Blog

Last week, Waterloo leaders spoke to employees about the University’s budget situation and what to expect in the coming year. As your representative, it’s our responsibility to ensure staff receive clear and timely information, and to advocate for transparency and compassion. We are focused not just on what decisions are made, but how they are made and experienced by staff, especially with the understandable anxiety around job security and organizational change given the scale of the financial challenges the University is facing.

With that in mind, we’ve put together a summary of what we learned at the forum and what it means for staff.

Here's what your UWSA Board got up to in the fall term.

Here's what your UWSA Board’s been up to recently!

As part of our “What Your Colleagues Want You to Know” series, we asked members under 30 what they want coworkers to know about their day-to-day reality at work—because the assumptions we carry about our own generation and others can quietly shape our workplace culture. 

Consider how these perspectives might shape your interactions—not just with younger colleagues, but with everyone you work with. Sometimes, understanding one generation better helps us build a more inclusive and empathetic workplace for all.

As part of our “What Your Colleagues Want You to Know” series, we asked members who are caregivers—whether for children, parents, or someone else—what they want coworkers to know about their day-to-day reality and how we can help. Members described their experiences of emotional and physical exhaustion, being misunderstood by colleagues, and feelings of isolation and overwhelm. They’re looking for a supportive work environment that acknowledges their challenges, offers grace and understanding, and provides practical support such as hybrid work options.

We heard from staff with a wide range of chronic illnesses, physical disabilities, neurotypes, and mental health struggles for our second post in this series featuring members’ own experiences and words.

Upon joining the University of Waterloo last year, I was pleasantly impressed with how the university’s new values, Think Differently, Act with Purpose and Work Together resonate with my perceptions of Ubuntu. Thinking differently, acting with purpose and working together are essential pillars in the Ubuntu philosophy, and I hope sharing my perspective on Ubuntu can enhance our shared understanding of these values. 

The Staff Association membership is incredibly diverse. We encompass a wide range of roles, backgrounds, lived experiences, and so much more. Our mission at the UWSA is to cultivate a progressive work environment where staff feel safe, empowered to grow, and able to thrive, but we need different things to make this a reality.

To help us all understand each other better, we’re launching a new blog and social media series featuring members’ own experiences and words. We’re kicking it off with contract staff, who make up 18% of the UWSA.

In the last post, we talked about the difference between the work of the Board and the work of the presidents and Operations Team. Now we’ll hear directly from current directors and presidents about what it’s like to serve in these roles!

There are two big categories of UWSA activities, which we refer to as “governance” and "operations." The operations team is concerned with serving UW staff, and the board is concerned with stewarding the UWSA as a corporation.