 Doug Aitkenhead, Assistant Superintendent  Human
Resource Management deals constantly with personal issues that are
confidential and/or sensitive in nature. From staff development
and good hiring practices to employee absences, grievances and disciplinary
response, Human Resource Services covers the gamut of human relation
issues. Issues as complex as employee assistance programs, retirement
planning, benefits management and contract negotiations and management,
production and distribution of payroll as well as handling the business
of data management for our 3000 plus employees comprise the major
portion of the staff time we have to dedicate to Human Resource
Management. As employee costs consume approximately 80% of Edmonton
Catholic School District's total budget, the effective management
of this primary resource is imperative to the development of a successful
organization.
 Our
major areas of responsibility within Human Resource Services are
divided into three components: Employee Relations, Employee Services
and Staffing. Below we have listed for you a sampling of theses
functions carried out by the staff in the Human Resource Services
Department.
 Employee Relations
Employee Relations is responsible for a number of functions including
labour and employee relations, human rights, performance management
and harassment. Representatives participate in collective bargaining
with all employee groups of the district. In addition, advice is
provided regarding the interpretation and application of the various
collective agreements. This area is also responsible for ensuring
legislative compliance, investigating harassment complaints, as
well as ensuring supervisors and employees are familiar with their
rights and responsibilities.
Positive working relationships with the district's various unions
and associations are integral to the success of our organization.
Participation on liaison committees in order to develop and maintain
effective communication and positive working relationships with
these employee groups is another important function. We also work
with supervisors and employees to facilitate resolution to work
place issues.
Also included in the Employee Relations area are benefits and pensions.
Employee Benefits
District benefits are designed to attract potential candidates to
our district and assist in retaining our employees.
Employees are entitled to a variety of benefits including extended
health, dental, vision and extended disability benefits, life insurance
and accidental death and dismemberment. The details of these benefits
may vary by employee group and status.
Employees can access benefit information on the Health Benefit
section of the Human
Resource Services website 
by reviewing their respective collective agreements or Out of Scope
terms and conditions of employment booklet, or by contacting the
Benefits Facilitator. More detailed benefit information can be
obtained from the Alberta
School Employees' Benefits Plan (ASEBP) website or
the Alberta
Blue Cross website .
Alberta Health Care
information can be obtained by visiting their website.
Pension
Employees may be eligible to participate in the appropriate pension
plan. Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), Edmonton
Catholic Support Staff Association (ECSSA), and Out of Scope
employees participate in the Local
Authorities Pension Plan (LAPP)
. Teachers
and Administrators participate in the Alberta
Teachers' Retirement Fund (ATRF) .
For more information about our district pension plans visit
the
Human Resources
website .
Pre-Retirement Seminars
Pre-retirement seminars are offered twice yearly to all employees
and are co-sponsored by all employee unions and associations. Look
for announcements in the Human Resource Services newsletter - Reaching
Out for dates of the next offering of these worthwhile seminars.
Employee Services
The Employee Services area of Human Resource Services is responsible
for numerous functions which provide support to all of our employees.
The major components of our work are organized and administered
under the following categories:
Employee Health Services
Employee Health Services (EHS) assists employees who have either
a work-related or non-work-related injury or illness. We believe
that an employee's return to productive work is both physically
and psychologically important. The organization and the individual
benefit during the transition back to full, productive activity.
EHS is based on relationships and is founded on trust and mutual
respect by and for all stakeholders. EHS supports the mission of
Edmonton Catholic Schools by providing practical,professional, and
comprehensive services to ill or injured employees. EHS also provides
assistance with referrals, case management, planning for return
to work and considering possible need for work accommodation. This
area looks at individuals from the perspective of addressing the
needs of the whole person and respecting the self-worth and dignity
of each person.
Human Resource Information and Payroll System
This Human Resource Services area maintains in electronic format,
all aspects of each employee's demographics, location, levels, pay
rates, etc. All aspects of the payroll function are also found in
Employee Services. Those who work with the Human Resource Information
System (PeopleSoft) besides inputting, maintaining and running all
the employee and district information and business processes, also
develop and maintain the electronic staffing processes that support
the annual staffing cycle in the spring as well as on-going support
staff staffing.
Human Resource Services is moving forward the implementation of
the Self Service component of PeopleSoft.
This allows individual employees access to personal demographic
information and information normally found on their pay stub. It
also provides to the employee the ability to make changes to some
of their personal data. The district is moving towards elimination
of the printed pay information since it will be available on-line
and printable by all employees.
Staff Replacement, Attendance Management, Leaves and Salary
Verifications
This area assists staff and principals/supervisors in assuring the
accuracy of attendance records at all sites. The replacement of
staff when they are absent is facilitated using AESOP
, the major
program utilized for implementation and support of this function.
Substitute rosters are maintained for teachers and special needs
teacher assistants. All records created in AESOP are then transferred
in PeopleSoft for history, entitlements and payroll purposes.
The responsibilities of this area also extend to the processing
and approval of employee requests for maternity, personal, secondment
and other leaves. All requests for salary verifications are processed
through Employee Services.
Occupational Health and Safety
The district has re-staffed this position after a 20 month hiatus.
The focus of this position is to design, develop and implement the
Edmonton Catholic Schools' occupational health and safety program.
This is to include strategic analysis and communications, identifying
training requirements, inspecting buildings as needed and assessing
potential health and safety risks, then recommending and implementing
corrective action to demonstrate due diligence and to protect employees
and students.
Other functions falling within Employee Services include recruitment,
selection and placement of staff in the district's French
Immersion Program; representing the Human Resource Services
Department in administrative recruitment and selection in support
of Leadership Services and the monitoring and updating of Human
Resource Services policies and procedures on an ongoing basis.
Staffing
This area of Human Resource Services deals with the recruitment,
interviewing, selection and orientation of all employees to the
district. Representatives attend job fairs at the University
of Alberta
(Education Fair and St. Joseph College), the University
of Saskatchewan ,
the University of Regina ,
Grant MacEwan Community College
as well as Concordia
and the Faculté St. Jean .
In addition, staffing creates and maintains human resource information
on all employees. This information is maintained in both electronic
and paper formats. While the electronic format is becoming more
prevalent, paper files are still required to facilitate employee
access.
All recruitment, selection and placement of staff is facilitated
through our website and pertinent data stored for future use. Information
entered into the system is stored for future use and therefore eliminates
the necessity of re-entry.
The mobility of staff in Edmonton Catholic Schools is further facilitated
during the primary staffing cycle which occurs yearly in the spring.
Compensation
Through the Compensation Specialist the following tasks will be
performed: develop compensation design and implementation process;
lead projects for the design of job descriptions for all positions
with ECS through job analysis, documentation and evaluation; conduct
financial and statistical analysis regarding the above and provide
support and conduct workshops/in-services within the district; facilitate
the sizing of jobs and advise supervisors in the development of
new and review of existing positions; monitor and review current
performance appraisal systems and make recommendations re: the implementation
of an appropriate system for Edmonton Catholic School District.
This position is also responsible for the design of surveys, including
the design, compilation and analysis of market surveys.
Staff Development
The Staff Development Officer is responsible for coordinating, facilitating,
identifying and providing effective programs, procedures and support
services in order to continually develop staff as a critical resource
to Edmonton Catholic Schools. Responsibilities include the development,
refinement and maintenance of best practice standards in the area
of staff development for certified staff and in non-curricular related
areas for certificated staff (i.e. Harassment, Conflict Resolution,
Occupational Health & Safety etc). In addition, this position will
facilitate district-wide staff development initiatives for the previously
mentioned groups by providing support to several existing and new
programs.
Inspired Beginnings Program
This new program is a continuation and enhancement to the formerly
known Summer Institute Program. The principal and consultant of
this position will be primarily responsible to work with first year
teachers as they begin their career. The goal of the Program is
to provide our beginning teachers the necessary tools, support,
and resources so that they can have a most successful first year.
For a more detailed overview of the Human Resources Services Department
in Edmonton Catholic District, please visit the Human
Resources website .
|
