AI use in workplaces is growing quickly. A 2025 global study of more than 32,000 workers across 47 countries found 58 percent of employees report using AI at work, with roughly a third using it weekly or daily. Tech Xplore+1
Many employees say AI improves efficiency, idea generation, and work quality. McKinsey & Company+1
Beyond all the moral and ethical reasons for promoting a diverse workforce, the business case for diversity is clear.
A decade ago, a McKinsey study of 366 companies in Canada, Latin America, the United Kingdom, and the United States found clear business advantages for diverse businesses.
According to the study, companies
In the digital era, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly intertwined with our daily lives, especially in the ways we do our work. From voice assistants to chatbots to art generators, AI has found its way into various industries, transforming the way work gets done. As AI continues to advance, it raises important questions about its ethical implications and potential impact – good and bad – on the workplace. The bad should not be ignored. How much damage might be done to your organization if AI was not used responsibly by an employee?
I’m sure many in the legal industry are familiar with the recent news stories about the New York lawyer who relied on ChatGPT to assist with his research and drafting. The chatbot provided the lawyer with case law precedents that simply did not exist. The AI system entirely fabricated the cases. The lawyer did not verify this information and attempted to rely on these cases in court to a disastrous and embarrassing result.Continue Reading Does Your Workplace Need an AI Policy?
The sensationalism surrounding ChatGPT that has developed since its launch on November 30, 2022, has been fascinating to observe. For the uninitiated, ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (“AI”) chatbot that provides detailed responses based on conversational prompts from the user. It will compose pretty much anything you ask it to – whether it be an e-mail or an essay – and it will do so in a matter of seconds.
ChatGPT quickly made headlines following its debut as students started using it to do their homework assignments and journalists responded with shock as they tested its ability to write news articles for them. The sentiment from some vocal sources was negative and painted a dire picture regarding the impact ChatGPT could have in education and various industries – including legal services. Continue Reading ChatGPT and AI Disruption of the Law
Back by popular demand and ICYMI, we are doing a live repeat of our Watching the Watcher webinar!
While the October 11th deadline has come and gone, it is better late than never to get your Electronic Monitoring Policy in place. SpringLaw, nNovation and The Privacy Pro have partnered up and pulled together the privacy law, employment law and tactical privacy operational components into this one webinar to help organizations get compliant as soon as possible.
On October 11th, Ontario Bill 88 came into effect, requiring employers with more than 25 employees to publish policies outlining their employee monitoring activities. Employee monitoring goes beyond the obvious things like geolocation of fleet vehicles, security cameras installed for safety and security. Companies that have implemented processes and systems for remote work, sales enablement tools, productivity software, and even badge access readers may find that they are in fact carrying out monitoring employees.
Join us on Wednesday, October 19th for our free webinar to map out your game plan. We’ll spend 30 minutes outlining all you need to know and then another 30 minutes for a Q&A!
Continue Reading Free webinar: Watching the Watchers – Bill 88 and Electronic Monitoring Policy Requirements
With only a few business days left before October 11, 2022, when employers must have a written Electronic Monitoring Policy in place, SpringLaw is fielding regular questions from employers about their near-final drafts. The policy requirements and meeting this new transparency obligation are discussed in our prior blog: New Electronic Monitoring Policy: The What, How and Why for Employers. The deadline for providing a written copy to employees is November 10, 2022.
Step One: Review Your Current Electronic Monitoring Practices
Employers with a buttoned-down approach should start with a broad review of their current monitoring practices. This may unearth some overkill monitoring and data collection – passive and unintentional, or otherwise.
Continue Reading Privacy Compliance: We’re Watching You, Employees, But Not Really
Ontario has taken the lead in terms of enhancing employer transparency in the workplace and ensuring that workers are able to disconnect from their work. Now that employers with 25 or more employees (as of January 1, 2022) must have a Disconnect From Work Policy, it’s time for employers to calendar more Covid-driven workplace requirements. This same employer group must have an Electronic Monitoring Policy prepared by October 11, 2022, and rolled out within 30 days, by November 10, 2022. These are both policies that employees are actually reading, so it’s worth the advance planning by employers.
Bill 88, the Working for Workers Act 2022 became law in April and requires employers to be transparent about how they monitor their employees’ use of devices such as computers, cell phones and GPSs.
Continue Reading New Electronic Monitoring Policy: The What, How and Why for Employers
Bill 88 has been receiving a lot of media attention for the aspects related to digital platform workers and the proposed creation of the Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022. While this will impact many workers, it will not have an impact on most employers. Employers do need to pay attention to other aspects of the Bill, which propose new changes to the Ontario Employment Standards Act, 2000. Chief among these is a new requirement for employers with 25 employees or more to have a written policy with respect to electronic monitoring of employees.
Electronic Monitoring of Employees
If passed, Bill 88 will require that employers who employ 25 employees or more, on January 1 of any given year, have a written policy with respect to the electronic monitoring of employees. The wording of the Bill suggests that even employers who do not electronically monitor employees will be required to have a written policy, provided they employ 25 employees or more on January 1 of any given year.
Continue Reading Bill 88: More Changes to the Employment Standards Act
Tech is on the rise. Tech jobs have exploded in number in past years, but especially so since the pandemic. We work with a lot of tech clients, especially tech startups with workforces that are growing exponentially. There are many types of workers who work with tech companies, amongst them information technology (IT) professionals. It is critical for tech companies that employ IT professionals to understand the rights of their workers, especially their IT professional employees, whose employment standards rights are different from those of some other employees.
How Are an IT Professional’s Rights Different?
Under O. Reg. 285/01 of Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 (“ESA”), IT professionals are exempt from the following requirements under the ESA:
Continue Reading Who is an Information Technology (IT) Professional in Ontario? And What Rules Apply to Them?
We are super excited to share that our founder Lisa Stam has been nominated for a Canadian Lawyer Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers “Changemakers Award”! Lisa has always made it a top priority to make legal services relevant, easy to access & more affordable through tech smarts!
We’d sure appreciate it if you could cast a vote for her – anyone can vote! Please click here. Voting ends this Friday, June 5. Thanks so much!
Continue Reading Cast Your Vote! Lisa Stam Nominated for a Changemakers Award!