Stephen Hammond

Stephen Hammond is a keynote speaker, author, trainer and consultant in workplace and Canadian human rights. His keynotes about the new demographic shifts, women, getting real respect and the disasters which incur when things go wrong, are thought provoking, highly engaging and even for these subject matters, fun and funny.

Stephen’s workshops use the latest technology to get participants to engage. They are always interactive and thought-provoking and get to the educational message employers and associations are craving. Stephen is always searching for the latest interesting story, case or example to keep the content current – sometimes from that morning’s news.

People leave his workshops with real tools to handle
issues as they arise and are pleasantly surprised that
they had a good time in the process.

Since 1992, Stephen has trained thousands of employees, including staff, managers, and union stewards about harassment, human rights, diversity, equity, and employee relations issues. He is passionate about current affairs and human rights.

Stephen has years of experience working as a Manager of Employee Relations with the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and the Hudson’s Bay Company in Winnipeg and Toronto. He has been responsible for all aspects of employee relations and labour relations, with unionized and non-unionized workforces. Stephen has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School.

As a non-practising lawyer and member of the Law Society of British Columbia since 1988, Stephen keeps up with all the relevant laws and cases in his field. However, he prides himself on applying these relatively new legal principles in understandable terms.

Stephen’s clients have included:
•    Interprovincial Association on Native Employment
•    Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated
•    City of Saskatoon
•    Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services
•    University of Victoria
•    McMaster University
•    City of Burnaby
•    University of Lethbridge
•    Cameco Corporation
•    Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Services
•    The Canucks
•    Terasen Gas
•    Legal Services Society of B.C.
•    Encana Corporation
•    Liquor Stores of B.C.
•    City of Burnaby
•    City of Lethbridge

In 2008 Stephen was one of only 5 Canadians to receive the designation of CSP (Certified Speaking Professional), the International Speaking Federation’s “most prestigious earned designation for platform excellence.”

He is a regular TV and radio guest with interviews on Shaw, CTV, CBC and Rogers. He has been featured in print media such as the Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun, the Calgary Herald and many more.   

Stephen has two books related to human rights.  His first book, Managing human rights at work: 101 practical tips to prevent human rights disasters is now in the hands of almost 10,000 Canadian supervisors and managers. People say, it's a "good read" and "I couldn't put it down to go to sleep". It's a fantastic guide to help supervisors and managers understand the workplace human rights process.

His new book, Steps in the Rights Direction: 365 Human Rights Celebrations & Tragedies that inspired Canada and the World gives you a human rights fact for an event that happened on each of the days of the year.  It's a great gift book. Go to Stephen's website for both. Subscribe to the daily podcast - Human Rights a Day - at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=300938436 (copy & paste the link into your browser)

“It is very rare to find someone with the right combination of knowledge and experience and that something extra that makes people want to listen, learn and participate. We feel very lucky to have found Stephen, who makes Harassment Awareness training informative, useful, and yes...fun! Stephen consistently gets rave reviews from all of the participants and is a pleasure to work with. We wouldn’t think of using anyone else.”     Anna Grolle BA, CGA Director of Corporate Operations & HR Cactus Club Café