YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO SHAPE THE TTC’S FUTURE

Dear colleagues,

Last fall through to this spring, I personally led over 80 Employee Town Halls across the property to brief you on the future direction of the TTC.

Specifically, I presented the key points of the TTC’s Five-Year Corporate Plan, a plan that will modernize every aspect of our operation, equipment and culture. All with a view to delivering our vision of a transit system that makes Toronto proud.

If you attended one of those sessions, you will have heard me stress the importance of customer service, of making our customers feel valued in the service that we provide. I called on all 13,000 of us at the TTC to up our game to get our company back to being the jewel in the crown of North American transit systems. But I also committed to changing the way we manage. The old, rather militaristic management style has to change as I firmly believe that lasting change and a truly customer-led culture can only be delivered in an atmosphere where staff feel valued, well-managed and engaged in their work, while still being held to high standards. So at those same sessions, I promised that we would ask you how you wanted the TTC to change and that we would act on the results.

The TTC’s Corporate Plan includes a strategic objective for our people, namely an empowered, customer-focused workforce that values teamwork and pride in a job well done. So I’m asking everyone to participate in the first-ever Employee Engagement Survey. This survey is an important tool to gauge the current climate of employees across the company. It allows us to measure employee satisfaction or dissatisfaction on a range of workplace issues and develop action plans to make real change where it’s needed.

The TTC has commissioned independent research vendor, R.A. Malatest and Associates Ltd., to conduct the survey. Malatest will deliver the survey to every employee, including me, in the coming weeks. The deadline for responses is Monday, November 17.

The survey will take only 15 minutes to complete. As with any survey of this nature, its impact will be greatest with maximum participation. So it’s important that we all make our voice heard, and respond honestly and genuinely to the questionnaire. All answers will be treated with complete confidentiality. Only Malatest will see the survey responses and analyze the raw data. Responders remain anonymous. In fact, no results will be reported from groups of fewer than 10 staff. Malatest guarantees that no individual data will be made available to the TTC or any other organization.

Surveys will be delivered in two ways: the majority of employees will get a printed version mailed to their home; a smaller number of staff with TTC email addresses will receive the same survey from Malatest through a secure web link. Analyzing and reporting the results of a survey to 13,000 people will take some time. Malatest is scheduled to present its findings to the TTC Leadership Group, and then all employees, next spring.

Please make sure you take the time to complete this important survey. And pass the word along to your co-workers that the Employee Engagement Survey is on the way. Thank you.

Andy Byford
Chief Executive Officer
October 20, 2014