Manitoba's Top Employers

12 IT'S ONLY NATURAL THAT A COMPANY SYNONYMOUS WITH HEALTH CARE WOULD HAVE ITS OWN EMPLOYEES' OVERALL HEALTH AND WELLNESS AT HEART. At Manitoba Blue Cross, one of the province's Top Employers for the seventh time, that is absolutely the case. "As Manitoba's leading benefits provider for over 40 years, we believe that promoting health and wellness is a tangible way to show employees we care about their well-being," said Andrew Yorke, President and CEO of Manitoba Blue Cross. Promoting health and wellness occurs in many ways at Manitoba Blue Cross – from a fully-equipped fitness centre that is available for employees and their families to quiet rooms for rest and restoration, onsite access to an employee assistance centre and a comfortable employee lounge. The lounge includes a generous kitchen where employees can prepare hot lunches and also a self-serve Blue Café that provides nutritious and affordable meal options, 24 hours a day. A happy and healthy employee is one that can achieve a nice balance between work-time and home-time. In addition to a robust benefits package, competitive salary and generous company-matched pension plan, Manitoba Blue Cross recognizes that today's employees are also looking for career growth opportunities and a healthy work-life balance. To that end, the company offers an onsite training program, compressed work-week options, flexible working hours, and financial incentives for course completion. It also subsidizes 100 per cent of tuition costs when the courses relate to the employee's position at the company. "We're very supportive of professional training and development and like to promote people from within," Yorke said. "When employees broaden their knowledge and skill set, it opens the door for advancement opportunities and also benefits the organization as a whole." When you work at Manitoba Blue Cross, you're part of the team, and management makes sure employees are informed by using Organizational Change Management to help them through the transition process when changes occur or new initiatives are introduced. This is achieved through various types of communications such as newsletters, change calendars, game days and train-the-trainer sessions. And there's no better way to show appreciation for staff efforts than to feed them well, and at Manitoba Blue Cross, they take that sentiment literally. "In summer months, we hold an annual barbecue where our leadership team works the grill," said Brenda Slikker, Vice President, Operations. "There is an annual holiday gala, a holiday party for children, and also a staff appreciation day with fun activities for employees and their families." Manitoba Blue Cross is passionate about contributing to its community and uses the four pillars of its "Colour of Caring" program to give back. Whether it's the Pink Ribbon Golf Tournament for breast cancer, fundraising for the ALS Society of Manitoba, the Winnipeg Harvest Empty Bowl Dinner or the Special Olympics golf tournament, Manitoba Blue Cross is involved in supporting worthwhile causes. It's also the primary contributor, both in funding and administrative support, to the Manitoba Medical Services Foundation. Manitoba Blue Cross employees can be seen participating in numerous community events, including an annual clean-up of Omand's Creek, the MS Walk, Riverview Health Centre Foundation's Cycle on Life, CancerCare's Dragon Boat event and MS Biking to the Viking. Employees also collect clothing and personal care items to donate to the North Point Douglas and West Central Women's Resource Centre, and food and toys that are donated to the Christmas Cheer Board. "We want to give back to our fellow Manitobans and doing so is a source of pride for our employees. Our employee-led Casual for a Cause committee – which has been an active presence at Manitoba Blue Cross for over 20 years – raises money for local charitable organizations all year long," Yorke said. There's also an amazing average 90 per cent participation rate in Manitoba Blue Cross's annual United Way Campaign. As of the first week of November, 91.8 per cent of staff has made a giving decision to the 2015 United Way campaign with over $37,500 raised. Manitoba Blue Cross has been short-listed numerous times for Canada's Top 100 Companies, they've won the Long-Term Achievement Award from the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce and consistently bring home the Community Small Contact Centre Award. "We take pride in the fact that our Customer Service team has been recognized, year after year, by the Manitoba Contact Centre Association, a distinction we believe transfers directly into better service for our members and clients," Slikker said. Proud to be chosen as one of Manitoba's Top 25 Employers Excellent Benefits � Company-Matched Pension Plan � Tuition Subsidies � Work-Life Balance Onsite Employee Assistance Centre � Fully-Equipped Fitness Centre � Self-Serve Blue Café Visit Careers at mb.bluecross.ca Employees have access to the Blue Café, fitness facilities and staff lounge. Photo by Darcy Finley. MANITOBA BLUE CROSS Blue Cross takes employees to heart By Donna Maxwell MANITOBA'S TOP EMPLOYERS

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