It is currently delivering submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy as well as air ambulance and wildfire suppression services to the Province of Manitoba.

Babcock Canada was recognized for its focus on employee development, offering tuition subsidies up to $1,000 for current employees, mentoring opportunities, paid internships and co-op placements for students and recent grads -- Babcock hires about 60 co-op students every year.

"Babcock supports employee attendance at workshops, seminars, and other training events including participating in continuing education programs at post-secondary institutions such as the University of Ottawa and Algonquin College," said Keely Gregory, manager of communications at Babcock.

Babcock has also developed two in-house development programs -- one for mentoring and another for leadership.

"Training and development is indeed a focus of Babcock's," Keely said.

Tammy Schirle, an economics professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, said employers focusing on employee education is beneficial to both parties.

"I think something like the tuition coverage is a good investment on the employer's part to keep up their employees' skills," she said.

Babcock has also placed an emphasis on employee engagement and has several social events throughout the year including picnics, golf tournaments and charity bike rides.

"Babcock provides generous funding for social activities, however, much of the credit is due to our employee-led social committees who arrange and carry out numerous events," Keely said. "These events help employees feel engaged and they boost positive feelings about the company."

Another strong focus of Babcock is a generous maternity and parental leave, with top-up payments of 80 per cent salary for up to 30 weeks.

Schirle said a generous maternity and parental leave is very beneficial for workplace moral.

"I think that this is an investment in skills," she said. "If it looks like you are going to have an employer who is going to be helping you out and offering a very family-friendly environment, you're willing to make those investments as an employee."

A recent employee engagement survey found employees rated their satisfaction with work-life balance as high, Keely said.

This may be a result of the compressed work schedule which allows employees to take every second Friday off.

Babcock was excited to be recognized among the city's top employers and said it is a reflection of its priorities as a company.

"This process has been beneficial as it has allowed us not only an opportunity to reflect upon our current employee value proposition, but to also make some improvements based on the lessons we have learned through researching former winners," Keely said. "Employees are excited about the new initiatives and benefits that we are introducing in 2020."

—Luke Carroll

From the official announcement magazine for the National Capital Region's Top Employers (2020), published on January 29, 2020 in the Ottawa Citizen.