Virtual Breakfast Forum – Mar 10, 2022
A big EHSCBC thank you to our members Tim Croyle, Mark Bunz and Allison Straghan who shared personal updates from their respective regions and industries throughout British Columbia. Here is what they had to say:
Tim Croyle – BC Transit – Victoria
Tim reported that he appreciated the recent Mental Health focused VBF, stating that he found it very timely. Tim’s team has been experiencing mental health challenges, especially during the pandemic, and more recently due to the current instability due to world events. His team is thinking about the lifting of the mask mandate, and how the public will react if/when it’s removed. Tim advised that BC Transit’s approach has always been to follow the PHO guidelines, and not make up their own interpretations. If the PHO is removing the requirement for mask wearing in public places, the challenge will be to deal with all the spectrums and work through that change management over the next few months. The key will be to minimize confrontations. They will be asking themselves: what are we going to undo, and which are we going to keep because it’s good business practice? Another observation was that they are starting to see ridership pick up. This is likely due to the impact of the price of gas rising, less vehicle use, and that downtown areas are starting to get busier after the announcement lifting restrictions on restaurants.
Tim inquired to those on the call and within the membership which organizations are ISO 45001 certified. Tim would be interested in connecting with you to discuss the certification process and your experiences with it.
Mark Bunz – Dinoflex – Salmon Arm
Mark reported that recently, especially with younger employees, their team is needing to revisit protocols, including mask mandates, more frequently. He believes that the challenge stems from other jurisdictions relaxing and eliminating some of those mandates.
Mark shared that in the first 2months of the year in the production area, they’ve already burned through 1/3 of the sick days that the government mandated. Cases have definitely spiked within their business. From a general labour standpoint, the Okanagan is no different from other regions, and labour is short there too. Mark has increased labour rates (pay) to incentivize their employees, but he’s finding that it’s not about the money that’s impacting people’s decisions to stay with an organization. Mark’s team is investigating a foreign work program to attract labour. We keep focused on automation. Supply chain continues to be an issue: price increases, raw material allocations and how that impacts / affects production, freight costs and delays. Freight partners have passed along surcharges and flat rate increases due to fuel costs rising. Mark reminds us that as leaders we need to remind ourselves daily to continue to focus on our employees’ safety and wellbeing. Mark reported that frequently, people are feeling “bummed out” and missing work. Mark shared that in his organization, they need to do more from a mental health perspective, and design a more robust policy to address it. The first things he’s looking to do are reduce stigma and start talking about mental health on a more frequent basis.
Allison Straghan – Code Electric – Vancouver
Allison’s organization had a similar experience to Mark’s, where lot of their production staff have used up the majority of 5 sick days. Recently, that has reduced and levelled off. Everyone in Allison’s organization is still wearing masks and following PHO, but she’s finding that employees working in the plant and those working in the office differ in their perspectives. As a leader, Allison shared that she will continue to wear her mask to support those people who are more comfortable wearing them, and wish to continue. On the shop floor there might be a bit of pressure for those wearing their masks. Mental health is wearing on Allison’s team. She reports that with the price increases of food and fuel employees are feeling more financially strapped, and as a result, she has seen employees missing work more in the plant side than the office/technical team.
Employees have brought in some referrals from other companies which have resulted in good hires. Allison has found that lot of people are looking to work close to where they live, as the type of work they do is not possible to do remotely. When things get busy and in the summer due to vacations, they used to use temp/agency workers, and they are harder to come by and cost more now. Although Allison’s time has not been as focused on the strategic direction of the organization, rather putting out fires, she continues to develop corporate culture, and is planning some fun team building type events for the summer.
George shared a few housekeeping notes to keep in mind for future events:
AGM was moved from April 7th to April 28th, and will still be a breakfast meeting but will also potentially feature a guest speaker.
Save the date: Round Table is on Oct. 6th. This year, we will start a little earlier to accommodate those members who need to travel back home the same day.
