Here are 7 examples of how we supported our staffs’ mental health during this time:

1. Expanded Benefits Coverage: In addition to adding an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to our benefits plan we also doubled the amount available for psychological services for individual employees and their families.

2. Additional Days Off: Osgoode issued all site staff additional days off to take at their discretion in additional to expanding office closures during the holiday season.

3. Hired Additional Support: To help support the increased cleaning protocols and staff shortages due to mandatory isolations Osgoode contracted with a cleaning company to help with the extra cleaning and hired additional full-time employees to ensure full support in the office.

4. Paid Sick & Vaccine Leave: We always encourage our employees to take care of their health and to stay home when they are sick but that has never been a more important message than during this pandemic year. We offered full paid coverage, outside of their normal sick time, for any employee who had to isolate as a result of COVID-19 related guidelines. We let our employees know early during the vaccine roll out that they can take the time they need to get vaccinated without it counting against their time banks.

5. Scheduling Support during School Closures: School closures are an unprecedented event and we wanted to make sure that all our employees knew that we would support them during a time of high stress and anxiety. We have worked with any staff faced with school closures to create a schedule that works for them and their family.

6. Appreciation: Celebrating our employees is always important but never more so than during the past year. We used several different methods to thank our team including in-person when we see people, video messages, emails and sending holiday packages to each employee. Sometimes a thank you can go a long way in letting someone know that their contributions are valued and appreciated.

We recognize our team as being one of our most valuable assets. We want to ensure our people feel safe and supported while at work even during these unprecedented challenging times.

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Our first quarter partner is the Ottawa Distress Centre. The Distress Centre has 210 volunteers answering calls 24/7 from those reaching out for mental health support. There were 60,862 calls answered in 2020 alone. The mission statement for the Distress Centre is “working within the continuum of mental health services, the Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region contributes to a healthier and safer community by providing suicide prevention, crisis intervention, psychological stabilization, emotional support, information, referral and education services, without judgement, to individuals in need.” These supports are critical to the people who rely on them and we are proud to support this important community resource.

Osgoode employees proudly donated $2,584 to the Ottawa Distress Centre!

If you would like to donate, you can go here to learn how you can help too!

If you would like to volunteer, you can go here to learn how you can provide that support!

If you feel like you need support, you can reach out to the Distress Centre directly:
 

Ottawa Distress Line

Phone – 613-238-3311

Text – 343-306-5550

Ottawa Crisis Line

Phone – 613-722-6914

The post Community Engagement – Osgoode Employee Giving Program appeared first on Osgoode Properties Blog.

Osgoode Properties is committed to investing in our people because we know that investing in our staff is our most effective way to continue to grow as an organization, as professionals and as providers of rental homes. While the list of why we have committed to ongoing professional development and learning is long, our top 3 reasons for doing so are:

• Educated staff is our most valuable resource – we hire great people and want to retain them.
• Increases happiness and engagement in employees who then provide better customer service – and we are all about customer service.
• Keeps employees knowledgeable about industry best-practices.

Osgoode has three legs to our learning stool that ensure our staff are growing in their knowledge, skill and personal effectiveness:

• Self-Directed: Osgoode Properties has a generous continuous education policy and awards staff for pursuing their own learning
• Internal: Osgoode Properties internal Training Department is staffed with two full time trainers who provide extensive onboarding and support our staff in their current roles as well as preparing them to take on new responsibilities and positions within the company.
• External: We partner with external training groups to provide professional development, management and wellness training to our staff

One external trainer that we work with extensively is the Real Estate Institute of Canada (REIC) and this week we partner with them to send a third class of Osgoode employees from Ontario, Quebec and Alberta to study for and obtain their Accredited Residential Manager (ARM) designation. The ARM designation indicates a specialist in site management and is awarded to professionals who complete rigorous course work and demonstrate commitment and excellence in the field of property management.

Once complete they will join the 24 other ARM’s that have already completed this Osgoode sponsored program helping to ensure that we maintain the highest level of excellence in operating rental homes and providing the best experience possible for our residents.

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