Human Resource Services

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 .