HRPA Annual Conference and Trade Show 2018

HRPA's 2018 Annual Conference & Trade Show is the world's second largest Human Resources conference, attracting HR and business professionals from across Canada and around the globe. This three-day event - January 31 to February 2, 2018 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building - features world-renowned keynote speakers, 130+ HR professional development sessions, networking events and more than 250 exhibitors showcasing the latest HR products and services.

PROergonomics will be an exhibitor and co-presenting at TWO talks during the conference!

"Know the Essential Duties of Your Jobs: the Why & How"

Sarah Snable, R.Kin., CCPE (PROergonomics) and Christine Gabany (City of Mississauga) will be presenting January 31, 2018 at 3:00-4:00 p.m.

What is an "essential duty"? The Ontario Human Rights Code outlines for us that candidates or employees must be able to "perform the essential duties of the job, with or without reasonable accommodations". But what does this really mean? At your workplace, what is the process for an accommodation? How are you defining or documenting the essential duties of your jobs?

Clearly defined and objective descriptions of the essential requirements of a job provides a solid and defensible foundation for providing accommodations when it comes to making decisions on hiring, accommodating current employees, as well as complying with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).

This session will provide insight on practical, objective and efficient ways that some organizations have documented essential duties of their jobs to develop and enhance their recruitment, return-to-work, and training initiatives, while also ensuring they were AODA compliant.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• Understand how essential duties are defined
• Know why you need to identify the essential duties of a job
• Anticipate the point at which essential duties should be identified and how
• Examine the benefits to your organization of identifying essential duties
• Hear strategies other organizations are using to identify and document essential duties
• Take away tips and ideas for applying a similar process yourself

"Mental Health in the Return to Work Landscape: Tools to Help You Navigate"

Jennifer McGillis, M.Sc., R.Kin., CPE (PROergonomics) and Rasul Kassam, B.Sc. O.T., O.T.Reg. ONT (City of Mississauga) will be presenting February 1, 2018 at 3:00-4:00 p.m.

In the Canadian workplace, mental health illnesses represent nearly 30% of all short- and long-term disability claims, as well as approximately $6 billion in lost productivity costs from absenteeism and presenteeism.

With greater awareness towards mental health, and changes in mental health legislation, the frequency of return to work (RTW) cases that are associated with cognitive rather than physical limitations is on the rise. How we properly address these issues is paramount to achieving successful RTW for our employees.

That being said, how can employers be better prepared to handle claims associated with mental health?

This session will review the proactive process the City of Mississauga took in completing Cognitive Demands Assessments (CDAs) for a widespread number of jobs across all departments in their organization. PROergonomics and the City of Mississauga will share first hand experiences in how they objectively completed the CDAs, as well as the multiple ways the City is using the completed CDAs in their RTW process and beyond.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• Understand what a Cognitive Demands Assessment (CDA) is
• Learn how a CDA is objectively conducted
• Examine the benefits to your organization of completing CDAs
• Hear from a large municipality on how they are using CDAs in their Return-to-Work process and beyond
• Take away tips for applying a similar process yourself