Employers still looking to engage employees in the spirt of Canada’s 150th anniversary can tie the event into their workplace volunteering programs. To coincide with Canada 150, Volunteer Ottawa has introduced a program called 150 for 150, which is challenging Canadians to donate 150 volunteer hours to charity this year. While the program is open to all […]
Bob Bellamy started working as a handyman in 1947, when he was just 16 years old. Over the next 70 years, he moved up through the ranks at real estate development company Armel Corp. in Guelph, Ont., and continues to work there today as a construction manager. “He used to work for my father, and […]
With incentives like a staff lunch on Fridays and free transportation to work, Toronto-based Flipp Corp. has tapped into some of the unique benefits and perks that can attract top talent in the competitive technology industry. The company, whose app allows consumers to access digital flyers from more than 1,000 retailers to plan their weekly […]
On one of the top floors of a non-descript building in downtown Toronto, Morneau Shepell Ltd.’s care access centre representatives are fielding intake calls, the first step in helping Canadian employees get help through their employee assistance program. Visually, it’s a typical call-centre environment, but the “magic happens on the phone,” says Lynn Pike, vice-president […]
While employees want good benefits, finding ways to effectively convey information about the plan can be a challenge, particularly when today’s workforce is far from homogeneous. Employees are different ages and at disparate stages of life. They may be from various ethnic backgrounds and speak different languages. Another distinction is union versus non-union settings where […]
CIBC, Destination Canada and Via Rail are among employers aligning their employee engagement efforts with the celebration of 150 years since Confederation. Since CIBC is also celebrating 150 years in 2017, it’s tying its own milestone to Canada’s festivities, offering its 44,000 employees a paid day off that they can take near or on their own […]
Company-wide recognition programs are widespread, offered by 81 per cent of employers, according to World at Work’s latest trends in employee recognition report. The report, which surveyed employers in Canada and the United States, found 65 per cent of organizations offer between three and six different recognition programs. The top five recognition programs have remained […]
While the days of handing out gold watches and lapel pins to recognize an employee’s years of service are largely outdated, recognition programs in Canadian workplaces still revolve primarily around formal milestones, rather than informal, day-to-day appreciation from managers and colleagues. But as technology and data play a growing role in many human resources and […]
How does a weeklong company trip to Mexico sound? While it’s a small organization, Splice Software Inc. sent its employees on a working holiday to Mexico this year as part of its efforts to make its 26 employees feel part of one team. Employees worked some of the time during the trip, but Splice also organized soccer games, a […]
Employee engagement in Canada was “stable to improving” in 2016, says Todd Mathers, a partner in the talent, rewards and performance business at Aon Hewitt Canada. New research from the consultancy found engagement levels increased one percentage point, from 69 per cent in 2015 to 70 per cent last year. Globally, the survey showed a […]