form was completed incorrectly, and that we'd have to return to complete it again. Two more tokens. The end of the month came, and no metropass. We call. We are told that because the form was completed incorrectly the first time, it was set to pick up only, and when we completed it correctly someone must have forgotten to remove that limit from the system. We have to come pick it up. Two more tokens.

Two months later, the postal services stop. They say they'll have a driver deliver it, we just need to be home to get it. We stay home Monday. No metropass. Teusday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday all pass without delivery. We call every day, and are told it would either be there tomorrow or the day after. We ask if they think we're unemployed that we can just sit around at home all day. Our concerns are ignored. Friday, we go down there, and spend an hour yelling at their staff, who assure us it'll arrive between Monday and Wednesday. After filing a formal complaint and refusing to leave, we are given the metropass with reluctance. No one even attempts to acquiesce us, they just give us the product we have already paid for as a favor. Thanks, guys.

Last month, we moved. Due to exceptional circumstances, we didn't know where to until October 6th or so. Once we moved, called their office to inform them of our new address, a couple of weeks before they're supposed to send out the metropasses. We said if it was too late to change it in the system, we would be happy to come pick it up. The result was another rude employee, telling us the cut off for address changes is the 5th, and then it goes to a different department. "Why can't you just not send it then?" That's the other department, we're told. "Ok, transfer us to that department." They don't take calls from the public, we're told. The metropass will be sent, to the wrong address, and there is nothing we can do about it. We went back there to check every day, but of course, it was not there. Either thrown out or stolen, who knows. As a result, I had to purchase a new November metropass. Another formal complaint is filed.

To sum up, every single person working there, and we've dealt with MANY, is rude and incompetent. They have no ability to perform anything beyond the simple task of signing you up, which they do poorly, or changing your address, which won't help you get your metropass. Taking your money seems easy enough. As a result of their incompetence, this program, which should have saved us $100 over a year, has actually cost us $31 dollars more than just buying the passes every month from a dealer, and many hours and sleepless nights.

This office is yet another example of how the TTC management is not only a pawn of the union, but even in running the TTC they fail to develop a working hierarchy or inter-departmental communication which would help them get more people to sign up for this program (which would guarantee them income and stabilize their balance sheet) and in general be more supportive of TTC initiatives (such as requests for additional funding from the government, or wage increases for their employees).

To be honest, this program has made me lose faith in the TTC's ability to perform in their current set up. I used to be their greatest supporter, and now I resent having to use the system. At this point, they need to either restructure the entire system, force funds into maintenance (Especially for the new train, which seems to break down every time I use it), or they need to be sold to a private organization who knows how to operate a billion dollar business. It is of no surprise to me that every single economic survey done of Toronto says the same thing - great city, but your public transit is terrible and expensive.

Time to change that, with HR - and if they can't, with a sale.

Work and loss

A few days ago, a close member of my family passed on. She was 11 years old (but nearly 80 in human years). It has been a difficult few days, but nonetheless, my mind connects this to HR (coping mechanism?).

I am fortunate enough to have a job I can do from home, and an understanding group of coworkers, so I was able to stay home rather than having to deal with these news in the office. However, if you are an hourly employee, work in emergency services, or have an un-sympathetic boss, coping with loss may become extremely difficult. As such, I've complied a small list of resources and basic rules that govern how employees who have lost someone (or about to) must be treated, and what rights you have.

If you have a (close) family member who is suffering from a terminal illness, section 49.2 of the Employment Standards Act allows you to take up to 8 (unpaid) weeks to care for them. Note that a week is Sunday to Saturday, not necessarily a standard work week for you. It is also important to note that, if requested, you would need to provide proof that the family member's illness must be at a severity level "with a significant risk of death occurring within a period of 26 weeks or such shorter period". Very sensitive. It also stipulates that once that person passes, you must return to work the week after (e.g. if they passed Saturday, you're back at work Sunday, even if you had another week or two left in the leave). However, if they do not pass during the leave, but the illness continues, you may be permitted a second leave.

Note that the request needs to be made in writing, but interestingly, there is no minimum on the number of employees the company must have before this rule comes into effect.

Another option is the Personal Emergency Leave (section 50.1). This applies if you or a family member (including children-in-law) have been injured or killed. There is a maximum of 10 days you can take off in this instance, and the company must have at least 50 people for this type of option to become available. You'll also need to provide proof of the need for a leave.

Other that these, you're essentially out of luck. If you have vacation time you can use that, but conversely, I would advise informing your superior of the situation and see if they're willing to help. I know I've worked in places where I would not be eligible for these ESA rights, but at the end of the day most employers know they won't get much out of you for a little while, so a fair deal can often be struck.

As for me, I'm just lucky my boss has a dog, too.

 Poochini

RIP

2000-2011

the difference between American and Canadian Employment law

There are, of course, many differences between the way the two countries deal with the employment relationship. However, those can all be boiled down to perspective. Since America, even through this self-created economic turmoil, believes in the invisible hand of the market, which given enough time will correct all wrongs, it stands to reason that they would not look too kindly at regulating the interaction between employees and employers. Why should an employee need rights? If an employer treats them badly, they will leave, and find work elsewhere. The invisible hand works. Canada, on the other hand, believes that there are minimum standards that ALL workplaces should meet, and any attempt to circumvent these is generally seen in bad faith and punished.

As such, there are no such things as implied work contracts in America. Unless it specifies a time line in the employment contract (should the employee sign one), it is assumed that the relationship is brand new from one moment to the next, and that unless basic human rights are violated in easily traceable ways,  the invisible hand will be the only judge of whether a company's hiring/employing/terminating employees is competitive. After all, a good candidate can pretty much write their own checks, right?

Canadian law assumes that once a working relationship has started, the employee and employer immediately have certain rights, even if no contract is signed. They have a right to a reasonable amount of honesty from each other (e.g. don't lie on a resume or about how many hours are expected). They have a reasonable expectation of mutual respect, of vacation time, of not abusing drugs in the workplace, etc etc. Common sense things that essentially have been deemed by courts to be so fundamental to any employment relationship, that even if a contract was signed without any of these clauses in it, it will be implied that both parties wanted the clause in there, they just forgot or something.

Having this difference makes a huge impact on the relationship because for one, a Canadian employee doesn't have to worry about arbitrarily being fired any day they walk into the workplace. They're not immune, but if they employer doesn't have a good reason, at least you'll be compensated. It also levels the power balance between the board room and the assembly line, and since the invisible hand seems to forget itself when the economy slows and jobs are few and far in between, its nice to have a back up - just in case.

TTC Incompetence

Because I've held my tongue for a little while.

The reason for the posting is because, hilariously, the TTC has decided to hire what they're calling a "Chief Customer Service Officer." He seems to be touted as The Man With a Plan. A man with years of experience in public transit who will come in and make the reputation that the TTC has worked very hard to earn over the past couple of years go away. Because clearly, since there were over 700 complaints last year the problem is customer service.

Here is why the TTC is bound to go private in the fairly recent future. As always, it is HR which takes a company to the top (when managed well, e.g. Google) or takes it to rock bottom (when abused, e.g. the Enron debacle, or Nike's sweatshop problems in the 90's). The TTC's [solvable] problems are within the HR arena of Labour Relations. Yes, one of main reasons for all these slowdowns and service interruptions are most certainly due to the lack of funding for infrastructure, but this is largely out of the TTC's hands. However, the employee issues are mostly solvable.

(a) Employee morale has most certainly suffered in the past couple of years, leading to the surly service the TTC is now known for.
(b) Under a powerful union, the employees have been given rights that under normal circumstances would be considered anything from inappropriate (e.g. very high pay with very low education or experience requirements) to dangerous (not requiring drug testing for employees with a history of alcohol and drug abuse)
(c) Lack of money due to excessively high operational costs due to HR costs (wages, benefits, vacation pay, mat leaves, detox programs, etc)

And so on. How is that going to be fixed by adding a layer of bureaucracy? What they need to do is take some heat from their people in the short term to create a more efficient system. Firstly, in order to get consumer confidence back, they must institute drug and alcohol testing where relevant (e.g. employees with past problems, since only in the past year two employees have been fired for driving drunk, and those were the ones apprehended by customers, not TTC officials). If our safety is as important to them as they claim on their posters, this is a no-brainer.

Next is compensation. Now it would be illegal to reduce their pay substantially without giving them something in return, but I do not propose their income be reduce, but its contents changed. Rather than a steep base pay, create a base pay plus performance bonuses. The employee ran his bus on time for an entire month (excluding things out of the driver's control)? They receive a bonus. They go above the call of duty? (e.g. the driver who helped a woman who fell near the bus by offering medical aid and dropping her off at her door) Bonus. Perhaps requiring some customer service experience before hiring may prove prudent in providing better service.

Simple(ish) things such as modifying the compensation structure, being more selective during the hiring process, and rewarding good employees will easily alleviate the public pressure on the TTC. Spending more money on something other than service, that will doubtfully help the TTC make the tremendous turnaround it needs to stay a monopoly.

Modern day sweatshops

I recently spoke to an acquaintance of mine who was having trouble at work. Of course, trouble it seems, is not enough to describe it. He is currently attempting to enter a certain field as a professional, and such had a co-op opportunity arranged through his school to provide him with experience. An added bonus was that this job, though co-op, does indeed pay. The good news end there. On his first day he was coerced into signing a document agreeing to work more than 60 hour weeks, and has been working every day for the past month (i.e. not even a single day off) at over 10  hours per day. Even worse, since this is a special kind of illegal, the company is not paying him his full hours worked, presumably since doing so would shed light on their illegal actions. This has excabrated certain medical conditions this person already has, and substantially reduced his quality of life. He fears losing the opportunity altogether if he complains, and thus he tolerates.

Really though, is this such a rare story? In this person's scenario, of course, he has options such as speaking to the co-op facilitator who sent him there in the first place. However, in most instances, people who find themselves in situations like this tend to be desperate, something the employer would know, and unfortunately sometimes exploit. The victims often feel that even such conditions are better than no employment at all, especially in such a weak job market, and tolerate it silently.

It is truly unfortunate that such blatant exploitation still occurs, especially with the vast number of laws and regulatory bodies established with the exclusive intent of preventing employers from acting immorally. At the end of the day this sad story illustrates that until more people utilize the resources available at their disposal to prevent victimization, not all the laws and all the committees and lovely speeches will change the reality that sweatshops exist, and you don't have to be an illegal immigrant with no language skills to end up in one. 

CRTC and the day democracy died

Warning, this post will have little to do with HR, and only marginally.

The purpose of this post is to express my utmost disappointment in the CRTC bending down to the will of the conglomerates purposefully to reduce access to information that is not a cable, satellite or printed source (strange that both Rogers and Bell have tremendous investments in such ventures). Thanks to their spineless move, people who use the internet for academic research, viewing news reports online, or using web-based messenger programs such as skype to connect to their world, will either have to stop or be willing to shell out 2,3,4 times more than they have.

What confuses me about their ruling is that they just recently allowed foreign competition into the wireless phone market, suggesting they were finally going to open Canada's borders to something a little different than the stifling monopolies which allow overpriced service and unparalleled customer service (the dramas I could share about Bell and Rogers could probably not even raise a candle to some of the stories I do not yet know).

I guess I was wrong.

Good bye affordable communication, easy access to information, and as a result, a little chunk of democracy.


I sure hope someone at the CRTC got greased for this, at least then this decision would have an, al bight less than acceptable, explanation.

SIGN THE PETITION:
http://openmedia.ca/news/openmediaca...uture-internet

Knowing your limits

My return to the gym has brought back to my mind the importance of knowing your limits. While this is important in the gym, to prevent injury and maintain progress, it is equally important at work. The reason for that is because stress is associated with nearly all illnesses, either as a cause or an aggravator. The thing is, though, that people generally tend to stress about the same things: money, family, work.

There are lots of articles and professionals who will tell you all sorts of exercises and such you absolutely must do to overcome stress and stay healthy, but for me it comes down to two things: counting to 10 if I'm aggravated, and knowing my limits.

These two principals manifest themselves in lots of ways. If I'm sent a snooty email, receive criticism, or given instructions, I pause, digest the information for a few seconds, and only then move forward. It's a tiny delay but it makes a big difference, especially if you're like me and your first instinct response has gotten you in trouble in the past!

The other principle, knowing my limits, plays more specifically towards time management. You don't have to say yes to every damn thing that passes your desk, every favour to a friend, every chore at home. Prioritize, and develop a schedule that will allow you to take whatever time is necessary to get the job(s) done and done right. Anything else needs to be shelved, delegated, or scrapped. Just knowing you have the time you need to complete the tasks at hand can be such a huge weight lifted off your shoulders.

Now I'll be heading off to stretch, as I overdid it in the gym, and then foolishly went back for more.

KNOW YOUR LIMITS. Or suffer the consequences like me.