Manitoba's Top Employers

2 MANITOBA'S TOP EMPLOYERS reflect diversity and stability By Jennifer McFee MANITOBA'S TOP EMPLOYERS REPRESENT THE BEST OF THE BEST WHEN IT COMES TO OFFERING GREAT PLACES TO WORK ACROSS THE PROVINCE. As part of Canada's Top 100 Employers project by MediaCorp Canada, the regional Top Employers lists highlight strong contenders in each area of the country. Richard Yerema, managing editor of Canada's Top 100 Employers, says that Manitoba's employment scene has remained strong and steady since the annual regional competition launched 10 years ago. "Manitoba is always a nice story to me. As a person with strong family ties to the West, I think Manitoba might be surprising to easterners for its diversity of industry. It is remarkably stable, which comes from sitting in the middle of the country," he says. "Its heritage in insurance and aerospace presents a slightly different picture than some might expect to see in Western Canada. When looking at Manitoba from that perspective, you see remarkable stability and diversity of industry, which makes this a very stable list for us when we are developing it." Employers are evaluated based on eight criteria: physical workplace; work atmosphere and social; health, financial and family benefits; vacation and time off; employee communications; training and skills development; and community involvement. "It's an interesting project. It's a catalogue of best practices, so in those eight category areas, we're really just creating inventories of what you offer your people. As a catalogue, we get to document that change over time. If an employer is standing flat-footed or not making those kinds of changes, they can be left behind in terms of the competitive landscape of attracting good people," Yerema says. "For employers, they get the recognition that they're at the forefront. This is Canada in 2015 and these are the kinds of programs and policies that the very best employers are offering." Job-seekers also benefit from knowing about the work environments available to them. "We write from a job-seeker's perspective, so we try to profile employers that are doing well and are offering reasonable career prospects. If you're a qualified candidate looking for employment and a place to park yourself for the next 10 years, you want to look around at what the best are offering," Yerema says. "This kind of recognition shows in a very clear inventory fashion what you can expect in terms of starting vacation, long-term savings or support for family. We're trying to shine a light on employers, so they have to make sure that they're raising the bar to be competitive." The project also aims to showcase different industries as well as businesses in a range of sizes. Together, the national project and the regional lists create an employment snapshot of Canada. "The objective is to create that snapshot across as many industry areas as possible, so that's why we mix private sector with public sector," Yerema says. "When we are making our choices, we sort by industry first and we are sensitive to size of employers. We try to keep a real apples-to-apples comparison, but we are obviously looking for leadership in all those areas within those parameters." For example, large public sector employers might have the ability to offer a classic defined-benefit pension program. However, smaller employers might not be able to offer the same type of benefit. That said, smaller employers can still find ways to encourage savings. "The entry-level programs for organizations would be matching RRSP programs that, at the very least, send a signal to their people that they will help you save," Yerema says. "As a small firm, you're not expected to have everything that a large established employer has, but we expect you to be doing what is possible given your scale. Looking at those eight categories, there's a model of what can you do as an organization." The Top Employers list proves valuable not only to job-seekers but also to other companies looking for ways to improve. "These are the best that we see, so it's important to keep in mind that these are things that other organizations are striving for," Yerema says. "It's important to be informed as a job-seeker, and projects like this allow you to do that very easily. When you're looking for work, it's worth taking a look at to determine what's a reasonable expectation from an employer." The Top Employers list proves valuable not only to job-seekers but also to other companies looking for ways to improve. MANITOBA'S TOP EMPLOYERS

• Cover