Canadian Business magazine contacted Vancouver-based Clear HR Consulting to provide human resources expertise on succession planning, especially as it relates to how to groom ambitious staff to take over your position, for their February 15, 2010 issue.

A key tip when handling an ambitious employee who is interested in your job, is to ask some critical questions, including:

• How would you feel if this person were to go work for your competitor?
• What impact would this have on your business?

For more information on how to successfully navigate succession planning issues for your business, please contact Vancouver-based Clear HR Consulting for human resources expertise.

Cissy Pau, workplace expert and Principal Consultant for Vancouver-based Clear HR Consulting, was interviewed this morning in studio for CBC Radio One’s Early Edition regarding the high level of employee anxiety in British Columbia. She provided human resources expertise on dealing with employee anxiety and effectively maintaining employee productivity.

Clear HR Consulting’s top 5 tips to reduce employee anxiety and maintain employee productivity are:

1. Communicate updates and information to employees on a regular, timely basis - you cannot communicate enough about anything.
2. Maintain strong leadership and a strong vision for the future.
3. Ask for employee input on how to improve work environment.
4. Use down times as an opportunity for employee skills development and cross-training.
5. Show appreciation to staff and have fun.

As well, Cissy was asked about ways to effectively manage a company restructuring. Some of Clear HR Consulting’s tips include:

1. Develop a communication strategy which ensures employees are kept informed.
2. Use employee layoffs as a last resort - look for other alternatives first.
3. Hold one-on-one, in-person meetings with all affected employees.

Cissy Pau, Principal Consultant for Vancouver-based Clear HR Consulting, recently attended a human resources seminar on the HR issues that Vancouver businesses need to be prepared for the 2010 Olympics Games.

Some things to plan for:

• Transportation disruption - Road closures & parking bans will make
  it potentially difficult for employees, customers and suppliers to get to
  your office and vice versa.  VANOC is hoping to reduce traffic on our city
  roads by 30% to lessen traffic congestion.

• Rush hour - Businesses can expect rush hour conditions 24 hours a
  day in Downtown Vancouver and rush hour to start at 2:00 pm elsewhere around
  town.  VANOC is encouraging employees to start work prior to 7:00 am and
  leaving before 2:00 pm.  With most Olympic events occurring in the
  afternoon, it’s anticipated that getting to work in the morning should be
  ok, but leaving work in the afternoon may be a problem.

• Employees working from home - Many employers are encouraging
  employes to work from home during the Olympics.  If you do this, please be
  aware that the home office would be considered an alternate work location
  and would be subject to WorkSafeBC rules and regulations.

• Internet access - With over 15,000 journalists and hundreds of
  thousands of people in Vancouver who will be accessing the internet, there
  may not be enough band width to handle the increased volume.  Companies need
  to have a contingency plan in place in case internet or email access is
  hampered.

• Cell phone access - As with internet access, the huge volume of
  people accessing the cell phone network in Vancouver could negatively affect
  our cell networks.  Contingency plans may be needed in case data devices
  such as Blackberries do not function properly and to ensure that employees
  can be contacted if cell phones don’t work.

• Staff training - With many planned and unexpected absences which
  will occur during the Olympics, companies need to start cross-training staff
  now so that these absences can be accommodated.

• Time Off / Absence Policies - At this point, it is unknown how
  difficult it will be for employees to get to work.  Policies may need to be
  developed to deal with unexpected absences (e.g. if an employee shows up to
  work 3 hours late because they were using public transit, will this be
  considered paid time or unpaid time).

• Communication - Be sure to advise employees, customers and suppliers
  of your plans for business during the Olympics so that they know what they
  can expect.  Those who are outside of Vancouver may not realize that service
  could be impacted.

Some things that companies are doing during the Olympics:

• Encouraging transit use and car pooling
• Allowing telecommuting so that employees can work from home rather than fight traffic to come to work
• Encouraging employees to take vacation during that time or to flex their hours
• Cross-training staff now so that unexpected or planned absences can be accommodated.
• Hosting Olympic-themed events for employees & clients
• Ensuring there is a TV at the office to watch highly coveted events and to cheer on the home team!
• Purchasing 6-week 2010 Transit Games Passes for employees during the Games

Clear HR Consulting’s latest edition of HR Smalltalk discusses how the involvement of your staff in your corporate philanthropy strategy can impact your workplace. In addition, we are encouraging our readers to take action and give back.

We are challenging you to do something at your workplace which supports the theme of “giving back”, between now and 5 pm (Pacific Time) on October 23, 2009. The options are endless: gather clothing for a women’s shelter; volunteer at a soup kitchen; initiate a penny drive to support a good cause - whatever you decide, bring your staff together and do good.

Let us know what your company does, along with your contact information, via email to info@clearhrconsulting.com by 5 pm (Pacific Time) on October 23, 2009 and you will be entered into a draw to win 2 floor seats to the U2 concert in Vancouver, BC on October 28, 2009. The winner will be notified by October 26th.

We look forward to hearing what great things you do!

We received an email challenge which has gotten us so excited, but we need your help.

We have been challenged to take $100 and, between now and midnight on Sunday, September 6, see what can be done with the $100 to make the biggest difference in the lives of others.

The Prize

If it turns out we make the biggest difference with our $100, we will win 2 tickets to the taping of the Oprah Winfrey show on September 25th in Chicago.

Being big fans of Oprah, and being strong believers in the ability of one person to make a difference, this was one challenge we couldn’t pass up.

The Cause

After thinking long and hard, we’ve picked a cause and we hope you can support it.  Andreas and I have recently finished reading Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Support Peace…One School at a Time.

For those of you who haven’t read it, Three Cups of Tea is the autobiography of Greg Mortensen, a remarkable man who has dedicated his life to promoting education, especially for girls, in the remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Since 1993, he, along with the organization he co-founded, the Central Asia Institute, have established over 90 schools in the rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide for (or have provided) education to over 34,000 students, including 24,000 girls, where little or no educational opportunities existed.

The philosophy of focusing on girls is “Educate a boy and you educate an individual.  Educate a girl and you educate a community.”  Several global studies have shown that sending girls to school significantly decreases infant and maternal mortality rates, helps stabilize population growth, and improves the quality of health and life for everyone in the community.  And, educated mothers are less likely to condone their son’s joining terrorist groups.  Building schools and providing an education in an unstable part of the world has a direct impact on safety and security around the world.

More information on Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortensen and the Central Asia Institute can be found at http://www.threecupsoftea.com/ and https://www.ikat.org/.

The Goal

Our goal for this challenge is to increase awareness for this cause, and to encourage the donation of over $5,000 by Sunday.

Did you know how little it takes to make a difference?  Consider this:

$20………One student’s school supplies for one year
$50………One treadle sewing machine and supplies
$100……..Maternal health care supplies for 1 year
$600 …….One teacher’s annual salary
$800……..One advanced student’s annual scholarship
$5,000…..Support for existing school for 1 year
$50,000…One school building and support for up to 5 years

Wouldn’t it be something if together we could raise enough to build and support a school?

How You Can Help

We’d like to rally all of you to make a contribution to this amazing cause.  Some suggestions of things that you can do to help:

• Read the Three Cups of Tea book and pass it onto a friend to read.  Or share it amongst the staff at your office.
• Encourage a young person in your life to read Three Cups of Tea - Young Reader’s Edition or Listen to the Wind - the children’s book version
• Make Three Cups of Tea the selection at your next book club
• Donate copies of the book to your local library or school
• Recommend the book to a teacher or principal so that they can introduce it to their students
• Send a copy of the book to your MP and MLA with a note encouraging them to read the book and support local and global educational and literary initiatives
• Blog, Facebook, YouTube and/or Tweet about the book
• Forward this email to others who you think would be interested in this cause.
• Buy a copy of the book off this page (http://www.threecupsoftea.com/purchase-three-cups-of-tea/) and up to 7% will be donated to the Central Asia Institute
• Start a Pennies for Peace campaign at your office, church, or kid’s school.  A penny buys a pencil in Pakistan, several pennies buys paper and books. 100 pennies pays a teacher’s salary for a day.
• Donate to the Central Asia Institute - https://www.ikat.org/ (Note: This is a US charity - Canadians who donate may not get a tax deduction for the donation)
• And anything else you can think of!

Taking Action

We know that there are many great causes out there to support.  We were truly inspired by the impact that Greg Mortensen has had on the world - we hope you can spend a few moments in the next few days supporting this cause, too.

If this speaks to you, please send us an email at info@clearhrconsulting.com by 9 pm on Sunday September 6 2009 to let us know what you have done to help this cause.

If you could use the “share this” widget at the bottom of the post to keep the goodwill going it would be appreciated.

We would love to win the Oprah tickets & see the show live but, really, whether we win the tickets or not, the real winners are the children who will become future community leaders and the promotion of peace in a volatile part of the world.

Look forward to hearing what you all do!

Canadian Business magazine contacted Vancouver-based Clear HR Consulting to provide human resources expertise on how to layoff employees with dignity and respect for their September 14, 2009 issue.

For more information on how to layoff employees, please view our newsletters on Creative Alternatives to Layoffs and How to Handle Layoffs Effectively.

Our most recent edition of HR Smalltalk, Clear HR Consulting’s e-newsletter, features human resources tips for small- and medium-sized businesses on developing vacation policies and procedures that result in a productive workforce year-round.