Inside the Circle – October 7, 2025

We are proud to recognize and celebrate the incredible dedication of our team members through the Milestone Award. This award honours employees who have reached 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 years of service.

The following employees are celebrating their milestone anniversaries between July and September. To show our appreciation, each recipient will receive a one-time cash payout in an upcoming pay period:

5 Years:
Lerie Rose Bondoc
Rosemarie Dugay
Mesay Keneni

10 Years:
Xue Gu
Irina Apollonina
Maria Reyes
Sherry Thomas
Gemma Acosta
Lerma Alejo
Anjela Beyrami Tabrizifard
Rowena Cerezo
Laylin Endaya
Halyna Herashchenko
Hazel Lizardo
Carmina Rivera
Eloisa Vicente

20 Years:
Ruba Sivabalasingam
Monica Lozada
Paula Campbell

25 Years:
Cecilia Harewood
Bella Novoprudsky

30 Years:
Fernandina Bindadan

Toronto Waterfront Marathon 

• When: October 18/19, 2025
• Where: Road closures and heavy traffic around downtown City Hall and the waterfront area. (Full map of the marathon here.)

Subway – Lines 1 and 2

• When: Throughout October
• TTC Changes: There may be early-weeknight closures (shuttle buses will run) and full weekend closures between Kipling and Islington stations (Line 2), St. George and Woodbine stations (Line 2), and Finch and Eglinton stations (Line 1 – Yonge/University).

Just a reminder to please take a few minutes to fill out the Global Workforce Survey. This survey gives you the chance to share your thoughts about your workplace. Your answers will help us understand what is going well and what we can make better.

The survey is anonymous (your name will not be shared). Thank you in advance for your participation!

Please complete the survey by October 31, 2025. 

• Employment Status – Frequently Asked Questions
• Collective Agreement

Your safety is very important to us. After some recent incidents, we want to remind everyone to stay alert while working in the community. Here are some tips to keep you safe:

• Stay Alert: Always look both ways before crossing the street and watch traffic signals.
• Use Crosswalks: Cross streets at marked crosswalks whenever you can.
• Avoid Distractions: Try not to use your phone while walking near roads.

Your work caring for others is so important — but your own safety matters just as much. This week, think about your daily habits. What small changes can help you stay safer? Let’s help keep each other safe!

We are partnering with GoodLife Fitness to bring you free wellness sessions and fitness classes throughout October. You can watch any of the sessions at a time that works best for you, from October 1 to 31, 2025.

Wellness Sessions (30 Minutes Each – Click on the title to watch!)

• The Habit Formula: Learn how to create healthy habits that are easy to add to your daily routine.
• Biohack Your Best Life: Try simple, science-based tips to sleep better, reduce stress, and eat healthier.
• Eat Well, Spend Less, Waste Nothing: Find easy ways to cook healthy meals, save money, and waste less food.

Fitness Classes

• Low Impact Strength: Easy exercises that are gentle on your joints. Helps you feel stronger and stand tall.
• Yoga and Meditation: Move your body and focus on breathing to help you relax and feel calm.
• Dance: Fun, easy dance moves to music. No experience needed!
  
• 10-Minute Stretch: A short stretch to help you move better and focus more during your day.

Everyone who signs up will also be entered into a draw to win one of seven Everything Card gift cards valued at $100.

How to Join

1. Click on the session title you would like to join above.
2. Sign up and complete the short waiver.
3. Watch anytime before October 31.
   

You will learn:

• What savings plans are (like RRSP, RESP, TFSA).
• What types of investments exist (like stocks, bonds, mutual funds).
• How fees and risk can affect your money.
• What questions to ask before you invest.

When: October 15, 2025 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM) Where: Online

Do you focus only on day-to-day money? That’s okay — but it’s also important to have a plan for your financial future.
In this webinar, you will:

• Learn why a financial plan is important.
• Learn how to make a plan that works for you.
• Learn simple ways to pay less tax.

Has someone gone above and beyond at work? Give them a High Five!

The High Five program lets you publicly recognize staff members for their outstanding work. High Fives will be posted in your weekly Inside the Circle newsletter.

To give a high five, just click on the button below or use the link in the rotating banner on the Portal home page.

Please note: We do not accept anonymous submissions for this program. High Fives must be submitted by an individual person, whether they are a staff member or member of the community.

We are advised to take our vacation but when I took a 2 weeks vacation I didn’t get my regular schedule back. I don’t think it is right after it took me so long to build my client schedule. And when I called my Service Coordinator, some clients were restored and others were not. This was done without any explanation.

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We understand that unexpected changes to your schedule can be frustrating, and we truly appreciate your patience and commitment.

Our goal is to maintain consistent and reliable schedules for our PSWs. When a leave is shorter than six weeks, we aim to restore your original schedule upon your return. That said, please know that schedules can shift due to a variety of factors, such as client needs, PSW availability, and changing service demands in different areas.

If you have concerns or questions about your current schedule, we encourage you to connect with your Service Coordinator or CSS. They’ll be happy to support you and explore any possible adjustments.

What does light housekeeping mean? Does cleaning the balcony, sweeping the floor and carpet, mopping the whole unit plus client’s family room and washroom count as light housekeeping?

Thank you for your question. Cleaning the balcony does not count as light housekeeping, and you should not be doing this for your client, as it falls outside your scope of duties.

The other tasks that you listed (sweeping the floor, vacuuming the carpet, mopping the floors) do count as light housekeeping, and these are permitted, although depending on the length of your visit, there may be other duties that are more urgent to complete (such as personal care) that could fill up most of the duration of your visit.

You can find a full description of what counts as light housekeeping on our website, and you are welcome to share this content with your clients as well. If you are finding that your clients are insisting that you go outside your scope of duties, please reach out to your CSS so that they can have a conversation with your client and reset their expectations.

Have a question? Submit your questions or feedback anonymously below!

Please note that it may take us longer to provide some answers. If your question hasn’t been answered yet, we will get back to you as soon as we can.