It was great to see our members that joined the Virtual Breakfast forum today. Conversations revolved largely around Covid, and how organizations will adjust to the lessening of restrictions. Most members noticed that their employees are showing more inclination to come together in person. There were reports that some company mandates are lessening, from allowing masks to be removed at workstations, encouraging more employees to return to work in person, to the idea of dropping the mandatory vaccination requirement within their organizations. It seems everyone is excited at the potential for a return to “life before Covid”.

There was an interesting discussion around rapid testing: primarily, that obtaining rapid tests is very difficult here in British Columbia. One member shared his source, where tests can be bought from Ontario: https://www.minervamedical.ca/ But even with access to these rapid tests, it bears mentioning that even with a negative test result, the individual still may test positive a few days later, depending on the viral load at the time of testing. This begs the question of how much faith to have in a rapid test, and whether there is a false security developing when there could actually be the potential of transmission of the virus with someone who is symptom free.

Members reported a continued struggle with supply chain issues. It was also widely agreed that on average, approx. 10% of their teams continue to be off work due to quarantining.

We want to bring you topics that are of interest to YOU! Please reach out to George with any ideas of topics that you’d like to discuss at future breakfast forums. We are open to topics that are relevant to Leadership, HR issues as well as Health and Safety related topics. Also please keep in mind that we are always looking to increase and diversify our membership. If you have any suggestions from your networks on good potential members, we’d love to hear from you.

George reminded members of the upcoming opportunities: Feb. 24^th our VBF will feature guest speaker Debbie Pearmain, a Mental Health expert, on ways to engage your employees. Our AGM will be April 7^th, at our normal VBF time of 8:00am, and we are looking for expressions of interest on members interested in joining the Board.  Additionally, we are hoping that with lessening restrictions, we will soon be able to coordinate some in person site visits, as well as a Kelowna visit at the end of June.  More to follow.

Happy new year to all of our members and guests! Today’s Virtual Breakfast Forum helped to kick off 2022 to a great start.  Almost half of the membership attended today, and it was a great way to keep our “safety filters” turned on.

As is often the big news story in our forums, members reported on the current state of their organizations and how COVID-19 continues its impact. Many members reported that a few of their staff have contracted COVID-19 during their vacations or are self-isolating because of international travel, so organizations are seeing their staff numbers down.  Members reported on their organizations’ mask and vaccination mandates, with some placing employees on unpaid leave if they are not in compliance.  It was reported that many job sites now have vaccine mandates, and this is a growing trend.  To support their team, one member reported that a nurse comes into their facility 3x a week to perform testing on staff that have not been vaccinated, as well as anyone else who wants to get tested for any reason.

Some members reported that they have pivoted back to work from home policies, in instances where it is not essential to come into the office. Members were reminded to be mindful of their own mental health as well as their teams’. Pay attention to family situations, daycare closures, sick kids, sick partners. Check in with your staff. Remind everyone that they are doing a great job, you appreciate their efforts and believe in the company.

A reminder that on Thursday January 27^th we have a guest speaker, Labour Lawyer Melanie Vipond, followed by a general member forum and Thursday, February 10^th. We look forward to seeing you there.

Special thanks to Jason Robinson of Atlas Anchors for taking notes on the conversation today.

 

Round Table 2021 a huge in-person success

This year’s Executive Health and Safety Council Round Table was very well received by nearly 50 members and guests.  Held at the Vancouver Club in downtown Vancouver, members gathered to learn, teach, and share from their experiences.  As in previous years, there were four sections to the Round Table: a safety story, table discussions, keynote address and the networking event.

This year’s safety story was presented by Technical Safety BC and reminded members that it is often decisions that are made (or not) that cause safety incidents.  Titled “Leadership at the Margins”, TSBC noted that there can be both direct and indirect consequences of not making the correct decisions, and that there can be serious disconnects between those on the floor and those making the key decisions.  The presentation was recorded and will be shared with members for future viewing.

 

The Table discussions this year were centered on safety culture.  Three questions were posed to each table and tables shared their findings.  More will be shared on this later this year, but as a reminder to all, the questions were:

• How would you describe a good safety culture?
• How do/would you measure safety culture in your organization?
• How could we as members hold each other accountable so we can tell we are “walking the walk”?

 

The Keynote address was done in a different format this year.  Rather than a speech from the podium, keynote speaker (and EHSCBC Member) Tamara Vrooman, President and CEO of YVR, and George Higgins (EHSCBC Executive Director) had a “fireside chat” on safety and safety culture.  Starting with a discussion on why safety is so important to Tamara, the discussion moved on to public safety and finished with leadership thoughts on where safety and safety policy is heading moving forward.  This session was recorded and will be made available for members to review.

The final networking session was a great way for members to chat informally, get to know each other and “trade business cards”.  Many new connections were made, and old friends were finally able to connect – in person.

Many thanks are expressed to all Round Table sponsors: Air Canada, Ampco, Kerry, KPMG, Murray Latta, SureWerx, Technical Safety BC, and WorkSafeBC.

 

At today’s Breakfast Forum we enjoyed reconnecting with members, having a good discussion on Vaccine Passports.  Members reported feeling challenged on how to handle unvaccinated staff, whether to invite them back to the office, or to require them to work from home, what type of work they will do, etc.  Some members found that while their teams in the office are predominantly vaccinated, their teams in the field are widely not. This becomes an issue where more and more job sites are requiring contractors and sub-contractors to show vaccine passports when working on site.

Leaders are now facing challenges bringing people back into the office, even with safety protocols that remain in place. We need to ask our employees what is the concern: is it actually safety? Or is it simply that they prefer working from home? One tip that was offered is to try to focus on outcomes rather than where they’re working. One member reported that when COVID began, they flipped their entire office space into transient desk space, where employees need to now reserve a desk to come in to work, rather than have an assigned desk.

Labour shortage seems to continue to be a problem in some industries. Temporary workers can be fickle, choosing to move on to better paid gigs. Leaders must get creative to incentivize workers to join their teams, to stay engaged and make them feel like family. With taking on temporary workers, we must not lose sight that Health and Safety remains the utmost concern. These workers may not be familiar with the site, and we all need to be vigilant to stave off dangerous practices.

Tim Croyle of BC Transit reported that one of their biggest H&S challenges are MSI’s.  As part of their “Recover at Work” program, BC Transit has recently instituted onsite physio services in both of their transit depots. As their workers start to feel something they can book an appointment at work, allowing a more preventative approach with injuries that build over time.  Interesting timing for our October 7^th Virtual Breakfast Forum, where we welcome WorkSafeBC, discussing Musculo-Skeletal Injuries. We hope to see you and a guest join us there.

At this month’s Virtual Breakfast Forum, we were pleased to have Lynn Ferrari Director of People and Change at KPMG, sharing her thoughts on Leadership Culture; what it is, why it’s important, and the ways to achieve it. Leadership Culture is not something you can implement, or buy, but rather a conscious decision to purposely model behaviour, decisions and actions, every day. Lynn shared an eye-opening statistic: each of us, over our lifetimes, will work on average of about 90,000 hours.  With this in mind, it is imperative that we, and our employees, try to make the most of our time in the workplace.

What is “leadership”? It is the ability to influence a group towards the achievement of goals.

What is “management”? It is the use of authority inherent in a designated formal rank to obtain compliance from organizational members.

What is “culture”? It is the working environment created by an organization’s values, strategic vision, and mission, and sets the tone for relationships between people in an organization. A healthy organization is able to attract, obtain and grow talent.

“Leadership Culture” is the way things are done: it’s the way people interact, make decisions and influence others.

A winning culture today focuses on empowerment vs management.

The absence of a Leadership Culture contributes to disengagement costs, such as 37% higher absenteeism, 49% more accidents, 60% more errors, and up to 50% turnover. However, companies with strong cultures can enhance engagement by 30%, resulting in 19% increase in operating income, and 23% increase in earnings growth.

Lynn shared the 5 different types of leadership that exist within organizations today:

• Directive Leadership – a culture of consistency.
• Transformational Leadership – a culture of inspiration.
• Participative Leadership – a culture of innovation, works to build consensus among team members.
• Servant Leadership – a culture of inclusion, focus on serving organizations stakeholders and the larger community.
• Autocratic Leadership – a culture of compliance, decisions that affect the business are made without consulting employees and their opinions.

Behaviors that leader’s model in a leadership culture would include:

• Integrity, Self-awareness, authenticity, teachableness, relationship building, valuing others, inclusiveness, accountableness, consistency, courage, respect, and humility.

You can assess culture by reviewing policies, interviewing leadership, survey stakeholders, focus groups and data analysis.

Click here to see the 1-page summary of how to build a culture of leadership within your organization