Anytime I have called Peninsula about HR issues, they’ve been very helpful.

Wouldn’t it be convenient if you could switch on your coffeemaker from your bed and have a steaming cup of coffee ready once you get up? Or control the lighting, thermostat, and entertainment devices in your home without having to get up from your couch?

Smart home automation makes this, and more, possible. It helps you connect all appliances and electronics in your house, which you can then control through a single device.

For 20 years now, Your Home Audio & Visual, a custom electronics showroom, has been supplying and installing electronics and automation for residences and commercial properties in Toronto.

“Commercial properties being condominiums, their common spaces, elevators, lobbies, party rooms, theatres, yoga rooms and fitness rooms,” says Nicole Verni, Vice President, Your Home Audio & Visual.

Nicole and her husband, Frank Verni, started this company in the year 2000. At present, the couple manages a staff of five.

“In residential properties, we do both new and retro fit. We do everything custom, depending on the client’s needs and budget,” she explains.

Your Home Audio & Visual has been a Peninsula client since 2018.

COVID-19

Nicole says the pandemic brought its set of challenges. She got in touch with Peninsula right at the start to ensure all health and safety protocols were in place.

“Peninsula helped us add a COVID-19 manual to our existing health and safety manual, which they had provided when we had first signed up with them,” says Nicole.

“In the beginning of May, we were deemed an essential service. We were fortunate in that we had a lot of projects in the pipeline, which we were able to continue with. We were also able to complete the residential jobs that we had already started.”

Nicole says she has benefited from Peninsula’s HR support.

“Peninsula created work contracts and an employee handbook for us. They also helped us with HR documentation, including warning and termination letters,” says Nicole.

“We terminated an employee in June 2020. This issue with that employee had been going on for two years. It was one of the reasons why we started with Peninsula because we knew we needed help with this particular employee,” she says.

“Peninsula guided us on this issue through the last couple of years. At the end, they helped us with the right language, the right letter, and the right amount of severance that we had to pay,” says Nicole.

Another reason, she says, that the business felt the need for professional HR support was to have detailed and airtight employment contracts. “What we had in place was not as elaborate. Now it is nice to have contracts that dot the i’s and cross the t’s,” says Nicole.

She says Peninsula’s 24/7 HR advice line has been particularly useful. “Anytime I have called Peninsula about HR issues, they’ve been very helpful.”