About This Year's Competition
As organizations across the country adapt their workplaces, Canada's Top 100 Employers (2024) are reimagining work.
For the winners of this year's competition, a deeper focus on continuous learning and in-house career mobility is proving transformative. With AI on the horizon, these progressive organizations are building the educated workforce they need for the future -- upskilling the talent they already have and looking beyond current skills for the potential in new hires.
The idea that an organization would upskill its employees isn't new. In an era gone by, learning and mentoring opportunities were often only offered to a select few "stars" fast tracked for promotion. Today, however, the country's best employers make sure that all their employees are eligible for learning opportunities and development. Today's learning revolution includes everyone.
Where you start in a Top 100 employer isn't necessarily where you stay -- unless that's your choice. As your interests change, you may be able to follow a new passion and develop your career in a completely different direction. That could mean taking a left turn into communications after starting out in accounts. Or turning your personal commitment to the environment into a job as a sustainability consultant -- all with the support of your employer.
Many encourage exploration and provide opportunities to train for different paths within their organizations. What matters is acquiring the right skills needed for the job, even if it has nothing to do with an employee's current work. For instance, technology company ABB Canada is committed to developing a learning culture and promoting the idea that growth and development are a recurring part of an employee's journey. The company actively encourages internal mobility for employees by making the application and interview process for job postings confidential, so candidates can check out opportunities privately. And if they need additional training at outside institutions, there's a pathway for that too.
Likewise, the Business Development Bank of Canada offers generous tuition subsidies for courses related -- and not directly related -- to their specific roles with the company. The bank also encourages ongoing development throughout employees' careers, from formal mentoring and apprenticeships to in-house leadership development programs.
Engineering and professional services firm Hatch developed a formal "Manifesto Driven Leadership" program, which articulates what it means to be a great leader. The course orients employees to Hatch's culture and teaches them what it means to lead with emotional intelligence and compassion.
All this focus on learning bodes well for the future of the Canadian workforce, including for Gen Z, who will make up 30 per cent of workers by 2030. Born between the late 1990s and early 2000s, Gen Z are now flooding the workplace with their college and university degrees in hand.
According to the Work-Learn Institute at the University of Waterloo, this new generation wants to work in organizations that support their growth, as well as best practices in equity, diversity and inclusion, and individuality. After spending so much of their recent education online, as well as socially on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, learning and upskilling on digital platforms are a comfortable fit.
Overwhelmingly, investing in a culture of continuous learning is a win-win. Employees feel valued and engaged while employers enjoy a competitive edge, as well as greater attraction and retention of talent. After years lost to an isolating pandemic, it's what Canadians want and need now.
Always be learning.
– Diane Jermyn
©2023 Mediacorp Canada Inc. From the official announcement magazine for Canada's Top 100 Employers (2024), published on November 17, 2023, and distributed in The Globe and Mail. All rights reserved.
2024 Winners
- ABB Canada
- Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Inc. / APTN
- Adobe Systems Canada Inc.
- Agriculture Financial Services Corporation / AFSC
- ArcelorMittal Dofasco G.P.
- AstraZeneca Canada Inc.
- Bank of Canada
- BASF Canada Inc.
- Bayer Inc.
- BC Public Service
- BDO Canada LLP
- Bell Canada
- Boston Consulting Group of Canada Limited
- British Columbia Investment Management Corp. / BCI
- Business Development Bank of Canada
- CAE Inc.
- Canada Energy Regulator
- Canadian National Railway Company
- Canadian Pacific Kansas City / CPKC
- Carleton University
- Cascades Canada Inc.
- CIBC
- Citi Canada
- Clio
- College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia, The
- Covenant House Vancouver
- Creative Options Regina, Inc.
- Danone Canada
- Dash Hudson Inc.
- Dentons Canada LLP
- Desjardins Group / Mouvement Desjardins
- Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc.
- Digital Extremes Ltd.
- Employment and Social Development Canada
- Enbridge Inc.
- Export Development Canada
- EY
- Fidelity Canada
- Ford Motor Company of Canada Ltd.
- Fowler Bauld & Mitchell Ltd. / FBM
- FreshBooks
- GHD Canada Holdings Inc.
- Graham Construction
- HarperCollins Canada Ltd. and Harlequin Enterprises ULC
- Hatch Ltd.
- Hospital for Sick Children, The
- IGM Financial Inc.
- Imperial Oil Limited
- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
- Inter Pipeline Ltd.
- Irving Oil
- Kellanova Canada Inc.
- Keurig Dr Pepper Canada
- Keyera Corp.
- KPMG LLP
- Labatt Breweries of Canada
- League Inc.
- Loblaw Companies Ltd.
- Loopio Inc.
- L'Oréal Canada Inc.
- Manulife
- Mars Canada
- Mawer Investment Management Ltd.
- McElhanney Ltd.
- McMillan LLP
- Medavie Inc.
- Medtronic Canada ULC
- Mistplay Inc.
- Mondelez Canada Inc.
- Nutrien Inc.
- OpenText Corporation
- PCL Construction
- Pomerleau Inc.
- Procter & Gamble Inc.
- Provincial Credit Union Ltd.
- Questrade Financial Group
- Rio Tinto
- Ross Video Ltd.
- Royal Bank of Canada
- Samsung Electronics Canada Inc.
- SAP Canada Inc.
- Saputo Inc.
- SaskEnergy Incorporated
- Schneider Electric Canada Inc.
- Shell Canada Limited
- Simon Fraser University
- Sobeys Inc.
- Stryker Canada ULC
- TD Bank Group
- Teck Resources Limited
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. / TMMC
- United Way British Columbia
- Université de Montréal
- University of New Brunswick / UNB
- Vancouver City Savings Credit Union
- Vancouver Coastal Health
- Verafin Inc.
- West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd.
- World Vision Canada
- Yukon, Government of
In for the Long Haul
Canada's Top 100 Employers are formalizing what they've learned post-pandemic
It has been nearly four years since the onset of the Great Pandemic, but its effects are still rippling through the workplaces of the nation. For Canada's Top 100 Employers, it is a time of consolidation -- formalizing the insights they gained when lockdowns turned life upside down.
"At that time, a lot of new policies were developed on the fly, almost in a panic, such as work from home, and then hybrid work," says Richard Yerema, executive editor for Mediacorp Canada, which runs the Canada's Top 100 Employers competition. "Coming out of it, employers have said, well, you're not just going to throw all that away. They've been managing workforces differently for three years and now they have a lot of catchy-name programs, like 'Work Ways' and so on. There's been a move to stability, incorporating a lot of changes in a calm, measured way."
The goal, notes Yerema, is retention of good staff more than boosting recruitment. "HR managers are looking at their people and realizing you can't just go back -- you have to incorporate what they've experienced."
Top Employers have learned to listen and to respond, adds Kristina Leung, managing editor for Mediacorp Canada. "They're not static anymore. The pandemic demonstrated that you have to be agile, you have to be flexible, you have to be willing to change. What sets the best employers apart is a desire to understand what their people want and need, and invest in those things.
"They're saying, we're going to offer more -- we're going to increase time off, increase flexibility, and improve benefits for mental health and well-being. There's a lot of evolution."
Many employers are combining various forms of time off, such as sick days, personal days and vacation, and allowing employees to simply take days when needed. A few are even calling the days "unlimited," although employees must still consult their supervisor. But as Leung notes, some commentators call this "the generation that would rather have more time off than more pay."
Among the companies listening and learning has been Montréal-based CAE Inc., which offers a lot of flexible time and took a close look at the office versus home issue. "In the past, it was all about being in the office five days a week," says chief people officer Bob Lockett. "I think that ship has sailed and it'll probably never return again."
There's a benefit for employers as well as staff, he suggests. "What you find most often is that when people are working from home, they actually work longer hours, and so they're more productive in some situations."
Lockett says CAE canvassed what was going on in the wider employment scene, "but more importantly, we listened to people, we listened to the talent market, we listened to our employees about what seemed to work best. And we put some guardrails around it, which I think is the most important thing."
The company decided that teams could set their own timing, with two or three days a week in the office becoming the most common standard. "There's a benefit to that as well," Lockett adds. "Think about the people who were hired during COVID -- they never saw anybody in an office. Their turnover was much higher than those who were hired pre-COVID. If you're in a virtual world all the time, you don't really connect to the purpose or the mission of the company, nor do you really connect with the people on your team.
"So those folks wind up leaving the organization," he says. "But for the people that were hired post-COVID, their turnover rates are much better. There is an importance in bringing people together, particularly when you're new to a company."
Lockett says CAE is well aware of the competitive pressures on compensation in attracting the high-end talent it needs, as well as the effect of inflation. "Has the cost of labour increased? Absolutely. Do we have to increase wages to stay competitive? Absolutely. It's just a fact of life." Around how much per year now? "I would give a range of anywhere from seven to 10 per cent -- that's probably accurate."
Indeed, the advent of inflation has simply added to the post-pandemic pressures. "There is still a sense of chronic stress," says Leung. "It's just not letting up -- inflation, there's a war, there's another war, the cost of groceries, all these things accumulate. So we are finding a lot of organizations doubling down on mental health benefits."
"It's truly the max," agrees Yerema. "When you go back 10 years, mental health benefits were just a side note. Now, you actually compete on the dollar amount. It gets back to the point about retention. HR practitioners today have to have their ear to the ground. What do their people want, in order to keep them? The best employers are the ones who respond."
– Berton Woodward
©2023 Mediacorp Canada Inc. From the official announcement magazine for Canada's Top 100 Employers (2024), published on November 17, 2023, and distributed in The Globe and Mail. All rights reserved.