Champions Career Centre: Managing Your Duty to Accommodate Conference Champions Career Centre: My Experience with Champions Career Centre Champions Career Centre: Our Ability, Our Success, Our Story: 2012-13 Annual Report Champions Career Centre: Our Executive Director on go! Calgary Champions Career Centre: Diversity Champion: Shell Canada Champions Career Centre: Grace's Story: They Have Given Me Hope

Managing Stress in the Workplace

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

One of our community partners - Canadian Mental Health Association, Calgary - has recently launched their first e-learning module on stress management in the workplace. This brief module, designed for anyone and everyone in the workplace, will help you to better recognize stress in yourself and others and provide tangible strategies to effectively address stress in the workplace. The information can also be useful in other aspects of your life.

We highly recommend for you to take this ten minute course and to share it with your co-workers, family and friends. It is a tremendous resource and can play a great part in shifting perceptions about mental health and disability in the workplace.

Start the course by clicking on the image below.






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Managing Your Duty to Accommodate Conference

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

What: Managing Your Duty to Accommodate Conference

When: August 20-21, 2013. 

Where: Calgary, Alberta

Champions is proud to partner with INFONEX for their upcoming Managing Your Duty to Accommodate Conference this August. The conference will provide human resource and management professionals with the critical information needed to stay abreast of their ever-changing obligations. Hear from a distinguished faculty, including members of the Champions team, as well as other legal professional and industry practitioners, to get the real guidance you need to deal strategically with your most pressing accommodation issues.

Our Executive Director, Lisa Moon, will be leading a session titled Creating a Culture of Inclusion: Developing and Implementing a Disclosure Policy. She will also be joined by a member of our Board of Directors, Nicole Jelley, who will be discussing best practices on Accommodating an Aging Workforce for Greater Productivity.

More Information About the Managing Your Duty to Accommodate Conference

As an employer, you face increased pressure and costly challenges to accommodate physical, mental and stress-related disabilities, employee addiction, family responsibilities and many other issues in your workplace. Employers run into complex accommodation cases when employees fail to address their accommodation needs, deny reasonable requests for medical information, resort to self-accommodation or stay cooperative.

Get updates on the latest legal developments, rulings and guidance. Deepen your understanding of family status law and learn about a new ground where accommodation applies. Have a chance to listen to different views on the evolving law of family status accommodation from a legal expert, union representative and corporate representative in a panel discussion. Explore how you can strategically monitor your employees during the accommodation period - how to set appropriate time and policy. Understand when and how to accommodate your employee with mental illness as it can be often a convoluted and frustrating process. Maximize your ability to engage in partnership working with a union to develop an accommodation plan. Discover how you can create a wellness program for your aging workforce. Develop a greater awareness of how you can demonstrate your commitment and leadership towards accommodation to your employees. Compare the latest legal updates and rulings on disability management and how these apply to real word examples. Improve your soft skills to communicate with your employees on sensitive issues and develop your own communication framework that would fit your workplace.

Employers must stay on top of the latest legal updates and strategies to ensure the workplace is accessible and that their accommodation practices and comprehensive and legally compliant. Join us in Calgary to learn how you can best manage your duty to accommodate. 

  • Listen to expert legal guidance and updates on duty to accommodate in human rights matter
  • Understand the latest court rulings on family status accommodation and their effect on your workplace
  • Learn how to overcome frustration of contract: how employment-contract frustration and the duty to accommodate interact
  • Discover why you need to monitor your employees during their accommodation period and proven techniques for doing it right
  • Explore processes and guidance for managing complex mental health and substance issues
  • Define your legal responsibilities for accommodating employees with mental illness and their physiological states
  • Enhance your partnership working with union in the accommodation process
  • Hear about Alberta Health Services Continuum of Resources for the Workplace
  • Get guidance on accommodating an aging workforce
  • Explore why you need to place business value on successful accommodation
  • Compare the latest legal updates and real-word examples of disability cases from injury, to modified duties, to return to work
  • Develop your soft skills to communicate better with your employees on sensitive accommodation issues
Register today! Use discount code 1077-CCC-CaT to get a discounted rate as a friend of Champions. 

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My Experience with Champions Career Centre

Thursday, June 20, 2013

*This month we have been spotlighting some clients who are currently making their way through our services at Champions. Earlier this month, we told Grace's story about a young woman looking for work after she graduated from University with a degree in Engineering. This time, one of our clients has written an anonymous testimonial discussing their own thoughts on coming to Champions and using our employment services.* 

I first came into contact with Champions Career Centre in February of this year.  Prior to February, I did not know there was a job network for people with disabilities.  I think having a job network specifically for people with disabilities is a great idea.

I attended the orientation session in February somewhat wary about others knowing that I had a disability.  Through meeting others with disabilities at Champions Career Centre workshops, work with my case manager, and my work with the employment and retention specialist I am much more willing than previously to disclose my disability to a prospective employer, when appropriate.  I never would have considered this before coming to Champions Career Centre. I believe I have come to accept my own disability, and ultimately myself, more as a result of my involvement with Champions Career Centre.  I have not totally come out of the closet, so to speak, about my disability, otherwise I would be reading this to you in person. :)  However, I have recently disclosed my disability to some people reasonably close to me who did not know about my disability – I just got tired of putting on a brave face all the time – and I think we are even closer now.

With regard to the specific components of Champions Career Centre, I think everything has been very valuable – the Disclosing your disability workshop, the very important, practical information in the job search techniques workshop, information about cover letters, job interview skills, and mock job interviews.  I realized through the workshops that I was not very good at “selling myself.” Furthermore, working with my case manager and the employment and retention specialist have given me some important leads for jobs and networking and important resources and other information for alternative, yet still very appealing career paths for me. 

I do not yet have a job, partially because my job target so far has been quite specialized, but I feel in a much stronger position in general to obtain employment because of what I have learned from being involved with Champions Career Centre. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE AT CCC!!

- Anonymous Champions Client

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Our Ability, Our Success, Our Story: 2012-13 Annual Report

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

The past year has been an exciting time for Champions and our Annual Report provides a recap of the successes, challenges, and future direction for our organization. The report is titled Our Ability, Our Success, Our Story and tells the story of Champions over the last year from the perspective of our clients.

To all of our clients, partners, and supporters - thank you. We couldn't do it without you.

You can view the entire document below or download the document directly using this link.





Our Executive Director on go! Calgary

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Our Executive Director, Lisa Moon, was on go! Calgary with Phoenix last week discussing Champions and employment for persons with disabilities in our city. You can catch the video below:


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Diversity Champion: Shell Canada

Monday, June 03, 2013

Thank you to the entire HR and
Recruitment team at Shell
Canada.
This month we are pleased to recognize Shell Canada as our Diversity Champion, our ongoing monthly feature where we acknowledge forward thinking businesses and leaders who embrace inclusion and diversity in our community.

As part of their commitment to building a diverse workforce, Shell recently invited Champions to host a Diverse-Abilities event as part of an Away Day for their HR and Recruitment team. We chose to host the event at the Winter Sport Institute at Canada Olympic Park – a key training facility for Canada’s Paralympic athletes and team. The connection? That just as a disability doesn't mean you can’t be a world class athlete, it also doesn't mean you can’t be top talent for an employer.

The Away Day featured speakers from Shell and Champions, both of whom spoke about challenges and best practices for recruiting persons with disabilities, and then we moved on to interactive games and disability simulation exercises.  The enthusiasm and participation from everyone at Shell was amazing as participants eagerly took part in all of the activities. The day wrapped up with a small panel discussion where members of the Shell team were able to ask members of Champions questions surrounding disabilities, recruiting and accommodation.

Speaking with Deborah Green, Senior Diversity Recruiter at Shell, it becomes easy to see how important diversity is to the company.

“As an oil and gas hub, there is a lot of competition in Calgary. To attract diverse talent the biggest challenge is making sure our inclusion piece is in place. We can recruit all we want, but without an inclusive environment our talent could be going out the back door. We really strive hard to make sure people feel they can be themselves at work.”

Shell Canada combines education and awareness training with employee networks to build an inclusive workplace. In Calgary alone, Shell utilizes seven different employee-driven diversity networks to raise awareness and build support within the company. For their efforts, Shell Canada has been ranked in the Top 100 Employers in Canada for the last 12 years, and been listed as a Top 45 Diversity Employer for the last six.

At Champions, we have been partnering with Shell since 2006 and have provided numerous disability education and awareness sessions to their team over the years.  Thank you to everyone at Shell Canada for your commitment to diversity and repeatedly inviting us to collaborate with you.

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Grace's Story: They Have Given Me Hope

Monday, June 03, 2013

As you probably know, every month we like to feature a client in our newsletter. Usually, we try to tell their story about coming to Champions and their path to finding a job. However, when we only look at the story from the end result – finding and keeping a job – we can often lose sight of what the story may have looked like at the beginning.

We wanted to put a different spin on things this month. Rather than focus on a client who had already found a job, we wanted to showcase a client who has recently joined Champions and could talk about their journey through our services - as it was happening.

Fortunately for us, Grace was willing to share her story about how she came to Champions and what it is like to be a client looking for work.

Grace has just finished her Engineering Degree from the University of Calgary.  She came across Champions at the UofC’s Career Fair in February when she noticed a Champions poster that stated “We Help Persons with Disabilities”.  Being able to speak immediately with Andrea, our Intake Coordinator who was working at the Career Fair, Grace was able to share some of her fears and challenges about finding work once she graduated.

“I am visually impaired and I really felt as though I needed someone’s help to get my foot in the door,” says Grace, “I found it very hard to keep looking for jobs because I was so afraid of rejection.”

After just a few weeks at Champions, Grace says her eyes have been opened up to a lot of things.  She has tightened up her resume and cover letter, received tips on networking, and learned how to be better organized when doing research or looking for jobs. Prior to Champions, Grace would have never dreamed of cold calling an employer about a possible position.

But Grace has received more than just job search skills in her time at Champions.

“Every time I meet with Mat, he gives me hope. Thanks to Champions, I have confidence. I know I am well equipped and have the skills to find a good job.”

Grace is still progressing through the services at Champions, even though a sprained foot put a brief wrinkle in her plans. She has a passion for the environment and her core interest is finding work as an Environmental Engineer in the Calgary area.

We have no doubt she is going to be an invaluable addition to an organization sometime in the near future.

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