Monday Update

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:

• Facilitated Courses:
  • September 15 & 22: Self-Care 101
  • September 17: Positive Coping Strategies: Supporting Your Mental Health

• Anytime courses: 
  • Overcoming Burnout (on-demand webinar)
  • Wellbeing in the Workplace (self-guided webinar available until October 31)
  • Self-Care 101  (Self-Guided Webinar)
• New mental health articles from HR:
  • Editorial: Building resilience and thriving during stress
  • Corporate discounts and resources for staff and faculty: Coping with stress & building resilience
  • Benefits Spotlight: Accessing your Employee and Family Assistance Program
  • How to Flex Your Resilience Muscle
  • Four Tips to Manage your Stress

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Last week’s updates from UBC

• September 14: President’s Weekly Update: Preventing COVID-19 at UBC
• September 11: Broadcast email: COVID-19 — Required use of non-medical masks at UBC, effective Sep 16

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

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Department updates

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

• Capital projects & priorities: Updates on current capital projects and capital priorities in planning are now available from the September 9, 2020 Board of Governors’ committee meeting.
• UBCO Innovation Precinct 1 (1540 Innovation Drive): This project in UBC Okanagan is submitting a combined Board 1, 2, and 3 request for approval. For more information on this project, visit the UBCO Innovation Precinct website or the UBCO Campus Planning website.
• Project Services’ Project Coordinators on-site support schedule this week: Please continue to contact the designated Project Manager/Coordinator for project inquiries.
  • Sept 14: Victor Wong & David Meek
  • Sept 15: Darren Harrington & David Meek
  • Sept 16: Victor Wong & David Meek
  • Sept 17: Darren Harrington & David Kosub
  • Sept 18: Darren Harrington & David Kosub

 

Finance – Comptroller, Finance & Operational Excellence, and Treasury

• New consolidated communication for Finance community: To streamline communications from our central finance teams (Comptroller, Treasury, Finance & Operational Excellence), we’re starting a weekly “Finance Update” that will share important information for UBC’s finance community. In the near-term this message will focus on information about changes to existing finance processes in the run up to Workday.

 

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

• Final Reminder, Sept 17 IRP Community Call-in: Sponsors and leadership will host a live discussion on how to prepare for Workday, and where to access support after Workday goes live. Register to attend at 11:00 AM on Sept 17.
• Workday Job Aid site: The IRP team has created an online Workday Quick Reference Guide (CWL required) to support training, which includes a host of information on processes in the Workday system.
• Training summary: A reminder that the IRP team has released a one-page summary to help the community understand the self-serve training that is available as we all prepare for Workday. The one-pager is part of a communications toolkit they have posted to their website called Training: Get Ready for Workday, that captures all of the materials they have produced related to training thus far.
• IRP Q&A searchable database: The IRP has launched an online Q&A database, with questions sourced from the Finance and HR call-in sessions. Topics covered include: Finance, HR, training, and general inquiries. The database is available online to anyone with a valid CWL.

Operations & Advising — Communications & Engagement and Human Resources

• Communicating with Departmental Administrators: UBC’s Internal Communications department has collected these resources from across UBC to support UBC team members with administrative responsibilities for a department or unit. Is there something the VPFO should add to help the administrators we support? Reach out to Internal Communications and let them know.
• VPFO HR on-site support schedule this week:
  • September 14: Gregor Macdonald
  • September 15: Matt Furgal, Kasia Burza
  • September 16: Arvind Kang, Gregor Macdonald
  • September 17: Matt Furgal, Rachel Lau
  • September 18: Arvind Kang, Kasia Burza

SRS Updates

• Non-medical Masks at UBC: Many VPFO team members have unique working conditions and may have questions regarding the recent Broadcast requiring use of non-medical masks in shared indoor spaces. We’re working to provide clarity on specific situations as soon as possible. More information about this change will be shared before the 16^th, so please review the SRS website or send your specific questions to ready.ubc@ubc.ca.
• ShakeOut 2020: Each year thousands of people across BC take part in the annual ShakeOut earthquake drill and this year is no different. On October 15^th between 10:00 and 10:20, SRS’s Emergency Management team will be hosting a live ShakeOut drill via Zoom to help you prepare for an earthquake. More details to follow!

 

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Other notable updates

DELETE IT: DON’T GET HOOKED!

People who want to steal your information or access UBC’s systems can be clever. A common trick used by cyber criminals called phishing is to send you an email, which appears to come from someone or a system you trust. Learn the basics of recognizing and handling potential phishing emails on the Privacy Matters website.

STAYING FIRE SMART IN THE COVID-19 ERA

Our Ranger Ready partners in SRS want to remind us that with the COVID-19 pandemic still upon us and wildfire smoke primarily affecting people’s respiratory tracts, minimizing accidental wildfires is critical. UBC media relations asked UBC faculty of forestry wildfire expert Lori Daniels what can be done. Read more on the Media Relations website.

CAMPUS SECURITY’S 5 TIPS TO SECURE YOUR BIKE

Although bike thieves are always on the lookout for potential victims, they are most active at the start of term. Protect your bike from thieves by following Campus Security’s 5 tips for bike security.
 

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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.

• Arthur C. Brooks teaches a class at the Harvard Business School on happiness. In his column in The Atlantic, he shares the three equations for a happy life, even during a pandemic.
• Confidence and extroversion are common traits of business leaders, but as we transition to a remote working model are these skills less important? The BBC shares research that suggests organization, dependability and productivity are becoming increasingly important attributes in virtual leaders.

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