Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Waterloo named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers

Representatives from the University of Waterloo celebrate being named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto last night.

For the second year in a row, the University of Waterloo has been named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers, an annual ranking of businesses and organizations across the country who lead in attracting and retaining employees. The annual survey is run by Mediacorp Canada.

The official announcement magazine was published in the national edition of The Globe and Mail yesterday morning and can be read online.

“Being named one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers recognizes Waterloo among the outstanding organizations who are attracting and retaining top talent in an increasingly competitive environment," said Marilyn Thompson, associate provost, human resources. "The feedback gives us insight into how well we match against top employers throughout the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. It’s all part of an ongoing process to continually improve our working environment.”

The University of Waterloo was cited for its ongoing employee development and training programs, its defined-benefit pension plan, retirement planning assistance and health benefits, and its vacation allowance.

“The best employers recognize that they need to innovate thoughtfully to keep moving forward,” says Richard Yerema, managing editor of the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project. “But the challenge is to evolve with changes in technology and employee expectations while maintaining the goal of creating better workplaces that align the needs of their business with those of their employees.”

Now entering its 19^th year, the Canada's Top 100 Employers competition is an editorial project that recognizes employers with exceptional human resources programs and forward-thinking workplace policies. Editors at Mediacorp grade employers on eight criteria, which have remained consistent since the project's inception: physical workplace; work atmosphere and social; health, financial and family benefits; vacation and time-off; employee communications; performance management; training and skills development; and community involvement. The editors publish detailed reasons for selection and grades for these criteria, providing transparency in the selection of winners and a ‘catalogue of best-practices’ for employers and job-seekers alike.

Why we should never stop talking about equity

by Feridun Hamdullahpur. This is the latest post on the President's blog.

This week I have the pleasure of speaking at the Gender Summit 11 conference in Montreal, Quebec along with Diana Parry, Associate Vice-President Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion. The Gender Summit was developed after countless studies were released in the past decade showing that scientific research was not gender-neutral, impacting outcomes and threatening equity in the sciences.

To combat this, the Gender Summit was established to bring scientists, gender scholars and policy makers together to discuss new research and form a consensus on how and where improvements in equity can be made and actions to be taken.

University of Waterloo’s Equity Gains

As part of a panel discussion on successful initiatives, I will be sharing how we’ve been able to achieve gains in our HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 commitments. These commitments are:

1. Increase the number of girls and women in our STEM outreach experiences and activities.
2. Enhance female Faculty representation.
3. Attract and advance female leaders into senior academic and administrative university positions.

I am thrilled our efforts have resulted in us exceeding our first commitment – we are now at 35%. We are just shy of our second goal with 29 per cent female Faculty representation in 2017. And, we have made solid progress on our third goal with 27.5 per cent of senior academic and administrative positions, up from 24.5 per cent in 2015.

The University has made strides through key programs like our IMPACT scholarships, outreach programs, research grants, round table discussions and also how we talk about equity on campus. Change does take time, however, we’ve shown that it doesn’t take generations for meaningful progress to happen. All it takes is a set of commitments, goals, a dedicated team and the will to start.

We Need to Keep Talking

We have made real strides through our HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 commitments that has benefits that will be felt for years to come and shift the climate and culture at the University of Waterloo forever. But we cannot settle on the gains we’ve already made.

A new report was released by PwC, the MaRS Discovery district and non-profit MoveTheDial showing that only 5 per cent of tech companies in Canada have a female CEO. Further disheartening, the report revealed that women only make up 13 per cent of the average Canadian tech company’s executive team and 53 per cent don’t have a female executive at all.

This disparity is very discouraging. If girls and young women are looking at careers in the STEM field do not see anyone reflective of themselves in leadership positions within those companies it could push them away from the field altogether. If girls have the opportunity to see more women in the field or leadership level they wish to pursue, they can see that it is possible.

The issue of representation isn’t simply counter to our goal of true gender equity, but it is also bad business.

In February 2016, a significant study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the accounting firm EY looked at 22,000 publicly traded companies in 91 countries. The study found a noticeable correlation between the number of women in executive positions and a company’s overall profitability. The main finding being that if a company moved from 0 per cent of women in senior leadership positions to 30 per cent, net profit increases 15 per cent.

Results like this cannot and should not be ignored.  

Moving Forward, Together

We are a stronger community when we are diverse and well represented in all research disciplines, Faculty and staff leadership positions. It’s important that we keep moving forward developing new opportunities to reach gender equity on campus and share our successes with the world. The key is doing it together. We need to keep talking, thinking and taking action together.

I am excited that the Gender Summit continues to be a wide-ranging resource for bringing researchers and policy makers together and I know we will continue to make progress in ensuring a more equitable society for all.

HVACR Career Night: the hottest and coolest event in November

by Jacqueline Gergal.

Last Wednesday, November 1, Waterloo students learned about the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) industry at the HVACR Career Information and Networking Night, hosted by Co-operative Education and the Centre for Career Action. The event brought students, employers and industry experts together to talk about careers and co-op opportunities in HVACR.

Students gained insights from industry experts with the City of Hamilton, CoEng Advisors Inc., DMA Systems, iGEN Technologies Inc. and WalterFedy, who shared their wisdom in a panel presentation. ASHRAE Hamilton President Frank Mesicek and ASHRAE Student Chair Mark Long were also in attendance, along with 10 other industry professionals.   

ASHRAE Hamilton member Robyn Ellis, who represented the City of Hamilton at the event, gave advice to students about what skillsets are most valued in the industry. “The most successful co-op students have a mix of analytical skills and people skills,” said Ellis.

The students and employers both really enjoyed the one-on-one conversations they had. Ed Fowler, Partner and Mechanical Engineering Manager at Walter Fedy, said hiring co-op students is an essential part of his team’s talent recruitment. “At WalterFedy, all of our groups hire co-op students. It’s a no brainer,” said Fowler.

The HVACR industry continues to grow and so does its need for talented workers. HVACR has a huge impact on the Canadian economy, generating over $7 billion annually. Employing over 41,500 people in Canada alone, it’s no surprise that this industry is becoming more prevalent.

To get an inside look at the event, visit Storify which features some highlights of the evening.

Wednesday's notes

Do you have the best-decorated faculty office on campus? How about the most out-of-date? Weirdest collection? Most cluttered? Most organized bookshelf?

Whatever makes your office unique, the Faculty Association (FAUW) wants to see it. Submit one or more photos in a suggested category, or make up your own! Prizes will be awarded at the FAUW general meeting on December 6.

You can nominate your own office, or a colleague's. All faculty of all kinds at Waterloo and affiliated institutions are eligible. Contest closes Sunday, November 12 at 11:59 p.m. Enter on the FAUW website.               

Employers on campus next week hosting co-op employer information sessions include Isaac Operations and PwC Bermuda. Visit the employer information sessions calendar for more details.