Employee lawsuits can be disastrously expensive without business insurance, especially for small businesses. Organizations can and should take steps to minimize potential losses that might stem from employee lawsuits. One of these steps might include purchasing Employment Practices Liability Insurance.

Employment Practices Liability insurance protects organizations against allegations and lawsuits by employees who claim their legal rights have been violated. EPL exposures have expanded from discrimination or harassment brought by employees to include a wide range of evolving exposures including accessibility, gender issues and disputes over performance reviews and promotion. (Sourced from Travelers Insurance)

“Employment Practices Liability WRONGFUL ACT” means any actual or alleged:

1. Wrongful termination of employment;
2. Discrimination or harassment adversely affecting any employee of or applicant for employment with the ENTITY;
3. Wrongful deprivation of career opportunity or failure t...

 Interview with Charolette Cascioli by Karina Sinclair
This interview has been edited for clarity and length. The original article can be found HERE. 

The demand for skilled workers in landscape and horticulture is higher than ever. HR consultant Charolette Cascioli joined the Landscape Ontario Podcast to explore different solutions for this growing problem — and shared her insights on attracting better candidates by broadening the prospective talent pool, the risks of ignoring company culture and how participating in ongoing training programs like those offered by LO can help strengthen the leadership skills needed to build a great team culture.  

From your perspective as a human resources professional, what do you think would help employers fill their vacant roles?

We really do need to be looking outside of our industry. That's one of the suggestions I always make to our contractors. I’ve heard some phenomenal stories of outstanding supervisors and lead hands that just came completel...

Being a landscape/snow business owner is hard. There are a million things vying for your attention, and
it’s usually the most urgent that gets it. Meanwhile, your business keeps going – but is it growing? Has it
increased in value over the last year? The truth is that most landscape business owners have no idea
what their business is worth or how it’s actually doing. They’re usually fantastic technicians, happy to be
working IN the business, but rarely ON the business. But knowing the value of your business, and
understanding the steps needed to take to increase its value are critical for the growth and health of the business. It will increase profitability now and also make your business more attractive to potential buyers – whether you’re looking at selling now or in the future.

Let’s take a look at six pillars of business and identify some best practices and tools you can implement
fairly easily to increase efficiency, productivity and profit.

SAFETY
The health and safety of your staff i...

This month we’re focusing on strategic planning. If you’ve been watching our social media at all, you know that I’ve been teaching about strategic planning at the Waterloo Chapter monthly meetings. These meetings are open to anyone, so I invite you to join us in December. For more information about the meetings, or to view the previous content that’s been presented, click HERE.

To begin our series, we’re going to focus on HR. This can feel a bit like navigating landmines, but by implementing some of the following tips and recommendations, you’ll be able to recruit and retain great employees.

1.  Implement effective recruitment and hiring practices

“Always be hiring” is advice we regularly give. Finding the right person is more important than just filling a position, so always be looking for great people. Then once you find them – or they find you – you’ll be more prepared to find a spot for them.

One of the best ways to ensure you hire well is to encourage referrals. Your current...