Starter Guide to People Resources

This post is truly for those leaders, (you know who you are) doing everything themselves, including carrying your People Operations.

Given that I live on LinkedIn and subscribe to an unhealthy amount of HR related newsletters, I see a lot. Here are a list of my current favourite resources for bootstrapped or team of 1..teams... (none of these are sponsored, just my own personal things I use)

Legal Compliance

When it comes to making sure you're compliant when it comes to your employee contracts and handbook policies, you really should get a lawyer to look at these documents and make sure they are above board and current with the ever-changing legislation.

1. Employment Standards Act(s)

   In Canada, these vary by province. Each province has its own Employment Standards Act and that is what should be your basis for workplace policies when it comes to time off, sick days (some provinces have them as paid time off, others as unpaid time off), severance, etc. All you have to do is search : (Province) Employment Standards Act, and you will find that resource document available. Each province also allows you to call a phone number to help answer any questions. They are not a substitute for legal advice, but are a great starting point.

2. Up to date legal info

   If you are interested in the law, you can go ahead and read any relevant case law, the Law Society of Ontario has a researchable database where you can insert key words to locate any relevant case law.

3. Spring Law Firm

   They host regular webinars to provide up to date information for employers (mostly Ontario centric, but often relevant for the entire country)

Handbooks

1. Gusto has a very cute resource I personally love where they've put together an employee handbook template with ideas of other great handbooks. Handbooks are not only an opportunity to put down your policies for staff to refer to, but it's a great way to live your company mission, vision and values.

Policies

1. Open.org has an excellent Notion page with a list of many People Operations policies to pick from.

2. @ People Ops also has a great Notion database of articles, books, and templates/tools and guides to choose from.

Peer Networks

1. If you are looking for People related Slack networks, there are a lot of good ones.

   1. In Canada:

      1. The best one I've found is The People People Group. The folks there are generous with their time and advice, and there is so much information - run by the super lovely Martin Hauck, there is always something going on as well.

      2. If you are a tech company, check out TAP (Technology and People) Network. They are also excellent, and have a lot of learning opportunities that happen on the regular, from compliance, to working groups, to changes in immigration. Excellent resources there!

   2. In the USA, HR Advisory seems to be the most active one I know of. If you know of any others, please post in the comments!

Information is all well and good, but it's doing something with it that's important. If you are drowning in People Operations work, let's chat! I can support with all manner of People Operations.