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Instead of just being nice, I’m mindful of my 4 Gentle Teaching tools.
When I first learned about COR and its culture of gentleness, I thought it was common sense to “be nice,” but after joining COR and taking the many relational workshops that are offered, I found that it is so much more than just “being nice.” Gentle Teaching has taught me to build meaningful relationships with those around me. To support them in their daily lives, learn about what they are working to achieve, offer them help, but also help them help themselves so that they have the tools they need in the future.
Instead of just being nice, I’m mindful of my 4 Gentle Teaching tools. Ensuring that my presence is strong, but welcoming and safe. Ensuring that my gaze is non judgmental, understanding and interested. Using my words to lift others up and ensuring that my tone and expression matches my message. Even though I carry these gentle teaching tools with me everywhere I go, they are not heavy. They do not weigh me down. I am proud to carry these tools to every environment and situation that I encounter. With my family, with my friends, with the individuals I support and with strangers that I meet. My everyday interactions with the people around me are changed for the better because of this new mindset that I have from Gentle Teaching. I am so excited to continue learning and growing from Gentle Teaching.
Hailey,
COR family member
Recognized as one of Saskatchewan’s Top Employers (2022)
The pandemic and the rise of remote work are turning Saskatchewan’s historical challenges into benefits. 
Saskatchewan companies have historically hired at a disadvantage to more populous provinces, but the past years saw so much uncertainty in the global employment market that Saskatchewan seems to be acquiring a more powerful appeal to workers. Global swings in traditional work cultures could benefit its workers as much as its big employers — a trend that can be seen by looking at some of the most popular and successful companies in the country.
Each year, the Canada’s Top 100 Employers competition releases its picks for the best employers in each region of the country, analyzing a wide range of factors to help applicants figure out which companies offer the best work environments. Now, 2022’s Saskatchewan ranking has arrived to highlight those companies that have continued to offer creative, competitive compensation and benefits packages even while dealing with a host of local and global difficulties.
The winners are chosen based on multiple criteria, including compensation and benefits, the work and social atmosphere, the work environment, training and upward mobility and community involvement — all of which were pushed forward by a healthy level of competition between public- and private-sector employers.
Continue reading to learn why COR was selected as one of Saskatchewan’s Top Employers…
2022 Winners
Here are the 2022 winners of the Saskatchewan’s Top Employers competition. Click an employer name to read our editors’ full Reasons for Selection:
- 3sHealth / Health Shared Services Saskatchewan
- Access Communications Co-operative Ltd.
- Canpotex Limited
- Concept3 Business Interiors Ltd.
- Cornerstone Credit Union Financial Group Limited
- Creative Options Regina, Inc.
- First Nations Bank of Canada
- Flaman Sales Ltd.
- Group Medical Services / GMS Insurance Inc.
- Information Services Corporation / ISC
- McDougall Gauley LLP
- Nutrien Inc.
- Ranch Ehrlo Society
- Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission
- Saskatchewan Blue Cross
- Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation / SCIC
- Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies / SIIT
- Saskatchewan Polytechnic
- Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association / SUMA
- Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board
- Saskatoon Police Service
- SaskPower
- SaskTel
- Synergy Credit Union Ltd.
- Vaderstad Industries Inc.
Canadian HR Reporter, 2022 5-Star Rewards and Recognition Award
This year, COR received the Canadian HR Reporter 5-Star Rewards & Recognition Award for a company sized 100-499 employees!
Click here to visit hrreporter.com to learn more
Rewarding dedicated employees
If there was ever a time when employee rewards and recognition (R&R) were needed, it’s during the ongoing pandemic. As many people struggle — whether they are retail or health care front-liners, or parents working from home while taking care of their kids, or single people increasingly isolated from coworkers — feeling valued and appreciated by their employer is much more important.
To that end, several Canadian organizations not only maintained an impressive focus on recognition during the past two years, but upped their offerings to recognize the hard work of staff and boost morale. Canadian HR Reporter spoke with three of the 13 5-Star Rewards and Recognition winners to learn about their unique programs.
COR Receives Canada’s Healthy Workplace 2021 Great Employer Award
COR has once again received Canada’s Healthy Workplace Great Employer Award by Excellence Canada and Canada Life. We are so very proud of our COR family and tremendously grateful to everyone who has supported our effort in building a healthy workplace! Read about the award below:
Excellence Canada announces the 2021 Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month® Great Employers
TORONTO, Dec. 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Excellence Canada is pleased to announce the 2021 Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month® Great Employers. These organizations are being celebrated for their planning and actions to foster physically and psychologically safe and healthy workplaces, striving to continually improve across four main areas of focus, namely:
Physical Health
This element of a healthy workplace refers to how well an organization supports employees to develop and maintain healthy behaviours (exercise, nutrition, sleep, etc.) reduce unhealthy/risky habits and make optimal use of health care opportunities. It also refers to workplace due diligence regarding Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and the management of workplace influences that may contribute to injuries, disabilities and/or fatalities. Facility design, including air quality, noise, lighting, and other physical workplace factors are also important aspects that impact employee physical health and well-being.
Mental Health
This element of a healthy workplace refers to how the organization encourages a supportive workplace culture – the foundation of a healthy workplace. This element speaks to how the culture encourages respect, trust, support, and inclusivity. It refers to communication styles and patterns of relationships and values that influence employee health, safety, and well-being.
Social Health
Social well-being in the workplace reflects employee relationships with coworkers, interactions with management, and a sense of belonging within the organization as a whole. It is a measure of an employee’s interpersonal relationships both inside and outside of work and includes aspects such as connectedness, collaboration, recognition and rewards, engagement, influence, growth and development, and intellectual health.
Community
Being a socially responsible organization empowers employees to leverage corporate resources at their disposal to do good. Formal social responsibility programs boost employee morale and productivity in the workforce. This element of a healthy workplace refers to the interrelationship between the workplace, the community, and employee health, safety and well-being, including the way organizations are involved in the community, support environmental stewardship, economic responsibility, and social justice; and how employees are encouraged to participate, volunteer, and ‘give back’ to the community.
This year’s recipients are, in alphabetical order:
| AGS Rehab Solutions Inc. | Mississauga | ON |
| CanmetENERGY-Ottawa, Natural Resources Canada | Nepean | ON |
| CHEO (Pediatric health care and research centre) | Ottawa | ON |
| Connecting Care & Points West Living | Edmonton | AB |
| Creative Options Regina | Regina | SK |
| Hamilton Health Sciences | Hamilton | ON |
| Health Standards Organization (HSO) | Ottawa | ON |
| Lethbridge College | Lethbridge | AB |
| McMaster University | Hamilton | ON |
| Saskatchewan Blue Cross | Saskatoon | SK |
| Unbounce | Vancouver | BC |
| WorkTango | Toronto | ON |
Find out what it takes to be a Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month® Great Employer
About Excellence Canada
Excellence Canada is an independent, not-for-profit corporation that is committed to advancing organizational excellence across Canada. As a national authority on Organizational Excellence, Healthy Workplace®, and Mental Health at Work® awards, Excellence Canada provides excellence frameworks, standards, and independent verification and certification to organizations of all sizes and in all sectors. It is also the custodian and adjudicator of the Canada Awards for Excellence program.
“Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month” , “Healthy Workplace”, and “Mental Health at Work” are Registered Trademarks of Excellence Canada.
Michael Lavis earns Canada’s Most Admired CEO — Broader Public Sector for 2021
In 2021, COR CEO Michael Lavis earned the title of Canada’s Most Admired CEO in the Broader Public Sector from Waterstone Human Capital.
Michael Lavis
Michael Lavis is the founding CEO of Creative Options Regina (COR) — a for-impact, charitable organization that develops personalized support services for people experiencing disability in Regina, Saskatchewan. Under Michael’s leadership, COR has grown to become one of Saskatchewan’s largest support providers serving both vulnerable youth and adults in-care. Michael is passionately committed to nurturing a culture of gentleness within the workplace, transforming care by focusing on employee experience.
As a purpose-driven leader, Michael embraces a culture of continuous learning, recently completing a MA in Leadership with a specialization is values from Royal Roads University. Additionally, he has a MA in Human Security and Peacebuilding, coupled with a BA in International Relations from the University of Saskatchewan, and has completed a number of leadership certificate programs. Michael has over fifteen years of global experience developing opportunities for marginalized individuals; from South America to Africa, and Southeast Asia to Canada, Michael has worked and researched extensively within various international organizations. Michael is passionately committed to strengthening the disability services sector in Saskatchewan and to forge out new beginnings for the province’s most vulnerable citizens. In addition to his work at COR, Michael serves on the Board of Directors of Service Hospitality, Caledonian Curling Club, and is an advisory committee member of the Conference Board of Canada’s Council on Workplace Health and Wellness. COR has been recognized as one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures – Broader Public Sector (2020), one of Saskatchewan’s Top Employers (2018-2021), Canada’s Top 100 Employers (2021), and recipient of Canada’s Healthiest Workplaces Award (2019 & 2020).