A person kayaks on calm waters under a misty sunrise, with clouds hovering low on the horizon.
BC's Top
Employers (2024)
Winners from our 19th annual editorial competition
In a kayak off Nanaimo with an employee of Vancouver Island University, one of this year's winners.

About the Competition

About Image
With just 17 employees, Vancouver-based Yulu Public Relations starts all new employees with 5 weeks of annual paid vacation allowance. (Photo: B.Nelms)

Background

Now in its 19th year, BC's Top Employers is an annual competition organized by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers. BC's Top Employers This special designation recognizes the British Columbia employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work. This year’s winners were announced in a special magazine co-published with the Vancouver Sun on February 14, 2024. Read the press release issued the same day for more background on this year's competition.


BCLC helps make mental health care services accessible to all employees, with coverage up to $3,000 per year as part of its benefits plan.

About Image
With just 17 employees, Vancouver-based Yulu Public Relations starts all new employees with 5 weeks of annual paid vacation allowance. (Photo: B.Nelms)

About Image
BCLC helps make mental health care services accessible to all employees, with coverage up to $3,000 per year as part of its benefits plan.

Selection Process

Employers are evaluated by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers using the same eight criteria as the national competition: (1) Workplace; (2) Work Atmosphere & Social; (3) Health, Financial & Family Benefits; (4) Vacation & Time Off; (5) Employee Communications; (6) Performance Management; (7) Training & Skills Development; and (8) Community Involvement. Employers are compared to other organizations in their field to determine which offers the most progressive and forward-thinking programs.


About Image
BCLC helps make mental health care services accessible to all employees, with coverage up to $3,000 per year as part of its benefits plan.

About Image
Employees from BC's emergency health services, which operates within Provincial Health Services Authority.

Media Partner

Our media partner on the BC's Top Employers project is the largest newspaper in British Columbia, the Vancouver Sun. Each year, the competition winners are announced in a special online magazine co-published with The Vancouver Sun, which includes a summary of the editors' reasons for choosing each employer.


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Employees from BC's emergency health services, which operates within Provincial Health Services Authority.

Eligibility Requirements

Any employer with its head office or principal place of business in British Columbia may apply for this competition. Employers of any size may apply, whether private or public sector.

2025 Competition

Our 2025 winners will be announced in a magazine co-published with the Vancouver Sun early in 2024. Employers interested in applying to our 2025 competition should join our mailing list to receive more information.

MEC Mountain Equipment Company offers twelve paid 'care days' for full-time staff each year (six for part-time staff) to offset income loss from illness, to stay healthy, feel good and pursue their passions.
MEC Mountain Equipment Company offers twelve paid 'care days' for full-time staff each year (six for part-time staff) to offset income loss from illness, to stay healthy, feel good and pursue their passions.

For BC's Top Employers 2024, "no one is resting on their laurels"

The winners of the annual project have been announced, and the competition this year is heated

Even for companies such as Nature's Path Foods that have earned the designation in the past, being named one of BC's Top Employers is both an honour and an asset.

Terry Duncan, vice-president of people and culture at Nature's Path, explains, "Competition for talent is especially fierce, so being cited as a Top Employer is important from a marketing perspective as well as internally. It's a great source of pride for everyone and plays a role in retention."

The provincial competition is organized by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers project, who every year name companies that excel in recruitment and retention.

The annual list recognizes organizations that offer exceptional human resource programs. The winners are chosen based on the same criteria as the national competition, including: the work environment; work and social atmosphere; health, financial and family-friendly benefits; vacation and time off; employee communications; performance management; training and skills development; and community involvement.

And singling out the best is no easy task. "No one is resting on their laurels," says Richard Yerema, executive editor at Canada's Top 100 Employers.

Nature's Path exhibits some of the common strategies among this year's winners, including flexible work options, robust time off policies, inclusive parental leave programs and mental health support. "Flexibility of work is especially important given the high cost of living," Duncan says. "Plus, many prospective employees are attracted to purpose-driven companies such as ours, and this helps ensure their motivation and efficiency when working from home."

Kristina Leung, managing editor at Canada's Top 100 Employers, is particularly struck by the agility of organizations coming out of the pandemic and their recognition of individual employee needs. She believes they will continue to "make changes very quickly with the right incentives and motivations, which is always that their people are at the heart of their decisions."

That is certainly the case with the City of Burnaby, a first-time BC Top Employer. "In the last two years we've really focused on developing a supportive culture that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion and is truly people-first oriented," says Anita Bhandari, the city's chief human resources officer.

Bhandari adds, "We are constantly evolving our practices to meet a competitive market, always by asking 'What's the right thing to do for our people?' Because the bottom line is, money isn't everything; people want to be valued and have a sense of belonging."

This degree of concern for employee wellbeing is something Yerema believes separates good employers from truly great ones. "All organizations run if they're building something, making something, creating something," he says. "But I think what top employers (show), and certainly the Top Employers project over the years shows, is that organizations can do right by their people and find ways to make them happier — and this is not counter to running a very successful organization."

2024 Winners

Here are the 2024 winners of the British Columbia's Top Employers competition. Click an employer name to read our editors' full Reasons for Selection:



                                A confident man with crossed arms stands in front of a modern building with large windows and two totem poles.
Vancouver Island University offers variety of flexible work options, including flexible hours, shortened and compressed work weeks, earned days-off programs and a hybrid work program for non-instructional employees.
Victoria Airport Authority environmental officer Allison tends to the 'Bee Kind' pollinator garden at Victoria International Airport.
Victoria Airport Authority environmental officer Allison tends to the 'Bee Kind' pollinator garden at Victoria International Airport.

Purpose is more important than ever for BC's Top Employers

Winners of the 2024 competition prioritize social good, inclusion and belonging, plus perks that support work-life balance

The cost of living is sky high, and labour shortages are more severe than ever. So, what strategies have winners of the 2024 BC's Top Employers competition deployed to prevail in this climate?

While a wide range of initiatives seems to be the solution, being a purpose-driven company is rapidly rising in prominence, especially among the Gen Z workforce.

Sandy Austin, chief people officer at the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), says, "Companies embracing a social purpose are nothing new, but what's relatively new is they're being chosen by prospective employees for that specific reason. Who they are and what they stand for is very important."

Abi Coman-Walker, chief operating officer at Vancouver-based Acuitas Therapies (a first-time Top Employers winner), agrees. "Our purpose couldn't be more attractive in that we're a private biotechnology company specializing in delivery systems for nucleic acid therapeutics," she says. "Simply put, we're dedicated to improving human health, including being involved in COVID-19 mRNA vaccine development. This continues to be beneficial to both our recruitment as well as retention."

B.C.'s forest industry is an example of an entire sector that has become purpose driven, having marketed itself as stewards of the environment by operating sustainably while supplying building materials for housing and other critical needs. This includes companies such as Tolko, a 2024 Top Employers winner and a leader in world-class forest products.

In addition to Tolko creating stewardship and management plans that safeguard the Cariboo and Southern Interior regions in which it operates, it also gives back to communities within these regions, and it builds meaningful partnerships with First Nations. "It's all part of what we call our 'Culture to Care,' and that in turn stems from being a 70-year-old family-run business which since its inception has valued our workforce as unique individuals," says Michael Roberts, Tolko's vice-president of people and services.

But being purpose driven is only one facet of the growing mosaic of recruitment and retention strategies undertaken at a time when labour shortages are critical. The B.C. competition is organized by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers, and winners for both competitions are chosen for criteria including: the work environment; work and social atmosphere; health, financial and family-friendly benefits; vacation and time off; employee communications; performance management; training and skills development; and community involvement.

Many newer strategies undertaken by 2024's winners directly address lifestyle concerns. Kristina Leung, managing editor at Canada's Top 100 Employers, explains, "One of the top things Canadians worry about is their finances. So when we talk about wellness (at work), it's about giving people the tools they need to manage stress and build resilience."

When asked to cite other trends driving Acuitas Therapies' recruitment and retention strategies, Coman-Walker replies, "Inclusion and belonging continue to be huge factors in attracting new talent, and they can be easy to achieve. For example, we stage weekly staff-led meetings in which everyone, no matter who, discusses what they're working on. Ensuring everyone has a voice is a powerful tool."

BCLC's efforts to be inclusive include the recent introduction of a flexible holiday program that recognizes the various cultures of its workforce. "We are constantly adopting new strategies and refining existing ones, and in that regard we make a point to reach out to universities and other institutions to learn what new employees expect from employers as well as the elements of a company they find attractive," Austin says.

Meanwhile, looking outside provincial borders for labour has resulted in a win for Roberts and his colleagues at Tolko. "Our job postings for millwright jobs in the prairies remained open for two full years before we finally got 10 families from South Africa to relocate to Canada, and we couldn't have asked for harder-working talent," Roberts says.

He adds, "We hope the trend of recruiting internationally continues. It has to, given Canada's shortages. Another emerging trend we think is here to stay is extending safety programs to include health. At Tolko, we want our people to feel emotionally safe as well as physically safe, and the best way to achieve this is to speak to the issue, have conversations about it."

Richard Yerema, executive editor at Canada's Top 100 Employers, points out that whether making the most of a trend or evolving as a purpose-driven organization, the province's Top Employers keenly appreciate that making their workforce's needs a priority results in huge dividends.

"Engaging your people in meaningful ways and respecting their needs beyond just the paycheque is key to running a successful organization," he says.


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