Leadership | Family gestures | The Press

Every week, The Press presents advice, anecdotes and reflections for leaders, entrepreneurs and managers.

Isabelle Masse
The Press

DIVERSITY

New bank of candidates

Concertation Montréal’s Bank of Diversity Candidates is getting a makeover. Created in 2018 with the aim of pairing people from diverse backgrounds (women, ethnocultural minorities, LGBTQ+, etc.) with company boards of directors, it allows for improved registration on a new website. One person is now dedicated to the Bank. Since 2018, 350 people have registered for 117 successful links. “We are aiming for 500 registrations by the end of 2022,” says Mona-Lisa Prosper, the Bank’s ambassador. Registration is free, both for candidates and for companies, currently mainly NPOs from various backgrounds. “To meet the needs of society, you have to cover all the blind spots,” says Mona-Lisa Prosper. With too homogeneous a vision, we miss opportunities. Diversity has great value. It brings creativity and performance. »

GESTURE

Project for the family

Osedea’s 65 employees now have access to significant financial assistance for their plans to start a family. The tech company (which has offices in Montreal, Nantes and London), whose average employee age is 29, reimburses up to 80% of the $20,000 often needed to undergo a fertility program or international adoption. It also increases parental leave to 12 weeks paid at 100%. “I am pregnant, so I would like my spouse to be present in the first year of our child’s life, says Ivana Markovic, partner and director, culture and talent, of Osedea. In addition, many people around me and around President Martin Lacombe, who has three children, have fertility problems. Others are members of the LGBTQ+ community and want children. We want the family journey to be inclusive. Every year, Osedea management sits down with its employees to find out how to improve its programs. The youngest, called “Un+ pour la famille”, could cost $100,000 a year, the SME estimated. “In our predominantly male industry, this program motivates men to take time for their children,” says Ivana Markovic. I see my job as a research and development function. We should not favor a rigid program. You have to probe and understand what people need to evolve and adapt. »

THE QUOTE

(Source: Entrepreneur.com)

THE NUMBER

31%

That’s the percentage reduction in Loblaw’s carbon footprint from 2011 to 2021. A goal the retailer set for 2030. By 2040, Loblaw’s mission is to achieve “Zero net issue”. According to its 2021 ESG Report, the company has reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill by 86% since 2017 and eliminated 14 billion plastic bags from its stores since 2007.

THE THING

Out of sight, out of full pay

London-based law firm Stephenson Harwood is not against working from home. But it has decided that its employees who will stay at home full-time after the pandemic will have a salary cut by 20%. “Like other London law firms, we see the increased value of all meeting together regularly in the office,” said a spokesperson for the firm, which nevertheless allows hybrid working, quoted by CNBC. Employees living away from the office are already subject to lower pay. In addition, calculations show that those who remain in telework will not be so losers, because of travel costs (fares for trains in London increased by 3.8% in March) and expenses for dinners at the restaurant. (5.9% increase for food and non-alcoholic beverages).

(Source: CNBC)

THE RECORD

Over 84 years of seniority

Who will break this longevity record? Walter Orthmann saw his name inscribed in the Guinness Book of Records as the person who has remained the longest employee of the same company, being 84 years and 9 months, at the time of registration. He joined ReneauxView in Brazil in 1938 as a delivery clerk and rose through the ranks to sales manager. The one who celebrated this record in particular with his colleagues was 15 when he started working to help his family, being the eldest of five children. The best advice he can give: find yourself with a good employer and do something you are passionate about. “When you love what you do, he said, you don’t see the time passing. »

(Source : Business Insider)