Thanks for Participating in Our Employee Engagement Survey

June 2, 2022

I would like to thank each employee who recently participated in the third year of our comprehensive employee engagement survey. The survey results are in and 78% of employees took the time to complete the survey and offer helpful thoughts and opinions on employee engagement. Participating in this survey helps us better understand opportunities and challenges and how we can move forward as an organization recognizing the environment we work in including government funding envelopes and policy frameworks.

We started our engagement journey back in 2020 and have continued to follow the engagement roadmap.

In 2020 and 2021 we focused our efforts on the following 5 priority drivers:

• Learning & Development
• Relationships – SLT, Divisional, Manager (includes communications)
• Rewards and Recognition
• Work life Balance
• Benefits

Through the work on employee engagement that was a direct result of your input, we have been able to:

• Receive Board approval to implement TRCA’s first ever pregnancy and parental leave supplementary top-up program.
• Establish a DEI committee, and develop and launch TRCA’s People First Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Playbook.
• Implement a transparent Flexible Work Arrangements program.
• Receive Board approval to conduct a fulsome compensation review, inclusive of updating job descriptions and a market review which will serve to inform ongoing and future budget requests to government partners.
• With Board approval, enhance our benefits program with increased paramedical, dental major restoration and hearing aids.
• Create a knowledge sharing platform.
• Create and launch a new holistic Learning and Development (L & D) Policy that is directly linked to TRCA’s Performance Development and Succession Program and is tied to our new Learning Management System (LMS).
• Implement our first LMS, a single platform that houses TRCA’s learning opportunities and training catalogue, and which facilitates external course requests.
• Continue making progress on a centralized L & D budget which included allocating budget dollars in support of corporate L & D priorities including, conflict resolution training, business writing training including Professional Business Writing and Business Report Writing, development of indigenous awareness training and DEI training.

McLean & Company has collected this year’s completed surveys and has compiled the results. The results confirm that our efforts on employee engagement over the past two years have made positive improvements in several engagement drivers including L & D, work life balance, company potential, employee empowerment, benefits, and strategic direction. However, the survey results have indicated that there are ongoing opportunities for improvement in areas such as rewards and recognition, SLT and SMT communications, and on realizing efficiencies and synergies through greater communication and collaboration between divisions.

Next Steps

Results Overview: Beginning next week, your Senior Leadership Team member will be meeting with their Senior Management Team members to kick off the next phase of our Employee Engagement Roadmap. In the middle of June, the Senior Leadership Team and I will be hosting virtual Town Halls to present organizational wide survey results.

Divisional Team Engagement: After the virtual Town Halls and over the month of July, your Senior Management Team members, working in collaboration with your Managers/Supervisors, will hold a meeting to present divisional survey results and begin action planning.

Action Plans: By the end of July, divisional action plans will be rolled-up and Managers/Supervisors will provide divisional action plan updates monthly to their respective teams. This will include Manager/Supervisor driven engagement sessions and action planning to address findings related to your division and business unit.

Thanks again for your participation in the survey! Your ongoing feedback and engagement are helping to make our organization an even better place to work.

Sincerely,

John MacKenzie, M.Sc.(Pl) MCIP, RPP
Chief Executive Officer
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)