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In Focus Region of Waterloo Employee Newsletter

Issue 30: September 2023

"We are on our way to becoming one of the first municipalities with a corporate carbon budget"

Meet the Region's Climate and Sustainability Team


Contributor: Sherry Morley


Meaghan Eastwood and her team want to support your department’s efforts to build a low-carbon, resilient, equitable Waterloo Region.


The Climate and Sustainability Team helps their colleagues across the Region apply a climate lens to their work, supporting them to achieve reductions in greenhouse gases (GHG) and respond to the impacts of climate change. The team, which includes Stephanie Shifflett, Mike Leishman, and Peter Ellis, conducts energy modelling, prepares corporate and community GHG inventories, develops tools to inform mitigation and adaptation activities, and monitors climate action performance.


While each department is encouraged to undertake its own climate work, Meaghan’s team is working on a corporate-wide climate action plan. The plan will identify GHG reduction targets and key performance indicators for the organization.



As an organization, we are on our way to becoming one of the first municipalities with a corporate carbon budget – another project Meaghan and team are working on.


A carbon budget involves defining the amount of greenhouse gases the organization can generate while transitioning off fossil fuels by 2050.

“The carbon budget is about equity,” says Meaghan. “So we need to determine the fair share of GHG emissions that the Region can generate as we work to achieve our shared goal of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, per Canada’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.”


Her team will help each operating unit determine a finite budget to work with and then apply tools to manage “carbon expenditures”. “We’re going in with a flexible mindset because it’s a new type of decision making tool. We’ll refine it as we go. If we go over one year, we catch up the next." The team is aiming to complete this work by the end of 2024.


In addition to this work, Meaghan’s team collaborates with municipal and other partners to move the whole community forward on climate action. Our corporate emissions are only 3 per cent of total community emissions, which means we need all sectors and partners to take action too. That’s one of the biggest challenges.

 

“We’re working with our partners to put the right policies and programs in place to drive system-level changes. For example, the Region is making transit affordable and accessible to as many people as possible, which can help support a large-scale modal shift to low-carbon transit and active transportation. The Regional Official Plan also embedded the notion of complete and compact communities so everyone can meet their needs within a 15-minute commute by walking, biking or rolling. So ensuring we are applying that climate lens to everything we do will support the transformative change we need.”

Enter our "In With The New" contest to win

Contributor: Scott Cressman


We’re excited that our organization now has a new 2023-2027 Strategic Plan to guide all the work we do. This new plan is an important step forward and will focus our work as we move into the future.


It also means we have many outdated posters, plaques, papers, webpages, pamphlets, etc. from the old Strategic Plan. There's an exciting new graphic design on the way… but first, we need your help! With keen eyes across our workplaces, we can find all the items that need to be updated.


All staff are invited to look high and low for old posters on the wall, logos on pamphlets, or graphics on a webpage. When you see one, let us know with this easy online form and we will come take it down.


Everyone who helps will be entered into a draw for several prize packages! Your prize includes a variety of cool stuff, like a portable phone charger, a water bottle, a bike light, and more.


See what you can find, especially off the beaten path! We’ll draw winners of this “In With the New” contest at the end of October.


GRT helps find missing child

Contributor: James Wood


Grand River Transit staff came together in July to reunite a young boy with his mother.


The search began on the evening of July 19, after GRT was informed a 12-year-old boy with special needs was lost on the transit system. Supervisor Nebiyu Tesfamariam received the call from the boy’s mother, who provided his description.


“Tesfamariam handled that call perfectly,” said Sean Johnston, Transit Operations Supervisor. “He calmed down the boy’s mother, and was able to relay critical information to the rest of the team working that day. He got the search off to a great start. Absolutely amazing work.”


Read more.

Staff and client feedback informs new Welcome Space

Contributor: Caroline Rose


The new Community Services Welcome Space opened in Kitchener this month at 20 Weber Street East. Staff moved from 235 King Street East to the newly renovated location, which is part of a larger project that will see the Region reduce the office space we lease, saving about $1.2 million annually on future capital costs. Once the renovations are complete, the new space will include improved accessibility, as well as two universal washrooms and modern design.


The new space was shaped by feedback from staff and clients over the past year. The project design team worked closely with staff and the Integration 2.0 Working Group, which includes staff representatives from across the department to understand the work they do, how much space they need, and how the design and furniture could best support clients in the new Welcome Space and staff in non-public facing areas.


The location is accessible via GRT, with parking nearby. It also provides various working stations and meeting rooms including cubicles, private areas, space for larger meetings, and children’s areas. 


The Region has three Welcome Space locations to help people navigate programs like Ontario WorksChild Care SubsidyEmployment Support and Housing Services. The other Welcome Space locations are 150 Main Street in Cambridge and 99 Regina Street South in Waterloo.

Exciting changes coming to your employee experience

Contributor: HXM Team


Have you heard about the exciting new project that will make work simpler, empower your career, and help leaders? It will affect the whole organization and the project is called HXM – Human Experience Management. 

 

HXM is a multi-faceted project that will affect your experience as an employee at the Region. HXM will launch a self-service hub to help you manage your personal information and time, there will be a modern hiring and onboarding experience as well as a new suite of programs and tools to help grow your career. 

 

Foundational to this project is a new technology called SAP that helps employees and management achieve their goals. 

The HXM project is being launched in 2 phases: 

 

  • Phase One, launching Spring 2024, will provide access to your self-service hub, allowing you to update your personal information, access your pay stubs, and much more. A new simplified recruitment and onboarding process will make applying for jobs and starting positions at the Region easier for existing and new employees. 


  • Phase Two, launching late 2024, will introduce a new time and attendance management system (replacing TAMS), a new learning system as well as a suite of new tools to set career goals and get the support needed to achieve them, such as personalised course selection, intuitive and insightful feedback tools, and much more! 

 

This is a major step forward for the organization, which has been long awaited and highly anticipated!  


Stay tuned for more information through the Fall and Winter and watch for ways to participate in the launch. Keep up to date by visiting the HXM portal for more information. Questions can be directed to HXM@regionofwaterloo.ca.

The Health and Wellbeing team bring you Perkopolis!

Contributor: Melissa Horan


The Health and Wellness Team has partnered with Perkopolis, a “perks” service that offers discounts to member organizations on health and wellness items, as well as many other products and services like clothing, restaurants, travel, and entertainment.


Region of Waterloo employees will now have access to great perks on everyday products, including: travel and airfare, hotels, car rental, events, entertainment, fitness memberships and equipment, personal and wellness care and much more! This new offering aligns well with the Region’s employee health and wellbeing strategy and supports our talent attraction, retention and employee value proposition aspirations. With Perkopolis, employees can now access more affordable adventures and memorable experiences outside of work.


To begin saving, an email containing a unique member code will be sent to all employees from DoNot-Reply@regionofwaterloo.ca.  You can also find your code on your next E-Paystub. Use this code, and your personal email address, to register for Perkopolis. 


Our goal for the program is to ensure the discounts offered by Perkopolis reflect the needs of our employees and the communities and people we serve. We are working with Perkopolis to support their efforts to actively partner with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and Persons of Colour), and 2SLGBTQ+ businesses, as well as local businesses, to join the program, in an effort to support these important sectors of our economy.


For questions or to suggest local vendors for the program, email HealthandWellbeing@regionofwaterloo.ca.

Photo of the month

Do you have a photo of staff to share? Send us your photo with a short caption, and we will try to include it in a future issue!

“Kudos to the Museums team for hosting our Mentor Me retrospective event! We enjoyed the historic ambiance of Schneider Haus to ideate and plan the future of the program, and for fun, we made delicious pizzas and baked them in a 100+ year old oven! I recommend reaching out to Julian Kingston to learn more about our engaging spaces and event support!” 


-Katie Hamilton, Senior Organizational Development Consultant, Human Resources

Share your story here or at a town hall

We are looking for stories that show how we serve people in different ways, and how staff are working together to achieve our vision. Email us with yours!

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