Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 20/99) - Consistency is one of the biggest ways to boost employee morale.

That's the message Inuvik's Laverna Steen will take home from a recent human resources conference last week in Yellowknife.

Steen, who is the financial administration officer for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, took part in the conflict resolution workshop at the conference.

"We talked about how to deal with people who come in late and nobody says anything. Then someone who always comes on time comes in late and people say something."

"It's important to be consistent."

Fort McPherson's Gladys Alexie agrees.

Alexie, who is the assistant manager of the housing association said everyone in the office should be respected.

"In any organization everyone should be treated equally whether it's the president of the company or a secretary."

Aside from boosting employee morale, Steen said an informative workshop she attended was on how to deal with technology and how to network.

Some people suggested a human resources information system association be set up to save time and money.

"If you could ask questions of human resources professionals within your community it would save time and money," she said.

Some ways for human resources professionals to better communicate include teleconferencing, the Internet, bulletin boards and newsletters.

Cambridge Bay's Beatrice Bernhard praised the conference for being well organized.

"I'm glad I attended because human resources is an area that has long been ignored, but it's a needed department regardless of whether you're small or big," she said.

"Our best assets are our people."

One thing she said she learned at the conference was how to keep personalities out of decision making.

"Because our communities are small and everybody knows everybody, the biggest tip I learned was to try to distance myself from applicants and not to make hiring a personal issue."

Bernhardt said the high drop-out rate in communities may mean good workers are overlooked because despite their life experience, they do not have the necessary education.

"They could be the best person for the job with just a bit of training," she said.