VPFO Monday Update

June 1, 2020

Managing Your Mental Health

HR has collected a great set of metal health resources to help you manage the ups and downs of our COVID-19 experience. Need someone to help guide you through these resources? The VPFO has HR staff on campus every day for confidential conversations. See the Departmental Updates below for this week’s HR duty roster.

Last week’s updates from UBC

General updates about UBC and its response to COVID-19 continue to be updated at covid19.ubc.ca.

Department updates

VPFO and UBC

  • VPFO KPIs: The Operational Excellence team has completed the first phase of data collection for our VPFO KPIs, and mock-up dashboards have been constructed. We will use these measures to assess our strategic plan progress.

Facilities – Building Operations, Energy & Water Services, and Infrastructure Development

  • Facilities COVID-related webpage currently underway: This webpage is anticipated to be launched in early June to inform faculty, students, and staff of Facilities’ operations and service levels to support UBC’s approach to safely resume campus activities as directed by the province, WorkSafeBC, health officials, and SRS.
  • Project Services’ Project Coordinators return to working in pairs for on-site support starting June 1: Please continue to contact the designated Project Manager/Coordinator for project inquiries.
    • June 1: Victor Wong & David Meek
    • June 2: Victor Wong & David Meek
    • June 3: Victor Wong & David Meek
    • June 4: Darren Herrington & David Kosub
    • June 5: Darren Herrington & David Kosub

Finance – Comptroller, Finance & Operational Excellence, and Treasury

  • Need equipment for working from home? Finance and HR answer your questions about working from home with loaned equipment, purchasing new equipment, and T2200 Tax Forms.
  • COVID-19 impact: The Comptroller’s team is continuing to refine our understanding of lost revenues and increased costs directly related to COVID-19 with faculties and departments. Together we are developing and implementing mitigating strategies to reduce/minimize the financial impact of COVID-19 on the university.
  • COVID-19 cost tracking: The Comptroller’s team has introduced a monitoring system to track the financial impact of COVID-19 on the university, to aid our ongoing analysis.

Operations & Advising – Communications & Engagement and Human Resources

  • VPFO HR on-site support schedule this week:
    • June 1: Arvind Kang, Kasia Burza
    • June 2: Matt Furgal, Gregor MacDonald
    • June 3: Liana Chang, Elliot Campbell, Rachel Lau
    • June 4: Alena Martin Rachel Lau
    • June 5: Arvind Kang, Kasia Burza

Safety & Risk Services

  • EOC effectiveness survey: The Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) has been a key part of UBC’s response to COVID-19. SRS has launched a brief survey to understand its effectiveness and lessons learned. Please complete the survey if you have supported the EOC in any way.
  • Return to campus safety training: Ahead of the phased return to campus for specific teams, SRS has developed a mandatory safety training course to be completed by all campus users before returning to campus. This course will only be shared with people when they are invited to return to campus.

Other notable updates

THE COVID COMMUNICATIONS SESSIONS: WORKING WITH COMMUNICATIONS & ENGAGEMENT

COVID-19 has challenged us to rethink many aspects of how we work, from taking meetings online to redesigning paper-based processes. It takes extra effort to be understood and stay engaged — especially when moving to less familiar digital communications. To help you succeed, Communications & Engagement offered 4 lighting fast (15-minute) weekly Zoom sessions to build up your skills. Thanks to everyone who attended the fourth and final session — Working with Websites: From the VPFO and Beyond. For those who could not attend, we’ve shared presentation slides and a recording of the Zoom session.

 

SELF-CARE 101: FACILITATED WEBINAR

This online, facilitator-delivered course focuses on increasing mental health through self-care for individuals. You will learn about the body’s stress response and will have an opportunity to take a stress index, explore what self-care means to you, and identify key UBC resources that can be engaged to support work life integration and positive mental health.

  • Date: June 4 & 11, 2020
  • Time: 9:30 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Register Now

 

VPFO TEAMS FEATURED IN WATER CANADA MAGAZINE

In January this year we featured the many VPFO teams — including Building Operations, Energy & Water Services, Safety & Risk Services, and Finance — who support the safe and sustainable delivery of water on our Vancouver campus. These teams have now been recognized for their critical work in Water Canada Magazine, a national print publication dedicated to reporting on Canadian water quality and stewardship.

AN UNEXPECTED DINNER GUEST

Campus Security officers responded to an unusual incident last week: A bald eagle flew through a pane glass window at the Sage Restaurant, and became stuck in a metal grate on the salad bar. Patrol Officers quickly contacted the appropriate authorities and the eagle was taken to a refuge area to be checked over for injury. Learn more on the Campus Security website.

 

Helpful news

People have been suggesting news articles that they have found informative or helpful at work. These are provided for information and entertainment only. Unless noted, UBC doesn’t specifically endorse or supply editorial to this content.

Sharing an article that may be helpful to your peers? Send it to communications@vpfo.ubc.ca at any time.

Be Part of the VPFO Monday Update

Each Monday we capture a snapshot of important university updates, the work across our departments, and other resources relevant to the VPFO team. This will be reposted, along with all past issues, at vpfo.ubc.ca/news.

Additions or questions can be sent to communications@vpfo.ubc.ca at any time.