The Region of Durham is inviting university students and graduate researchers to help evaluate a workplace program that supports employee attendance across its municipal workforce, including staff who deliver services in Ajax.
The Region's Human Resources Division wants to assess how well its Organizational Attendance Management & Support Program is working, according to a Region of Durham posting. The goal is to find opportunities to improve engagement, outcomes, program structure and processes.
The division is also looking for a clearer picture of the organizational factors that support attendance, along with broader trends in absenteeism rates across other public sector unionized organizations and the leading practices used in their attendance management programs.
What the Region is asking for
The collaboration could take several forms. The posting says the Region is open to a small group of students tackling the project as a capstone, a graduate research project — which may require funding — or another arrangement worked out with partners.
The deliverables the division has in mind include data analysis, a jurisdictional scan, a literature scan, systems mapping, prototyping and trends analysis.
For local residents, the initiative touches a workforce that runs many of the day-to-day services people in Ajax rely on, from public works to health and social services. Attendance management programs are designed to help employees stay at work and return to work when absences occur, and the Region's effort to evaluate its own approach comes as municipalities across Ontario grapple with staffing pressures.
The Region has set up a dedicated intake form for prospective research partners through its Collaborate with us page. Interested students and faculty can submit their interest there.
The Regional Municipality of Durham is headquartered at 605 Rossland Road East in Whitby. It can be reached at 311 from within the region, at 905-668-7711 from outside it, or toll-free at 1-800-372-1102.
Residents who want to follow the Region's activities, events, programs and operations can also sign up for its eNewsletters on the Durham website.
