cjones

Canadians as a rule tend to say what they think you want to hear. Get it in writing - as the old cliché goes, "a verbal agreement isn't worth the paper it's written on".

Dorothy

Thank God this kind of thing doesn't happen in the good old UK.

sheera67

I 100% agree with this

Aviator

• Candidates that just don't turn up for an interview appointment.
• Accept a job then don't show up as they changed their mind, after the employer has turned away other candidates.
• Those who agree in an interview to work certain hours and conditions, then when hired cannot or won't do the hours.
• Those whose resume and description of their abilities in no way matches reality.
• Those who phone in and tell the employer they are not coming in that day, some who just don't show up. Not is it OK to take a day off and give notice. This also puts a heavier load on their colleagues.
• Those that walk out without notice as they found another job or found the job to be hard work. The employer has to give 2 weeks notice, the employee does not have to give any.
• I have been with companies where employees have falsified their attendance, taken an extra smoke of coffee break, added another 10 minutes onto their lunch or coffee break.
• There are plenty of employees who want a pay cheque and a job is a necessary evil to get it.

I have worked for some people I did not particularly like the way they did business, so I left. Employment is merely an exchange of services for remuneration. If one party is not satisfied with their end of the deal they can terminate the agreement. No different to a sales contract or hiring a contractor.

All these problems and those with employers are human nature and character, not employers or employees as a generalisation.

Then my employees, a committed and hard working group of people, whose dedication to what they do is amazing. We work as a team with one common goal and support each other. Hopefully each and every one of them gets satisfaction from what they do and if they don't I want to know about it.

Piff Poff

Oh for sure its a two way street. The complaint I have right now is at interview we discussed the number of late shifts I would have, when she said oh three a week, I said, that wont work for me (at which point I expected the interview to end) but she said, oh we can work on that, how does two nights one week and one the following work for you? I then asked about the saturday expectations, oh we're fully covered for Saturdays, so thats why im working one in four saturdays and two or three closing shifts a week, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. So why at interview did she not say, well this is what we are hiring for, if you cant do it I'll keep on looking.

scrubbedexpat091

Many times a new employer wont wait 2 weeks for you to start, so its either lose the opportunity or not giving 2 weeks notice.

I find in my profession companies wait til the last minute to hire so when they do hire and they want to hire you, you generally have to be able to start right away, not 2 weeks later.

If employers want 2 weeks notice, then they have to be willing to let a new employee give 2 weeks notice before starting.

Aviator

My experience is to the contrary, if someone I want to hire says they have to give 2 weeks notice, I respect that and it bodes well for their working for us. If they are willing to jump ship on someone else, there is no reason they would not drop me in it if another opportunity arose.

Mikeypm

Did you get an offer of employment in writing?

Whenever I have been offered a job there has been an offer in writing, then normally some negotiating, agreement, contract signed and new job started. Every step in writing and so Im wondering was this current role you have done all verbally?

januarymix

All very interesting perspectives, including that Canadians will say what you want to hear?

I guess I am used to professional environments where people will give due notice, work hard etc.

But anyway I appreciate all the perspectives, I think it helps

Aviator

That would depend on the job. Many don't make written job offers or contracts. Some put a description in the job ad and that is the extent of it. Few have contracts outside many union or professional environments, especially lower paid positions such as fast food, retail clerks etc. Many have hours set week by week per a schedule defined by that weeks needs.

Some work places the customer flow will vary seasonally, even by the weather and require variable staffing levels to remain profitable. A business cannot have people standing around doing nothing. Some businesses struggle to make a profit or even survive at all, some due to poor management, others due to pricing pressure and the consumers demand for lower and lower pricing, resulting in reduced margins, tight budgetary constraints and off shore manufacturing.

Other issues can arise due to the unreliability of some employees, necessitating hiring more than you actually need to be sure of cover and changing hours to maintain adequate coverage.

In BC we have been hit with a huge tax hike to business, the re introduction of the PST. This will result in lowered investment from business, expansion plans being shelved or moved to a more tax friendly province, limited the cash resources to increase wages and will result in consumer price increases. Effectively hitting jobs and wages and making it harder for business to be profitable, which impacts employment and employee retention.

ExKiwilass

Floatsy, what's not being said here is there is a kind of class system when it comes to jobs/treatment of potential employees.

Jobs at minimum wage = employee not treated that well (and those employees are also competing, or were competing, with TFWs who the employer had a lot of power over).

Higher wage jobs in industries which compete for talent = better treatment. I've definitely had the experience of never getting a response to my resume (and don't take it personally) but otherwise I've been well treated by potential employers, by and large. The ones that were a bit iffy I wouldn't want to work for anyway.

Normally a month's notice is the norm for me - I like to give lots of notice if I think it's going to be harder to find a replacement. When I've been laid off by and large I've been well treated.

januarymix

Noted, and very helpful, Kiwilass.

Merci beaucop.

ExKiwilass

you're welcome.

My experience with management has been very positive in my industry (but again, it's an industry with a war for talent. Not that I'm talented at all, but a lot of my coworkers ARE). My managers are by and large honest, ethical, forthright individuals.

Piff Poff

Beacause its a slightly above minimum wage job, I have had 6 jobs here in Canada, Zellers, lasted a week before I quit, the Brick, 2 days before I quit, Sears 2 years, Eddie Bauer 5 years, local store and now Curves. Out of all of those, I remember Zellers and Sears giving me offer letters, but all of them was verbal on hours. For some reason, if your on minimum wage, the employers treat you like shit. I don't want a career, just a decent job, part time pin money so we don't have to dig into savings for holidays and good times and so we dont have to spend evenings and weekends cleaning house and getting groceries, there has to be a positive side to us being in Canada, we didn't move for the same as we left behind

ExKiwilass

Sorry Piff...could you pick up some temping/office work instead?