Director General Diane Gauvin and Academic Dean Leanne Bennett held a town hall on April 4 about rebuilding the community after the pandemic. Over 50 people attended, with balanced representation from all employee groups.

As Diane and Leanne explained, the intent of the gathering was to explore how to strengthen the Dawson community and promote feelings of connectedness after the pandemic and the periods of imposed isolation. By examining what the community can do better to create a healthy, welcoming work environment, people can contribute to the well-being of students, themselves and the community itself. Given the various ways that people see the workings and benefits of community, Diane and Leanne recognized the importance of hearing different perspectives and of engaging people in discussions that will allow individuals to support each other and move forward collectively.

Participants engaged in a rich discussion during which six principal themes emerged: the positive and negative impacts of remote work; opportunities for employees to socialize and connect while participating in community activities; spaces to foster more social interactions; collaboration; communication; and ways of rebuilding community generally. To overcome isolation, rebuild community and help new employees integrate into the college, many people wanted more opportunities and spaces where they can interact socially. Interest in having both a staff lounge and dedicated time to participate in community activities was expressed a number of times. Some participants voiced frustration that remote work and online meetings make it difficult to find people in their offices, obtain immediate in-person service or have spontaneous interactions, while others found that remote work creates different opportunities to network with people and to work without distractions and interruptions that occur at the college.

To read more details about what was discussed, please visit this link.

Diane and Leanne thanked participants for sharing their valuable comments on the different ways of fostering community. They promised that there would be more town halls and, in the meantime, invited people who wanted to provide further feedback to send it to academicdean@dawsoncollege.qc.ca or dg@dawsoncollege.qc.ca.