Employer Resource Guide

Specific to co-op students - how to manage them and keep them engaged 

Four essential tips for supervising students remotely while keeping connected.  

1. Communication 
2. Organization 
3. Preparation 
4. Empathy 

The COPE strategy helps keep working students on track and ensures that they can contribute to their team in a meaningful way. 

Tools and techniques to keep everyone up to date: 

• Slack: A professional ‘chat room’ designed to replace email - featuring group and private discussions to share files and information. 
• MS Teams: Group chat and collaboration software that can host audio, video and web conferences. 
• Zoom: Host meetings, video webinars, conference rooms and more on an easy cloud-based platform. 
• MS 365: A combination of Microsoft Office, Outlook and more in an online collaborative platform. 
• Google Drive: A cloud-based file storage and synchronization service for caching presentations, documents, videos and more. 

How remote workplaces affect EDI 

Pandemics can affect those most vulnerable in disproportionate and particular ways. We bring your attention to the impact of COVID-19 on diverse populations including Indigenous communities, members of lower socio-economic groups, those who are historically, systemically, and persistently marginalized, and those who are otherwise vulnerable. 

Here's a few ways that you can help to mitigate it: 

• Connectivity and devices: 
  Ask the student about their access to technology from home. If there are limitations, be open to workarounds (for example, a weak wifi connection provides for a poor video call experience; consider removing video-first policies and allow a student to join in using audio only). Ask students what they’d need to more fully participate – they may just take the guesswork out of it for you and tell you. 
   
• Technological aptitudes: 
  Students have different levels of technical skills and when onboarding a student, try providing them with the essential training videos for whichever programs/software they will be using. For example, LinkedIn Learning has a selection of courses on “succeeding at remote work” which cover the basics of Excel, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc. https://www.linkedin.com/learning/ »

• Accessible meetings: 
  Not all students will have wi-fi access or laptop access. Dial-in options are a great way to accommodate students in these situations. 
   
• Visual impairments: 
  Alongside dial-in options, presentations with large fonts and high contrast make it easier for the visually impaired to adjust. When presenting, make a note to verbally explain what is on the screen, whether it be text or images.  

• Diversity: 
  Where possible, consider the diverse backgrounds that co-op students may be coming from: not all will have access to a space to work other than their bedroom, and some still may share that space with siblings, relatives, or others. Allow for flexibility in this.  

• Effects of COVID-19: 
  Be mindful of the fact that students may be coping with the illness of a parent, sibling, family member, or roommate. Because of COVID-19, some students may face economic disaster, residence eviction, unemployment, or death of a relative. Make time to check in with them to see how they’re doing; they may not disclose information like this unprompted during the workday.  

• Awareness of family commitments: 
  Some co-op students must support their parents or could be parents themselves, with children of their own to take care of. It's important to have conversations with students about whether their attention might be divided and which projects they can be prioritizing if that is the case. 
   

Resources: 

• Racial Equity Tools 

• Inclusive Remote Work Checklist

• Univerity of Toronto LinkedIn Learning Account 

• The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy — To help employers keep and return workers to their payroll, the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy would cover 75% of salaries for qualifying businesses, for up to 3 months, retroactive to March 15, 2020. Employers of all sizes and across all sectors of the economy would be eligible with the exception of public sector entities. Learn more.
   
• The Student Work Placement Program (SWPP) — Provides employers with wage subsidies of up to $7,000 per Canadian student they hire. Learn more.    

Professor Steve Joordans has created a course on managing mental health during COVID-19 to help people understand and process anxiety and the effects of isolation. It’s filled with mental health tips, ideas for distraction, and ways to stay productive while feeling accomplished during this time. You can access it here »

Physical health 

UTSC Athletics and Recreation – How to Stay Active at Home: 

• UTSC’s Athletics and Recreation team have put together a resource guide on staying active remotely. Here’s a link to all the resources you’d need to stay fit at home »
  With online fitness classes, home workouts and weekly cooking tips, you won’t be needing to renew your gym membership anytime soon.

• #UTRAIN: You can’t sit still with #UTRAIN – offered both on instagram and zoom. Sports don’t stop at UofT. Here’s a link to show you how to combine your passions for gaming and intramurals with esports all summer long »  

U of T researchers mobilize resources to produce equipment for health-care workers »
U of T researchers are launching “a project to co-ordinate and deploy equipment from across the University of Toronto to produce medical supplies like masks, face shields and ventilators for health-care workers on the front lines of COVID-19.” They’re using U of T resources like 3D printers and other tools to create equipment that meets health and safety standards that will be given to health-care facilities. 

Working from home resource (tips) from UofT

5 Tips for working from home »

U of T researchers launch ICU training resource: “an educational website for non-intensive care clinicians who may have to work in critical care units during the COVID-19 pandemic.”