Changes to Ontario’s Mandatory Retirement Laws Increase Importance of Strategic Systems Approach

Under Ontario’s new laws, dismissing older employees - even if their performance is not acceptable - will become much more difficult, particularly if there is no documented history of performance appraisals.

Employment lawyers and Human Resource experts agree that employers can no longer ignore the need for on-going Performance Management processes.

Performance management systems have become more prevalent, more user-friendly and more sophisticated over the past few years. Yet while most senior managers agree on the need for ongoing performance management, many firms still have not adopted formalized processes. The new retirement laws may change that.

One solution available on the North American market is Optimizer, a leading-edge on-line management tool offered by Waterloo-based Empresit Inc. Empresit is a niche consulting firm that specializes in Workforce Performance Management and offers a strategic approach for employers concerned with the implications of the new laws.

“Perhaps the silver lining for employers is that, through the process of reviewing and updating this management tool, they may learn the value of Performance Management as a dynamic process, instead of considering performance reviews a dreaded HR requirement,” says Charlie Dingwall, President of Empresit. ( www.empresit.com ) “The process is not intended to target older employees; it provides fair and equitable assessment of everyone on the payroll. But it is common knowledge in today’s business climate that, if an under-performing employee is nearing mandatory retirement, management will often ride out the few remaining years rather let the employee go. The new legislation takes away that option.”

Optimizer will address this pressing new performance management issue while also supporting critical management decisions and improving corporate performance by:
· Establishing historical documentation of all employees’ performance.
· Helping organizations manage employee contributions to the strategic plan.
· Helping to manage employee development plans.
· Building a powerful central database of performance information to support management functions such as hiring and firing, succession planning, team building and compensation planning.