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CCCA_V3No2_Prevention-FIN.qxd:CCCA_V1No1_DriversSeat-FIN.qxd 4/28/09 11:49 AM Page 27 Feature Streamlined relations clear, or as transparent, or as concise as I wanted them to be,” he Fred Headon, senior counsel (Labour & Employment Law) with says. “So we took all these policies and procedures and we Air Canada in Dorval, Quebec, handles everything from union streamlined them.” issues (nine bargaining units within Canada alone) to occupa- FedEx cut in half its 100 policies, made the remainder avail- tional health and safety questions and human rights complaints able to all employees, online as well as posted in every station. for the company’s 23,000+ employees. In 2009, collective agree- The company also used the opportunity to re-evaluate each pol- ments (extended after the airline emerged from bankruptcy pro- icy and how it related to the company’s cultural foundation. tection) will all be up for renewal. But the potential for a union- management clash is being dimin- ished, he says, by proper planning. “We’ve been involved with the Fred Headon labour relations team, which we Senior Counsel (Labour & Employment Law) support in affirmative training — Air Canada, Dorval not only with labour relations folks, but also with the front line managers — in terms of how are we going to engage with our employees and with our unions, and trying to improve some of the relationships that in the past have become quite strained.” Today’s training and relationship building efforts will deliver great value down the road, he says. But Headon also recognizes that even with a well-trained management team, corporations still run risks if their policies offer poor or over- whelming instructions. He notes that it’s a struggle to keep up with the reams of policies necessary at Canada’s largest airline. “It’s a real challenge to get everybody to find all of the policies that they need,” says Headon. When you’re dealing with that number of employees spread over that geographic area, you can imagine the number of policies that we have. “In my day-to-day [work], operating manuals are not some- Policies to manage risk MARNIE BURKHART, JAZHART STUDIO PIERRE CHARBONNEAU problem by slashing the paper volume.“You had a hundred poli- there are still three key policies that must be in every corpora- While reducing the number of employee policies is admirable, thing I need to read. But 600 times a day, people are going to consult it as each of those flights take off. It’s a challenge, [one] where technology really has to be our best friend.” tion’s arsenal, says Ross Ellison, a senior partner in the Employment and Labour Law Group at Davis LLP inVancouver. McNamee faced a similar challenge at FedEx,and attacked the These policies relate to three high-risk moments in the employ- ee-employer relationship: during an interview, during an evalu- cies and procedures — some were short, some were long, and they hadn’t been updated for a number of years.They weren’t as ation, and at termination. ÉTÉ 2009 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association 27