Kim Carter, vice-president of people & culture at BluEarth Renewables Inc. in Calgary, says prioritizing the importance of its "very entrepreneurial" culture has given the medium-sized company one of its competitive advantages. It starts with building in-person relationships and that takes effort.

"We do a lot to feed, nurture and care for our culture, so we have intentional times when we bring large groups or the whole company together in person," says Carter. "We're very strategic around when we need to do that. It's part of our core foundation, so we're very committed to it. For instance, we have an annual corporate retreat focused on teamwork, collaboration, connection, and building and fostering relationships. There's a lot of face-to-face over three days – that's key."

With hybrid working arrangements, the company also engages in virtual communications to keep that sense of team and collaboration going, including a bi-weekly call to update everyone.

"There's no one secret sauce," says Carter. "It takes extra thinking outside the box and multiple activities. Right now, we've got a virtual race going on with people doing something active that improves their day-to-day lives. We're all engaged in this through an app with the support of our internal communications team. Wherever you are, there are opportunities to engage and be part of a team within the broader company."

Data is a driver

Ashley Snape, vice-president of corporate services at Vancouver-based Thrive Health says she's always checking the pulse of employees.

"It's not just about how the work is going, but how they're really feeling at work," she says. "We do that in several different ways, with a weekly pulse survey and one every month with different questions, such as, 'What's your top concern?' or 'Which of our company goals are you working towards?' Then there's our annual engagement survey, which is all-encompassing with questions about how they view the leadership team or view their benefits.

"Additionally, we've implemented a diversity inclusion survey to ask if people feel comfortable showing up at work as their true self and how we might better support people with different needs. We really try to cover all the different aspects of the employee journey."

Agility is a power

Being small (and medium) is another real benefit in terms of agility when it comes to competition. Cory Masters, director of people operations at Black & White Zebra Industries Inc. a media tech company in Vancouver, says she's had the opportunity to work for huge corporations so has seen both sides.

"We can move very quickly when we want to propose a change or test something," says Masters. "We can just say, let's try this. We iterate on things constantly – that's always been at the core of our values. We adapt quickly and we move fast.

"Another advantage is that our channels of communication are easy to access and that's by design. Any single individual on our team can book a call with a C-suite member whenever they want. Although we keep growing, we try to avoid those multiple layers of approval that are typically required to push things over the line.

"In our culture, we really like to encourage people to experiment – sometimes failing and learning from those mistakes – and we can do that while we're small. When you're big, it's not so easy because the impact is much larger."

Care and compassion count

An increased focus on wellness following the pandemic is another notable shift in many progressive companies. At Thrive Health, where 100 per cent of employees now work remotely, Snape says wellness is the foundation of the employee experience, contributing to everything they do. One example of that is the daily wellness check-in.

"It's not about time checking," says Snape. "Because we are humans, we need to be human with each other, not just working with each other. And although we work remotely, we still have a duty to ensure our employees are safe and well, especially those who may work alone. So we have this wellness bot that sends a little message every day, just so people can let us know they're okay."

Continuous learning engages

Besides having a caring culture, the top questions new recruits are asking these days concern career advancement and learning opportunities. Like most Top Employers, BluEarth Renewables supports lifelong learning with generous tuition subsidies, apprenticeships and formal mentoring, along with a variety of in-house and online training options. At BluEarth Renewables, Carter says they try to give people what they want when they want it.

"We subscribe all our employees to LinkedIn Learning, so they have access to a database of learning whenever they want," says Carter. "We're constantly looking at building skills, but it's far more accessible and easier to coordinate with the virtual tools and technology we now have.

"Fundamentally, people want meaningful work – to be valued and part of an organization that allows them to grow and develop. We do our best to try and achieve that every day."

So you want to work from a beach

Perhaps one of the most progressive and experimental elements in our post-pandemic world is being able to work from anywhere. At Black & White Zebra, Masters says all of its roles are posted with a remote option so people can choose to work wherever they want, as long as they meet the needs of their role.

"We're always asking, where in the world is Finn?" says Masters. "Because our employee Finn has a new home every month, we never know where he is. That doesn't matter as long as people understand that freedom comes with responsibility.

"With employees all over the world in different time zones, we don't have set core hours," she says. "Basically, you just need to know when it's required to be part of your meetings with the company and your team.

If you're getting your work done, and as long as we know when you'll be available, that's all we ask."

Hopefully these Top SMEs have sparked a few ideas. Please read on for more.

– Diane Jermyn

This story appeared in the official magazine announcing Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers (2024), distributed in The Globe and Mail on April 2, 2024. Used with permission.