HR Corner

People Plan Coming This Month 

By Dan VanderSluis, Associate Vice President, Human Resources

In the Fall of 2017, Vancouver Island University undertook to complete one of the recommendations of the Academic Plan – to create a comprehensive strategy for our people. The result is the People Plan.

The People Plan was developed based on the feedback VIU employees provided through a series of engagements starting with a survey in February 2018. Following the survey were Town Halls, focus groups and a concluding World Café in May of last year. Your answers and comments provided the working group and steering committee with a broad and deep understanding of how VIU can strengthen its practices and culture to support our people to thrive professionally, personally, physically and psychologically at work.

This was turned into the People Plan, which will be released later this month. This is a key document in VIU’s integrated planning process. The project to create the People Plan was instigated by President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Ralph Nilson and the project sponsor group were all members of the Senior Management Group. The steering committee had representation from all employee groups and departments across the institution. Driving the People Plan development was a working group that consisted of people from Human Resources, Communications, the Project Management Office and an MBA Intern who is also a faculty member.

Ralph has been a great supporter of this project, which is why it is important to release it during his tenure. As part of his departure at the end of June, he will hand the sponsorship of the implementation work over the Dr. Deborah Saucier, VIU’s incoming president. She will continue these efforts, supported by the Senior Management Group, in ensuring the strategies outlined within it are realized.

After the People Plan is released, actions will be taken to roll it out across the University. The roll-out will include the use of the People Plan webpages which will be populated with action items and analysis of the work being done to contribute to its implementation. In the early Fall, a series of town halls during which the Plan will be presented and questions can be asked and answered. We will support managers in facilitating dialogue in their respective areas about the People Plan and we will use articles in the VIU Voices to communicate further about the People Plan implementation.

This has been a long process and I appreciate your involvement and input. Our goal was to develop a Plan that was comprehensive and realistic as it will drive our employee-centred activities for the next three years. I look forward to hearing your comments and feedback once it is released.