Announcements

When:
March 9, 2020
A Thumbs Up Symbol

If you’ve been reading the announcements in Communiqué and have visited the Employee Well-Being and Engagement website, you probably know that we are looking for you to define Humber’s Employee Well-Being and Engagement Framework. The first step towards this outcome is to vote on the suggested Dimensions and Drivers. Since your vote and views matter, we will be sharing more information over the next two weeks that will assist in preparing you to confidently choose those Dimensions and Drivers that matter to you.

Look out for more in this series entitled: My Views, My Vote. We will feature different Dimensions and Drivers and you will hear directly from your fellow employees in upcoming Employee News Network (ENN) videos.

Understanding Wellness

What does wellness look like to you? When you envision someone who is “well” and “healthy,” what comes to mind? What factors do you think influence wellness?

We have defined Wellness as the “Organizational practices that promote physical, mental, financial, and social wellness". Employee wellness looks at the individual and encourages them to make healthy lifestyle choices, with the purpose of benefiting them and the culture in which they work. It broadly covers health promotion, the prevention of ill health and the factors that help determine how healthy someone is, in both body and mind. We have also included financial wellness and work life balance as part of this dimension, as both have been identified as leading causes of stress.

The four drivers of Wellness are identified as:

  • Mental Resilience
  • Physical Wellness
  • Financial Wellness
  • Work-Life Balance

Here are some examples of what many organizations do related to wellness: holding a health fair; incentives for participation in wellness programs; running/walking/hiking clubs; installing massage chairs at work for all to use; on-site flu shots and ‘take blood pressure readings’ clinics.  

For more information about this dimension and to view other proposed dimensions please visit humber.ca/hroe/oe. Don’t miss the next Well-Being group for discussion; Work Well-Being.

 

Want to participate in the Employee Well-being and Engagement Initiative?

Register to attend an Information Session and voting. Click here to register.

When:
March 9, 2020

Andrea Campea has been in the role of Acting Manager, Office of Student Conduct since September 2019 and I’m pleased to announce that she has accepted this position on a full-time permanent basis. Andrea began working at Humber/UofGH in October 2017 and has held positions in Academic Advising (UofGH), Acting Manager of Residence Life, and most recently as the Acting Manager, OSC. She has an extensive background in student conduct administration, bringing 15 years of experience in Student Affairs at several post-secondary institutions in Ontario.

Andrea currently sits on the Student Support & Intervention Team (SSIT), chairs the Taskforce on Preventing and Responding to Sexual Violence, and takes part in other committees and projects around the College. Through her work, Andrea has demonstrated support for students at Humber/UofGH, a commitment to an equitable and fair process, and a desire to engage with colleagues and campus partners.  

Please join me in congratulating Andrea in her new role!

Rubina Leahy
Associate Dean, Student Wellness & Equity

 

When:
March 9, 2020
Contact:
Nancy Simms
Tel:
x4425
Posters/Attachments: Event Poster

Congratulations to Regina Hartwick, Aboriginal Manager, Indigenous Education and Engagement, on receiving the 2020 Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Award.

Every two (2) years, Humber’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Committee, nominates and presents an EDI Award to a Humber employee and/or student who has successfully led and/or was instrumental in the introduction and retention of best practices in the EDI programs and services at the College.

The 2020 EDI Award was presented to Regina at Humber’s International Women’s Day Luncheon on March 3, 2020.

Thank you Regina for the outstanding work that you are doing to build inclusion throughout the College. Once again, congratulations!

 

Nancy Simms M.A. ADR
Director, Human Rights, Equity & Diversity

When:
March 9, 2020
Contact:
Ranjit Saini

The Lived Experience Narrative (LEN) Program of Research will establish a contemporary real-world evidence base that will be used to inform care practitioners and Humber College Faculty of Social and Community Services (FSCS) student learners about the importance and necessity of being, knowing and doing authentic collaboration in one’s professional care practice. 

Included in this program are eight, independent yet interrelated, low-risk web-based survey research projects. Specifically, each research project is a standalone inquiry that seeks to gather Humber College, Lakeshore Campus, student, staff and faculty narratives about lived experience phenomena using guided open-ended questioning designed to elicit understanding and meaningfulness from one’s situatedness. Independently, each research project will provide the data necessary to collect an understanding of how people make sense of the nature of a given phenomenon as it is lived through from within their everyday lifeworld.

Please go to the following link to tell us your story by selecting one of the types of experiences:

communityservices.humber.ca/lived-experience-narrative

 

When:
March 6, 2020

As the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) situation evolves, some organizations and individuals are receiving phishing/hoax emails related to the virus. These may appear to be from the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control, as well Canadian public health agencies or government offices. The hoax emails may ask the recipient to open attachments, click links, provide personal information or funds in the form of donations. We are not aware of any such emails sent to any Humber email addresses. As always, if you receive an email from an address you do not recognize, do not open any attachments, click links or provide sensitive or personal information.

Please report any suspicious emails to the support centre.

When:
March 6, 2020
Contact:
Nancy Simms
Tel:
x4425

On September 19, 2019, the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Taskforce launched the Employment Equity Video Series and the first video titled, Call to Action on Employment Equity, at Humber’s Strategic Plan Town Hall Meeting. Employment Equity related videos are one of the many mechanisms that the EDI Taskforce will be using to illustrate senior leaderships’ commitment to increase the hiring of qualified diverse individuals at Humber.

The third video in this series titled, How are you operationalizing Employment Equity in your faculty hiring and retention processes?, features Guillermo Acosta, Senior Dean, Faculty of Media and Creative Arts.

To view the video, please visit Humber’s Employment Equity Program website.

On behalf of Ian Crookshank, Dean of Students, and I, deep thanks to the EDI Taskforce members.

Nancy Simms M.A. ADR
Lead, EDI Taskforce
Director, Human Rights, Equity & Diversity

When:
March 6, 2020

Humber College continues to monitor the COVID-19 situation and the potential impact on our community. All classes, campus operations and activities are continuing as scheduled.

Humber-sanctioned activities abroad

Health authorities are providing regular COVID-19 updates, and the college continues to monitor and follow these updates. For the most up-to-date information in Ontario and Toronto, community members are encouraged to visit the Ontario Ministry of Health website, as well as the Toronto Public Health website

The Government of Canada is also regularly updating their Travel Health Notices and categorizing the regions by level of COVID-19 concern. Canadians are advised to avoid non-essential travel to locations categorized as level 3 and are advised to practice special precautions when visiting locations categorized as level 2. As of March 4, the category 2 and 3 advisories apply to China, Iran, Italy, Japan, and South Korea.

In light of this travel advice, Humber-sanctioned activities scheduled to take place in those regions – for both students and employees – are cancelled until June 30, 2020. We will work with students to address the financial and academic impacts of these cancellations. Students who were scheduled to participate in activities to these regions will receive an email and should contact their study abroad coordinator or program coordinator to discuss next steps. Similarly, employees who were scheduled to travel to one of these destinations should discuss next steps with their manager.

The University of Guelph-Humber has also cancelled university sanctioned trips to those regions for students and staff.

This measure will be in effect as long as the Government of Canada advisories remain in place. We will monitor this situation as it continues to evolve. We recognize that students and staff may choose to withdraw from scheduled trips to other parts of the world. We will do our best to minimize financial and academic impacts of those decisions. We may need to cancel trips to other countries, depending on how the situation evolves. Please keep in mind that low enrolment/participation rate may also result in further cancellations. As other organizations work to limit the spread of COVID-19, it is likely that domestic work placements may be impacted as well.

Ability to Work and Learn on Campus

Recommendations to support global containment efforts and limit the spread of the virus, including self-isolation are still in place, particularly for those who may have been travelling recently. The Government of Canada Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Outbreak Update page provides regularly updated travel advisories and advice.

If a student or employee, or their family members, have travelled to China, Iran, or Northern Italy within the last 14 days, they should stay at home and contact Toronto Public Health to seek guidance as to whether they should self-isolate before coming to work or class.

Any students who are feeling unwell and/or have reason to believe they should be self-isolated should stay home and contact their Associate Dean before coming to campus. Students will be accommodated, as long as the appropriate notice and documentation is provided, as required.

Faculty members who are feeling unwell and/or have reason to believe they should be self-isolated and therefore are unable to attend class, should stay home and contact their Associate Dean before coming to campus to discuss appropriate next steps.

All other employees who are feeling unwell and/or have reason to believe they should be self-isolated should stay home and contact their manager before coming to campus to discuss appropriate next steps. 

Employees will be accommodated, as long as the appropriate notice and documentation is provided, as required.

Measures Underway

While the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an international public health emergency, the current risk to Canadians remains low. We maintain ongoing contact with Toronto Public Health and have been advised that there are no additional actions required, and to follow regular respiratory illness protocols and prevention strategies.

Humber is following all respiratory illness protocols and prevention measures already in place. In addition, areas of the College that provide health-related services, including the Health Centres, Dental Centres, the Humber Spa and the Tzu Chi Clinic of Chinese Medicine, have the recommended screening protocols in place.

We have increased cleaning of high touch point areas, using a chemical that kills both coronavirus and norovirus. Electrostatic fogging machines are also being used twice a week in cafeterias, open computer labs, high-traffic washrooms, athletic changerooms, health centres, Residence etc. This includes the keyboards and monitors in the open access labs. Electrostatic fogging machines seal surfaces so that germs are unable to attach to them.

As we are in the winter flu season, we ask everyone to:

  • wash your hands as frequently as possible,
  • cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then immediately throw the tissue in the garbage and clean your hands,
  • if you don’t have a tissue, sneeze or cough into your sleeve or arm,
  • and stay home if you’re feeling ill.

Soap and hospital-grade hand sanitizer dispensers across campus will be monitored and filled regularly.

Resources and Contacts

Humber takes the health and well-being of our staff and students seriously and we are monitoring the situation closely. An oversight group comprising representatives from the Academic Division, Communications, Human Resources, Legal and Risk Management, Public Safety, Student Success and Engagement, and the University of Guelph-Humber will provide regular updates to the community.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Other links:
Ontario Ministry of Health Statement
Toronto Medical Officer of Health statement – March 2
Toronto Public Health 
Toronto Public Health Novel Coronavirus Fact Sheet
Government of Canada - Travel Health Notices
Public Health Agency of Canada

When:
March 5, 2020

Employee Well-Being and EngagementHumber is developing an Employee Well-Being and Engagement Framework and we need your help. As a Humber employee, your experience and your opinion matter. We need you to share them with us as part of the upcoming voting and feedback sessions. In order to make sure you have all the information you need to have input and inform what we do next, we have developed some FAQs about the Employee Well-Being and Engagement Initiative. You can also find more information about the initiative here.  

Frequently Asked Questions – Employee Well-being and Engagement

  1. What is the Employee Well-being and Engagement initiative all about?

    Under Humber’s Strategic Pillar – Healthy Inclusive Community (Strategic Initiative 7.2 – Employee Engagement), this initiative seeks to structure, strengthen, and harmonize Humber’s commitment to creating a healthy and inclusive community through the development and implementation of an employee engagement and wellness strategy.

    Through this initiative, employees will have an opportunity to define the elements of a framework that will describe Humber’s commitment to employee well-being and engagement and will drive actions, goals, strategies and programs to achieve these commitments.
     
  2. What is the Employee Well-being and Engagement Framework?

    The Employee Well-being and Engagement Framework is a structure or graphical representation of what Humber will define as Dimensions and Drivers of well-being and engagement. Currently, Humber does not have a framework or described structure for well-being and engagement. What is shared on the employee well-being and engagement website is not an already developed framework. Rather, it provides points of discussion around dimensions and drivers to allow employees to define Humber’s Employee Well-being and Engagement Framework through the voting/feedback process.
     
  3. What are the main stages or process steps in the Employee Well-being and Engagement initiative?

    There are some very specific steps in this initiative, many of them directly involve employees contributing to defining our framework. The main steps are:
     
    1. Develop the discussion dimensions and drivers from industry research and leading practices in employee well-being and engagement.
    2. Present these dimensions and drivers to employees and have them vote on those that are most important to them (this is where we need input from you, the employee).
    3. Collate voting results and derive Humber’s draft Employee Well-being and Engagement Framework.
    4. Present the draft framework to employees and invite them to share their stories, recommendations, expectations and needs in a town hall opportunity (in person and online) that will allow us to get specifics about what employees want to see as well-being and engagement actions.
    5. Refine the draft framework based on the feedback received.
    6. Conduct a baseline survey on the framework Dimensions and Drivers to understand gaps.
    7. ​Use the data collected from steps 4 and 5 above to formulate an action plan for well-being and engagement.
       
  4. What are Dimensions and Drivers?

    Dimensions are: areas of focus that allow us to categorize organizational responses (projects, programs, solutions, approaches, processes, etc.) into definable containers.

    Drivers are: a condition, strategy or capability that shapes and enables mindsets, culture, behaviours, and goals. These typically become translated into specific actions. 

    For a list of dimensions and drivers and more information on the employee engagement and well-being initiative, please visit humber.ca/hroe/oe.
     
  5. Where did these Dimensions and Drivers come from?

    The Dimensions and Drivers presented for voting and discussion were collated in-house by the Organizational Effectiveness team within the Human Resources and Organizational Effectiveness Division. They draw on academic, industry (public sector and higher education), and leading practice research on employee well-being and engagement, and take into consideration the unique and diverse needs of Humber College.
     
  6. Why do employees have to vote?

    Employees need to vote because we need input. The proposed list of dimensions and drivers are a starting point to begin the discussion. Voting is a way for us to reduce a large list of leading Dimensions and Drivers to a more manageable and meaningful list that can make up our framework. Voting allows us to reduce the list without having to draw on employees’ time to discuss this large list. When employees vote, the Dimensions and Drivers that obtain the most votes will go forward as the draft framework elements. 

    When employees attend an information session, we will share information on the Dimensions and Drivers, and will then begin voting on the ones that are important to you. We will use that data to build the draft framework (the refined list), which we will share back with employees and initiate step 4 described above.
     
  7. What if I decide not to vote?

    The Eemployee Well-being and Engagement initiative is about employees. We can’t determine what well-being and engagement looks like at Humber without the input of the employees that make up Humber. You have a say in the framework. Not voting would mean that you miss out on the opportunity to say what Humber should focus on when it comes to employee well-being and engagement. If you want your voice to be heard, you need to vote and participate in the other project activities such as steps 4 and 6 above.
     
  8. Why should employee well-being and engagement matter to me?

    We recognize that employee well-being and engagement is in many respects, an individual response to how the mental and emotional state and psychological investment that an employee makes in an organization, is influenced by everything the they experience in the organization. However, employee well-being and engagement is also an organizational priority that Humber is committed to supporting through actions and programs that benefit all employees.

    It is both an individual and collective responsibility to demonstrate care and concern, to raise issues and make recommendations that will benefit everyone when it comes to employee well-being and engagement. Employees need to feel comfortable and empowered to raise concerns and provide recommendations so that changes occur. The multiple employee feedback opportunities provided through this initiative allow employees to let their voices be heard and to help us build something truly culture defining.
     
  9. What happens if a dimension or driver I care about and vote for, is not selected?

    It is possible that a Dimension or Driver you like and voted for, may not be selected in the refined listing that will form the draft framework. There are more than thirty (3) dimensions and drivers altogether that you will vote on. What we end up with will reflect what the majority of employees want Humber to focus on.
     
  10. Who should participate in voting and other employee activities?

    This initiative is for every type of employee – Full-time Admin, Academic, Support, Part-time Admin, Academic, Regular Part-time Support Staff, Partial Load employee under contract and student employees.
     
  11. Is my vote and other contributions, such as when I participate in the survey, confidential?

    Yes. We will be careful to ensure that only essential demographic information is collected from employees during any feedback exercise.
     
  12. What if I don’t think this initiative or my contribution will make any difference?

    Your input matters. Your experience matters. Without your insights, we can’t develop a meaningful Employee Well-being and Engagement Framework. Together, we can build a meaningful framework and programs, services and supports that reflect what matters most to Humber employees.
     
  13. Whom should I reach out to if I have more questions?

    We welcome your questions. Please contact:
Dawn Bassant
Director Organizational Effectiveness
E: dawn.bassant@humber.ca
Tel: x5750
Candice Warner-Barrow
OE Project Portfolio Lead
E: candice.warner-barrow@humber.ca
Tel: x5146
Marianne Davitjan
OE Consultant
E: marianne.davitjan@humber.ca
 

 

When:
March 4, 2020
Boilermaker Apprenticeship Program

Humber’s Boilermaker Apprenticeship Program received an eight-foot diameter tank from TIW Steel Platework Inc., to be used by apprentices to gain real-world skills.

The partnership between TIW Steel Platework Inc., the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 128, and Humber College helps the next generation of boilermakers to thrive in the future. These partnerships allow us to stay current and to fulfil the needs of today’s industry.

TIW Steel Platework Inc. representatives visited Carrier Drive to see how their tank has been put to use and to accept a token of appreciation.

Special thanks to:

TIW Steel Platework Inc.
Glenn Alloway, Construction Manager
Mario Lisella, General Superintendent
Valmount Bourgoin, Turnaround Supervisor
Jason Pouliot, Project Coordinator

Boilermakers Local 128
Roy Grills, Business Manager
Tom MacNeil, Apprentice Coordinator
Ed Hoffmann Jr, Welding Instructor.

Lastly, we can’t forget the January 2020 Advanced Boilermaker class for their hard work assembling the tank!

When:
March 4, 2020
Contact:
Allison Scully
Tel:
x79287
Posters/Attachments: Event Poster

Advising & Career Services at Humber College conducts an annual Advisor Training Conference. Each year, the Advisor Training Conference has a theme reflected in aspects of holistic approach to student advising. The attendees of this conference will be from Humber College, University of Guelph Humber and Humber Community Outreach and Workforce Development. 

This year our theme is “Advising Without Silos: Collaborating for Student Success”. The training conference will be taking place on May 27 at the North Campus and May 28 at the Lakeshore Campus. Please mark your calendars. 

On behalf of our Advisor Training Program Committee, we are excited to launch a new opportunity to our colleagues. This year we are encouraging staff and faculty who are interested to submit proposals to present. Sessions will be scheduled for approximately one hour. If you are interested in submitting a proposal please complete the Presentation Proposal Form.  

Deadline to submit a presentation proposal is March 18, 2020. Successful presentations will be contacted by end of March. We hope that you will submit a proposal and join us as we continue to advance the field of advising and student success at Humber.

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