Mar 25, 2014 | News
The Ontario Government continues with its increased enforcement of compliance obligations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (“AODA”). AODA is intended to make places of business, public and private, more accessible to persons with disabilities. Has your Ontario-based company met the requirements?
Basic policies and employee training, along with registration on the Government website, are the minimum requirements of AODA. In addition, private sector “large organizations” – those with 50 or more employees in Ontario – face duties to convert certain information into accessible formats, for persons with disabilities. This may include website information. Organizations are urged to examined the requirements spelled-out by the Province and to get any necessary assistance in instituting changes.
Lexology.com shares the following key points that are now required under Ontario. The purpose of the AODA is to create a “barrier-free Ontario” for persons with disabilities through the implementation of a number of general requirements, along with five “Accessibility Standards” in the areas of: Customer Service; Information and Communications; Employment; Transportation; and Design of Public Spaces.
If your organization has 50 or more employees, as of January 1, 2014 you are now also required to comply with some general requirements as well as requirements under the Information and Communications Standard.
- The Establishment of Accessibility Policies and Multi-Year Accessibility Plans
You must develop, implement, and maintain policies setting out how you will meet your obligations under the AODA. These policies must include a statement of organizational commitment to meet the accessibility needs of persons with disabilities in a timely manner and must be made available to the public. In addition, you must establish, implement, maintain, and document a multi-year accessibility plan outlining your strategy to meet your obligations under the AODA. The multi-year accessibility plan must be posted on your website and must be updated at least once every five years.
- Incorporation of Accessibility Features for Self-Service Kiosks
If your organization designs or plans to acquire self-service kiosks, such as a self-checkout at a grocery store, you must now have regard to accessibility for persons with disabilities when designing, procuring, or acquiring self-service kiosks. This requirement applies only to new kiosks.
- Accessible Websites
If your organization has a website, you must ensure that it complies with certain accessibility guidelines, in two stages. As of January 1, 2014 new internet websites and new web content must comply with “Level A” of the World Wide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (“WCAG”) 2.0. For example, websites need to be fully functional through the use of a keyboard. All internet websites and web content (retroactive to January 1, 2012) must comply with WCAG at “Level AA” by January 1, 2021.
By December 31, 2014, you must file an online accessibility report to confirm your organization is in compliance with these new requirements, and remains in compliance with any requirements that came into force at an earlier date.
Many obligations under the AODA will not be in effect for a number of years, such as the requirements under the Employment Standard. However, the requirement to develop and publicize accessibility policies and multi-year accessibility plans now means that you must consider well in advance how your organization will meet these future obligations. As these accessibility policies and multi-year accessibility plans will be readily available to the public, you will want to ensure your organization has an effective strategy in place for remaining in compliance with the AODA.
Learn more about the requirements of the AODA with ILScorp’s compliance training programs. The ILScorp AODA course has been accredited from RIBO for 1 credit hour in the Management Category. Electronic records for all staff who have completed the training are kept by ILScorp in case of an audit. Compliance includes training all employees on AODA standards. Failure to comply can result in fines of up to $100,000. Training with ISL can be completed completely online for only $30 per person. Register your staff today!
Excerpted from an article on Lexology.com
Mar 24, 2014 | News
Cyberbullies have grown up. Research from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC, suggests that the online abuse that has been so prevalent among teenagers is carrying through to Canadian universities.
Research papers presented at a recent symposium in Vancouver say that undergraduate students are harassing their peers on social media, instructors are on the receiving end of student-led online smear campaigns, and faculty members are belittling their colleagues in emails.
“When you look at cyberbullying among younger kids, or kids in middle and high school, usually by age 15, it dies off,” said education Prof. Wanda Cassidy, who worked on the study with two others. “What was surprising was the fact that it is happening in universities to the extent that it is.”
While many studies have been done on cyber abuse involving adolescents, research on the behaviour among adults is limited. Cassidy and her colleagues looked at whether teens who bully others online still do it after entering university. The research team also wondered whether faculty staff are being targeted in cyberspace. They surveyed over 2,000 people and interviewed 30 participants from four Canadian universities — two in British Columbia, one on the Prairies and one in Atlantic Canada.
Though some of the data from two universities is still trickling in, the available information so far indicates roughly one in five undergraduate students has been cyberbullied, mostly through Facebook, text messages and email, Cassidy said.
Faculty members — mostly women — also said they’ve been harassed online by students or colleagues. In one interview, a professor said she was bombarded with emails and text messages from a student who called her lousy, incompetent and useless.
“I am reporting you and they will take away your licence, you are so stupid,” the professor recalled from one message.
In another school, an instructor found herself fighting a losing battle against a colleague who was convinced she was gossiping about her. “She texted me 73 times in one day, and over a week it was about 180 messages. When I didn’t respond, it was worse,” the instructor said.
Cassidy said the emergence of cyberbullying in an older population comes with grown-up consequences, such as ruined professional relationships or reputations, anxiety, sleep deprivation and thoughts of suicide.
“There was a fair proportion of people — both faculty and students — who said it made them feel suicidal … which is quite frightening, particularly when you think of faculty members. There should be some element of security that they don’t have to worry about colleagues bullying them, but obviously they do feel like maybe there’s no way out, there’s no way getting around it.”
The sense of helplessness is not uncommon, Cassidy said. The anonymity granted to cyberbullies makes it difficult to go after perpetrators. Just over half of the surveyed students and faculty said they tried to stop cyberbullying. But less than half of them reported success. Cassidy said that’s partly because few university policies specifically address online bullying.
The research team examined 465 policies from 75 universities between November 2011 and January 2012. The study found most universities did have policies around student conduct, discrimination and harassment, but not all were specific to online venues.
Jackson said devising clear-cut policies is a good start, but universities should also put resources into counselling and prevention to reduce cyberbullying.
“I think there needs to be an appreciation on the part of faculty and students that there is an impact to their behaviour and they should be acting respectfully,” Jackson said.
Excerpted from the Canadian Press
At ILScorp we encourage you to take a stand against bullying at home, school and in the workplace. We have developed a Bullying awareness course, for both employers and employees, to help you understand the meaning and consequences of bullying. With up to 40 percent of Canadian workers reporting feeling bullied at work, the issue goes beyond the school schools.
Mar 21, 2014 | News
Taking simple steps to improve your office etiquette could have significant impacts on your professional success.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in your career is not understanding that there are certain codes and rules to abide by in the workplace. If you’re not careful, you may even lose opportunities because others are put off by your lack of professionalism.
You may not know it, but your office behaviour could be affecting your co-workers perceptions of you. Are you acting in a professional manner in the work place? Not sure? Know someone in your office who could use a few pointers?
ILScorp’s Office Etiquette course will teach employees how to behave professionally in the office. Areas of focus include:
- Dressing for success
- Customer Service
- Teamwork
- Respect
- Company Property
- What not to do
This one-hour course features humorous segments which follow fictional staff members in an office setting. These clips add entertaining visuals to the important course content. Enjoy a video preview here.
The ILScorp Office Etiquette course will help viewers understand what is expected from them at work and how to display professional behaviour at all times. Enhance your reputation and advance your career, with the ILScorp Office Etiquette course today.
Looking for an even bigger career boost? Polish your communication and public speaking skills with Secrets for Exceptional Speaking, one of North America’s top rated business programs, now available exclusively through ILScorp online in Canada.
The ILScorp Office Etiquette is available for individual purchase for $29. Visit www.ILScorp.com or call 1-800-404-2211 today to get started.
Mar 19, 2014 | News
Continuing Education deadlines for insurance agents in BC and Manitoba are May 31, and Alberta’s requirements must be met by June 30 this year. While these dates may seem months away, now is the time to complete your mandatory CE hours and avoid the last minute rush.
ILScorp’s continuing education catalogues feature hundreds of hours of accredited courses, that you can complete anywhere you have an internet connection.
The ILScorp general insurance catalogue offers more than 300 hours (160 courses) of accredited Continuing Education training, so you’ll find courses that are of interest and relevance to you and your business. More than 50 courses have recently been updated and re-accredited.
Six-month subscriptions, which provide access to the entire general insurance catalogue are only $185. Discounts for groups of five or more are available.
Our Life / A&S course catalogue includes more than 75 CE courses (185 hours). A new online Professional Liability course: Introduction to Errors and Omissions Exposures Insurance for Life / A&S Agents, which is also included in the subscription option.
Individual Courses start at $85. Six month subscriptions to the entire Life/A&S CE course catalogue are $260.
Advantages of all of the ILS continuing education course subscriptions:
- Once you purchase your subscription, you can begin taking your courses immediately! If you are a new subscriber, you will receive an automated username and password by email.
- All material is viewed online. All you need is an internet connection!
- Courses can be accessed any time and you can log in and log out as many times as you wish during the course period.
- Quizzes and Final exams are offered in most of our courses to help you retain the information.
- Should you require any assistance at any time during your course work, we are here to support you 5 days a week, 0800 – 1700 PST.
Join the more than 22,000 Canadian insurance professionals who develop their skills with ILScorp each year! Visit ILScorp.com today to get started, or call 1-800-404-2211.
CE Credits with ILS – Fast, Easy, Done!
Mar 18, 2014 | News
Quebec agents – if you have not completed your ChAD professional development units, your deadline has been extended to March 31, 2014. That leaves you only a two weeks to complete your mandated hours. Now is the time to start working on completing your mandatory hours!
ILScorp’s ChAD Subscription offers unlimited access to our accredited ChAD courses (over 100 credits!) for six months for only $185. Are you not the only one with hours to complete? If your brokerage has more than five people who need to complete their training, consider joining our ChAD Broker Network Program, and save $50 per person on a ChAD Subscription!
All of the ILS continuing education course subscriptions offer the following benefits:
- Once you purchase your subscription, you can begin taking your courses immediately! If you are a new subscriber, you will receive an automated username and password by email.
- All material is viewed online. All you need is an internet connection!
- Courses can be accessed any time and you can log in and log out as many times as you wish during the course period.
- Quizzes and Final exams are offered in most of our courses to help you retain the information.
- Should you require any assistance at any time during your course work, we are here to support you 5 days a week, 0800 – 1700 PST.
Join the more than 22,000 Canadian insurance professionals who develop their skills with ILScorp each year! Visit ILScorp.com today to get started, or call 1-800-404-2211.
CE Credits with ILS – Fast, Easy, Done!
Mar 17, 2014 | News
With the luck of the Irish on your side, you may manage to get through a presentation today. But with the Secrets for Exceptional Speaking course, you won’t have to rely on luck. The Secrets for Exceptional Speaking course will teach you to be confident communicating with large and small audiences on a variety of topics.
Insurance industry leaders have told ILScorp that they wish new recruits (and veterans) to the industry were better business communicators – better at articulating their message to customers, co-workers and employers.
To meet this growing need among professionals in all industries, ILScorp has launched a new online course: “Secrets for Exceptional Speaking.” Using the trade-marked Hendrie Method, this online video course teaches an innovative approach to public speaking, presentations, and communication skills.
With this course, students will:
- discover techniques to apply to different communication and interpersonal situations
- know how to bring your words to life with appropriate emotion
- sound conversational and connected in several different styles
- be able to communicate any information and connect with any listener
- enhance your reputation, improve your self-confidence and advance your career!
In an interview with Marty Hughes of HUB International, Mr. Hughes told ILS what advice he gave to a group of new insurance industry professionals:
“Get comfortable talking in front of large groups, and learn to be articulate. If you can speak well, and you are comfortable in front of groups, you are more than halfway there.It is amazing to me the people out there who are not articulate enough to present their thoughts and express them to people in a coherent fashion. Not everybody is going to be a great speaker; I get that. And not everybody is comfortable speaking in front of a large group—I know I wasn’t. But you make yourself get good at it.”
Whether it’s speaking at your brother’s wedding, presenting to the board of directors, addressing a lecture hall, or your coworkers at a weekly meeting, the Secrets course will help you share information confidently and communicate effectively.
This course will give you techniques that you can apply to different communication and interpersonal situations. By the end of the course, which includes practice exercises and worksheets, you will be able to communicate any information, know how to bring your words to life with appropriate emotion, and sound conversational and connected in several different styles.
“As HR Manager, I have access to the finest training available in the country. The Hendrie Method is the ‘best of the best.’ It builds dramatic excellence into public speaking. Graduates exhibit self-confidence and style…and consistently give the “Secrets” Course superb evaluations. We highly recommend it for our executives, managers, retail salespeople, call center employees – anyone who must communicate with clients. The results will far exceed your expectations,” explains Michael Young, VP and Manager Human Resources Education & Development Bank One, Arizona.
This course is used by executives from Fortune 500 companies to train themselves and their employees, and is now available to you online, exclusively through ILScorp in Canada.
Purchase the Secrets for Exceptional Speaking course from ILScorp today for only $309. This includes unlimited access for three months! Purchase online or call us at 1-800-404-2211 for more information.
