It is our usual practice to send out a message in early April to remind all Professional & Managerial Confidential staff, Advancement Professionals plus Research Associates, and their respective managers, to initiate the annual performance assessment process. This year, in consultation with the President and Vice-Presidents, we made the decision to delay the start of the annual process for these groups. The Ontario Provincial Budget is expected by the end of this month and we will then be in a better position to know how compensation, including performance-based merit adjustment, will be impacted and whether any change to our performance assessment process is appropriate.

We will be in touch with you as soon as we have clarity on public sector compensation requirements and expectations. When we do launch the performance assessment process we will, of course, extend the timelines. In the meantime, however, we do urge staff to start to think about what they have accomplished in the past year, what goals they would like to establish for next year, and what professional development activities might be of interest.

On behalf of my colleagues, thank you, all of you, for your commitment to the University. We are aware of and value highly your significant contributions.