📊 Treating Culture Like a Business Metric, Not a Buzzword

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📜 HR Trends: Remote Terminations Require Careful Handling Under Canadian Law

As remote work arrangements become permanent, Canadian employers face new legal questions when ending employment. According to employment lawyers, remote terminations carry added risk due to jurisdictional and procedural complexities. For instance, an employee working from a different province or country may be subject to a different set of employment laws than the location of the company’s headquarters.

Legal experts stress the importance of clearly worded employment agreements that specify applicable laws, termination clauses, and expectations for remote work. Without these, disputes may arise over severance obligations or procedural fairness. Read more.

🎧 HR Insights - Treating Culture Like a Business Metric, Not a Buzzword

Culture is often discussed in boardrooms but rarely treated as a measurable asset. In this podcast episode, Charlie Sull—co-founder of CultureX and a contributor to MIT Sloan Management Review—argues that culture should be managed with the same seriousness as finance or operations. Drawing from one of the world’s largest datasets on corporate culture, Sull explains how negative behaviours in the workplace often appear long before a public crisis. Poor communication, exclusion, or internal power struggles leave early signals. Yet, many companies miss them because they treat culture as a values checklist instead of a living system.

💡 HR Tips & Tricks

Tip of the Day: Rotate HR business partners across departments every six months to improve cross-functional awareness and spot early cultural issues. This rotation strengthens HR’s position as a strategic partner and gives fresh insight into department-specific concerns.

Trick of the Day: Use sentiment analysis software on anonymized internal communications (like company chat or survey comments) to detect tone shifts. Early warnings of stress, disengagement, or confusion can help HR teams act before problems escalate.

🧾 HR Case Files - Network Rail’s Talent Track: A Fresh Approach to Attracting New Hires

Network Rail is rethinking how it recruits talent. Known for its structured and risk-aware environment, the company recognized that its rigid hiring processes were not appealing to the next generation of workers. The result was a new employer brand strategy focused on inclusion, purpose, and human connection.

Internally, Network Rail revamped onboarding to feel more personal. New hires receive dedicated mentors, pre-start check-ins, and interactive training that reflects the company’s people-first values. These changes have not only improved early retention but also strengthened the organization’s reputation as a modern employer.

Key Takeaways

• A clear employer brand can help traditional organizations compete for new talent.

• Inclusive messaging and mentorship improve onboarding outcomes.

• HR and marketing partnerships bring stronger results in talent campaigns.

🧰 HR Toolbox

Stay equipped with the latest HR events and resources.

Resource of the Day

A growing number of HR leaders are turning to evidence-based practices to guide people decisions. This means using research, organizational data, and practitioner expertise to drive HR policies rather than relying on gut feel or trends.

Evidence-based HR emphasizes continuous testing and iteration. For example, rather than rolling out a new engagement initiative based on a popular idea, teams collect baseline data, pilot the solution in one unit, and compare results. Only after clear benefits are shown is the program scaled up.

Event of the Day

Set to take place on November 3-4, HRXchange 2025 will bring together thought leaders, policy makers, and HR professionals to explore the next era of work in Canada. Topics on the agenda include AI regulation, talent migration, remote work law, and re-skilling.

For event details and registration, visit the website. 

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