Encouraging Workplace Wellbeing

To UTM staff and librarians,

After more than 16 months working in a pandemic, amid high strain, stress and chronic pressure, I wanted to reach out to the UTM community about finding time to slow down over the summer.

I know that we have goals to realize and responsibilities to fulfill. I also know that an encouragement to rest will lead to more flourishing in the long run. UTM staff and librarians deserve to show themselves the same care now as they have shown our community over the past year.

So, I encourage employees and managers to consider strategies to improve wellness, resilience and replenishment. Later today, my office will connect with managers to propose solutions and offer strategies for support. I recognize that no single approach will work for everybody; and I know that, for some teams, summer is an especially busy time. But I also know that, together, we can find ways to change the pace. Shorter meetings and breaks from email, Zoom and Teams, for example, aren’t a luxury. They represent necessary steps to fulfilling UTM’s campus goals in workplace wellbeing.

Our staff and librarians have already advanced other priorities brilliantly: you strengthened a culture of equity and anti-racism; applied innovative strategies in student retention; expanded the impact of campus communications; built new relationships with external partners; implemented key targets in UTM’s academic plan; stewarded our beautiful grounds; kept facilities clean and running seamlessly; provided students a safe experience in residence and study spaces; and so much more. Thank you.

I anchor my gratitude in a commitment, one that will extend beyond local measures of workplace wellbeing in summer 2021: UTM will prioritize connection, wellbeing and care in our institutional plans— not as casual buzzwords but as areas for long-term investment. I look forward to co-creating our plans later in 2021; I also look forward to enjoying the summer and changing the pace myself.

Alexandra Gillespie
Vice-President and Principal
University of Toronto Mississauga