Investing in Our Team

2021/22 in Review

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility (EDIA)

EDIA Updates

After embarking on an EDIA journey in the previous fiscal year, Surrey Place reviewed the assessment recommendations presented by external consultants, Barnes Management Group, and launched a working group in March 2022. The working group consists of Surrey Place staff members with diverse backgrounds from varying programs across the organization. Since establishing the working group, members have met bi-weekly and have begun to review new policies, connect with external EDIA leaders for training opportunities, determine goals and create an EDIA framework for the organization. The working group will continue collaborating with the leadership team and different departments to identify gaps in services, policies and strategies using an EDIA focus.

Anti-Racism: Black Cultural Awareness and Consulting Group

This fiscal year, the Anti-Racism: Black Cultural Awareness Consulting and Training Group developed terms of reference, establishing itself as a Surrey Place consultation group. Throughout the year, the group also applied for various grants to support the community engagement and education objectives outlined in the terms of reference. In partnership with the Community, Partnership and Innovation department, the group successfully obtained the Anti-Racism Anti-Hate grant from the Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism.

Group members also supported broader initiatives at the organization, including the Marketing and Communications department efforts to celebrate Black History Month and Remembrance Day using an EDIA lens. Members also supported the EDIA working group to ensure Black voices within the organization and community are represented.

Talent Management

Last fiscal year, Surrey Place created a Talent Management and Succession Planning policy as part of one of our Strategic Directions. The People Services department has collaborated with directors, vice-presidents, and our CEO in monthly sessions this fiscal year to support this policy. The group has identified six core competencies that all directors and vice-presidents must possess to be considered for or maintain their positions. Based on the Developmental Sector’s core competencies dictionary, we have distinguished which additional competencies are required for each unique role. And lastly, updated job descriptions to reflect role duties, responsibilities, deliverables, and core competencies to asses’ potential successors in the 2022/2023 fiscal year.

Mentorship Program

In January 2022, Surrey Place introduced its first-ever formal mentorship program. This pilot program resulted from an employee survey and recommendations by the Employee Task Force, who identified this as a way to develop staff.

Over the course of six-months, staff from across the organization applied and were selected to participate in the program, facilitated by our People Services department. The mentorship program included: a goal-setting workshop, a leadership skills workshop, monthly skill-building sessions with networking opportunities, weekly email support and mentor/mentee discussion topic suggestions, recommendations around job shadowing, participating in stretch assignments, giving, and receiving feedback, and coaching for excellence. At the end of the program, we surveyed participants and found that 100% of mentees and 86% of mentors who completed the survey reported they felt they had met the objectives of the program.

Employee Engagement

Employee Wellness

As many Surrey Place staff continued to work remotely in 2021 and early 2022, we held several mental health and well-being activities hosted by our staff. This initiative was part of People Services’ priority to support employees’ mental health and well-being during the pandemic. Some activities included a book club, coffee chat, office chair stretches, yoga, and more.

ParticipACTION

In the last fiscal year, 209 members across 51 teams from Surrey Place participated in five ParticipACTION challenges, where staff could log their daily activity for a chance to win prizes and be more active throughout their day. ParticipACTION is a national non-profit organization that uses evidence-based behavioural insights to empower employees to participate in a more active workday.

Not Myself Today

Not Myself Today is a Canadian Mental Health Association initiative, created to build knowledge and understanding, and start conversations about mental health in the workplace. Throughout the year, 26 Not Myself Today ambassadors, led their departments through materials, activities, and resources to break down barriers and make mental health engaging and accessible to all employees. Resources included health quizzes, webinars on topics such as Having Difficult Conversations and Understanding Stress, kindness cards templates, guided meditations, and Working with Emotions – a guide to training your brain to master your mood.

Processes & Systems

Organizational Redesign

Our organizational redesign project, which was initiated in 2020/2021, continued into the last fiscal year. The purpose of the redesignis to create an agile and sustainable work environment for staff that is flexible and adaptable. This project will also position Surrey Place to better support families and clients and improve communication by breaking down silos and creating professional and career development pathways for staff.

As of the end of the last fiscal year, we have completed four phases of the organizational redesign and are currently at the fifth phase: Evaluation and Quality Assurance.

Startle in response to loud noises?	YES NO
Turn to where a sound is coming from?	YES NO
Make different cries for different needs (hungry, tired)?	YES NO
Watch your face as you talk?	YES NO
Smile/laugh in response to your smiles and laughs?	YES NO
Imitate coughs or other sounds such as ah, eh, buh	YES NO

Respond to their name?	YES NO
Respond to the telephone ringing or a knock at the door?	YES NO
Understand being told no?	YES NO
Get what they want through using gestures (reaching to be picked up)?	YES NO
Play social games with you (Peek-a-Boo)?	YES NO
Enjoy being around people?	YES NO
Babble and repeat sounds such as babababa or duhduhduh?	YES NO

Follow simple one-step directions (sit down)?	YES NO
Look across the room to a toy when adult points at it?	YES NO
Consistently use three to five words?	YES NO
Use gestures to communicate (waves hi/bye, shakes head for no)?	YES NO
Get your attention using sounds, gestures and pointing while looking at your eyes?	YES NO
Bring you toys to show you?	YES NO
Perform for social attention and praise?	YES NO
Combine lots of sounds together as though talking (abada baduh abee)?	YES NO
Show an interest in simple picture books?	YES NO

Understand the meaning of in and out, off and on?	YES NO
Point to more than 2 body parts when asked?	YES NO
Use at least 20 words consistently?	YES NO
Respond with words or gestures to simple questions (Where's teddy? What's that?)?	YES NO
Demonstrate some pretend play with toys (gives teddy bear a drink, pretends a bowl is a hat)?	YES NO
Make at least four different consonant sounds (p ,b, m, n, d, g, w, h)?	YES NO
Enjoy being read to and sharing simple books with you?	YES NO
Point to pictures using one finger?	YES NO

Follow two-step directions (Go find your teddy bear and show it to Grandma.)?	YES NO
Use 100 to 150 words?	YES NO
Use at least two pronouns (you, me, mine)?	YES NO
Consistently combine two to four words in short phrases (Daddy hat. Truck go down.)?	YES NO
Enjoy being around other children?	YES NO
Begin to offer toys to other children and imitate other children's actions and words?	YES NO
Use words that are understood by others 50 to 60 per cent of the time?	YES NO
Form words or sounds easily and without effort?	YES NO
Hold books the right way up and turn the pages?	YES NO
Read to stuffed animals or toys?	YES NO
Scribble with crayons?	YES NO

Investing in Our Team

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility (EDIA)

EDIA Updates

Anti-Racism: Black Cultural Awareness and Consulting Group

Talent Management

Mentorship Program

Employee Engagement

Employee Wellness

ParticipACTION

Not Myself Today

Processes & Systems

Organizational Redesign

Delivering High-Quality, Client Centred Care

Ensuring a Sustainable Organization

Investing in Our Team

Communicating with Purpose

About Us

Get in Touch

By 2 months

By 6 months

By 9 months

By 12 months

By 18 months

By 2 years

By 30 months

By 3 years

By 4 years

Understand the concepts of size (big/little) and quantity (a little/a lot, more)?	YES NO
Use some adult grammar (two cookies, bird flying, I jumped)?	YES NO
Use over 350 words?	YES NO
Use action words such as run, spill, fall?	YES NO
Participate in some turn-taking activities with peers, using both words and toys?	YES NO
Demonstrate concern when another child is hurt or sad?	YES NO
Combine several actions in play (puts blocks in the train and drives the train, drops the blocks off.)?	YES NO
Put sounds at the beginning of most words?	YES NO
Use words with two or more syllables or beats (ba-na-na, com-pu-ter, a-pple)?	YES NO
Recognize familiar logos and signs involving print (Stop sign)?	YES NO
Remember and understand familiar stories?	YES NO

Understand who, what, where and why questions?	YES NO
Create long sentences using five to eight words?	YES NO
Talk about past events (trip to grandparents house, day at child care)?	YES NO
Tell simple stories?	YES NO
Show affection for favourite playmates?	YES NO
Engage in multi-step pretend play (pretending to cook a meal, repair a car)?	YES NO
Talk in a way that most people outside of the family understand what she/he is saying most of the time?	YES NO
Have an understanding of the function of print (menus, lists, signs)?	YES NO
Show interest in, and awareness of, rhyming words?	YES NO
Read to stuffed animals or toys?	YES NO
Scribble with crayons?	YES NO

Follow directions involving three or more steps (First get some paper, then draw a picture and give it to Mommy)?	YES NO
Use adult type grammar?	YES NO
Tell stories with a beginning, middle and end?	YES NO
Talk to try and solve problems with adults and with other children?	YES NO
Show increasingly complex imaginary play?	YES NO
Talk in a way that is understood by strangers almost all the time?	YES NO
Generate simple rhymes (cat-bat)?	YES NO
Match some letters with their sounds (letter b says buh, letter t says tuh)?	YES NO