Recognized as a Saskatchewan Top Employer (2023) for a 6th Year!

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Developing skills and stronger organizations: ‘Saskatchewan’s Top Employers’ for 2023 are announced

Mediacorp Canada Inc.

Mar 14, 2023, 10:00 ET

REGINA, SK, March 14, 2023 /CNW/ – Saskatchewan employers are giving employees more choice over how to develop their own skills – and are creating stronger organizations in the process. That’s the message from this year’s Saskatchewan’s Top Employers, announced this morning by Mediacorp Canada Inc., organizers of the annual Canada’s Top 100 Employers project.

“It’s no surprise that employees who are given the freedom and support needed to feel confident in their roles are most likely to pursue training courses and other work-related avenues to upgrade their skills,” says Kristina Leung, managing editor at the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project. “By empowering staff to choose how best to develop professionally, employers benefit by having a more qualified workforce.”

This year’s winners have created avenues for personal growth for employees, offering the support and flexibility employees need to further their overall wellness and be active members of local communities. With benefits such as mental health coverage, wellness-related programming, and incentives for volunteering, employees are encouraged to pursue resources and causes that are close to their hearts.

“By providing employees with the resources needed to pursue programs and initiatives that are personally important, these employers are encouraging employees to become their best selves,” says Leung. “This translates to greater personal and professional fulfillment for employees, extending beyond the work they do”.

Some of the initiatives singled out by the editors at this year’s winners include:

  • Andgo Systems allows employees to dedicate up to four hours each week for their own professional development, ensuring they can pursue personal and career-related growth; activities can include industry or professional conferences and events, courses, and books.

  • SaskTel hosts an employee resource group of Indigenous employees, the ‘SaskTel Aboriginal Employee Network’ (SAEN), who act as ambassadors to educate and support SaskTel employees regarding the significance and diversity of Indigenous cultures.

  • Canpotex adopted a hybrid work program that includes a monthly hybrid work allowance of $250, which can be used for home office expenses (such as internet) or transportation costs of traveling to and from work; additionally, employees may request to work remotely from another location in Canada up to four weeks each year.

  • Saskatoon-based Flaman Sales has been helping local charities through the Frank J. Flaman Foundation since 2005; the company solicits employee feedback when determining charities to support and encourages employees to get involved with paid time off to volunteer.

  • Nutrien encourages skills development with generous tuition subsidies (to $5,000 annually) for employees to take outside courses, whether or not they are related to their current position; the company also offers extensive apprenticeship and trades programs and leadership development programs.

2023 Winners

Here are the 2023 winners of the Saskatchewan’s Top Employers competition. Click an employer name to read our editors’ full Reasons for Selection:

First published in 2006, Saskatchewan’s Top Employers is an annual competition organized by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers. This special designation recognizes the Saskatchewan employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work. Editors at Mediacorp review employers on eight criteria, which have remained consistent since the project’s inception: (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. The editors publish detailed ‘reasons for selection’ for these criteria, providing transparency in the selection of winners and a catalogue of best practices for employers and job-seekers alike. The annual competition is open to any employer with its head office in Saskatchewan; employers of any size may apply, whether private- or public-sector.

Founded in 1992, Mediacorp Canada Inc. is the nation’s largest publisher of employment periodicals. Since 1999, the Toronto-based publisher has managed the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project, which includes 18 regional and special-interest editorial competitions that reach millions of Canadians annually through a variety of magazine and newspaper partners, including The Globe and Mail. Mediacorp also operates Eluta.ca, one of Canada’s largest job search engines, which reaches over two million job-seekers annually and features exclusive editorial reviews from the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project.

The full list of Saskatchewan’s Top Employers (2023) was announced today in a co-published with the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and the Regina Leader-Post. Detailed reasons for selection for each of this year’s winners, as well as additional stories and photos, were released today by the editors and are accessible via the competition homepage.

 

SOURCE Mediacorp Canada Inc.

Everyone needs to feel safe, loved, loving, and engaged to grow and nurture their true spirit.

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Meet Our COR Family: Kristyn White

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Hi! I’m Kristyn, the Literacy Facilitator for Inclusion Regina/Creative Options Regina. I began my journey at COR as an undergraduate student at the University of Regina. Jim Temple came to one of my classes to talk to us about COR and the philosophy of Gentle Teaching, and before the class ended, I had already sent in my application. A few weeks later, I was hired as a Support Worker. As 2023 approaches, it will mark my 8th year with the organization! WOW, time flies, and I couldn’t be happier to be a part of the COR family still.

I was a Support Worker for several years and eventually transitioned into the role of Team Leader. During this time, I also began facilitating Tell It Like It Is – a sexual health and wellness initiative that COR offered. I became passionate about supporting the sexuality of people living with disabilities, and this led me to pursue a Master’s degree at the University of Regina. Shortly after becoming a graduate student, I started my role as Literacy Facilitator! My role involves the development and facilitation of Inclusion Regina’s literacy initiatives. People with disabilities and those within their support networks deserve access to comprehensive, accurate information on sexual health, financial literacy, technology use, reading, and much more. The opportunity to connect with the people we serve and those in the community is the best part of my role!

I am incredibly proud of the growth I have experienced at COR, not just with my career but also with myself! I was in my early 20s when I started at COR, and when I turned 30 this year, I realized I have quite literally watched myself grow up with the organization. My experiences at COR have been invaluable. This past October, I had one of my proudest career moments when I helped to organize a Sexuality & Disability conference that COR, Inclusion Saskatchewan, and Saskatoon Sexual Health hosted in Regina. The conference featured presenters from Saskatchewan and Alberta, a self-advocate panel, and over 100 attendees who came to learn about supporting the sexuality of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The event was a first of its kind in our province, and I am still beaming with pride as I reflect on the day. I am so lucky that I get to work alongside colleagues who I not only admire and learn from but who also support me and my aspirations. I am excited to see where my role at COR takes me in the future!

Fun Facts about me:

I was born and raised in Regina, and although it might not be the warmest or most exciting city, it is home. I have always believed that where you are doesn’t matter; what matters is who you are with. Spending time with the people I love is what makes me the happiest! In my free time, you can find me at our family cabin at Moosomin Lake, up North in Waskesiu, or camping with my partner, Jon. I love to explore new places and am always down for an adventure or road trip. I am obsessed with our pets (Sienna and Luna), and if I am not at the lake, I am likely spending my time telling them how cute they are.

Here are some facts you may (or may not) know about me: I have been vegan for over five years and love to cook, I taught myself how to build outdoor furniture, I hate watching people brush their teeth, I drink too much diet coke, I always forget how to spell the word ‘definitely’, I was once on the same flight as Pamela Anderson, and I hope to one day own a cabin in the mountains!

I hope you learned something new about me! Come and say hi next time you are in the COR Studio!!

COR Recognized by Canadian HR Reporter: 5-Star Rewards and Recognition (2023)

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On Wednesday, February 15th, 2023, COR was recognized by Canadian HR Reporter with 5-Star Rewards and Recognition (2023). We are honoured by this recognition as we strive to influence cultures of support within the developmental/caregiving sector across Canada. 
Read the below article published by Canadian HR Reporter.


5-Star Rewards & Recognition 2023

Reaping returns in a tight labour market

Employers that offer an attractive mix of rewards and recognition (R&R) will beat the odds and retain their valuable workers.

Attracting and retaining top talent, hybrid work, and building social capital has posed challenges for all industries. The winners of Canadian HR Reporter’s 5-Star Rewards & Recognition awards for 2023 recognize that putting people first is the best defense against corporate complacency.

“If we cater our rewards and recognition around creating experiences, employees become more engaged, and they want to work with you more because you’re giving them something they’re not finding elsewhere”
Tristan Kirk, Citadel Mortgages Tristan Kirk, Citadel Mortgages

 

An analysis of over 400 survey responses from employees at this year’s award-winning companies reveals that 91% of respondents indicate they are more likely to remain with their current company due to its respective R&R programs.

The hallmark of an industry-leading R&R program is that it exists to create a high-performing and engaged workforce, says HR consultant Jana Tulloch (HR Strategy | Tulloch Consulting).

“Sometimes, companies think rewards and recognition is a bit of a fluff program and that all it takes is gift cards or kudos once in a while,” Tulloch explains. “That approach is short-changing the significant impact a well-done program can have on the bottom line.”

This year’s top-ranking companies all clocked an overall employee satisfaction rating of 75% or higher, with three cracking 90%. The majority were between 80% and 89%.

Those figures are even more impressive in the context of Express Employment Professionals data that showed 75% of Canadian employers entered 2023 with fears over hiring challenges. The second biggest reason behind this fear is employees leaving to go elsewhere.

CHRR’s 2023 awardees have implemented a variety of innovative incentives, including monetary rewards, fully funded trips, learning opportunities, and rewards within the reach of everyone.

 

Elevating employee experience

Winner Citadel Mortgages in Toronto, Ont., achieved an overall employee satisfaction rating of 92.32%. One of its best-performing incentives rewards employees with a fully paid, five-day, four-night vacation to 65 different locations worldwide if they come back to work in the office.

About 20% of the full-service mortgage brokerage’s workforce are back in the building, says principal broker and managing partner Tristan Kirk. More experience-type rewards are on the way in 2023 for top performers, including a day in Ontario wine country, $500 hotel vouchers per quarter, and monthly spa packages.

“We launched it last year and the growth and the attention paid to that reward by my team was pretty cool to see,” Kirk adds. “If you take the time to listen and understand your people and build an experience for them in a way that’s meaningful, they’re going to be much, much happier and stay with you for a longer time.”

The Microsoft Work Trend Index Special Report, released in September 2022, found that 73% of workers and 78% of business decision makers say they need a better reason to go into the office than just company expectations.

“Where we’re headed in the next few years is that people want to experience things in life,” Kirk says. “People are tired, they’re stressed. If we cater our rewards and recognition around creating experiences, employees become more engaged, and they want to work with you more because you’re giving them something they’re not finding elsewhere.”

“Some of the feedback we heard from people who were making moves was not because they were unhappy, but because they wanted greater challenge”
Laura Salvatore, Centurion Asset Management Laura Salvatore, Centurion Asset Management

 

Satisfying employees’ thirst for challenge

Fellow award-winner Centurion Asset Management stepped up to help its frontline workers with a new recognition bonus based solely on appreciation and gratitude.

The Toronto-based asset management company, which owns and operates residential and student rental housing, topped up frontline employees’ weekly wages by $100 and offered a $500 per month rental concession to staff who work and live in its properties.

Frontline staff include property and resident managers, leasing agents, maintenance technicians, and custodians.

“It was easy enough to say everyone at head office pack up and work from home, but our site staff live and work at home, so this was a challenge for them,” says Laura Salvatore, Centurion vice-president, human capital, about the early days of lockdowns.

Employee excellence, innovation, and commitment to continuous learning are also acknowledged and rewarded with a mix of gifts, cash, public recognition, and promotion.

It’s a smart move when you consider that Microsoft’s study data shows that people will head for the door if they can’t learn and grow: 56% of employees and 68% of business decision makers say there are not enough growth opportunities in their company to make them want to stay long-term.

To encourage its employees to thrive within the organization, Centurion launched its namesake learning academy. Since being implemented during the pandemic, 207 employees have completed 1,500 training hours from about 4,000 different modules, with 143 rewards given out.

“Some of the feedback we heard from people who were making moves was not because they were unhappy, but because they wanted greater challenge,” Salvatore says. “In the last five years, we have promoted 114 people internally, so that’s really exciting for us.”

A new award tied to Centurion’s values of respect, integrity, simplicity, and excellence, known by the acronym RISE, recognizes an exemplary peer-nominated employee each quarter with a small monetary award and a feature profile in the company newsletter.

“Throughout the pandemic we learned communication was key, and that goes two ways,” says Salvatore. “There’s nothing more valuable than listening to your employees, listening to how they want to be rewarded, how they want to be recognized.”

“I think it’s better if people celebrate together what they accomplish without bringing people up and creating an example that sort of shows why others aren’t measuring up”
Michael McCullough, Improving – Calgary  Michael McCullough, Improving – Calgary

 

Strength in the collective

CHRR’s survey results show that 100% of employees at the Calgary office of IT services firm, Improving, are likely to stay with the company based on its R&R programs.

Employees, or ‘Improvers’ as they’re referred to in company culture, receive personal ‘thank you’ cards written by leadership and public recognition of their achievements and impact made within Improving and the community. They also benefit from annual profit sharing and an internal gratitude channel exclusively for thanks and recognition.

But perhaps more importantly for president Michael McCullough, is the firm’s Employee Involvement Program (EIP), a praise, recognition, and reward solution that allows “everyone to feel like they’re winning”.

The EIP is the employee’s own record of involvement, engagement, and contribution for all leadership to see. The management team tracks employee involvement across different categories such as business development, initiatives, culture and community, and a monetary award is paid out quarterly as well as recognition for their engagement.

“The EIP is important and meaningful,” explains McCullough. “With most companies, what you’ve done lives with the leader you’re reporting to, but the EIP system is the employee’s own record of what they’ve been doing and their contributions back. I always look for ways that everyone can feel they’re being successful.”

McCullough believes the strongest programs reward and recognize collective effort.

“I think it’s better if people celebrate together what they accomplish without bringing people up and creating an example that sort of shows why others aren’t measuring up, which can be what happens in many cases,” he says. “This is my own strange view of the world and a lot of people don’t see it this way, they believe it will inspire others to work harder. I think it’s more demotivating than motivating.”

ScaleX founder and CEO Maysa Hawwash (HR Consulting Agency in Toronto | ScaleX | Accelerate Your Growth), whose firm provides wide-ranging HR consultancy services, warns firms against not tailoring their R&R in a bespoke fashion.

“Every employee is different in the way that they want to be recognized, what works for some may not be appreciated as much by others,” she adds.

 

5-Star Rewards & Recognition 2023

Company size: 1-299 employees

  • Canola Council of Canada
  • Citadel Mortgages
  • Improving
  • Paystone
  • Verico Xeva Mortgage
  • WorkTango

 

Company size: 300-499 employees

  • CAAT Pension Plan
  • Centurion Asset Management
  • Creative Options Regina

 

Company size: 500+ employees

  • BDO Canada
  • Canada Cartage

Methodology

Canadian HR Reporter’s 5-Star Rewards & Recognition (R&R) entry process comprised two steps: an employer submission followed by an employee survey. Twenty-one organizations applied by completing an in-depth survey that detailed such things as a programs it initiated over the last two years to better recognize and reward employees.

Companies successful in the submission phase were then sent a link to an online employee survey to be circulated internally. The survey, which ran from October 12 to 30, 2022, asked employees to rate their employer across a range of metrics that constituted drivers of employee satisfaction. In total, 653 responses were received from employees of the various organizations.

To be named to the 5-Star R&R list, companies had to meet a minimum number of responses based on size: 10 responses for organizations with 1–99 employees, 20 responses for those with 100–499, and 50 responses from companies with 500+ employees.

Organizations that achieved an overall employee satisfaction rating of at least 75% were recognized as 5-Star awardees.

Click to view article online.

Prairie Sexuality and Disability Conference featured in SARC Update (Winter 2023)

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We are excited to share an article featured in the SARC Winter Update on the 2022 Prairie Sexuality & Disability Conference. We are still beaming with pride when thinking back to the event made possible because of all our incredible partners, sponsors, presenters, caterers, and resource distributors! We look forward to seeing everyone at our 2023 conference in Saskatoon. Stay tuned!

Meet Our COR Family: Keir Trainor

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Hi, I’m Keir! I’m the People and Culture Advisor! I mainly work within recruitment alongside our Employee Experience Advisor, Casey! In addition, I facilitate payroll for all COR employees alongside Lill! I began my journey with COR working as the Payroll and Benefits Specialist, but quickly moved into what I was really passionate about – people!

I recently celebrated my 2 year anniversary at COR! I’ve been here since late September 2020. Time really flies when you love what you do! I first learned about COR when I was working at PEBA (Public Employees Benefits Agency). I met one of my great friends, JJ Mathieson, who was working full-time at PEBA and supporting overnights at COR. He told me about what he did and that he loved the organization and its culture. From there, I told him to let me know if there were any opportunities to work within COR in a business role! A few months later, he said to me that they were hiring a People and Culture Advisor. I applied for it, didn’t get it, but I was offered a benefits and pension specialist position (very in line with what I was doing at PEBA) and I took it!

My favorite project at COR so far has definitely been Healthy Workplace Month. I spent time over the past year filming different shorts for the COR socials and it was a blast! I’ve realized I’m very camera-shy, but getting out of my comfort zone really stretched me as a person. This year, we’ve decided to garner as many recipes from everyone across the COR family and compile it into a cookbook that everyone can use in their daily life. I’m super stoked to see what recipes come in from who, and try them all out! There are a few major projects at COR that have really strengthened my ability to move through adversity and plan for the future. Before moving to COR, I didn’t have much experience in implementation and planning. I felt very privileged to be able to come into a role that would impact the organization as a whole, as well as to work with incredibly supportive individuals who always had my back through thick and thin!

My advice for prospective COR candidates would be to have an open mind and open heart! Since starting at COR, I’ve really tried to immerse myself in the philosophy of Gentle Teaching and I feel that it’s really impacted how I think, my values, and how I conduct myself on a daily basis. It’s interesting to reflect on prior years and positions I
held in different organizations and see how they compare to COR in terms of culture, philosophy, and structure. I know it sounds cliché, but I really do feel that everyone has my back within COR and that I’m free to take risks and make mistakes without judgment!

Fun Facts about me:
My favorite book is called “Can’t Hurt Me” by David Goggins. It’s an autobiography-style book with some insane stories about persevering through adversity and creating mental toughness within yourself. I think I’ve read it about 3 or 4 times over. I would totally recommend it to anyone who is looking for a brutally honest story about
overcoming obstacles in your life!

I’m a major Dark Knight fan, and I always think back to when he fell down the well in Batman Begins. The quote goes, “Why do we fall, sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves back up”.

I think this quote is insanely relatable to my life and I can honestly say I hear this quote in my head from Alfred at least once a day! I’m constantly falling down, but it’s having the strength to stand back up, dust myself off, and keep pushing forward that’s so important!

I once had to do a triathlon because I lost a bet with my partner! We were casually chatting about a video game that I play, and I told her it would be impossible for her to reach a “max level” skill in the game. Sadly, she took on the challenge with the prize being me doing a triathlon with her. I laughed in her face but ended up doing the triathlon a few months later…