This email is being sent to all faculty and staff at UBC's Okanagan campus on behalf of the UBC Okanagan Resumption Planning and Coordination Committee.
COVID-19: Resumption Planning for Return to Campus, Remote Work update
Dear colleagues,
As we move forward with the plan to return to campus this fall, we will be providing you with regular updates on the efforts underway to support students, faculty and staff at UBC Okanagan. This is the first of what we hope will be a bi-weekly global email update to our community on resumption activities and announcements.
If you have questions that are specific to the pandemic, resumption planning or health and safety on campus, you can contact ready.ok@ubc.ca. While we may not yet have all the answers, we are monitoring the queries and working diligently to address them as we provide regular, updated information to the campus as it becomes available.
First, we want to remind faculty and staff that UBC encourages everyone to get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible to do so. It is vital that members of our community support the provincial vaccination program, as vaccines are the best way to protect against COVID-19. The more people in a community who are immunized against COVID-19, the harder it is for the virus to spread.
Interior Health has asked everyone on our campus to help do their part by registering to get vaccinated and by sharing their support for the vaccination program through the #journey2immunity hashtag.
We have all continued to work together, many of us remotely, since March of last year and, while we know many are eager to return to campus, we also know that some have concerns about how this integrated process will roll out.
At UBC Okanagan, this work is currently overseen by the Resumption Planning & Coordination Committee (RPCC), which has been in place since mid-2020 to oversee a safe, phased resumption of on-campus activities. RPCC has members representing a wide cross-section of campus and is tasked with aligning the campus’ resumption activities with guidance from the Provincial Health Officer.
It operates in close collaboration with its counterpart, the COVID-19 Campus Leadership Advisory Committee (CLACC) in Vancouver. Information on the membership of the RPCC is available under the Resumption Planning section of the refreshed UBC Okanagan COVID-19 website.
UBC Okanagan COVID-19 information online
To capture and organize the significant amount of information that is available, University Relations has started to update the UBC Okanagan COVID-19 web presence to include information on resumption planning, working, teaching and research, operations, health & safety requirements and more. This is an important source of information and we encourage you to refer to it regularly, as it will be updated as new information is shared.
This new site also features a Contact Us section outlining where questions about resumption can be directed, including those from students or parents, media or general questions about HR matters.
UBC Updates about COVID-19 and campus resumption
President Santa Ono recently shared details on the return to campus plans in a UBC Broadcast.
Changes to public health orders
This week the B.C. government announced the BC Restart Plan. This four-phased re-opening kicked off yesterday, May 25. Information is available online and provides guidelines that pertain to travel, indoor and outdoor personal and organized gatherings, businesses and workplaces, and sports and activities.
Scheduling time off for COVID-19 Vaccinations
The BC Government announced on May 6 a retroactive change to the Employment Act, whereby an employee may have up to three hours of time off, without loss of pay, to receive each dose of their COVID-19 vaccine.
UBC encourages faculty and staff to work with their supervisors to ensure that vaccination appointments are scheduled with minimal disruption if they fall within working hours. You are also encouraged to book an appointment at a clinic within close proximity, where possible. For more information about how to register for a vaccine visit https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/covid-19/vaccine/register
Remote work planning
UBC Okanagan Human Resources recently provided planning documentation for administrative and Management & Professional (M&P) staff as we approach the resumption of on-campus activities.
These documents have been developed by a small working group comprising Gill Henderson, Rob Einarson, Dale Mullings, Rehan Sadiq and Adrienne Nolan, and have been endorsed by the Executive Group and Deans Council. Should you have any questions, your supervisor is the best resource for information. You can expect your supervisors to begin conversations with you soon.
Administrative units are asked to return their remote work service plans to HR by June 16 for review and in order to ensure that remote work is delivered consistently and as equitably as possible across campus.
Information on teaching, conducting research and working remotely is located under the Faculty and Staff tab on the COVID-19 website and will be updated as new information is made available.
Safety Planning for UBC Okanagan
One of the biggest factors in UBC’s safe working environment has been the commitment shown at the administrative unit level to create, manage and execute individual safe work plans. We are grateful for the proactive work being done across campus for the safety of the campus community and we are pleased to share that UBC has been working on developing campus-wide safety plans that will incorporate the good work already completed. This campus-wide safety plan will simplify the planning process for managers and provide more consistence in safe work requirements for faculty and staff.
Information on Parent Plans and their status, building floorplans, Safe Work Plans, Safe Event Planning are all available in the Resumption Planning section of the UBC Okanagan COVID-19 website. Information on Signage and Facility Needs are also available in the same section.
Thank you for your continued efforts to create a safe and inclusive campus for everyone. As we plan for a return to campus this fall, health and safety will remain the first priority. We know that there is still uncertainty and questions that remain. Please know that planning is underway, and we will continue to update you as plans are finalized. Together, we are working toward a safe return to campus and we thank you for doing your part to make that happen.
Sincerely,
Shelley Kayfish Director, Campus Operations and Risk Management
Co-chair, UBC Okanagan Resumption Planning and Coordination Committee
Prof. Michael Burgess Associate Provost, Strategy, UBC Okanagan
Professor and Chair in Biomedical Ethics, School of Population and Public Health, UBC Faculty of Medicine
Co-chair, UBC Okanagan Resumption Planning and Coordination Committee
