Background

3,000 non-union employees across Canada, including Quebec.

Two distinct groups of employees in HR: under 30 years of age with less than 5 years of service, and over 50 with more than 20 years of service.

The VP of HR wanted HR to model efficiency to the rest of the organization. Unfortunately, there was a high degree of dysfunction within HR that drew negative attention from other departments.

Senior employees held information back, and junior employees were not getting an opportunity to grow and develop.

HR had 25 employees, and there was very little trust among them.

The Collin Baer Group created a “safe place” in bilingual focus groups where all HR employees could express their views openly about how the team, the department as a whole, and HR management could be operating, and what they needed as individuals to succeed.

We shared the feedback anonymously with all HR staff, and invited them to a follow-up plenary meeting to set the next-step priorities.

Collectively, the department identified 4 core areas to focus on: HR culture and structure, communication, succession planning/career development, and performance management.

The group was then surveyed to identify individual preferences across the 4 core areas. Respecting their individual preferences, employees were divided into 4 cross-functional teams.

Each team now “owns” a core area.

All teams present ideas to the VP of HR in open plenary discussions, and the VP of HR retains the final decision-making power.

Employees are working much more effectively together because vehicles are now in place for them to share common needs and be heard.

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