Have you received this letter yet? 

Companies all across Ontario are getting a big wake-up call from the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment when it comes to AODA compliance. The realization that this isn't something that can just be dismissed is beginning to sink in.

Upon receiving this letter from the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario, companies must file their accessibility report within 20 business days. Failure to do so may result in enforcement action being taken against your organization, which can include inspections, Director's Orders, and administrative monetary policies. 

Before filing your report, it's important that you fully understand the purpose of AODA and what it means to comply with the requirements of the Accessibility Standard for Customer Service. 

What is the AODA?

​AODA legislation aims to make the province of Ontario fully accessible for people with disabilities by 2025. Passed in 2005, the AODA is being implemented in five pieces known as standards. Each standard has different time frames and requirements for business owners:

1. Customer Service Standard
2. Transportation Standard
3. Employment Standard
4. Communication & Information Standard
5. Built Environment Standard

Customer Service Standard

The Customer Service Standard is the first of the five standards - and perhaps the least onerous for business. It requires that Ontario businesses provide their goods and services in a way that is accessible to all Ontarians. There are 11 specific requirements employers must fulfill.

Have you met the standards?

If you have 20 or more employees, you were required to file your Customer Service Accessibility Compliance Report back in December 2012 to inform the Ministry that you have met the requirements of the Customer Service Standard. The Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment has now started to crack down on employers that failed to get this done. Haven't filed the report yet? It's time to step up!

It's time to file that report!

The purpose of the Accessibility Compliance Report is to demonstrate that you have met the requirements of the Customer Service Standard. These include establishing policies, practices, and procedures on providing goods or services to people with disabilities and training your staff on providing accessible customer service.

Clear Path Employer Services offers an AODA DIY Package designed to make compliance as easy as possible for your company. In this package you will receive:

• Workplace Accessibility Tool
• Employee Feedback Survey
• Customizable Policy Statement
• PowerPoint Presentation for Training Employees
• Employee Training Sign-Off Template
• Feedback Process Samples
• One Hour of Telephone or Email Support 

For more information, or to place your order, please visit: www.clearpathemployer.com/aoda-diy-package

LinkedIn Today recently launched a new series called “How I Hire” which enlists top influencers to share insights into hiring the right people. With almost 100 different articles (and counting), this series provides HR professionals with an insider look into the minds of some of the most influential people in business today and how they make decisions around hiring. This blog will highlight the top 10 articles that have generated the most buzz online.

Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group, suggests that the first thing you should look for when searching for a great employee is somebody with a personality that fits with your company culture. “Most skills can be learned, but it is difficult to train people on their personality. If you can find people who are fun, friendly, caring and love helping others, you are on to a winner.” Read the full article here. 

This next idea was posed by Jack Welch, Founder of Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University. He argues that hiring is a discipline that improves with time and practice – but only if you deploy a very specific (and unbending) qualifications check-list. “It contains two flat-out must-haves (high integrity and IQ), five qualities that are definitely-should-haves (energy, ability to energize, edge, execution, and passion), and one very special quality that, while not exactly commonplace, is a total game-changer (the generosity gene).”  
Read the full article here.

Next up is Beth Comstock, CMO at GE. She takes the romanticism out of the idea of the lone genius and pushes the idea that lasting success is built by teams that drive each other through collaboration, different skill sets and tension. There are four different types of people she looks for when hiring: 1) The fish out of water, 2) Someone who can FIO (Figure It Out), 3) Candidates with design training, and 4) The well-balanced player. Read the full article here.

Lex Fenwick, CEO of Dow Jones, challenges the notion that it’s all about the resume and instead looks to shift the focus to the person behind that piece of paper. He claims that the “good on paper” candidate is rarely the right fit for the job, company, or management style. His advice? “Start with the person. Find great talent first, hire them, and then put them into a job where you think they’ll thrive.” Read the full article here.

In the mind of Paul Sagoo, CEO of Lemon Group International, life experience trumps formal qualifications. To cut above the lies in the interview process, Sagoo suggests creating real world scenarios and asking the candidate to respond to you as if it were a live situation. If they respond positively, you have a potential positive hire. “For example, if you are interviewing a sales person, pick up a pen and ask them to sell it to you. The point here is not about them selling a pen, but about seeing how they react to pressure, the questions they ask you in return, and more importantly how they can increase the value of such a simple object.” Read the full article here.

Mark Hull, Director of Product Management at LinkedIn, says he can usually tell how an interview will turn out within the first five minutes. He opens with two questions: “Tell me about your dream job” and “Describe an amazing user experience”. The idea is that these questions give the candidates a chance to demonstrate their motivation and personality – answers that require more than the canned “tell me about yourself” response. Read the full article here.

J.T. O’Donnell, Founder and CEO of CAREEREALISM.com, stopped asking for resumes a long time ago. Instead, she poses three questions and has people submit their answers along with a link to their LinkedIn profile. The idea behind this is that the application process becomes a form of “pre-interview” and provides valuable hiring information within the first interaction with a potential hire. Read the full article here.

Say goodbye to traditional interview questions. Deepak Chopra, Founder of the Chopra Foundation, has put together a set of questions to create a “Soul Profile” for potential candidates. Questions include: What is your life purpose? What are the qualities you look for in a good friendship? What makes you joyful? By asking questions like these, you avoid the problem of focusing only on professional skills – something that can lead to problems when it comes to organizational and cultural fit. Read the full article here.

Lesley Seymour, Editor in Chief of More Magazine, urges employers not to dismiss the generation of millennials – just take some hiring and management precautions. She recommends 6 steps to help weed out the duds and find the eager hard-chargers who will stick around, build your business, and make you look good: 1) Be brutally honest in the interview, 2) Don’t hire them if you sense even a whiff of entitlement, 3) Do a hunger check. 4) Remember, everyone announces themselves in the interview, 5) Shake ‘em up a bit, and 6) When you find the good ones, help them move up – even if that means losing them. Read the full article here.

Sam Shank, CEO and Co-Founder at HotelTonight, and his team have developed a list of clear dealbreakers to help streamline the hiring process. Stay away from hiring the following people: the one who hasn’t used your product the one with the typo, the one with the out-of-date LinkedIn profile, the one who’s inappropriate on Twitter, and the one who isn’t motivated to do great things. Read the full article here.

Anna Aceto-Guerin, Founder of Clear Path Employer Services, believes it’s time to go beyond the traditional application process of submitting a resume. By introducing obstacles in the early stages of the hiring process, it quickly becomes apparent which applicants are willing to go the extra mile. For example, in addition to sending in a cover letter and resume, get applicants to answer a set of questions by phoning into the company and leaving a voice-mail message. It’s amazing how this one extra step will deter many from applying to the position! Not only does this obstacle act as a filter for incoming candidates, it also provides you with valuable hiring information –   especially if the role requires a high level of interaction over the phone. 

It’s clear that many companies are looking outside of the box when it comes to the hiring process – asking more unusual questions, focusing in on different aspects of the candidate, and placing a stronger emphasis on cultural fit. There are almost 100 different articles in the “How I Hire” series that seek to break down these hiring barriers and share insight from years of experience with the wider HR community. 

Click here for a full listing of the “How I Hire” series.

Looking for practical recruiting tips and strategies? Clear Path Employer Services offers a full-day workshop that provides you with a proactive approach to recruiting, valuable insight into best practices for effective onboarding and hiring the right people, and strategies for handling terminations in a way that is best for your company and employee. Our next workshop is November 6th in Cambridge. Register here.