3 ms·
A few clarifications: Canada is generally a country where the concept of "employment at will" does not exist. You want to fire someone? You need to pay severan
by suziedw 19y ago
A few clarifications: Canada is generally a country where the concept of "employment at will" does not exist. You want to fire someone? You need to pay severance. We also have human rights legislation that can add to what you must pay if you fire someone who is older, pregnant or has one of a wide range of conditions that can be deemed a disability (drug addiction, alcoholism, depression). There are penalties payable for toxic work places or for firing in a particularly harsh manner. These are many reasons why employers based in the US tend to dislike Canadian employment laws - if you hire the wrong person, you have to pay to get rid of them.
Onto the stickiness issue - you're generally right - there is great R&D talent in Ottawa, for example, but very few superstar tech companies at the moment. If you are like most R&D talent and attracted by the quality of work, you're pretty sticky.
A related point - thanks to the limited number ofwork Visas to the US, we've become a naturally sticky country for near-shoring talent from India, etc that cannot get a permit to work in the valley. Sticky by geography works for us, too.
- joshwa 19y agoBoy, that sure sounds nice! Wish I could have applied some of those laws to my last employer...
- davidw 19y agoIt's really a double edged sword with some unintended consequences. Italy has similar (probably stronger) laws. One of the results is that most employers are very, very wary of hiring women of childbearing age.
- herdrick 19y agoWhen an employment relationship is a bigger commitment, employers are much more hesitant to hire.
- dean 19y agoMy impression is that what you say about firing someone is true for employees of the government or very large companies. But not really for medium or small companies. And certainly not for startups. And I suspect the U.S. government has similar policies and legislation in place for federal government workers.
- suziedw 19y agoProvincial employment standards legislation, human rights codes and case law make what I am saying actual law, not just impressions, True for all employers, including startups.
- dean 19y agoYou give the impression that it's impossible to fire someone in Canada. It's not. Even if someone is actually fired because they are alcoholic or older or pregnant, it's very hard to prove, whether it's against the law or not.
- suziedw 19y agoThat's not what I said. If you fire someone, you need to pay severance. Severance is set by statute and case law, and is more - sometimes significantly more - than American employers are used to. If any of the other conditions or circumstnaces are also part of the situation, you could be paying damages, too.
- run4yourlives 19y agoSuzie is basically correct. The only way you can truly "fire" someone in Canada is by demonstrating "just cause". (eg. they steal from you, continual - documented - bad performance etc. etc) Now, it is always possible to render the relationship with the employee null and void by just stating that their services are no longer required and paying them the appropriate severance money. As an employer, you're also required to give two week's notice, but most give pay in lieu. Severance basically works out to 1 week's pay per year of service on top of that. Most employers will give a little extra to stay out of legal tussles.