CEO Update - October 2015

AGM and Conference

Another successful AGM and conference has come and gone. More than 360 delegates from 119 agencies attended 13 workshops focused on enhancing the management and leadership skills of managers and HR practioners as many prepare to follow in the footsteps of leaders retiring after many years in the social services sector.

I would like to congratulate the new board executive: Janice Barr, Richmond Society for Community Living, Chair; Colleen Spier, Island Métis Family & Community Services Society, Vice Chair, and Fernando Coelho, posAbilities Association of BC, who was re-elected as Treasurer.

I also want to welcome new board members Rod Santiago, Abbotsford Community Services representing General Services, returning board member Bernadette Spence, Vancouver Aboriginal Child & Family Services Society representing Aboriginal Services, and the newly-elected panel members. I look forward to working with you over the coming year. A complete list of the 2015-2016 board and panel members is available on CSSEA’s website.…

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CEO Update - August 2015

Awards of Excellence Luncheon

The recipients of the first BC Community Social Services Awards of Excellence will be announced at the awards luncheon to be held at CSSEA’s AGM and Conference on Monday, October 5 at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel. We hope you will be there to recognize and celebrate the outstanding achievements of your colleagues.

AGM and Conference – Workshops are Filling Up!

CSSEA’s 2015 AGM and Conference is being held October 5-7 at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel. Once again this year we have an outstanding program of speakers and specialized workshops to enhance the skills of senior management.

Elections for member representatives to serve on the Community Living Services and General Services Panels will take place during the divisional sessions at the Annual General Meeting on Monday, October 5. If you are the senior manager (i.e. Executive Director or CEO) of a member organization, I encourage you to consider putting your name forward to represent your colleagues on your divisional panel.

Register for AGM & Conference

CSSEA Hosting Bill 9 Webinar

The recent amendments to Part 3 of the Workers Compensation Amendment Act 2015 (Bill 9) introduce new timeframes for reviews of Occupation Health & Safety (OHS) matters, and changes to employer’s obligations to conduct incident investigations. The legislation also provides WorkSafeBC with new and enhanced tools to enforce OHS standards in the workplace.…

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CEO Update - July 2015

2015 BC Community Social Services Awards of Excellence

The BC Community Social Services Awards of Excellence program was created to recognize the important work being done in the Community Social Services sector and has only been made possible by our partnership with TELUS. The selection of the recipients for this year’s awards has now been completed by an independent panel from business, government and social services.

The winners will be recognized at an awards luncheon to be held at CSSEA’s AGM and Conference on Monday, October 5 at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel. We hope you will be there to recognize and celebrate the outstanding achievements of your colleagues.

Worthy of special mention are all the nominees in the four award categories specially those who made the final short list. It was a very difficult task for everyone involved with the selection process due to the talent, dedication and contributions of the nominees. A big thank you to the nominees and everyone who took the time to recognize and nominate a colleague.

AGM and Conference – Register Today!

CSSEA’s 2015 AGM and Conference is being held October 5-7 at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel in Vancouver. Once again this year we have an outstanding program of speakers and specialized workshops to enhance the skills of senior management.

Elections for member representatives to serve on the Community Living Services and General Services Panels will take place during the divisional sessions at the Annual General Meeting on Monday, October 5. If you are the senior manager (i.e. Executive Director or CEO) of a member organization, I encourage you to consider putting your name forward to represent your colleagues on your divisional panel.…

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CEO Update - June 2015

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CEO Update - May 2015

Nominate | Recognize | Celebrate

The first annual BC Community Social Services Awards of Excellence program was launched April 30, 2015, and I am pleased to announce that we have already received our first nomination. I encourage you to visit the awards website at awards.bccss.ca for information on the four award categories and how to submit a nomination. Winners will be announced at the Awards Luncheon being held on October 5 at the 2015 AGM. Let’s show what we do in social services is important; nominate a colleague for his or her exceptional work!

2015 Compensation and Employee Turnover Survey

The 2015 Compensation and Employee Turnover Survey has been distributed to members and posted to our website. In order to meet the sector’s responsibilities to PSEC, the deadline to submit the completed survey is June 30, 2015.

Over the past month I have had the opportunity to meet with members across the province as I joined Eric Peraro and David Lin at the survey orientation meetings. My only regret is our schedule did not allow us to visit the Kootenay region this time, however, we will look for opportunities to visit in the Fall.

The final survey orientation meeting will be held via conference call and online presentation on Wednesday, June 3 at 10:00 am. To participate, please register in advance to receive the teleconference dial-in number and online presentation link.

Strategic Planning

A strategic planning session has been scheduled for June 8 to review the 2012 – 2015 Strategic Plan and create a plan that will inform our operations for the next three years. Facilitated by Ernst & Young, the session will be attended by the board and panel members as well as senior CSSEA staff.

HR Practitioners Meeting

As we approach the third anniversary of the HR Practitioners meetings, I am pleased with the positive feedback and that participation at the meetings continues to increase. One reason for that is the outstanding presentations such as the one at our latest meeting held in April on Managing an Aging Workforce.…

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CEO Update - April 2015

BC Community Social Services Awards of Excellence

I am very pleased to advise members that the BC Community Social Services Awards of Excellence website will be launched April 30, 2015. The first annual Awards of Excellence program, sponsored by TELUS, is designed to recognize extraordinary employee contributions to clients and their families and in doing so, elevate the profile of the sector in BC.

Awards will be presented at this year’s AGM luncheon on October 5 in the following categories: Rising Star, Hero, Leader, and Legend. Nominations are open from May 1 to June 10th. Timelines are tight however we are counting on the cooperation and enthusiasm of the sector as we did not want to wait another year before launching the Awards of Excellence program.

Watch for copies of the awards’ poster which will be mailed to members at the end of the month. We encourage you to post the posters at your worksites and promote the program.…

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CEO Update March 2015

Board Meeting Update:

At its meeting on March 9, the board welcomed two new government appointees: Seonag Macrae, Community Living BC, who is replacing Doug Woollard, and Reg Bawa, Ministry of Children and Family Development, who is replacing Anne Minnings.

The board approved CSSEA's balanced 2015-2016 operating budget and set June 8 as the date for its Strategic Planning session for Board and Panel members. The final distribution of the $400,000 Labour Market Adjustment monies will be completed by mid-March.

BC Community Social Services Awards of Excellence

I am pleased to advise that planning for this exciting sectoral initiative is well underway. The primary objectives of the awards program are to:

• foster a culture of appreciation throughout the sector
• assist with recruitment and retention
• elevate the profile and awareness of the community social services sector provincially
• recognize employee contributions to clients and their families…

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CEO Update - February 2015

With the recent departure of Thomas Marshall, Director of Communications, to LifeLabs Canada and the reshuffling of portfolios, you will notice my February report is more succinct than previous versions. However, there are a few key points I would like to bring to your attention.

General Wage Increase

On April 1, 2015, bargaining unit employees are to receive a 1.0% general wage increase. The April 1, 2015, wage grids are now posted to the website under Resources-->Wage Grids.

Increase in Meal Allowance – April 1, 2015

According to Article 26.10 (Meal Allowance), the meal allowance for bargaining unit employees on the employer’s business away from their worksite will increase effective April 1, 2015. The new rates will be:

Job Description Collection

CSSEA continues to gather job descriptions from members for all bargaining unit positions to accurately distribute approximately $30 million in comparability and anomaly wage increases negotiated in the 2014-2019 collective agreements. Please send all job descriptions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. as soon as possible.

Data Collection

As a reminder, if your agency has not submitted last year’s Compensation and Employee Turnover Survey, please do so as soon as possible as we are in discussions with the funders regarding how the wage and comparability wage increases will flow in 2016. If you require assistance to complete the survey please contact Eric Peraro at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

TELUS Alliance

Under the TELUS Alliance, TELUS products are being offered to members at the same rates as those provided to the Provincial Government. In order to qualify for these preferred rates, member agencies must be listed on the government’s Corporate Supply Arrangements User’s List.

Corporate Supply Arrangements (CSA) have been established by the government for a wide range of goods and services that are routinely required by ministries and other public sector organizations. CSAs are established through competitive requests for pricing or qualifications from suppliers.…

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CEO Update - January 2015

I would like to start this message by wishing you and your family a very Happy New Year.

While there is no bargaining for another four years, 2015 promises to be an interesting year in which we can look forward to the joint committees’ work, pilot projects and cost reduction initiatives.

Data Collection

PSEC has advised all employers’ associations that we are required to report our sector’s compensation annually as of 2015. This means that CSSEA members will be required to complete the Compensation and Employee Turnover Survey every year, rather than only in bargaining years, which, until the recent round of bargaining, was almost yearly. This means we will need to do our data collection earlier in the year, a move endorsed by the Data Advisory Group.

2015 Data Collection Timelines
Survey distribution                            3rd week of April
Orientation sessions and webinars      4th week of April through 1st week of May  
Submission deadline                         June 30

To assist those members who receive health funding and are required to report via HSCIS, we are currently working with the health funders to develop a process where CSSEA would submit a report to the health funders generated from the data we collect via the Compensation and Employee Turnover Survey.…

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CEO Update - December 2014

The end of the year is often a time for reflection and there is much to consider as 2014 comes to a close.

No doubt the year’s key achievement, was the five-year funded collective agreements which start to address the inequities for comparable jobs in other public sectors. The work is not yet complete, but it represents a major step in the right direction and credit goes to the Bargaining Committee, Lead Negotiator Peter Cameron and the CSSEA staff that worked to make it possible. In preparation for the first general wage increase of the agreements scheduled on April 1, 2015 updated wage grids are now available online (see below for a link).

In addition, there were other successes that received less attention, but are still important. The Computer Assistance Program has provided close to 100 computers and a variety of other devices to member agencies. The Executive Coach Program has made executive coaching affordable for our sector. And CSSEA’s alliance with TELUS will give members the same quality of service and rates enjoyed by the provincial government and large organizations (see below on how to access the mobility rates).  These new initiatives may be outside the core mandate of CSSEA, but illustrate our philosophy to look for opportunities to support and add value to our member agencies.…

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