This afternoon our Vice President at Career Edge Organization, Donna Smith, sent out a fun but serious call to action to all staff:

Since today is Earth Day, this is a great opportunity to think about how we can each contribute to making this a cleaner, greener planet.

Here is my challenge to each of you…

Please propose one idea easy to implement idea that will make our offices  greener. I just know this creative team will come up with some fabulous ideas.

Donna’s promise? Starting today, she will only bring her early morning tea into the office in a reusable travel mug.

The rest of the staff quickly chimed in:

“Carrying a shopping bag with us all the time, so that we don’t use plastic bags!!” – Rima

“Order environmentally responsible office supplies…recycled paper clips anyone?” – Sydney

“How about keeping a stash of scrap paper for taking notes instead of using new paper every time” – Paula

“We can recycle our broken or old electronic devices by taking them to stores like Best Buy or Staples” – Ramtin

“If you take electronic devices to the green living show on the weekend you get in for free!” – Rory

“We can start using stairs instead of the elevator. (Yes, applies in my case too!)” – Rizwan

“Support our local farmers market, for example the one at Metro Hall (in Toronto)” – Janice

“Save trees by printing less – instead, save important emails and documents in electronic files for future use.” – Michelle

Talk to us! What does your workplace do to make the world a “greener, cleaner” place? How did your organization acknowledge Earth Day?

Are you in the loop?

Each quarter, Career Edge Organization sends out our e-Newsletter to up to 25,000 of our closest friends – host employers, partner organizations, interns and alumni all receive the Career Bulletin. Our next issue is scheduled to be sent out tomorrow, and will feature an update on Canada’s economic recover, spring cleaning tips for your office and workspace and an inspiring story of a recent Career Bridge intern who is now a Vice President at United Way in Toronto.

Click here to subscribe now!

Our newsletter provides our partners and stakeholders with updates on our organization as well as the greater business community as it pertains to employment in Canada. Our regular sections include:

• A letter from Anne Lamont, our President and CEO
• Updates on our internship numbers, new Host organizations, staff and alumni
• Inspiring success stories and profiles of real people who have been touched by our programs
• Industry news – what’s going in the Canadian economy, labour market and business community
• Workplace trends – the latest trends in hiring and talent management
• Career management – professional development tips for everyone including job seekers, human resources professionals and senior hiring managers

Our previous issues can be found on the Career Edge Organization website’s “Information and Resources” section.

If you haven’t been receiving our newsletters, make sure you have subscribed with your up-to-date contact information. You can subscribe here.

Subscribe now to stay informed about the latest updates, success stories, industry news, and workplace trends in Canada’s employment landscape. Don’t miss out on valuable insights and opportunities to connect with Career Edge Organization!

Are you a good writer and wish to contribute to the Career Bulletin? Talk to us and let us know by leaving a comment below!

A couple of days ago I read that female executives in the federal public service are on the rise.

This prompted Maria Barrados, president of the Public Service Commission, to state that “given the representation of women, I think it’s fair to look at the act.” The act she is referring to, of course, is employment equity law.

The bureaucracy’s watchdog is saying that now is the time to consider whether women should still receive preferential treatment under the law, and many agree.

This prompted the National Post’s editorial board to write, “just hire the best person for the job” on their blog this morning, saying that while parliamentarians are reexamining policies around women, they should take the next step and repeal protections for the other three “favoured” groups – aboriginals, visible minorities and the disabled.

The article went on to say, “If a general mentality of prejudice in favour of men – i.e. a systemic discrimination – ever existed, it is long gone.”

Is it?

While women have made strides in Canadian government, they are still underrepresented in corporate Canada, particularly in executive roles and on boards.

Aboriginals, persons with disabilities and visible minorities continue to be underrepresented in all sectors.

Most importantly, while diversity can perhaps be measured in numbers, inclusion is a different story.

Equity laws should be looked at as training wheels for organizations it looks like the Federal Government is ready to have them removed, where hiring practices for women are concerned. But this should be done with caution and each of the protected groups deserves its own careful considering.

Anyone who remembers learning how to ride a bike knows that if the training wheels come off too soon, well, down we go!

What do you think? Tell us by leaving a comment below.

by Markus Stadelmann-Elder, originally posted on The Maytree Foundation blog “Maytree Conversations”

http://maytree.com/blog/

In a speech at the Canada@150 Conference held in Montreal on March 26-28, 2010, Sherri Torjman, Vice-President of the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, argues that Canada will face three main social challenges:

• Canada as productive society;
• Canada as caring society; and
• Canada as aging society.

From a social perspective, the productive society focuses on a learning agenda and on measures to reduce poverty and assist the unemployed. Canada as caring society is concerned with early childhood development and high-quality affordable child care. The caring society should also take action on supports for informal caregivers and the reform of health care, including investment in home care. Canada as aging society must tackle pending labour shortages and shore up the retirement income system. The aging society must be concerned as well with creating accessible communities to ensure the active participation of all citizens.

For those who hear nothing but cash registers when they hear the term “social agenda,” Sherri also presents various revenue options. These include tax reform, shifting spending from expensive late-stage interventions to preventive actions and tapping into markets that are not well recognized, such as the social economy.

Equally important is a discussion about the distribution of revenue to tackle the current fiscal imbalance among orders of governments. Provinces face high and rising costs related to health care. Municipalities throughout the country are assuming an increasingly significant social role.

While the voluntary and private sectors are active players in the social agenda, governments are vital to help alter the unequal distribution of income, goods and services in society. They are conveners of important national conversations. Governments are the primary vehicle for translating into action core ideas – and ideals.

Read Sherri’s speech “Canada at 150: The Social Agenda“.

Somebody in one of my LinkedIn HR groups posted this as discussion today and I thought I would take the opportunity to share my thoughts, not only in that forum, but on here as well.

As always, we are very interested in hearing your opinion –  share your comments (see below, at bottom of post) and we’ll post them on our blog.

Here’s my two cents:

Unfortunately, even in this day and age, some employers overlook talent because of disability or some other barrier, such as a lack of Canadian work experience.

Educated and skilled professionals are sometimes passed over simply because they lack experience in this country. Often they possess adequate business communication and interpersonal skills but never get the opportunity to demonstrate this because their resumes are dismissed immediately because they lack local experience and in some regrettable cases, because of prejudices within the individual or the organization as a whole.

I have spoken to employers (in previous roles) who have confided that they are apprehensive about hiring persons with disabilities due to concerns over potential legal issues, sick days, costs or turnover. They are surprised then when I am able to produce facts that debunk these myths and show that accommodations usually have little or no financial cost and that sick days and turnover typically go down significantly for employees with disabilities. Of course, persons with disabilities also bring a valuable and unique set of abilities to the workplace, often skills acquired as a result of adapting to and overcoming their disability.

Employers may also make the mistake of underestimating the value inexperienced youth – particularly recent graduates – can bring to the workplace, not taking into consideration the transferable skills acquired in university. The work ethic required to excel in school is a major asset to an organization, as is the experience gained in group projects (team work) and extra-curricular activities.

Persons with disabilities are largely underrepresented in Canadian workplaces, and immigrants are often underemployed – their skills underutilized. Youth in Canada currently have a higher rate of unemployment than the general population, and many turn to unpaid work to gain experience.

The good news is that these mistakes are easily corrected – a paid internship is a low-cost, risk-free and effective way to try hiring outside of the usual talent pool, and it increases the opportunity to find top-quality talent.