Virtual Breakfast forum – Nov 9, 2023
Today’s Virtual Breakfast forum was an intimate group, and a great discussion on what’s been happening in our member leaders’ organizations.
Gary Herman shared his personal experience with “Movember”, and is currently fundraising for the cause. Men’s health should be monitored regularly. If you see any of your employees growing a mustache, it is a good opportunity to open up a dialogue, and get to know them a little more. Please consider donating to Gary’s link https://ca.movember.com/mospace/14613055
Members are finding that there has been a sharp increase in the use of sick days recently. It’s unclear if it’s COVID, but these absences make it challenging to get production done. Employees taking COVID booster and flu shots are finding they are being knocked out for a few days as well. Members find that the majority of the days requested sick seem to be Monday / Tuesday after a weekend.
As many of you are hyper focussed on safety programs for Employees, for some organizations, it’s important to also have a safety program that considers outside contractors needing to perform work IN or ON your organization. One example is that with an old facility housing the organization, repairs need to be done on it. This organization has since developed a more robust contractor safety program so that contractors also have the right procedures in place to work safely on their site.
Additionally, a few members reported that they have an influx of new workers, while certified in their skill, they are not used to the way their new organizations do business. There is a higher risk of safety incidents from people’s differing perception of safety culture. The challenge is to make sure that the new workers are quickly brought up to speed on the safety culture.
One member shared the struggles with staffing being that they are a Multinational organization, with workers needing to travel overseas for family reasons. Several of these workers have gotten stuck abroad, some indefinitely, due to flight cancellations and political issues.
Technical Safety BC has a program where they are looking for leaders to support the projects they are working on, by looking for feedback. Sign up or send someone from your teams to join. Learn more at Engage.technicalsafetybc.ca
45% of membership responded to our recent membership survey. The results were that 70% would like to have Virtual Breakfast Forums monthly, rather than bi monthly. Starting January we will have alternating speakers & general forums, as well as some site tours & casual wing night evening events.
3 more events coming up to round out the year:
Nov 23rd – 2 members speaking Mark Bunz, speaking on Business Continuity, & Dann Konkin re Emergency Preparedness, particularly in cyber security breaches.
Dec 7th – we will hear from the Employers Advisors Group, who are in existence to help employers navigate WorkSafe BC
Nov. 28th – This Tuesday evening we’re having a “Wing Night”, gathering in person to give us a chance to get to know each other a little better. Location to be advised.
