Starting in February a group of 4- 5 professional students will spend 100 hours working to improve your organization's HR practices.

Based on the project that you provide around the topics of Employment Law & Diversity Management, Industrial Relations, or Health & Safety, experienced HR professional-students will revise an existing policy or clause in your collective agreement, using a standardized template.

Through this experience, your organization will gain international perspectives on an HR challenge and you will provide recent professional immigrants something tangible that they have created in Canada to show prospective employers

Project Examples

ACCES Employment is a non-profit organization that helps internationally-educated professionals to launch their careers in Canada. In this program, experienced human resource professionals are provided Canadian workplace and academic training to allow them to transition into a full time position in the Canadian human resources sector. These human resources professionals are mentored and guided by industry leaders as well as receiving academic training from Sheridan College. For more program information please check: http://www.accesemployment.ca/human-resources-connections

As an industry partner, you can provide a human resources challenge or project for the students to work on in groups, and present their final deliverables to you. The full class works on a single or multiple projects, and you will receive all student reports to use and provide feedback on.

Based on the information your organization provides and research done by students, they will provide you with recommendations to optimize your operations, processes and overcome your unique organizational challenges.

Project Topic Areas:

1. Employment Law & Diversity Management:

• To increase participants' awareness of the strategic role that HR plays in the creation and the implementation of Employment Law policies in the workplace
• To increase participants awareness of the many issues around addressing and accommodating the various human rights of employees in the workplace
• To provide an opportunity for the participants’ to explore those issues by creating a variety of policies from a template using real world employers.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Aging employees
• Disabled employees
• Religious accommodation
• Workplace harassment
• Remote Work/Hybrid Workmodels
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

2. Health & Safety:

To increase participants' awareness of the strategic role that HR plays in the creation and the implementation of H&S policies in the workplace and to provide an opportunity for participants to revise an H&S policy using an existing template.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• COVID-19 Safety Guidelines and Protocols
• Mandatory Vaccination Policy
• AODA
• Working alone policy
• Harassment/bullying policy
• Confined space policy
• WHMIS policy

3. Industrial Relations:

• To increase participants' awareness of the strategic role that HR plays in aligning collective agreement language to create flexibility for management and compliance with provincial standards.
• To increase participants' awareness of the impact of the Collective Agreement in the workplace through an analysis of a Collective Agreement , the identification of articles(s) or letter of understanding that could be subject to renegotiation in the next round of bargaining or changed now and the preparation of proposed language.
• To provide an opportunity for participants to rewrite an article or letter of understanding in the collective agreement, ensuring clear intent and understanding.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Letter of Understanding on the topic of Workload
• Flexible Workplace Arrangements
• Overtime
• Job Promotion