Being an outstanding workplace is one of the four priorities in the University of Manitoba’s Strategic Planning Framework. The Outstanding Workplace Initiative was established to recognize and celebrate our strengths and achievements while also identifying areas in need of improvement.
December 17, 2012
OWI announces UMLeaders Program
Leadership/management development and support is a top priority for U of M, and one of our six Outstanding Workplace Initiative commitments, namely “to foster exemplary leadership and management practices”. The UMLeaders Program framework will inform the detailing of our expectations for leaders and of our supports for them. This framework is based on our understanding of the challenges currently facing universities, including ours, and on our review of the current best practices in the literature and in other university programs.
August 20, 2012
Outstanding Workplace Initiative Plan and Strategy
The Outstanding Workplace Initiative Plan and Strategy are now online. Click here for more information and to read both documents.
November 28, 2011 Survey Results
At a Town Hall presentation this morning, University of Manitoba President David Barnard gave an overview of the results from the It's About Us! Employee Experience Survey. Please follow this link to read more about those results.
Experience Survey Complete
The University of Manitoba’s confidential It’s About Us! employee experience survey is now closed. Thank you for your participation. The outstanding workplace initiative (OWI) team will share the results of the survey in the fall.
If you are interested in finding out more about the outstanding workplace initiative, please take the time to explore the OWI website. The site includes links to a variety of workplace-related documents, events and activities.
Stay tuned for information on the prize draw.
June 15, 2011
Check your email inbox for the "It's about us!" employee experience survey. The survey is being sent to a large cross-section of University of Manitoba employees. Find out more here!
First, an invitation.
Please join in the conversation through participation in our focus groups or by filling out the anonymous survey. If you have already responded, we THANK YOU! Please be assured that all responses are anonymous and confidential. contact Stan Amaladas (amaladas@cc.umanitoba.ca, 474-8468), Ros Howard, or any other guiding team member with your questions or comments.
What is an outstanding workplace and why do we want to be one? Being an outstanding workplace is one of the priorities in the University of Manitoba’s strategic planning framework. In order to achieve that goal, the outstanding workplace initiative (OWI) was established as a way to recognize and celebrate achievements, while also identifying areas in need of improvement. Sponsored by President David Barnard and supported by a guiding team, this initiative began in November 2010. The goal is to ensure that the supports offered are the ones that staff and faculty value and that their workplace works for them. Outstanding workplace initiatives focus on people, systems, benefits and work processes. They assess current practices, reviewing things like compensation, pension, benefits, workspace, health and safety, IT infrastructure and other tools. Attention is also paid to how clearly organizational goals are shared, whether or not people see their work as being meaningful, and how people describe their workplace culture and leadership. Attention to recognition, learning, professional and career development is also important. The OWI team is reaching out to the university community to learn about workplace experiences – both the great and the not-so-great. They will be sharing what they learn with staff and faculty. That information will inform a framework to identify what matters most to faculty and staff, and what supports to keep, start and stop. That framework will then be used to guide an action plan. The road to being an outstanding workplace Sparking the conversation
The OWI team is approaching the initiative through the lens of appreciative inquiry (AI), which essentially means building on the energy of strengths to address shortcomings.
The first step has been identifying what is most important to university employees. To do that the team has set about sparking conversations with as many staff and faculty members as possible. The goal of these conversations – both one-on-one and in focus groups – is to understand what being an outstanding workplace means to University of Manitoba staff and faculty. What are the university’s current strengths and what needs to be different and stronger?
The team has also developed a two-question survey, to gather preliminary answers from all employees.This survey can be found here, and is completely anonymous.
As a result of these ongoing conversations, the team has been learning about workplace experiences - both the great and the not-so-great. As a result, some clear themes have emerged. Read about the emerging themes here.
Communication
Information from our consultations will be updated and shared through presentations and through our website. If you would like (a) to be involved in a focus group or (b) to have us to present our preliminary findings to your group/team/unit, please feel free to call on us.
Drafting a framework
Information gathered from face-to-face conversations, the anonymous online survey and relevant literature, will inform the drafting of a framework. Using this framework and feedback as a guide, the OWI team will create a larger, more inclusive employee experience survey. All faculty and staff will be invited to complete this survey. The information gathered from this survey will be used to craft an action plan.
Developing a plan of action
The action plan will identify areas and plans to build on strengths and address areas needing improvement. The strategies will include key performance indicators that can be used to track progress of the initiative.
Assess, learn, enhance
The primary objective of this initiative is to determine ways to enhance the working experience at the university. Tracking and reporting on the progress of the initiative will include re-administering the employee experience survey on a regular basis. The hope is that these conversations about the university as a workplace – what is valued, how it can be improved and what each of us can contribute – will continue.
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