Community Input and Feedback
Timely and ongoing feedback from members is essential to creating and maintaining healthy communities. Changing population-level outcomes take a long-time—sometimes years. During the change process, it is important to ensure that lines of communication are open and mechanisms for feedback are in place. The FoE receives input from its community members in a variety of ways. Below are some of the ways the FoE gathers feedback, as well as ways community members can provide input.
Please note: Individual departments and programs also have feedback systems for program and department-specific concerns.
Employee Interviews
Throughout the 2022 Spring and Fall terms, the FoE hosted a series of interviews with employees to gather perspectives and insights around wellbeing within the Faculty including, what enhances/contributes to wellbeing and what diminishes/creates barriers to wellbeing. In 2022, interviews focused on academic unity. In Spring/Fall 2023 a second round of interviews will be held with employees from the support units. Feedback received during these conversations will inform the FoE Community Wellness Framework and the wellness initiatives outlined in the Strategic Plan.
Student Wellness Conversation Circles
Throughout the 2023 Spring and Fall terms, the FoE is hosting a series of conversation circles to gather perspectives and insights from FoE students around wellbeing within the Faculty, including what enhances/contributes to wellbeing and what diminishes/creates barriers to wellbeing. Feedback received during these conversations will inform the FoE Community Wellness Framework and the wellness initiatives outlined in the Strategic Plan. For more information or to register, see the Wellness Conversations webpage.
Additional Conversation Circles will be held in Fall term, with dates to be announced.
FoE Wellness Surveys
In 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the wellbeing of people around the globe was impacted in all nine-dimensions of wellness. Knowing our community was struggling, the FoE implemented the first annual wellness survey for employees to gain insights on the factors causing the greatest impact and how the FoE might better support them.
A Student Wellness Survey was also administered by the Engineering Student Society (EngSoc) in collaboration with the FoE. In 2022, the EngSoc executive asked the FoE to oversee the administration of the Student Wellness Survey.
Engineering Wellness Surveys are administered in the Spring term, usually at the end of May/beginning of June. Surveys are administered using Qualtrics software and collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Participation in the survey is voluntary. All data is anonymized and aggregated.
Due to many competing priorities as the campus reopened, results for the 2021 & 2022 surveys are still being finalized. Preliminary findings were reported in 2021 & 2022. Anticipated publishing date for more detailed findings is Fall 2023.
FoE Community Roundtable
The Faculty of Engineering Community Roundtable (CRT) is co-chaired by an undergraduate student and a graduate student. Student and employee representatives from across the FoE sit on the Roundtable and provide an avenue for FoE community members to present concerns or issues. When issues are brought to the CRT, they are addressed in one of two ways. The CRT will either create a working group to review and/or address the concern, or bring the concern to the attention of the FoE (or University) leadership as appropriate. If you have an issue or concern you would like to present, you can send your concern to the CRT care of the Community Wellness Team. Please put Community Round Table in the subject line.
FoE Wellness Community of Practice
The FoE Wellness Community of Practice is comprised of employees whose primary roles include wellness components, and Engineering Wellness Champions. Members work collaboratively and on joint initiatives to support and enhance wellbeing within the FoE.
FoE Wellness Champions
The FoE has many employees who are active members of the University of Waterloo Wellness Collaborative. The Community Wellness Office acts as the liaise between the Wellness Collaborative and the FoE.
University and National Wellness Surveys
The University of Waterloo participates in several semi-annual national surveys on student and employee wellbeing. The FoE receives the faculty specific results of these surveys and uses them to inform the wellness initiatives and programming.