Contents:

• Welcome
• What's New
• GrandMaster Update

Welcome!

October 2005 - Welcome to the latest edition of The Payroll News. As always, please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and associates who are interested in keeping up with the latest changes in the Payroll industry. Or better yet, subscribe them for free using the Tell Others About Us link.

Listed here are recent changes in legislation on Federal and Provincial levels that may impact your payroll calculations. Please view the following list for changes that affect your region.

FEDERAL:

September 5, 2005 - Employment Insurance (EI) and Quebec Parental Insurance Plan - The payment of maternity and parental benefits falls under the responsibility of the federal Employment Insurance program for all of Canada. In Quebec, that will change starting January 1, 2006, when the payment of benefits related to a birth or adoption of a child will become the responsibility of the provincial Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity, through the new Quebec Parental Insurance Plan. (Full Story)

September 3, 2005 - FAQ on EI Maternity and Parental Benefits in Opposition to the QPIP - The CRA has posted a detailed FAQ web page that provides a series of questions and answers related to Employment Insurance (EI) maternity and parental benefits in opposition to the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan for the transition period. Click on the following link below to view this useful information. (Full Story)

September 3, 2005 - Labour Force Survey for September 2005 - Employment was unchanged in September, leaving total gains during the third quarter at 31,000 (+0.2%). This was lower than the second quarter job growth of 0.5% (+79,000). The unemployment rate remained among the lowest in almost three decades, edging down 0.1 percentage points in September to 6.7%. (Full Story)

September 2, 2005 - Canada Revenue Agency interest rates for the fourth calendar quarter - The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) today announced the prescribed annual interest rates that will apply to any amounts owed to the CRA and to any amounts the CRA owes to individuals and corporations. These rates are calculated quarterly in accordance with applicable legislation and will be in effect from October1, 2005, to December 31, 2005. (Full Story)

September 2005 - New Grants and Contributions Program - The HRSDC's Labour Branch is now accepting applications for grants and contributions under its International Trade and Labour Program (ITLP). Proposals for labour capacity-building projects in the Americas and for social dialogue projects in Canada will be considered. (Full Story)

September 9, 2005 - Longitudinal Employment Analysis Program - The 2003 Longitudinal Employment Analysis Program (LEAP) file is now available. This updated database contains longitudinal employment and payrolldata from 1991 to 2003. It has now been converted to the North American Industry Classification System 2002. This database contains information on payroll, employment, firm counts, size of business, province and industry. It allows users to study firm and employment dynamics including firm and job creation and destruction. (Full Story)

October 2005- Maximum Insurable Earnings for 2006 - The Chief Actuary of the HRSDC has released Section 4 of the Employment Insurance Act. This section provides the formula for calculating the maximum insurable earnings for the years 2002 and thereafter and now includes the results of these calculations for the year 2006. (Full Story)

Alberta:

September 28, 2005 - Survey confirms increases in Alberta wages and skill shortages - Wages and worker shortages continue to climb in Alberta, reports the 2005Alberta Wage and Salary Survey. Conducted every two years, the survey shows an overall average wage increase of nine per cent from $19.68 per hour in 2003 to $21.39 per hour in 2005. The percentage of employers who reported difficulties in finding workers rose from 52 per cent to 56 per cent from 2003 to 2005. (Full Story)

October 4, 2005 - Alberta looks to immigrants to fill skill shortages - A new Alberta policy to attract and retain immigrants will help address skill shortages and support the successful transition of immigrants into Alberta's economic, social and cultural life. The province aims to increase the number of immigrants to Alberta by working to improve the processing time for foreign-credential recognition and offering more training to address skill gaps and enhance language training. (Full Story)

British Columbia:

September 13, 2005 - November 2005Public Hearing Details - The Board of Directors, at their September 13, 2005meeting, approved the release of proposed amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation to a public hearing. The public hearing will provide stakeholders with another opportunity to comment on the proposed regulatory amendments. Feedback on the proposed regulatory amendments received during the public hearing will be presented to the Board of Directors for their consideration. (Full Story)

September 26, 2005 - School-Age Young Workers Impacted Badly By BC Liberals Lowered Standards - A new study that surveyed public school students raises concerns that BC's employment regulations are leaving children and youth without adequate protections in the workplace. "For many young people, paid work is a positive experience," says Stephen McBride, lead author of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study and a Professor of Political Science at Simon Fraser University. "But the survey responses indicate that in many cases, the regulations employers and parents are supposed to follow when hiring young workers are being ignored." (Full Story)

September 2005 - New Issue of Access Now Available Online - The September issue of Access is now available on the WorkSafeBC (WCB) website. This newsletter updates employers on new WorkSafeBC services, policies, programs, and events. September's topics include: Streamlining the process; New lobby more accessible; Help fight fraud; Partners in road safety; Together we can make a difference; NAOSHWeek 2005winners.. (Full Story)

Manitoba:

September 12, 2005 - WCB Modifies Rate Setting Model - The Board of Directors of the Workers Compensation Board has approved modifications to its rate setting model to improve employer accountability for injury cost experience, ensuring that employers who cost the compensation system more pay more and those who cost it less, pay less. The approved changes will result in higher assessment rates for some firms who incur significant injury costs compared to other firms in their industry group. (Full Story)

September 6, 2005 - Province promotes part-time work programs for post-secondary students - The Manitoba government has committed $200,000 for three programs to provide part-time work opportunities for postsecondary students during the school year, Education, Citizenship and Youth Minister Peter Bjornson announced today. The Manitoba Mentorships, Youth Serves Manitoba and Part-time STEP programs were launched in September 1998 and have assisted more than 3,200 students over the past seven years. (Full Story)

October 11, 2005 - WCB and WSHD Working to Reverse Spike in Construction Sector Injuries - The Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba (WCB) and the Government of Manitoba's Workplace Safety and Health Division (WSHD) are taking action to respond to a spike in the number of workplace injuries in Manitoba's construction industry. (Full Story)

October 14, 2005 - Small business to benefit from mentorship program and gateway website- Manitoba entrepreneurs will have a unique opportunity to get assistance from BizCoach Manitoba, a new business mentoring program announced today by Industry, Economic Development and Mines Minister Jim Rondeau. BizCoach Manitoba, an arms-length non-profit organization, will accelerate business learning by teaming new and existing businesses with experienced mentors. The program will facilitate discussion about the many facets of business including financial management, business startup, business growth, sales, human resource management, financial management and business networking. (Full Story)

New Brunswick:

September 9, 2005 - N.B.'s monthly unemployment rate stays in single digits for full year - New Brunswick's seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment rate remained in single digits for a full year as of August, during which month it stood at 9.6 per cent, Training and Employment Development Minister Margaret-Ann Blaney reported today. "This is quite a significant anniversary to see our monthly unemployment rate remain in single digits over the last 12 months," Blaney said. "It was also encouraging that the unemployment rate was down from 10.1 per cent from the same time last year." (Full Story)

September 22, 2005- More than 3,000 New Brunswickers assisted under JOB Start Strategy - More than 3,000 New Brunswickers have been assisted through the JOB Start Strategy since it was launched more than two and a half years ago. To date, JOB Start has assisted 2,519 postsecondary students through its retention and recruitment initiatives. Additionally, under the repatriation component, 550 former New Brunswickers have returned to work in the province as a result of finding employment through the Virtual Career Fairs and NBJobs.ca. This is nearly double the three-year repatriation goal of 300. (Full Story)

September 22, 2005- Labour statistics released for September - A downturn in the manufacturing sector and higher energy prices contributed to a slight short-term increase in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in New Brunswick last month. Statistics Canada reported that the New Brunswick seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for September stood at 10.4 per cent, which was up from 9.7 per cent from the same month last year. Other figures released today by Statistics Canada indicated there were 347,300 employed last month and the labour force stood at 387,600 in September. (Full Story)

Newfoundland and Labrador:

Employment and Training Info-Guide - The Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Business Service Network offers an Info-Guide designed to help you navigate through the different government programs, services and regulations which deal with employment and training. This blended product of both federal and provincial information is developed to answer a growing demand for strategic information by business people. (Full Story)

Northwest Territories:

September 27, 2005 - WCB Announces Changes to Assessment Rate Calculations - The Workers' Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut is changing the way it calculates assessment rates. Effective January 1, 2006, the WCB will begin calculating assessment rates based on the past five years of claims experience of a subclass. Although the total amount of assessments collected by the Board will stay the same, Industries with favourable trends in claims experience will tend to see a decrease in their industry, while industries with unfavourable trends will see an increase in rates. (Full Story)

October 7, 2005 - WCB Announces 2006 Assessment Rates - The Workers' Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut has announced the average assessment rate for 2006 will not change and will remain $1.87 per $100 of assessable payroll. There has been an increase to the Year’s Maximum Insurable Remuneration (YMIR) from $66,500 to $67,500. (Full Story)

Nova Scotia:

September 9, 2005 - Nova Scotia's Unemployment Rate Dips Below Canada's - Nova Scotia's unemployment rate has dropped below the Canadian average for the first time in recent history. Year-over-year comparisons released by Statistics Canada today, Sept. 9, show Nova Scotia's August unemployment rate has gone down to a historic low of 6.9 percent, compared to a 7.1 per cent average for Canada. The unemployment numbers for Nova Scotia have not been as low since Statistics Canada started collecting and publishing comparable national data in 1976. (Full Story)

October 7, 2005 - Government to Reimburse Employees for Pension Overpayment - The province of Nova Scotia will reimburse a small group of government employees who paid too much to buy back pensionable employment time. "The review has helped us clarify the interpretation of pension regulations," said Kim Blinn, director of pensions. "Refunds, including interest, will be made to all affected plan members since 2002 who may have paid too much to buy back pension time." (Full Story)

October 2005- Chronic Pain Update - The WCB of Nova Scotia is committed to providing regular updates about their progress with chronic pain claims. Each month, they provide updates on their website and on their toll free recorded phone message
(1-866-365-4400). They appreciate your patience as they continue to work through chronic pain claims. Their goal is to complete this work as quickly as possible. (Full Story)

Ontario:

October 1, 2005 - WSIB Announces 2006 Premium Rates - The 2006 average premium rate for Schedule 1 employers is $2.26 for every $100 of insurable earnings, an increase of 3 per cent over the average rate for 2005. This 3 per cent average rate increase does not mean rates will increase for all employers. Premium rates for individual rate groups have been recalculated based primarily on injury frequency and claims costs for individual rate groups. The annual maximum earnings ceiling for 2006 is $69,400. Earnings over the annual maximum are not insured. (Full Story)

October 3, 2005 - Ontario Government Increases Workplace Inspections To Protect Vulnerable Employees - The Ontario government is increasing proactive employment standards inspections to protect vulnerable employees, Labour Minister Steve Peters said today. "Protecting people's rights in the workplace is vital to ensuring a strong Ontario," said Peters. In addition to proactive inspections, the officers deal with nearly 17,000 claims filed every year by employees over potential violations of the ESA relating to overtime, minimum wage, vacation pay and other rights. (Full Story)

October 7, 2005 - Labour Minister Receives Report Of Ergonomics Advisory Panel - The Ontario government is reviewing a report by the Ergonomics Advisory Panel to find ways to protect workers from musculoskeletal injuries, Labour Minister Steve Peters said today. According to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, there were 41,670 musculoskeletal injuries resulting in lost time at work in 2003. This represents over 40 per cent of all lost-time injuries in Ontario workplaces. (Full Story)

Prince Edward Island:

September 2005 - Respiratory Protection Training Workshops Take Place - The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) in partnership with the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) are holding a series of workshops in September and October on Respiratory Protection Training for Island workers and employers. The Chief Executive Officer of the Workers Compensation Board, Carol Anne Duffy, commented on the importance of the upcoming sessions for Island workers and employers and stressed that "prevention is key in reducing workplace injury and illness on Prince Edward Island." (Full Story)

Saskatchewan:

September 2005 - Improvements to online clearances available September 30 - The WCB has announced several new options for employers requesting clearances: Requesting a Clearance - Employers can request more than one clearance at a time and get an immediate online response about the clearance status of their sub-contractors. Automatic Clearance Verification (ACV) - The new ACV system will notify employers by e-mail whenever there are changes to the clearance status of any of their subcontractors(Full Story)

September 9, 2005 - August Sees New Jobs Record - New figures out today show Saskatchewan's record job numbers keep on rolling, with the highest August ever for jobs and the 17th straight month of record numbers. Statistics Canada figures released today show 492,200 people working in Saskatchewan last month. That tops by 2,500 the old record for August set last year. Full-time jobs in Saskatchewan increased by 5,800 over August of last year. (Full Story)

October 12, 2005 - WCB Proposes Reduced Rates for 2006 - The Saskatchewan Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) today announced its proposal for a 6.6% decrease in employer premium rates for 2006. Acceptance of the proposal by employers and WCB Board members will mean a drop in the average net premium rate of 13 cents from $1.97 to $1.84 per $100 of payroll. More than 93% of the WCB’s nearly 34,000 registered employers could be assessed lower premiums or could see premiums frozen for 2006. The remaining employers may see modest increases averaging 4.6%. (Full Story)

Yukon:

September 15, 2005 - Board Will Bring in Incentive Program and Adjust Rates to Address Claims Costs - The Chair of the Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board is urging workers and employers to work together to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses. At the Board’s annual information meeting today, Craig Tuton also said the YWCSHB will introduce an incentive program for employers for 2007. Employers with the highest claims costs will face the highest increases while those with low claims costs will see decreases. (Full Story)

The upcoming release of GrandMaster Suite (4.10.03) will incorporate a number of changes to make it even easier to use the program and perform your payrolltasks. Pending program changes since our last PayrollNewsissue include:

• New Utility to Strip Pay History Data - The Administration module now includes a utility program that allows you to strip the data from the payhist file and to rewrite the control records in the payhist file with the correct last sequence and last normal information. Entitled UTINTCLO, this utility could be useful if you ever encountered an interruption in the close pay period process. You can only perform the utility on the most recent closed period in the pay history file. Further, the paycalc file will be cleared and a new control record written. This new utility effectively replaces the UTHRSDEL and UTJEFGEN utility programs. After running this utility program the user simply needs to re-calculate the payroll, confirm the accuracy of the results, then close the period as normal.
• Employee profile report in HR showing incorrect date - When working with Positions in the HR module's Employee Profile Report, the position would sometimes be displayed with a date even though a date did not exist (the program was displaying the date from the line before it). This has been corrected..
• Customized Payroll Report adds redundant page breaks - The Customized Payroll Report inserted a page break for each employee, regardless of the amount of information for the employee -- this would result in report pages with large amounts of white spaces for employees with little information. This has been adjusted.
• Payroll Range Report now displays sequence range - The PayrollRange Report has been modified to include the selected pay sequence range in the report header. This change makes it easier to determine the pay sequences that provided data for the report.
  

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Visit CanPay's News page and view the latest Release Notes for a complete listing of program changes.

Link Opportunity! - If you are a CanPay customer wanting more exposure for your Website, please send us a 50-word description along with a copy of your logo. We'll add you to our Customer Links page and create a link directly to your website. It 's a great way to expose your goods and services to the community. Logos should be a maximum of 160 x 70 pixels and provided in the .gif or .jpg format. Send your e-mails to admin@canpay.com.

As we head back to intense work time going into Fall it may be worth a few moments to review this topic. Multitasking is often proposed to solve daily overload. It can work – but not the way we're often led to believe. Striving for simplicity is highly effective and since the two concepts run counter to each other, people often ask about how they fit.

1. Right and Wrong Ways to Multitask

Most discussion of multitasking omits advice on how to do it effectively. We're left to assume all it requires is carrying out several tasks at once. We hear disaster stories of people driving, eating and shaving while on a cell phone and looking at a map… or successes when multitasking gets great novels written in the midst of childcare. It takes some prior thought to find the right strategy, but multitasking can be a useful skill to learn.

Studies show just trying several tasks at once doesn't work well. Our abilities to accomplish each effectively falls by more than 50% when even two are put together. Yet we've all tried.

Conversely we've all experienced the thrill of making two or more tasks work within the same time we used to spend on one. In fact we do this constantly without thinking much about it. As tasks become habits we can often safely, with little deterioration in performance, carry out other tasks almost simultaneously. There are principles for achieving this greater effectiveness. They work better if made explicit.

One way to look at this that is most effective is to see that the method really isn't "multitasking," but rather like reading a book while waiting somewhere – tasks you can do to fill time you'd otherwise waste like in doctors' waiting rooms, airports and so forth. The "task" of waiting is non-involving, routine, extremely easy to do as far as "skill" goes, so other things fit in well.

When driving, one can dial a cell phone safely when the vehicle is stopped. We're used to carrying on conversations when we drive, as long as the driving challenge or the conversation doesn't get too intense. If you dial when stopped at a light or in stop-and-go traffic, it's more likely you can keep your attention on the road as much as you need while you talk and move forward safely at the speed of steady traffic. Voice-dialing and hands-free units help, but distractions are still potentially dangerous, so one must keep aware of worsening situations. Because these can happen suddenly at high speed, there is great controversy over this, but so many people do it that it might be better to discuss how to do it safely.

You can accomplish two tasks together reasonably well provided you're familiar with both and neither suddenly becomes more complex. That's the danger in driving while on a cell phone according to a number of studies. It's not as safe as keeping both hands on the wheel at all times, but you can limit the risks if you let your listener know your situation and that you will have to stop the conversation if driving becomes complex. Having a clear plan for rapidly returning to simplicity from "multitasking" is essential.

In short there are three essential skills for multitasking well. First, safety - stay aware at all times that you're putting potentially difficult tasks together. Second, know your limits - recognize this is harder than doing either task alone and that we have limits in skill and stress tolerance that may strongly suggest we stop. Third, plan for safety and sanity - by picking tasks you're familiar with and that are fairly habitual. Think through a plan beforehand, don't just launch into multiple tasks. That way you can determine what will need to give way if things become hectic. Practice makes perfect, so try the easy multitasking challenges first before taking on more risky tasks.

The same rules apply for longer-term, more complex tasks. If a company makes its strategy more complex by adding a second set of products, recognize it will take more effort and especially more coordination. The coordination itself becomes a third and separate set of tasks beyond the new line that's added to the old. Wayne Inouye, new CEO of Gateway Computers had this to say in the Wall Street Journal recently as he announced they were dropping several new lines: "People talk about multitasking, but in real life, you have to focus on one thing at a time." If this were totally true, no company would ever expand its lines. What's needed is a sense of balance when developing more complex strategies.

On a personal level you can raise your stress levels through the roof by attempting to write a long report while staying on top of phone calls, emails and drop-in visitors. Research shows a single 30 second phone call or other interruption requires almost 5 minutes to re-orient yourself back to the main task. Of course the interruption itself is likely to be more than 30 seconds, too. Two or three of these can certainly cut deeply into each work hour. Decide whether answering every call is essential. See if you can choose which to pick up by using an assistant or caller identification to screen. Let the rest go until later for follow up. Planning helps develop effective tactics.

Up to a point we deal well with distraction. We may be fine for short periods when at peak energy and awareness, but interruptions use up attention capacity as the mind juggles priorities. As multitasking extends longer and individual tasks increase in complexity we can reach our limit more quickly and lose concentration. It helps to take a break or be prepared to stop in logical priority sequence. Lapsing into frustration can be disastrous.

The same is true in the area of long-term life goals. To change cities, homes, spouses, jobs, levels of work or career areas all at the same time drains vastly more energy than doing any one alone. In fact any one of these may feel overwhelming during the transition, before new habits take root and make many of the changed elements routine. Give yourself breaks and reflect on how you're managing. Take a bit of planning time to think through the multitasking you're intending to do and see if you are approaching these situations safely – in physical terms such as when driving and in mental and emotional terms when on other sorts of tasks. That small extra consideration time for yourself really pays off when a number of things simply have to get done at once.

2. Useful Resources

As always there are many useful items on the Internet. Most interesting technically is this key study: Is Multitasking Efficient? Then there is the inevitable humour. The next is more reflective of the "be careful" genre: Does multitasking make you stupid? There are lots of safety-oriented sites which can be helpful. There seems to be a tacit assumption that we all multitask more and more to keep up, which seems true, but then very little in the way of advice about how to do it effectively is provided.

3. Stress Management

Where all this takes us ultimately is back to stress management as a key issue the more complex our society becomes. Soon we will have to face the need to teach this from early years, with school courses and useful coaching at every level. Our children have the potential of becoming the most stressed out generation in history before they reach the age of consent.

Dave Crisp is a speaker and strategy advisor who provides a practical, five-skill "Effectiveness Frame," that simplifies Leadership, Personal Development and Human Resources Problem-Solving. This grew from 14 years at Hudson's Bay Company, leading Human Resources for 70,000 staff who named it a Best Company to Work For. He is reachable via his web site at www.CrispStrategies.com