Employees can have a global impact at UBC

One of the most satisfying things Shannon Dunn has experienced working at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is that she not only built her career there, but she also helped build the Okanagan campus. That’s something she never dreamed of when she joined the university 22 years ago.

“It’s been a great personal development opportunity,” says Dunn. “I have had opportunities beyond my own role to learn and benefit from others’ experiences and develop a talent muscle that I didn’t know I had.”

UBC is a leading global research and learning university. Its campuses in Vancouver and Kelowna have over 70,000 students from across Canada and around the globe. UBC’s community is supported by 20,000 employees.

For Dunn, working at UBC is an exciting, continuous learning curve. Since the opening of the Okanagan campus in 2005, she’s been a part of eight building projects, not usually part of a business manager’s job description.

“It’s really thrilling when you’ve taken something that was just a thought, an idea you write down, to the finished product and to finally see it physically there,” she says.

“I don’t know where else I would have experienced that and see a place that grows at this pace and changed this much. There were 3,000 students on this campus in 2005 and now it’s over 11,000. It’s just remarkable.”

The freedom to think big and recreate the world while following your passion is baked right into UBC’s culture, says Adam Charania, vice-president of human resources.

“The beauty of UBC being such a research-intensive, teaching university is it allows people to test boundaries, to create and innovate so that which was once impossible is now possible,” says Charania.

“It’s really cool to get up in the morning and come to work at a place where people are researching and teaching what is going to be the future of the world.”

To empower its employees to connect with that world-changing web of invention, UBC takes a comprehensive approach to supporting them, whether they’re on or off campus. Continuing education is a top priority, and Dunn used UBC’s tuition waiver program to earn her master’s degree.

Employees also receive a health spending account to promote physical well-being. The mental health benefits now include an enhanced employee assistance plan that provides for unlimited counselling.

Employees like Dunn also discover they can have multiple careers, often extremely varied, thanks to UBC’s career advancement and leadership programs.

“What I ask employees is ‘How can I, as a leader, help you be the best version of yourself and how can I help you continue your development?’” says Charania.

“We never want to lose people so we help them stay within UBC because if they want a different career, they can have it here.”

The university has an Indigenous strategic plan and operates on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of several First Nations, including the host nations of the Musqueam Nation and Syilx Okanagan Nation. With a large and complex workforce, UBC values diversity and inclusion as core principles, as stated in the Strategic Equity and Anti-Racism Framework.

“I’ve never seen such a dedicated group of 20,000 people who are so committed to doing the best for our students and community while making the world a better place,” says Charania.

“We want to be sure we support them and create amazing employee experiences. We have a commitment to our employees and their well-being, and we take that very seriously.”

This story was produced by Mediacorp in partnership with Postmedia, on behalf of the University of British Columbia.