U of W brass shrugs off concern about staff exodus

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This article was published 12/07/2023 (813 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Decision-makers at the University of Winnipeg are downplaying the recent exodus of high-ranking and veteran staff members, and organizing a town hall to answer questions about the new leadership team’s vision for the campus.

Both U of W’s president and board of regents issued statements to address community members’ concerns about employee turnover and the subsequent loss of institutional knowledge in the last 18 months.

The faculty association, better known as UWFA, has counted 16 noteworthy exits — 13 of which have been women — within 1 ½ years.

Todd Mondor, a psychology professor with extensive leadership experience at the University of Manitoba, assumed the roles of U of W president and vice-chancellor in April 2022.

“I have focused on building a leadership team through comprehensive and competitive search processes… This has resulted in leadership changes and I appreciate that change is difficult for the community,” Mondor said in a statement posted to the university’s website midday Wednesday.

The president indicated his office has set its sights on a process of collaborative engagement, consultation and planning over the coming year.

Conversations will begin with a fall town hall so students and staff members can meet leaders, learn about strategic planning and share ideas, he said.

Earlier this week, UWFA’s executive council sent a letter to the board tasked with setting policies and overarching goals for their employer — on which Mondor sits — about what academics called “an inordinate number of resignations and other departures,” among the university’s senior ranks.

When reached Wednesday, faculty association president Peter Miller said a number of current and former employees have disclosed concerns the “workplace atmosphere” on campus is in decline.

Miller said those private reports, along with the staffing statistics, prompted academics to raise the issue with the board via letter — a highly unusual action.

High-profile exits include the former associate vice-president of external relations, associate-vice president of Indigenous engagement, comptroller and acting vice-president of finance and administration, interim provost and vice-president of academics, and associate vice-president of human resources.

Units that have been disrupted by recent staffing changes include payroll services, institutional analysis, senior labour relations, marketing, research and finance and administration.

“We cannot recall a time when so many people in senior positions left over so short a time,” states UWFA’s July 10 letter. “The loss in human resources, both in terms of actual ability to work and in terms of institutional memory, is enormous and has spurred UWFA to raise this issue with the board.”

“The loss in human resources, both in terms of actual ability to work and in terms of institutional memory, is enormous and has spurred UWFA to raise this issue with the board.”

The association that represents roughly 600 academics requested information about whether exit interviews had taken place to find out what, if anything, caused people to leave.

Union leaders also asked if the exodus of women, in particular, should be cause for concern and if there is a plan intact to address human resources gaps left in each former employee’s wake.

Board of regents chairman Stefan Jonasson attributed staffing changes to “a period of considerable transition,” owing to the sudden departure of U of W’s former president, the COVID-19 pandemic and Mondor’s appointment.

In a public statement, Jonasson said the university intentionally filled senior vacancies with interim or acting officials during the pandemic and presidential transition to allow the new top boss, who had yet to be announced, to build their own leadership team.

Former president Annette Trimbee, who was appointed to serve two terms at the helm of U of W, left prematurely, in 2020, to assume leadership of Edmonton’s MacEwan University.

Jonasson suggested what appears to some as rapid turnover on the downtown campus over 18 months has actually occurred over three years.

“I am pleased to say we are confident in the leadership, integrity, and competence of president Todd Mondor and his leadership team,” the board spokesman added.

Miller said academics did not take writing a letter to board members lightly and the response they received indicates the recipients do not understood the gravity of the situation.

“I would have hoped that the board would take this opportunity to reflect on (our concerns) and investigate,” the union leader said, noting a good start would be to examine changeover rates amid, and after, previous leadership transitions.

While it may be standard for incoming chief executive officers in the private sector to “clean house,” universities are unique because of collegial governance, meaning senior roles are selected based on internal search committees, he noted.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie