Digital Yearbook #TeamCEAA

At the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency we highlighted Canada’s 150^th anniversary by creating something special and unique that would bring together all of our employees across Canada. More broadly, this initiative was an innovative way to connect members of Team CEAA over the miles and many years of public service to Canadians. This initiative caused us to reflect on our contributions as we prepare to support the implementation of Bill C-69 and the evolution to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.

The majority of our employees work at headquarters in Ottawa, but we also have five regional offices located across Canada (we’ve since added a new satellite office in St John’s!). We wanted to mark Canada’s 150^th in a way that would involve and represent all of Team CEAA, but we were unsure how to proceed. That’s when we came up with the idea of a digital yearbook, reminiscent of a high school graduation album. We wanted to capture a year in the life of the Agency at a special milestone for both Canada and the public service.

The idea came from an employee who happened to have an album from 1994 that was designed to mark the creation of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency when it first formed.

To allow regional office staff to participate and ensure that the photos were the same quality for everyone, the Corporate and Digital Communications team sent two iPads out to the regions, one to the East Coast and another to the West Coast. Staff were instructed to take individual and group photos, and were given creative freedom. We also asked them to send pictures of activities carried out in their offices; work is important, but it is also good to take a break and have a little bit of fun.

The Agency’s Corporate and Digital Communications team then collected all the photos, organized them, and worked with the graphic services team to create a dynamic digital photobook. The team also interviewed the senior management team and wrote all the necessary captions and other content the yearbook needed.

Engaging employees

Employees at Team CEAA are second to none. It was not difficult to convince them to participate and share their images in the yearbook. Agency employees feel lucky that despite the fact they are spread out across the country, there is still a sense of belonging because we work so close together.

Sometimes, it’s necessary to be creative and resourceful to think about a project like this one, in order to bring together employees from the same organization that are working in different locations across the country.

The result

The yearbook was beautiful and achieved our goal of bringing employees together from across the country, all of whom loved being a part of the project! The Agency has a wonderful memento of Canada’s 150^th birthday and inspiration for the Agency as we prepare for the implementation of Bill C-69 and our evolution to Impact Assessment Agency of Canada!