Cultivate Human Potential

Madeleine Agboton-Neville, Custodian, “Professors and staff are really appreciative of what we do and their feedback is very heartwarming. Students are so nice and they always thank me while I’m cleaning and disinfecting.”

People are our priority and this is why Cultivating Human Potential is a strategic driver. Without our team members, the Facility Service’s strategic plan would not progress or be achieved. The themes included in this strategic driver reflect what our people have identified as important for supporting our team. Together, we can all look forward to delivering on these commitments to our fellow team members.

Attraction and retention

To attract talent, Facility Services will streamline recruitment and focus on fair compensation and training and development, including managing change and growth. We will build a culture on the foundation of recognition and respect. We will incorporate learnings from new working models explored during the pandemic and ensure our policies and practices are equitable.

We will focus on creating a work environment that enables Facility Services to retain, attract, develop, and inspire our exceptional group of employees. One that promotes an engaged, healthy, and versatile workforce now and in the future. We will implement a framework that builds an inclusive culture focused on collaboration, respect and recognition. We will identify and implement strategies for attraction, recruitment and on boarding of new team members in Facility Services.

**Melanie Hayter**, Sergeant with Security Services. Security Services operates 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. Security Services Special Constables travel in marked vehicles on campus, bicycle and foot patrol.

**Norman Banguis** has been on the Utility Services team at McMaster for over five years.

A Culture focused on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Reconciliation

Facility Services will align with McMaster’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy and promote a sense of belonging across our team.

McMaster’s EDI Strategy is a roadmap to ensure an intentional approach to identifying and achieving institution-wide equity, diversity, and inclusion priorities and goals. Facility Services will develop a plan to integrate the best practices and framework from the EDI strategy into our team’s culture and operations.

Health, Safety and Well-Being

Our team will promote proactive mental health supports and employee well-being, addressing workload, pandemic change, and injury prevention.

The health and safety of our team members is our priority. Everyone has a role to play in ensuring a safe workplace. We will build upon on our health and safety training, procedures and policies with our partners in Environmental & Occupational Health Support Services (EOHSS). We will develop a wellness strategy for Facility Services aligned with the Okanagan Charter, of which McMaster is a signatory, by embedding physical and mental health into all aspects of team’s culture.

“My team is committed to creating safe work site on campus for our community and our valued contractor and sub-contractor partners. Recently we redeveloped our safety guides for contractors, updating the information and expanding the scope to not just safety, but to procedures and useful information for assistance on campus.” – Wade Beitel, Assistant Director, Design and Construction.

Communications

We will develop an internal communications strategy that supports collaboration, information sharing across the entire department and creates meaningful connections to the university mission.

Facility Service’s team members are looking
for clear, reliable and consistent communication that helps connect our many service departments.
By sharing stories about the work our team members are doing, we can learn from one another.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing more people on campus! Our team has put more outdoor seating like picnic tables, benches and Adirondack chairs all over campus to help welcome staff and students back.” – Gary Moscardini, Grounds & Landscaping. Featured in a story on additional seating outdoors on campus.

Succession Planning and
Institutional Memory

Facility Services will develop emerging and existing leaders and design paths for organizational succession. We will improve our knowledge transfer between team members.

Developing our people will help Facility Services deliver on its strategic plan. Succession planning will occur for management level positions. We will develop a talent development process for our teams.

“Starting my new role was a great opportunity to learn and develop skills. Whenever I needed guidance I’ve been able to lean on my leaders for assistance.” – Jessica Bortolus,
Customer Service and Process Manager

Recognizing and celebrating one another

On our team, we take time to recognize one another’s accomplishments. In 2020/21, McMaster’s Custodial Services team played an important role in welcoming many McMaster community members who had been working or learning remotely back to campus by helping to keep spaces clean and safe. Every day and every night throughout the pandemic, custodians were on campus executing McMaster’s comprehensive cleaning plan, including frequently disinfecting of high-touch surfaces. To mark National Custodial Worker’s Recognition Day on October 2, 2021, a story about our custodians was featured on McMaster’s website and coffee break events were held. McMaster students, faculty members and staff were invited to share their gratitude and praises on Kudo Board, and around 300 messages of gratitude came in.

This gratitude for our work can be extended to every Facility Services team member who continued to work
on campus and keep one another safe during the pandemic.

The Facility Services team also enjoys finding creative ways to celebrate. During the pandemic, physical distancing requirements
meant we had outdoor ice cream socials and barbecues on shifts. Expect more fun events for our team! As soon as it is possible,
Facility Services leaders will invite the entire team together again.

Stacey Smith
Custodian, Facility Services

“I’ve been working at McMaster over
32 years and the people in my building treat
us like family. It is a privilege coming to
work every day.”

Mirjana Celic
Custodian, Facility Services

“I’ve been lucky enough to work with the
same person for 19 years and we make a good
team. My children are McMaster graduates
and I’m very proud of them.”

Vesna Navala
Custodian, Facility Services

“It is so great to see students back at McMaster. They really are the soul of campus. My daughter
is a McMaster student. This year we’re looking forward to becoming Canadian citizens.”

Gustavo Brand
Custodian, Facility Services

“My wife and I have worked at McMaster
as custodians together since we came to
Canada. I like that my work keeps me moving and making friends.”

Kyle Beatson
Custodian, Housing & Conference Services

“I work in residence, and it feels so good to see students and more life back on campus. I’ve been working at McMaster for ten years and I love my job. On my team we’re like a family.”

MacPubs