Monday Update

August 31, 2020

Managing Your Mental Health

HR has collected a great set of mental health resources to help you manage the ups and downs of our COVID-19 experience. Our VPFO HR staff is on campus every day for confidential conversations. See below for this week’s HR duty roster.

A few of the courses and resources available to you in the next few weeks:

A new service is now available to match faculty and staff needing in-home child care support with students in the Faculty of Education’s Early Childhood Education program.

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

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

  • Project Services’ Project Coordinators on-site support schedule this week: Please continue to contact the designated Project Manager/Coordinator for project inquiries.
    • David Kosub is on vacation until September 11, 2020
    • Sept 4: Darren Harrington & David Meek
    • Sept 3: Darren Harrington & David Meek
    • Sept 2: Victor Wong & David Meek
    • Sept 1: Darren Harrington & David Meek
    • August 31: Victor Wong & David Meek

Finance – Comptroller, Finance & Operational Excellence, and Treasury

  • IRP Readiness: Financial Operations and Revenue Accounting are collaborating to prepare for IRP implementation, and have begun prioritizing which processes need to be mapped for Workday implementation.

IRP/AEP/ISC – Integrated Renewal Program, Application Ecosystem Program, Integrated Service Centre

Operations & Advising — Communications & Engagement and Human Resources

  • VPFO HR on-site support schedule this week:
    • August 31: Matt Furgal, Gregor Macdonald
    • September 1: Matt Furgal, Rachel Lau
    • September 2: Matt Furgal, Gregor Macdonald
    • September 3: Arvind Kang, Kasia Burza
    • September 4: Arvind Kang, Kasia Burza

Safety & Risk Services

  • COVID-19 Safety Plan Onsite Review Program: SRS recently launched a program to review the COVID-19 safety measures put in place as part of reoccupancy safety plans. The program will involve members of the SRS team conducing onsite reviews of safety measures and recommending improvements where needed. Read more on the SRS website.
  • Sneaky Shiba gives Security the Slip: Over the weekend Campus Security received a report of a stray Shiba Inu dog on campus. The dog successfully evaded Security’s initial attempts to capture him, but read more to find out what happened.

Other notable updates

REMINDER: MANDATORY PASSWORDS FOR ZOOM MEETINGS

Please be reminded that starting today (August 31) UBC will require all new Zoom meetings to have a passcode enabled for increased security. Any new meetings that you create as of August 31st will have a passcode automatically enabled and generated. Any meetings that were created before August 31st will not be affected by this change. Read more on the UBC IT website.

 

NEW UBC HUMAN RESOURCES WEBSITE IS LIVE

UBC’s Human Resources team has launched an updated website with new resources and an improved section for managers and administrators. Visit hr.ubc.ca to see the new site and explore the information available.

 

PARKING FEES REINSTATED AS OF SEPTEMBER 1ST

Please be reminded that parking fees are being reinstated starting tomorrow (September 1) on the Vancouver campus. Visit the UBC Parking website to review your options. 

 

FALL TRANSIT CHANGES START SEPTEMBER 7TH

With UBC holding many classes online in the fall semester, TransLink is continuing suspensions on some routes to campus. Visit the Campus & Community Planning website for a full update on Translink services to UBC.

 

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.

  • Canadian Red Cross courses
    The Canadian Red Cross is offering online courses to help Canadians learn how to reduce the risk of infection, and to better manage our stress levels during challenging times.

    • Preventing Disease Transmission: Learn how to use personal protective equipment and good prevention of disease transmission practices to reduce the risk of infection.
    • Psychological First Aid: Learn how to anticipate stress and crisis whenever possible and equip yourself with the skillset to practice self-care and to provide care for others during particularly challenging times.
    • For more courses, visit the Red Cross website.
  • A few weeks ago we shared an article about Barbados offering extended work visas for remote workers. Well, they’re not the only country offering a safe-haven to digital nomads, with countries like Estonia, Mexico and others offering something similar. Considering a lifestyle change? Now might be the time to do it!
  • So, for most people, working remotely really works. It turns out the real challenge is keeping people from working too hard and helping them fight the burnout that could turn a short-term productivity gain into a long-term drain. Here’s what you can do to fight the burnout right now, according to ideas.ted.com.

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.