The Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT) is a provincial agency that is associated with, but independent from, the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development. It is the final level of appeal in the Ontario workplace safety and insurance appeals system and is separate and independent from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). WSIAT has been a participant of the Federated Health campaign for several years, but this year they took their campaign efforts to the next level.
This year, their campaign was in the capable hands of Yuvraj Bhardwaj (Executive Lead) and Vineetha Jith (Campaign Chair). They also had an extremely supportive Tribunal Chair and CEO, Rosemarie McCutcheon.
Participating in the campaign was a first for both Yuvraj and Vineetha, so they brought some new ways of thinking to the initiative, which really paid off. Rosemarie insisted that the goal of the campaign should focus on employee engagement, wellness, and fundraising, with that in mind, they began to plan.
They started with a supportive group of “consultants”, including previous executive leads and campaign chairs. These supporters were also consulted during the duration of the campaign and became the core support team. The Tribunal Chair and CEO was also involved in bi-weekly meetings.
The working team consisted of 11 volunteers plus the campaign chair, and every floor of the WSIAT workplace was represented. It truly was an agency wide effort.
Keys to Success
Upon reflection, Vineetha and team were able to identify some of the primary keys to their campaigns success this year.
- They really took time to understand their audience before they planned the event calendar. What did folks at WSIAT like to do, how did they like to come together and connect?
- Their communication strategy played a vital role in the success of this campaign, such as deployment of customized posters across common areas, hand delivered FHC brochures, centralized multi-level communication through Human Resources platform enhancing employee/employer relations, Senior Management Team involvement motivating their team’s participation, etc.
- Several events and games were organized. Every event was exciting and had a food component acknowledging that food is a great way to bring people together provided a starting point for all their events.
- They worked their campaign events around the realities of the workplace. Most in-person events were also virtual to accommodate the hybrid nature of the office, and they were mostly held on a Wednesday which seemed to be the day most people were in the office. As a result of this consideration, every event was attended by 50 – 70 people!
- They sought out skills and services from other WSIAT employees. As another way to engage employees, they not only invited staff as attendees to the events, but they involved them in the event rollout as well. If someone had a skill to offer, they got them involved! An example of this was the Paper Flower workshop conducted by their inhouse talent, and Bake Sale and Carnival Games event, where 2 employees played a set on their guitars, and it was well received by all.
- They ran ongoing events that kept the buzz going. While the 50/50 was the top money raiser, it was the bingo event that was most anticipated as it was played daily. The Campaign Chair gave out 4 numbers a day, so people were excited and interested to hear what the numbers were and if they had won the gift card of choice. This heightened the level of commitment to the game and increased the fun.
It All Paid Off
The committed planning team and the great strategies all paid off in WSIAT running their most successful campaign to-date. This success encompassed increased employee engagement, bringing staff together for a good cause, and introducing some fun into the workplace. On top of these successes, the following were achieved:
- WSIAT had 43 pledges this year compared to 21 last year that yielded nearly $5,000 more in payroll pledges for 2024.
- WSIAT had a 397% increase in their number of one-time gifts raised, equalling $7000 more than last year ($9272 vs $1867)
- WSIAT had a good uptake on their 50/50 raffle and the winner donated their winnings back to Federated Health.
- WSIAT had 43 donors this year compared to the 32 donors we had in 2023.
- In total, WSIAT raised over $24,000 – which is great for a staff size of about 250 people!
To the team at WSIAT, Federated Health thanks you for your enthusiasm, creativity and commitment to this cause. You ran an outstanding campaign.
