The Life-Changing Magic of Clearing Your Work Bulletin Board
Note: This blog has been updated to reflect the current posting requirements.
Have you read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing? I haven’t, but I will (years after it’s the hip thing to do).
For now, I’ll focus on helping employers declutter their workplace postings boards. I was recently visiting a client and saw no less than 3 versions of the Employment Standards poster on the board. HR life hack: there are no points for keeping outdated postings on the board, whether it’s in the eyes of the Ministry of Labour or of Marie Kondo.
So, it’s time to clean up that bulletin board. On January 1, 2018, the Ministry of Labour circulated a new Employment Standards Poster. Previously, this poster had to be posted “in the workplace where it is likely to come to the attention of employees”, such as in the lunch room or near where the employees enter the workplace. The public posting requirement has now been removed.
However, employers must provide a copy to each employee within 30 days of hire. If you have not been providing your recent hires with copies in the last few years, it is best to send a copy to all current employees and add it to your new-hire package for any future hires. Ministry of Labour inspectors will cite employers who have not provided the poster to their new and existing employees.
So if you’re removing the poster from your board, what do you need to ensure is posted? At a minimum, you should post the most recent versions of:
the current Occupational Health and Safety Act
the names and locations of your workplace joint health and safety committee members
As spring and the inevitable calls for spring cleaning approach, don’t forget to look at your workplace postings board and declutter it too.
