Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers (2016)

p Employees at Direct Focus, one of this year’s winners.

DIRECT FOCUS

2016

CO-PUBLISHED BY

MEDIACORP

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

2

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

SCALAR DECISIONS

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS 2016 Magazine Anthony Meehan, PUBLISHER

Karen Le,

VICE-PRESIDENT

Editorial Team:

Richard Yerema, MANAGING EDITOR

p Employees at Scalar Decisions Inc. in Toronto, celebrating the company’s 10th anniversary.

C

“The SME competition is home to some intriguing programs, such as the unlimited vacation policies at Verafin, Nulogy and Mabel’s Labels,” says Mr. Yerema. “Work environments and social calendars can also resemble

SENIOR EDITOR

Advertising Sales:

wI N T R O D U C T I O N

anada’s Top Small and Medium Employers are proving you don’t have to be big to be a leader. This year’s winning companies offer forward-thinking human resource policies that are competitive with much bigger enterprises. For instance, many small and medium employers offer a share purchase plan available to all employees as well as year-end bonuses; support for long-term savings; and tuition subsidies, often for both work and non-work-related courses.

Alternative work options are another popular perk, and nearly half of these companies provide maternity and parental leave top-up payments. Some daring policies are unique to this sector, according to Richard Yerema, managing editor of Canada’s Top 100 Employers.

Kristina Leung,

friends and family gatherings, from trips to sunny southern destinations at the Great Little Box Company to summer camping and winter ski trips at Jayman BUILT Group of Companies.”

With Canada’s SME sector responsible for over three-quarters of new jobs in the past decade, employment growth is key in choosing the winning companies.

Some have grown at an incredible pace this year, such as Kitchener-based robotics manufacturer Clearpath, which increased its overall workforce by 55 per cent, and Pythian Group in Ottawa with the creation of 30 new information technology jobs.

“All of the employers included this year have shown employment stability, with the vast majority showing year-over-year employment growth,” notes Mr. Yerema.

“That’s comforting in these times.”

– Diane Jermyn

Kristen Chow,

DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS

Sponsor Content Writers:

Berton Woodward, SENIOR EDITOR

Michael Benedict Brian Bergman Ann Brocklehurst Jane Doucet Sheldon Gordon D’Arcy Jenish Bruce McDougall Michael Schiniou John Schofield Barbara Wickens

© 2016 Mediacorp Canada Inc. and The Globe and Mail.

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS is a trademark of Mediacorp Canada Inc. All rights reserved.

3

FRESHBOOKS

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

p Employees at Freshbooks in Toronto, enjoying the company’s casual work environment.

w CA NA D A’S

T OP SM AL L & ME D I U M EM PL O Y ERS ( 2 0 1 6 ) – W I NNERS

/N SPRO INC., Montreal. Computer systems design; 62 employees. Offers referral bonuses as an incentive to employees to help recruit friends; up to $3,000 for successful hires.

AGNORA INC., Collingwood. Glass and glazing contractors; 54 employees. Has an on-site fitness facility at head office, complete with a basketball court and instructor-led classes.

1 800 GOT JUNK?, Vancouver. Waste collection; 203 employees. Has over 200 franchise operations across North America and Australia.

A

ALBI HOMES LTD., Calgary. New-housing construction; 98 employees. Offers three weeks of vacation allowance to start, as well as paid time off during the winter holidays.

ACCOMPASS, TORONTO. Independent benefits, investment and compensation consulting; 29 employees. Encourages employees to save for the future with contributions to an employer-matching RSP plan.

AQUATIC INFORMATICS INC., Vancouver. Custom computer programming; 63 employees. Provides maternity and parental leave top-up payments, including for adoptive parents.

BSOLUTE SOFTWARE CORP., Vancouver. Custom computer programming; 262 employees.

Encourages employees to adopt an ownership mentality through a share purchase plan available to all.

ACL SERVICES LTD., Vancouver. Custom computer programming; 198 employees. Added over 25 full-time positions in the past year.

ADLIB SOFTWARE, Burlington. Computer programming; 117 employees. Extends health benefits to retirees up to 70 years of age.

ARTIS REIT, Winnipeg. Real estate investment trust; 170 employees. Offers flexible hours to employees who are new mothers when they are ready to return.

B

AM STRATEGY, Montreal. Advertising; 78 employees. Invests in ongoing

employee development through tuition subsidies for job-related courses.

BIG VIKING GAMES INC., London. Software publishers; 66 employees. Provides a full-service kitchen and cafeteria on-site offering daily breakfasts and lunches.

BOLD INNOVATION GROUP LTD., Îledes-Chênes, Man. Custom computer programming; 41 employees. Lets everyone share in the company’s success through a profit-sharing plan and year-end bonuses.

BRIGHTER MECHANICAL LTD., Richmond, B.C. Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors; 95 employees. Offers three weeks of vacation allowance to start, as well as paid time off during the winter holidays.

BROADVIEW NETWORKS INC., Winnipeg. Computer systems design; 23 employees. Organizes events throughout

the year by a company-subsidized social committee.

C

ALTRAX INC., Calgary. Support for rail transportation; 66 employees.

Encourages employees to stay in shape with a health club subsidy of up to $500 annually.

CANADIAN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST / CREIT MANAGEMENT LP, Toronto. Real estate investment trust; 143 employees. Offers a range of financial benefits, including signing and year-end bonuses for some employees.

CBCL LTD., Halifax. Engineering; 258 employees. Provides employees who are new moms the option to extend their leave into an unpaid leave of absence.

CFACTOR WORKS INC., Saskatoon.

Computer programming; 47 employees. Offers a range of alternative work arrangements, including flexible hours, telecommuting and a compressed-workweek option.

CHAMPION PETFOODS LP, Edmonton. Dog and cat food manufacturing; 249 employees. Encourages employees to save for the future with contributions to a defined benefit pension plan.

4

( C O N T. )

CHANDOS CONSTRUCTION LTD., Edmonton. General contracting; 305 employees. Relocated to a new office space to accommodate its growing workforce.

CLEARPATH ROBOTICS INC., Kitchener. Robotic manufacturing; 56 employees. Reaches out to the next generation through co-op opportunities, summer student positions and paid internships.

CHANDOS CONSTRUCTION

2016 WINNERS

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

CLEARTECH INDUSTRIES INC., Saskatoon. Chemical and equipment distribution; 130 employees. Offers tuition subsidies for job-related courses, as well as in-house training options including apprenticeship programs and mentoring opportunities.

CM LABS SIMULATIONS, INC., Montreal. Computer software; 100 employees.

Provides on-site yoga classes and maintains employee hockey, soccer and running teams.

COALISION INC., Longueuil, Que. Apparel design and manufacturing; 169 employees. Has an on-site fitness facility at head office, with a ballet bar and instructor-led classes in yoga and pilates.

COWELL MOTORS LTD., Richmond, B.C. New-car dealerships; 195 employees. Offers generous tuition subsidies for job-related courses, to a maximum of $4,000.

CRELOGIX ACCEPTANCE CORP., Burnaby, B.C. Financial services; 100 employees. Added over 65 new full-time positions in the past year – a jump of 200 per cent.

CROESUS FINANSOFT INC., Laval, Que. Computer programming; 120 employees. Maintains an in-house Gen Y Group for employees under the age of 30 to participate in special projects supervised by experienced personnel.

D

&D AUTOMATION INC., Stratford, Ont. Industrial control; 72 employees. Encourages employees to give back to the community by offering paid time off to volunteer and matching employee donations up to $500.

DIAMOND SCHMITT ARCHITECTS INC., Toronto. Architecture; 162 employees. Helps the next generation gain onthe-job experience through summer student roles and co-op opportunities.

DIRECT FOCUS MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS INC., Winnipeg. Marketing; 90 employees. Lets everyone

p Things are looking up in the reception area of Edmonton-based Chandos Construction. share in the fruits of their labour with a profit-sharing plan.

Offers on-site showers at head office for employees who cycle or run to work.

NFLICK, INC., Waterloo, Ont. Software publishers; 34 employees. Offers reduced office hours during the summer months and paid days off during the winter holidays.

FUSION PROJECT MANAGEMENT LTD., Vancouver. Interior design; 31 employees. Increased its overall workforce by 35 per cent in the past year.

E

EQUITABLE BANK, Toronto. Real estate lending; 431 employees. Added 89 new full-time positions in the past year.

F

IRST ACCESS FUNDING CORP., Edmonton. Sales financing; 31 employees. Offers the Atta Person recognition program, which allows employees to nominate colleagues on a weekly basis for outstanding performance.

FRESCHE SOLUTIONS INC., Montreal.

Information technology services; 70 employees. Recognizes exceptional performance through several initiatives, including on-the-spot awards, peer-to-peer recognition and long-service awards.

FRESHBOOKS, Toronto. Software publishers; 184 employers. Added 63 new fulltime jobs in the past year.

FUSION LEARNING INC., Toronto.

Management consulting; 26 employees.

G

EO. H. YOUNG & CO. LTD., Winnipeg. Freight transportation and logistics; 120 employees. Offers retirement planning assistance and phasedin work options to ease the transition to retirement.

GEVITY CONSULTING INC., Vancouver. Computer software and consulting; 88 employees. Encourages employees to give back to the community and matches employee donations of up to $500 per year.

GRAYCON GROUP LTD., Calgary. Information technology; 148 employees.

Rewards exceptional performance with uniquely tailored rewards to match an employee’s interests, such as golf weekends or a restaurant dinner, including the services of a babysitter.

GREAT LITTLE BOX COMPANY LTD., Richmond, B.C. Box manufacturing; 214 employees. Celebrates its annual

profitability target with three additional paid days off and an all-expense-paid vacation to a sunny destination.

H

ALOGEN SOFTWARE INC., Ottawa. Software publishers; 418 employees. Offers the Halogen PRO Award for employees who have outperformed their responsibility or demonstrated originality.

HANDY GROUP OF COMPANIES, Saskatoon. General rental centres; 64 employees. Has worked with Partners in Employment, an employment services organization for persons with disabilities, for the past two years, providing work placements and long-term career opportunities.

HARBOUR AIR GROUP, Richmond, B.C. Passenger air transportation; 224 employees. Offers in-house apprenticeships, in-house and online training programs and job-shadowing opportunities.

HEMMERA ENVIROCHEM INC., Burnaby, B.C. Environmental consulting; 172 employees. Recognizes exceptional employee performance through individual performance bonuses, long-service awards, a quarterly Wayfinder award and peer-to-peer commendations.

5

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

FUSION LEARNING

MANNARINO SYSTEMS & SOFTWARE INC., Saint-Laurent, Que. Software development; 55 employees.

Reaches out to the next generation of employees through paid internships and a co-op work experience program.

MEDGATE INC., Toronto. Software development; 99 employees. Encourages ongoing education by providing full tuition subsidies for courses related to employees’ positions.

MILLS OFFICE PRODUCTIVITY, Vancouver. Wholesale office supplies; 121 employees. Helps employees to save for the longer term with contributions to a matching RSP and a defined-benefit or defined-contribution pension plan.

N

EXT DIGITAL INC., Edmonton.

Computer systems design; 60 employees. Offers up to two paid volunteer days off each year and matching donations to charitable organizations.

NICOLA WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD., Vancouver. Investment management; 116 employees. Helps to develop the job skills of the next generation through paid internships, apprenticeships and formal mentoring.

p Employees at Fusion Learning at a Roaring Twenties-themed event during their summer conference.

2016 WINNERS

I

( C O N T. )

table tennis, video games and Nerf guns, as well as complimentary snacks, including organic fruit and craft beer.

GLOO SOFTWARE, Kitchener, Ont. Custom computer programming; 65 employees. Added 23 new full-time positions in the past year, a total workforce increase of 50 per cent.

J

INFLUITIVE CORP., Toronto. Custom computer programming; 58 employees.

Introduced a generous maternity and parental leave top-up program for employees who are new parents, offering a full year of paid leave.

K

INTELEX TECHNOLOGIES INC., Toronto. Software publishers; 292 employees. Encourages employees to keep in shape by providing new FitBits and up to $500 each year towards fitness programs as part of their health plan.

INTELLIWARE DEVELOPMENT INC., Toronto. Computer programming; 88 employees. Hosts monthly socials, team lunches, summer and winter parties and an annual Pi Day celebration.

IQMETRIX, Vancouver. Computer programming; 269 employees. Has an employee lounge with television, music,

AYMAN BUILT GROUP OF COMPANIES, Calgary. Housing construction; 347 employees. Helps employees balance their work and personal lives with flexible hours and telecommuting work options.

EILHAUER LTD., Toronto. Furniture manufacturing; 239 employees.

Encourages employees to continually develop their skills through in-house and online training and tuition subsidies for job-related courses.

KENWAY MACK SLUSARCHUK STEWART LLP, Calgary. Accounting; 62 employees. Considers previous work experience when setting vacation entitlements for experienced candidates.

KILLAM PROPERTIES INC., Halifax.

Property management and development; 425 employees. Motivates employees to become owners through a share purchase plan.

KINAXIS INC., Ottawa. Software publishers; 199 employees. Offers subsidies

for professional accreditation and for courses taken at outside institutions, including courses not related to their current position.

L

AURENTIDE CONTROLS LTD., Kirkland, Que. Industrial controls and automation; 262 employees. Offers a dedicated mentoring program for students in information technology, engineering and marketing.

LAWTON PARTNERS FINANCIAL PLANNING SERVICES LTD., Winnipeg. Financial planning; 46 employees.

Helps employees plan for life after work through retirement planning assistance, matching RSP contributions and phasedin retirement work options.

LEFT COAST NATURALS, Burnaby, B.C. Organic food manufacturing; 47 employees. Lets all employees share in the fruits of their labour with discounts on company products as well as a year-end bonus program.

M

ABEL’S LABELS INC., Hamilton, Ont. Commercial printing; 39 employees. Offers employees paid time off, up to three days a year, to volunteer with their favourite charitable causes.

NOSEWORTHY CHAPMAN CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS, St. John’s, Nfld. Accounting; 51 employees. Manages a year-end bonus program that is available to all employees.

NULOGY CORP., Toronto. Software development; 77 employees. Offers a more open and unlimited vacation policy for all employees.

O

LYMPIA FINANCIAL GROUP INC., Calgary. Financial trust services; 200 employees. Maintains a flexible health benefits plan that allows employees to customize levels of coverage according to their personal needs.

P

ACE CONSULTING BENEFITS & PENSIONS LTD., Toronto. Employment benefits consulting; 39 employees.

Offers a generous in-vitro fertilization subsidy of up to $15,000 when needed.

PETCUREAN PET NUTRITION INC., Chilliwack, B.C. Dog and cat food manufacturing; 35 employees. Supports its new families with maternity-leave top-up payments.

PETO MACCALLUM LTD., Toronto.

Engineering; 170 employees. Supports parents with children pursuing postsecondary studies through an academic scholarship program.

6

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

through in-house training initiatives and tuition subsidies.

POLYCELLO

VERAFIN INC., St. John’s, Nfld. Custom computer programming; 189 employees.

Provides an open-concept environment office featuring small fitness stations with yoga mats, chin-up bars and skipping ropes.

VIGILANT GLOBAL, Montreal. Financial software; 124 employees. Offers up to five personal paid days each year to help employees balance their work and personal commitments.

VOONYX INC., Lac-Beauport, Que. Software development; 18 employees. Lets employees enjoy a relaxed workplace through a business casual dress code.

W

ALTER SURFACE TECHNOLOGIES, Pointe-Claire, Que. Industrial equipment supplies, 155 employees.

Offers generous year-end performance bonuses.

p Employees at Amherst, Nova Scotia-based PolyCello inspecting equipment and product quality on the company’s blown-film-extrusion lines.

2016 WINNERS

( C O N T. )

POINTS, Toronto. Consumer loyalty program; 162 employees. Provides employees with a Friday snack cart, foosball, video games, a rooftop patio and bicycle storage at head office.

POLYCELLO, Amherst, N.S. Commercial printing; 407 employees. Added more than 50 positions over the past two years.

PROPHIX SOFTWARE INC., Mississauga. Software development; 141 employees.

Encourages employees to reach out to their network through generous bonuses for new-employee referrals.

PYTHIAN GROUP INC., Ottawa. Computer systems design; 179 employees. Offers new employees three weeks of starting vacation.

Q

HR TECHNOLOGIES INC., Kelowna, B.C. Information technology; 198 employees. Encourages long-term savings with matching RSP contributions to 3 per cent of salary.

R

.F. BINNIE & ASSOCIATES LTD., Burnaby, B.C. Engineering; 110 employees. Maintains dedicated workstations for its telecommuting employees.

REID’S HERITAGE GROUP OF COMPANIES, Cambridge, Ont. Housing construction; 243 employees. Is a member of the Net Zero Energy Housing Council, which is leading the way in designing and building affordable homes that produce at least as much energy as they consume.

RICHTER LLP, Montreal. Accounting; 464 employees. Offers employees one paid volunteer day off each year through the company’s annual Community Day initiative.

ROCKY MOUNTAINEER, Vancouver.

Rail tour operators; 175 employees. Provides employees with a unique vacation-destination work environment.

off to volunteer with local charitable organizations and matches their charitable donations.

S

CALAR DECISIONS INC., Toronto.

Information technology; 338 employees. Provides flexible hours and telecommuting work options.

SCAMP TRANSPORT LTD., Langley, B.C. Transportation services, trucking; 227 employees. Offers employees generous referral bonuses when they recommend a successful job candidate.

SILVACOM, Edmonton. Custom computer software and consulting; 60 employees. Starts its new employees with three weeks of paid vacation.

WALTERFEDY, Kitchener, Ont. Architecture; 130 employees. Allows longer-serving employees to apply for an unpaid leave of absence to a maximum of six months.

WEST WIND AVIATION LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, Saskatoon. Passenger air transportation; 255 employees. Encourages employees to become owners in the company through a share purchase plan available to all.

WESTMAN COMMUNICATIONS GROUP, Brandon, Man. Internet service provider; 132 employees. Encourages employees to save for the longer term with employer-matched RSP contributions.

WILD ROSE BREWERY, Calgary. Breweries; 49 employees. Offers four weeks’ vacation after just three years on the job.

WYNWARD INSURANCE GROUP, Winnipeg. Insurance; 76 employees. Extends the company’s health benefits plan to retirees, with no age limit.

RODAN ENERGY SOLUTIONS INC., Mississauga. Metering services; 54 employees. Offers generous financial bonuses for certain course completions, up to $5,000.

T

HESCORE, INC., Toronto. Internet publishing; 128 employees. Encourages employees to keep fit with free access to an on-site fitness facility.

X

ROGERS INSURANCE LTD., Calgary. Insurance; 230 employees. Provides phased-in work options to help retiring employees transition to life after work.

TSM / TALK SHOP MEDIA, Vancouver.

Public relations; 22 employees. Extends parental-leave top-up to new fathers and adoptive parents.

Z

ROHIT GROUP OF COMPANIES, Edmonton. Real estate development; 138 employees. Offers employees paid time

V

ENTANA CONSTRUCTION CORP., Burnaby, B.C. Commercial construction; 138 employees. Supports employees

E.COM INC., Newmarket, Ont. Software development; 40 employees.

Provides exceptional maternity and parental top-up payments to employees.

AG GROUP INC., Vancouver. Consumer products, natural health; 88 employees. Offers tuition subsidies to employees enrolling at outside institutions for courses related and unrelated to their current positions.

– Diane Jermyn

7

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

q Employee from Mills Office Productivity delivering office

MILLS OFFICE PRODUCTIVITY

supplies in B.C.’s Lower Mainland via an eco-friendly tricycle.

w METHODOLOGY Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers competition recognizes exceptional small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Canada. It is limited to private-sector commercial organizations with less than 500 employees.

o physical workplace o work and social atmosphere

INTELLEX TECHNOLOGIES

The Top 100 editors at Toronto-based Mediacorp Canada Inc. evaluate employers according to the same eight key areas used for judging in the national competition of Canada’s Top 100 Employers:

2016

o health, financial and

family benefits

o vacation and time off o employee communications

focused on how employers capture employee feedback

o performance management o training and skills

development

o community involvement.

Whether an employer has positive employment growth is also a factor in determining the basic cutoff point. Employers with layoffs in the previous year are automatically excluded from consideration. As well, the unique initiatives of each employer are taken into account.

– Diane Jermyn

p Employees at Intellex Technologies enjoy a catered breakfast every Thursday morning.

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

8

wT H E

LITTLE ENGINES OF GROWTH

p iQmetrix employees celebrating the opening of the company’s new office in Winnipeg.

There are big differences working for Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers

J

Petcurean Pet Nutrition, which produces premium pet food in Chilliwack, B.C., is a fast growing company in a fast growing category. It has operations in many of the same countries around the world that the soft-drink company does.

But it still has only 64 global employees.

Leung used to work in sales, based in Vancouver, for one of the world’s largest soft-drink companies. Now he works in a smaller city for a much smaller company that makes food for small and medium sized friendly creatures.

Talk to Leung, who is now an Export Manager, about the workplace culture. “At my old company, it was almost a competition among employees about who was working the longest, who was working the hardest, who was doing the most out there. It was just show off, show off, show off. But here they really promote work-life balance. It feels like family.”

Millions of Canadians share Leung’s kind of workplace environment, although their company may not have made the list of Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers. Some 90 per cent of the private-sector labour force is employed by a SME (commonly pronounced Smee, like Captain Hook’s sidekick). SMEs are credited with creating over 75 per cent of new jobs in Canada in the past decade.

Then there is the challenge of getting something done. “Here, no door is closed, no one says, that’s not my department, don’t talk to me,” says Leung.

And this little engine of growth often works on quite different principles from the big locomotives. Leung’s account of the contrasts he found between a soft-drink

ason Leung knows the difference between working for a big corporation and for a Small and Medium Employer.

Really, it gets down to that little word “big”.

“At my old company, I’d see it all the time. You’ve got to go through the ranks, talk to your senior manager, the senior manager talks to another person who talks to the person you really need. Here, I just walk into the general manager’s office myself.”

9

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

giant and a pet food SME is echoed 3,200 kilometres away in a tech company in the Waterloo region. “Generally people who come to us from large organizations are very familiar with structure and going through channels,” says Dan Latendre, Founder and CEO of Igloo Software, which employs just over 90 people in Kitchener, Ont. “Whereas here, we’re all about agility and innovation -- if that’s a great idea, why aren’t we acting on it?”

q Staff at Great Little Box Company celebrating Valentine’s Day with their CEO, Robert Meggy.

Latendre believes in a “flat”, non-hierarchical style of organization that can be surprising to people who come from big companies. “They’re very aware of chain of command,” he says. “Here it’s, hey, we’ve formed a project team, let’s get this project done. You may have me, as CEO, in the project along with other people.

But we all work for the project manager, and we all have tasks to get done. Which kind of blows people’s minds, that they’re working directly with the CEO.” To some people, notes Richard Yerema, Managing Editor for Mediacorp Canada, which compiled the SME list, working for a small company means tradeoffs – a more family style atmosphere and more agility, perhaps, but fewer benefits than at a big outfit.

But the 100 companies on this 2016 SME list are proof that sometimes you can have it all. Benefits are often competitive with those of much larger firms.

Take Petcurean. Its Human Resources Manager, Cari McClelland, joined a year ago and found a benefit plan that included prescription drugs, a maternity leave top-up, long-term disability and, after staff asked for it, vision care.

“For a company our size to carry that extensive a benefit package is not the norm,” says McClelland, an experienced HR professional. “I’ve been amazed at the willingness of our leadership to say, ‘let’s look at it – if we can do it, we’ll do it’.”

Yet many such benefits are becoming the norm at Canada’s Top SMEs. Yerema says that nearly half of the employers on this year’s list provide some form of maternity leave top-up – the additional payment that brings a new mother’s Employment Insurance benefit closer to her original salary for a certain number of weeks. “That is quite an accomplishment,” says Yerema. “Ten years ago, even many large companies weren’t offering it.”

At Igloo, too, Latendre offers benefits that his staff say are equivalent to those of large tech companies they’ve worked at, such as BlackBerry. They also get stock options, offering the promise that the company’s success will benefit every employee.

And that may be another part of the attraction of the Small and Medium Employer. Along with the friendly atmosphere, the quick decision-making and the pot-luck get-togethers, there’s the idea that this small upstart might one day become the most successful software company – or pet food company – in the world. “SMEs capture the imagination for a lot of people,” notes Yerema. “What would it have been like to be the fifth person hired at Google?”

– Berton Woodward

p Employees at Igloo Software marking the release of a major update to their Viking intranet software.

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

10

W

/N SPRO staff reap benefits from working in the cloud

hen Luc Hédou cofounded /N SPRO with John Sanderson in 2003, he wanted to create what he calls an employee-based company.

Looking back more than a dozen years later, he’s proud of how /N SPRO has given so many people “a great career – including a lot of new graduates straight out of school” who now thrive in the professional services sector.

Montreal-based /N SPRO’s Canadian workforce of more than 70 people provides consulting services for users of the German software giant SAP’s human resources software, SuccessFactors. /N SPRO provides clients with business consulting, implementation and on-going support services for the cloud-based software according to companies’ specific needs. Hédou is now the president while Sanderson is the senior vice president responsible for North American operations.

“I’ve been given a lot of room to explore and acquired a lot of knowledge. The culture at the company is everybody helps everybody.”

– Benjamin Goldfarb, Consultant

After dominating the Canadian market, /N SPRO turned its sights to the U.S., which now accounts for one third of revenues and is expected to reach one half by the end of this year. Australia is also on /N SPRO’s more distant horizon. (/N SPRO, by the way, is

the typed command that begins the configuration of SAP software.)

Since joining /N SPRO after graduating from HEC Montréal, Consultant Benjamin Goldfarb has worked with 10 to 12 different clients helping them customize and use SAP SuccessFactors software to manage their human resources.

“I’ve been given a lot of room to explore and acquired a lot of knowledge,” he says. “The culture at the company is everybody helps everybody.”

Neither of these things happened by accident. They’re directly tied to the company’s philosophy. Hédou wanted to build a culture in which employees were incentivized to collaborate, not to compete. Information sharing has been encouraged for years, among other ways through /N SPRO’s own social network. Employees ask questions on the social network as opposed to private emails, making the answers available to everyone via the network’s search engine.

It was also a conscious decision “not to put new graduates in a corner to shuffle spreadsheets for years,” says Hédou. “Within a year, new graduates can be doing a presentation to C-suite executives.”

THE /NSPRO TEAM WORKS IN A COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT

70

full-time staff in Canada

1,000+

job applications received last year

15

jobs available last year in Canada

37

years, average age of all employees

The nature of /N SPRO’s work allows for a lot of flexibility and telecommuting. While clients used to want a consultant to be on site with them, Hédou says that “with cloud implementation, they don’t have the same expectations. They expect work will be done remotely.” Clients’ satisfaction is the quality control.

Culture is extremely important to /N SPRO and a big factor in retaining employees who are regularly solicited by big-name consulting firms, according to Hédou.

Being in a cloud-based business allows many /N SPRO consultants to choose where they want to live and adjust their hours. Hédou says a top consultant, who is based in Cape Breton, has already let it be known that he will be taking

Goldfarb says that, along with the sense of belonging and empowerment he gets from working at /N SPRO, he also appreciates being kept informed about its future plans. “We’re not in dark about what the company’s going to do next. We know about it.”

time off when lobster fishing season gets underway in May.

This is thanks in part to the annual retreat where everyone is flown to an offsite meeting for four days of both work and play. For the last few years, the event has taken place in Cancun, Mexico, with this year’s location still to be decided. It’s yet another of the ways /N SPRO demonstrates its commitment to employees.

“If you work hard, you’re going to be rewarded,” says Goldfarb. “There are a lot of opportunities for me to grow as an individual and consultant.”

11

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

Accompass gives staff ‘a lot of little extras’

S

ince the beginning, in 1997, Michael Worb has always had a vision of building a place where people look forward to doing interesting work and share a commitment to building great client relationships. “People want an environment where they’re heard, where they can do some creative work and where they have an opportunity to grow, and we offer that,” says Worb, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Accompass Inc., a Toronto-based benefits, retirement and compensation consulting company. “They want more than just competitive compensation.”

Worb has made it his mission to deliver on all those elements and it has paid off with a loyal, dedicated and growing team of employees. “We have had extremely low turnover since I started the business 19 years ago, which is rare,” he says. “And we are celebrating our first retiree this year.”

“We sell thought leadership from our team, so our people are paramount to being able to deliver value to our clients.”

– Sarah Beech, President

Accompass consultants provide expertise to some 300 clients, including Harry Rosen, Purdue Pharma Canada and the City of Brampton, and the company has managed to maintain long-term relationships with almost

all of them. “Our staff are critical to our success,” says President Sarah Beech. “We don’t sell pens or paper or books. We sell thought leadership from our team, so our people are paramount to being able to deliver value to our clients.”

Accompass recognizes the importance of its staff in a number of ways. The company allows flexible working arrangements. Most employees still come to the office daily, but they can work from home and management makes allowances for those with child care or elder care challenges.

The company covers the cost of educational programs that lead to professional certifications or will otherwise enhance an employee’s career development. “We do a lot of internal and external training,” says Lesley Wong, a Consultant who specializes in group benefits. “We’ve had Excel workshops. Our pension team has held workshops for the rest of us in the benefits team, which is really valuable cross-training.”

Wong and her colleagues have also benefitted from outside training. She notes that all consultants who deal faceto-face with clients recently participated in a two-day, off-site client relationship and presentation skills training program.

In 2014, the company went through a comprehensive re-branding. It included a name change, and the development of a five-point statement of corporate values. “We took all our staff off-site to explore what our values are and we developed them as a team,” says Beech. “One of our core values is, ‘You are our only client,’ and we treat each client like that.”

Worb and Beech also demonstrate in many ways how much they value their team. As part of the new brand’s launch, the company hosted a staffonly event at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. All employees could choose

EMPLOYEES AT ACCOMPASS INC. CELEBRATE A COMPANY MILESTONE IN MAJOR LEAGUE STYLE

33

full-time staff

60%

of employees are women

17

years, longestserving employee

50%

of managers are women

between one of five gifts, which included tickets to the 2015 World Juniors hockey tournament, a unique restaurant experience, and a helicopter tour of Niagara. On the first anniversary of the new Accompass brand, each employee received a custom Toronto Blue Jays jersey with the number of years they had been with the company.

“Michael and Sarah try really hard to make it a special place to work,” says

Wong. “We get a lot of little extras that I haven’t seen at a lot of other companies. We get our birthdays off.

We get Fridays off on long weekends over the summer and we’re closed between Christmas and New Year’s.”

As much as one of the company’s core values is “You are our only client”, at Accompass the feeling among staff is that people are treated like they are the only employee.

YOU ARE OUR ONLY CLIENT. BENEFITS & HEALTH | INVESTMENT & RETIREMENT | COMPENSATION & INCENTIVES

accompass.com

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

12

T

AGNORA offers best-in-glass health and well-being

here are any number of things James Cole loves about working at Collingwood, Ont.-based AGNORA, which fabricates the largest pieces of architectural glass in North America. And the company gym is one of them. He’s been a regular since it opened in December, 2014. “We can use the gym whenever we want,” says Cole, a Senior Project Manager.

“I’ve lost 25 pounds since I started working out and I’ve never felt better.”

He’s been helped along by an on-site personal trainer, who doubles as a yoga instructor at lunch hour on Wednesdays, and can take advantage of a masseuse who visits twice a week. Along with the gym, there’s AGNORA’s volleyball court and company-organized tournaments to promote fitness and well-being.

“The quality of the work environment is second to none.”

– James Cole, Senior Project Manager

“It sounds crazy, but it’s phenomenal,” says Cole. “The quality of the work environment is second to none.”

And that is by design, says AGNORA President Richard Wilson, who founded the company in 2011 with his wife Laura.

“Most people spend more time at work than they do with their families,” says Wilson. “Our objective is to keep our employees happy. If they’re healthy and happy they’ll perform better and their personal lives will be more harmonious.”

Wilson and his wife started with six employees, but the workforce has since grown to 66. A-list clients all over North America have installed AGNORA glass in their buildings. They

AGNORA FOUNDER RICHARD WILSON WITH GREGG BARTJA (LEFT) AND JAMES COLE (RIGHT)

include high-end retailers such as Dior, Burberry and Dolce & Gabbana, the technology company Apple, as well as leading cultural institutions such as the Onassis Cultural Center on Fifth Avenue in New York, the Aspen Museum in Aspen, Colo. and the Art Institute of Chicago. AGNORA creates large-scale, custom pieces measuring up to 130 inches wide by 300 inches long, some of them nothing short of spectacular.

AGNORA has developed a sophisticated approach to hiring. As Wilson puts it: “We hire for fit and then train for the position.”

The heads of human resources and production interview prospective candidates for jobs on the shop floor. Those that make the cut are assigned to three mentors who work with them for a three-month probationary period. At the end, the mentors decide whether the new hire stays or not.

“We’ve empowered everyone on the production floor to make sure that we’re bringing in the right people,” says Wilson.

“We have to work as a cohesive team.”

66

full-time staff in Canada

31

years, average age of all employees

150

job applications received last year

33%

of the executive team are women

Gregg Bartja is the lead hand on the afternoon shift and manages anywhere from three to 15 employees, depending on the volume of orders. Bartja worked for a number of different industrial companies, including a manufacturer of automobile windshields, before joining AGNORA four years ago.

“It’s one of the best jobs I’ve ever had,” says Bartja. “It doesn’t feel like I’m coming to work.”

That said, the work is challenging. It requires considerable concentration and attention to detail. Bartja notes that he and his colleagues work with sophisticated and complex equipment. They are

handling oversized pieces of glass and every piece they produce is different.

A workout in the gym or a yoga class at lunch can, in fact, enhance performance on the job. “It clears your mind,” says Bartja. “If your body feels better, your attitude is going to be better.”

For his part, Cole notes that there is no divide between the office and the production floor. At both levels, employees are part of the same team.

“I’ve worked in places where you had to give direction and watch people minute by minute,” he says. “AGNORA truly has a great atmosphere. Everybody knows their job and does their job.”

BIG GLASS. BIG EQUIPMENT. BIG ENTHUSIASM. BIG POSSIBILITY. A BIG thank-you to our team, the industry leaders for exceptional service in Architectural Glass. It is our focus on our employee culture, including our commitment to Health & Wellness, that fuels our passion for exceeding client expectations.

www.agnora.com

13

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

S

Standing up for employee input at Artis REIT

ince emigrating to Canada from his native Romania in 2011, Valy Motei has pursued his passion for information technology (IT). For the past three years, Motei has been part of the IT support team at Artis REIT, a Winnipeg-based real estate investment trust that specializes in commercial properties.

It’s been an eye-opening experience.

“We are continually accessing and adapting new technology and this is something I love,” says Motei, who was employed as a social worker as well as in the IT field in Romania. “And I’m pleasantly surprised by how open managers are to trying new things. In Europe, companies are sometimes resistant to change, but here at Artis REIT they are always looking to their employees to bring new ideas to the workplace.”

“They are always looking to their employees to bring new ideas to the workplace.”

– Valy Motei, IT Support Team Member

That input can be wide ranging. “A while back, myself and a co-worker came forward with the idea of standup desks,” says Motei. “We thought management might not be open to this because it’s an extra cost. But they were, and now it’s a kind of trend in our offices. Personally, I’ve seen a huge improvement in my health after standing up over this past year.”

Founded in 2004, Artis REIT today has a $5 billion portfolio of industrial, office and retail properties in select Canadian and U.S. markets. In addition to the Winnipeg head office, the company has satellite offices in Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto and Phoenix.

While the size of its workforce has grown rapidly in recent years, Artis REIT strives to maintain an inclusive and collaborative workplace culture.

“Employees want to know that what they do is important and that people believe in them,” says Tricia Veness, the company’s Director of Human Resources. “We take every opportunity we can to hear what our employees say they need in order to do their job more effectively and, in return, have a better work/life balance.”

A good example, says Veness, is the health and wellness committee the company established in 2014. “We focused on having employees tell us what we could do for them,” she says. “Among other things, they wanted information on fitness, nutrition and how to implement healthier choices in all aspects of their lives.”

As a result, Artis REIT opened an on-site fitness facility at its Winnipeg office which provides free access 24/7 (employees in Calgary have access to a similar onsite facility, while those in Edmonton, Toronto and Phoenix are eligible for annual subsidies for gym membership).

ARTIS REIT EMPLOYEES AT THEIR WINNIPEG HEAD OFFICE

170

full-time staff in Canada

49%

of employees are women

51

jobs available last year

60

staff volunteer hours last year

The company has also sponsored walking clubs, yoga classes led by fitness professionals and brought in outside experts to talk about everything from nutrition to personal financial planning.

Artis REIT places a strong and expanding focus on career development. Individual employees are reimbursed up to $1,800 annually to pay for any outside training or education they feel would assist them in doing their current job better or to pursue another position with the company. Starting in 2016, the company is also rolling out an Artis-branded internal training program that will provide employees a better understanding of the company (Artis REIT 101), how their role fits in and personal effectiveness skills to help them excel in the workplace.

The company also has social committees in each of its offices that organize outside team-building activities that range from bowling and trampoline parks to bike rides that raise money for multiple sclerosis research.

Motei’s IT team, for example, holds monthly meetings off-site at restaurants and coffee shops where they have the chance to interact as individuals, not just work colleagues. “We get to know about each other’s families and interests,” says Motei. “What I like about Artis REIT is they try to make the workplace not just challenging, but enjoyable. I believe that, as a result, we are more productive and the quality of work is that much better.”

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

14

A

Broadview Networks values clarity and accountability

ccountability, mastery, unity and balance. These are the corporate values of Broadview Networks Inc. that define its workplace culture, says Michael Orloff, President.

“Accountability in particular is at the foundation of everything we do,” he explains. “It directs the company, our goals and everyone’s roles.”

Headquartered in Winnipeg, Broadview is a provider of IT infrastructure support, cloud and managed service solutions. The company operates across Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Its office has striking 15-foot ceilings, a modern open-concept design and an onsite gym.

Broadview is committed to providing staff with clarity around roles and responsibilities to help them become experts in their fields and better manage their careers. At the end of each quarter, employees have a review with management to discuss current projects and potential opportunities.

These reviews are a way for the company to have personalized ongoing communication with staff.

“What I like about Broadview’s culture is that everyone feels they are doing their part in taking the business forward.”

– Bradley Lacroix, Managed Services Coordinator

“What I like about Broadview’s culture is that everyone feels they are doing their part in taking the business forward,” says Bradley Lacroix, Managed Services Coordinator.

“When the company succeeds, we all know how we contributed.”

Lacroix joined Broadview in early 2015. His position involves reporting on existing services and learning about future client needs. Lacroix says Broadview is clear with employees about the expectations and long-term plans for their roles, which is a key differentiator in working at the company.

Broadview’s mastery corporate value focuses on employees’ continuing education. As the company is part of an industry where technology constantly evolves, it is important that staff stay up to date in their areas of expertise. Broadview encourages them to upgrade certifications they have or take additional courses.

The company has an online portal so employees can track their learning. And at the staff quarterly reviews, time is allocated to discuss continuing education.

Broadview also offers in-house training in IT sales, administration and social media.

The company is a supporter of worklife balance. Some employees are on flex time while others work from home.

When staff work overtime they are rewarded with paid time off, at one and a half hours for every hour of overtime.

Broadview’s unity corporate value focuses on staff morale and relationships with the local community. The company hosts many team building events for employees and also encourages them to get involved with local charities. Suggestions often come from staff and Broadview supports volunteering as well as fundraising.

Over the last year the company has helped numerous charities. Notable campaigns include fundraisers for both heart and stroke and breast cancer awareness. There was a personal reason, notes Orloff, for the company participating in breast cancer awareness.

“An employee of 11 years recently went on leave to fight breast cancer,” he explains. “Because of this there was a high level of staff engagement.”

EMPLOYEES AT BROADVIEW NETWORKS RAISING MONEY FOR HEART & STROKE FOUNDATION

23

full-time staff in Canada

3

weeks starting vacation allowance

125

job applications received last year

7

charities helped last year

Once a month a group of employees takes part in the Toasty Tuesday School Breakfast program. This initiative involves going to a local school and preparing breakfast for disadvantaged kids. Broadview is also a sponsor of Manitoba’s Adopt-aHighway Clean-up program and staff help twice a year with cleaning up a six-km stretch of the local highway.

Broadview’s benefits plan includes health and dental coverage plus an RRSP and profit sharing plan comparable to the provincial government and corporate sector respectively. A financial advisor also comes to the office to meet employees personally. The company even has a dry cleaning service for staff, billed through payroll.

There are regular social events for employees organized by different departments. Previous activities, notes Lacroix, featured a poker night, a trip to an archery range, go-karting and taco Tuesdays. In addition, management often cooks breakfast for employees arriving in the office early.

“Broadview has a fantastic employee purchase plan, too,” says Lacroix.

“We can buy gadgets like computers and phones at company prices and spread the cost over six months, interest free. It is a big perk of working here.”

15

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

W

Champion Petfoods has a recipe for career success

hen Dominika Rychlikova was deciding what to feed her black Labrador retriever, Buddy, she chose a product made by Champion Petfoods LP. She was impressed that the Edmonton company does everything in-house, making its own cat and dog foods using only fresh ingredients from local suppliers. So when the opportunity arose to work at Champion as a junior business analyst in the summer of 2011, Rychlikova was up for the challenge.

At the time, she was a student at the University of Alberta’s School of Business and wanted to experience working in a smaller business environment. Champion owns and operates its own kitchens where it makes only its Acana and Orijen product lines; it doesn’t allow others to make its foods and does not make any private label pet foods.

“Everyone truly believes in the company’s mission, vision and values. They’re our cultural cornerstone.”

– Dominika Rychlikova, Project Manager

values,” says Rychlikova. “They’re our cultural cornerstone.”

Frank Burdzy, Champion’s President and CEO, agrees. The company’s mission, he notes, is to make “Biologically Appropriate pet foods from Fresh Regional Ingredients that are Never Outsourced”, abbreviated as BAFRINO. “Our vision is to be trusted by pet lovers worldwide,” says Burdzy.

“These are not just catch phrases that are on a boardroom wall that are forgotten; these are what Champion team members live and breathe. We use these as guiding principles in all decision making, and are the core of who we are at Champion.”

Innovation is one of those core values.

This has long been exemplified by Champion’s insistence on making foods that are “Biologically Appropriate,” meaning the diets of cats and dogs should mirror their evolutionary adaptation to protein-rich diets. In 2015, the company opened a $5.9-million BAFRINO Research and Innovation Centre that will focus on creating new foods based on this nutritional philosophy.

It’s a big step for a company that began in the early 1990s as a small division of a thriving animal feed manufacturing plant. Champion has grown to become Canada’s largest independent pet food manufacturer, exporting its Acana and Orijen brands to over 75 countries. Along the way, it has won numerous awards, both for the healthfulness of its products and for its business achievements.

It’s an uncommon approach in the pet food industry where brands are often made by third-party suppliers. Yet for Rychlikova, who joined Champion full-time upon graduating from university and today works as a project manager, this modus operandi just makes sense. For one, it contributes to a team atmosphere where she and her co-workers – pet lovers all – share a mandate and a sense of purpose.

In January, Champion launched another major undertaking, opening a second kitchen in Auburn, Kentucky, to serve the growing pet specialty market in the U.S. The original kitchen in Morinville, about 30 km north of Edmonton, will continue to supply Canada, Europe and Asia. Both facilities use meats, poultry, eggs and fish that are sustainably ranched, farmed or fished by local suppliers and delivered fresh each day.

“Everyone truly believes in the company’s mission, vision and

The company takes the well-being of its employees seriously, and this

TRUSTED BY PET LOVERS EVERYWHERE.

CHAMPION PETFOODS EMPLOYEES WORKING IN THEIR FOOD PACKAGING LINE

323

full-time staff in Canada

7,500

job applications received last year

48

jobs available last year

200

staff volunteer hours last year

includes their personal and professional development. In addition to regular performance reviews, Champion holds proactive one-on-one career discussions and offers many tuition subsidies and programs to help staff achieve their goals.

“Family is important,” says Burdzy, whose household includes a cat named Amazon. “We care about the health, wellness, and balance of our team. This makes accommodating schedules an easy decision.”

Champion encourages employees to save for the future with matching RSP contributions. It also helps employees balance work and their personal lives through a variety of alternative work arrangements, including flexible hours, telecommuting and a compressed work week option.

Of course, pets are considered family at Champion and from the beginning, the company has designated “dog days” when employees can bring their pets to work with them. “You see how happy they are to be here,” says Rychlikova. “It creates a really fun atmosphere for everyone.”

We are proud to be named one of Canada’s best employers and proud that our employees have helped us create award-winning pet foods that are trusted by pet lovers worldwide.

CHAMPIONPETFOODS.COM

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

16

I

Fast-growing Clearpath Robotics retains its startup feel

t may come as no surprise that one of the world’s leading developers of self-driving vehicles for industry expects its employees to be selfdriven, too. And that takes plenty of passion and purpose, says Matt Rendall, the CEO and co-founder of Kitchener, Ont.-based Clearpath Robotics Inc. “We are tackling one of the biggest technological challenges of our generation, and the impact of that will change the world,” says the University of Waterloo engineering graduate.

“The people we hire in that regard are pioneers. They want to build an industry, rather than just a product.”

And they’re building at a breakneck pace: Six years ago, the company consisted of four employees. It expects to employ 200 by the end of this year.

“We are tackling one of the biggest technological challenges of our generation, and the impact of that will change the world. The people we hire in that regard are pioneers.”

– Matt Rendall, CEO and Co-Founder

Despite its rapid growth, Clearpath Robotics has worked hard to maintain its startup culture and to give employees everything they need to succeed. Through town-hall meetings and e-mails, it keeps team members informed of every significant business decision. It invests in ongoing employee development with tuition subsidies of up to $1,000 per year for job-related courses and organizes

regular lunch-and-learns featuring cuttingedge thinkers in the robotics field.

The company encourages employees to become owners through a share purchase plan that’s open to everyone, and offers generous referral bonuses as an incentive for employees to help recruit candidates in their network.

Frequent social gatherings help build solidarity and good old-fashioned fun, and employees often participate in community events. The corporate foosball table has also proved popular, along with the awesome hot-sauce collection and daily breakfasts prepared by a corporate chef.

“I wanted to work for a company that is challenging and tackling tough, realworld problems, and Clearpath was one of the only companies in North America that allowed me to do that,” says Autonomy Developer Teyvonia Thomas, a physics and computer science graduate from Pennsylvania’s Ivy League Bryn Mawr College who earned a master’s degree in robotics from the University of Pennsylvania.

“They don’t keep us in the dark or keep us isolated,” she adds. “That not only inspires us to push the envelope, but

EMPLOYEES AT CLEARPATH ROBOTICS CANOEING ON THE GRAND RIVER, NEAR KITCHENER

105

full-time staff in Canada

33

years, average age of all employees

4,904

job applications received last year

29

bottles in office hot sauce collection

there’s a sense of trust and a feeling that they care about our future.”

For Demand Generation Specialist Evan Little, the opportunity to work with talented colleagues to advance a groundbreaking technology was too hard to resist.

After working for a tech startup in San Francisco, the Wilfrid Laurier University business grad returned to Canada last year to join Clearpath Robotics.

“The leadership is really strong,” he says. “They’re so dedicated to the vision and what we’re doing here.

There’s also an incredibly dynamic work environment at Clearpath. Every day is different and every day is enjoyable.”

The sense of purpose and passion that permeates the corporate culture makes for a high degree of job satisfaction,

says Rendall. Employee turnover is extremely low, with a voluntary attrition rate of only one per cent, he notes.

Clearpath Robotics regularly measures employee satisfaction using a metric known as the “net promoter score,” which effectively gauges the probability that employees would recommend the company to a friend or family member. “Our net promoter score for employment,” he adds, “is off the charts.”

Employee dynamism is the finely-tuned engine driving the company’s success, says Rendall. And visitors to its Kitchener facility can almost hear it. “What we’ve found is that really talented people want to work with other talented people,” he observes. “So when you come into our building, the energy is tangible. You can feel there’s a hum in the workplace.”

17

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

A

Happier and healthier at Cowell Auto Group

s a teenager in the early 1970s, Kathy De Koster would sometimes accompany her father when he brought the family’s beloved Volkswagen Beetle in for servicing at Cowell Volkswagen in Richmond, B.C. She took an immediate liking to the people who worked for the family-owned business and the friendly, customer-focused service they provided.

Over the past 25 years, De Koster has worked as a service advisor at Cowell Volkswagen, where she takes pride in providing the same kind of honest and open service to her own clients.

“I’ve got a good crew of long-term customers who already know and trust me,” she says. “But every day, I have the potential of dealing with someone new and my goal is to make sure our relationship grows and stays strong over many years, and many cars, to come.”

“Surrounding yourself with great people who are happy and working towards a common purpose is the key to success.”

– Ryan Cowell, President of Development

Gary Cowell founded Cowell Volkswagen in 1967. Since then, Richmond has grown from a small farming community into a bustling city while the family enterprise has evolved into the Cowell Auto Group, which now involves real estate as well as three thriving dealerships – Audi of Richmond, Cowell Volkswagen and Jaguar Land Rover Richmond.

Gary’s sons, Rand and Ryan, now manage the businesses, leading

the retail automotive and property development operations respectively.

While much has changed over the years, De Koster says some things have remained constant.

“It all comes back to the Cowells,” she says. “Gary, Rand and Ryan are all really good people. They are honest, up-front, and they have your back.

Whether you are a lot staff member or the General Manager, you are treated equally. The Cowells have created something that’s really exciting and you just want to be a part of.”

When it comes to how they deal with their employees, Rand and Ryan say they are simply following their father’s example.

“Like a lot of other companies, this business went through some tough times in the 1980s,” says Ryan.

“Our Dad wanted to make sure he took care of the people around him and kept them employed. He knew that surrounding yourself with great people who are happy and working towards a common purpose is the key to having a successful business.”

When the company went through a major growth period, starting in the 1990s, the Cowells were determined to keep that tight-knit work culture intact.

“One of the things we’ve done is to truly recognize our core purpose,” says Rand. “For a lot of companies, it’s just about making money. We see our purpose as creating a meaningful difference – and we try to live that, starting with our employees.

We have to create a meaningful difference for them so they can in turn do that for our customers.”

So in addition to a wide range of training and career development programs, Cowell Auto Group offers employees some unique opportunities for personal growth. One current initiative is a “vertical mindset”

RYAN, RAND AND GARY COWELL (L-R) AT COWELL AUTO GROUP’S AUTOMOTIVE SHOWROOM

195

full-time staff in Canada

33

years, average age of all employees

program which sees a lifestyle coach work directly with groups of employees over two-day training sessions aimed at helping them achieve excellence in every aspect of their lives.

“It involves a lot of inward reflection about how to be a better person,” says Ryan. “It’s about looking at the bigger picture of how they can adjust their mindset to be happier and healthier in both their personal and work lives.”

Rand concurs. “It really comes down to trying to add value to people’s lives, and not just help them sell more cars or parts.”

38 20+

years, longest-serving employee charities helped last year

The company also makes a point of acknowledging high-performing employees. Each year, a select few people receive the President’s Award, recognizing individual achievement (De Koster is a past recipient).

“One thing I’m most proud of is that we currently have 35 people who are past President’s Award winners and still working for Cowell Auto,” says Rand. “That tells me people feel like family and that they can advance and grow their careers here. They stay and do great things and that’s what keeps our business successful.”

For over 45 years, we have been continually focused to ensure our team provides the best experiences possible.

Thank you for helping Cowell Auto Group become one of Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers of 2016.

Cowell Auto Group | 13611 Smallwood Place | Richmond Auto Mall | 604.273.3922 | cowellautogroup.com

THANK YO U

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

18

Play, learn and mentor at D&D Automation

W

hen D&D Automation Founder and President Michael McCourt is asked what type of work he and his employees do, he replies simply, “We play with robots.”

McCourt isn’t being coy, given that the Stratford, Ont.-based company is a contracting engineering firm that designs and implements control systems for industrial machinery, manufacturing lines and other automated facilities.

D&D’s control systems can be found, for example, in automobile factories, wastewater-treatment plants and the mining industry.

When it comes to workplace culture, safety training is key. “We work in dangerous spaces, and we have to have each other’s backs,” says McCourt, who personally trains new employees on safety protocols. “If people have any concerns, I want to know about them.”

“We’re encouraged to develop ideas we’re passionate about and advance skills required for future projects.”

– Jason Carter, Senior Manager

That emphasis on not getting hurt on the job means that employees wear their safety glasses not because they have to, but because they respect the potential dangers of not doing so. It also means that McCourt won’t contract clients who don’t adhere to the Lockout Tagout procedure that disables a machine so a technician can safely service it.

“If a company doesn’t want to do it, we don’t work for them,” he says.

To balance the demanding nature of the work, McCourt encourages employees to have fun – and it’s an attitude that trickles down from the top. “I want to enjoy work,” he says, “so I do my best to surround myself with like-minded people.” The employee-driven Fun Time Fund has been put toward such activities as poker tournaments, private boxes at local OHL hockey games, go-carting and a trip to the Kentucky Derby.

“We have a work-hard, play-hard mentality,” says Senior Manager Jason Carter, who with his wife took part in a poker tournament. After earning an electronics engineering technology diploma from Toronto’s RCC Institute of Technology, he was hired in 2000 to work in the Controls and Automation department. He left in 2004 but only worked elsewhere for six months before realizing how much he missed D&D, so he went back.

“I love the variety and challenge of the different types of projects,” says Carter. Over the years, he has moved his way through the company’s professional-development TechLeader program and achieved the top “guru” level in several areas.

“We’re encouraged to develop ideas we’re passionate about and advance skills required for future projects.”

McCourt fosters a culture of ongoing teaching and learning. “We want employees who want to come to work and learn every day,” he says. “The technology shift is going fast and furious. If you aren’t learning something new every day in technology-driven industries, you’ll fall behind.”

Something both McCourt and Carter are proud of are the partnerships that D&D has formed with local schools.

Employees mentor high school, college and university interns who are strong in science and math and interested in careers in engineering, robotics and automation. “Parents have cried when they’ve thanked us

D&D AutomAtion’s President Michael Mccourt with Kaedyn Koch nichol and Jason carter (l-r)

Join our team at

ddauto.com

full-time staff in Canada

29

years, average age of all employees

437

job applications received last year

581

staff volunteer hours last year

for the opportunity we had given to their kids who had attended one of our summer robot camps,” says McCourt.

Carter loves the energy and enthusiasm the youth bring to the camps and to D&D’s Awesome Battle of the Bots annual competition, where students build and program a robot with Lego Mindstorms. “D&D wants to ensure that students understand that engineering is a possible career path,” he says. “We’re trying to help students connect the dots between Lego robots and industrial

AWESOME CAREERS START HERE! P r o u d t o b e o n e o f C a n a d a ' s To p S m a l l & M e d i u m E m p l o y e r s !

72

robots. Helping the students learn is one of my favourite parts of the job.”

At D&D, McCourt promotes safety and fun, balanced with learning and sharing – and helping shape the next generation. “I’m a huge believer in giving back to the communities in which you work,” he says. “I think it’s a corporate responsibility. It’s not about return on investment to our company, it’s just a great thing to do.

I want people to love working here and be proud of working here.”

19

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

T

At Enflick, smart people solve interesting problems

wo years after joining Enflick Inc. in Waterloo, Ont., Mike Kovacevic has a job that he has wanted since high school.

As the company’s Head of Development, Kovacevic leads several engineering teams responsible for developing and enhancing software for both TextNow, a multi-platform free application, and for TextNow Wireless, the company’s mobile service currently available in the U.S.

“I’ve always valued the intersection between business, people and technology,” he says. “My current position fits with that goal. This is exactly what I’ve always wanted to do.”

TextNow enables users to call, text and message seamlessly across devices and platforms without being restricted to their own platform by providing customers with actual 10-digit numbers. Since Enflick began in 2009, the app has been downloaded by more than 50 million users.

“Even though a lot of people want to work here, we’re very thorough in making sure we hire the right people.”

– Derek Ting, CEO

Enflick’s founders, Derek Ting and Jon Lerner, developed TextNow before they’d finished their final year as computer engineering students at

the University of Waterloo. Designed initially for the iPod Touch, the app appealed especially to teenagers who couldn’t afford their own phone.

Through innovative marketing of an exceptional and timely product, TextNow became the tenth most downloaded paid app in the U.S. only a few months after its launch.

“Our growth was way faster than we’d expected,” says Derek Ting, Enflick’s CEO.

By 2011, Enflick’s revenues had reached several million dollars. The company employed a staff of 28, including a 40-something CPA and CFO whose nickname was affectionately coined as COG, for “Cool Old Guy”.

Despite its rapid growth, Enflick has been selective in its hiring. Last year, it received almost 2,000 applications for 28 jobs. “We needed more help than we thought we would,” says Ting.

“But even though a lot of people want to work here, we’re very thorough in making sure we hire the right people.”

Recruiting through personal networks, events and social media, Ting says the company didn’t change its hiring procedures. “Some companies hire fast to keep up with their expansion,” he says. “We make sure we hire people who want to work with other smart people to solve interesting problems.”

Ting says his company looks for employees who want more than a job.

“We want people who enjoy what they do, who will take what they’re good at and use it to contribute to the mission of the company: to make global phone service exceptional and extremely affordable.”

Even as it grows, Enflick remains decentralized and the antithesis of the big bureaucratic telecom.

“We give people a lot of autonomy to execute ideas,” he says. “It keeps everyone excited.”

ENFLICK CEO AND STAFF IN FRONT OF THEIR NEW, EXPANDED OFFICE SPACE

70

full-time staff in Canada

1,899

job applications received last year

28

jobs available last year

27

years, average age of all employees

It was Kovacevic’s idea, for example, to reorganize the team structure at Enflick to retain the company’s nimble, start-up atmosphere. Smaller teams are given specific goals, and they have the autonomy to make decisions as they advance toward their objectives.

“There’s no bureaucracy,” says Ting, “no centralized corporate structure.”

Ting himself spent more than a year as an undergraduate in co-op positions with several different technology companies and learned from that experience what he wanted to avoid in his own business.

“I learned what’s counter-productive in getting things done,” he says.

For Kovacevic, the atmosphere at Enflick has changed for the better as the company has grown. Involved in everything from high-level strategy to recruiting, he says, “We’re more serious now. When I first started, we weren’t sure what would work and what wouldn’t. Now we have a product that we’re honing and tweaking and perfecting. Instead of experimenting, people want to make this product the best that it can be.”

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

20

A

Equitable Bank employees are heard, loud and clear

t Equitable Bank, when employees talk, management listens. Listens – and responds, positively, to their suggestions.

The Toronto-based financial institution, like many other companies, conducts annual employee surveys. But not all firms are so receptive to messages from the troops.

Says Equitable President and CEO Andrew Moor: “We take feedback very seriously.”

So seriously that a spate of recent increases in employee benefits can be tied directly to the survey. In the last year alone, Equitable has boosted vacation time, nearly doubled to $500 annual paramedical benefits for all employees and their family members, and instituted a 100-per-cent top-up for the first eight weeks of maternity or paternal leave. All were related to issues raised in the survey.

“No matter how busy they are, senior people always make time to answer your questions.”

some 90 positions last year alone, Equitable takes great pains to maintain a corporate culture that is welcoming and warm.

“No matter how busy they are, senior people always make time to answer your questions,” says Jordan Shaw, a Senior Analyst, Corporate Development, who has received two promotions since joining the company as a contract employee in 2013.

“From Day One, I was given an opportunity to prove myself, and I have never felt uncomfortable walking unannounced into an executive’s office to ask a question.”

– Jordan Shaw, Senior Analyst, Corporate Development

Says Moor: “The best person to describe the challenges of a job is the person doing the job. That sounds obvious, but it’s not everyone’s approach. With a workforce of just under 500 people, it’s vital that everyone contributes, so we listen carefully when employees tell us something. If, for example, people are having trouble balancing their personal and business lives, then they may not be enthusiastic about their jobs. We will try to fix that – and we have.”

While Equitable, with offices in Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal, is mostly involved with mortgages, it recently stepped up its retail efforts by offering a generous three-per-cent interest rate on savings accounts, with no monthly fees. And despite its recent rapid growth, adding

Shaw came to Equitable as one of four just-graduated university students in the company’s inaugural Graduate Rotational Program. For two years, students move through different corporate areas in four-month cycles. At the end, they are likely to be hired permanently if they want to stay. In Shaw’s case, he never finished the program –Equitable hired him full-time after 18 months.

Since becoming a permanent employee, Shaw has helped recruit other young people to the company. “I tell them that

STAFF AT EQUITABLE BANK ARE SERIOUS ABOUT THEIR COMMITMENT TO SERVICE EXCELLENCE, EVEN AT HALLOWEEN

471

full-time staff in Canada

175

promotions and/or transfers in 2015

142

available jobs last year

30

charities helped with Equitable matching program

if they work hard, show a commitment to their job and care about the company, they will have a tremendous growth opportunity,” he says. “Opportunity is what this place is all about.”

It’s also about caring for one’s community.

Equitable regularly wins awards for its participation rate and fundraising totals in events such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Ride for Heart. Both Moor and Shaw prepare and serve lunches at a community food centre, where Equitable also helped that centre’s parent organization secure a mortgage for more than 100 units. “It’s a great leveller,” says Moor. “We all help out and we all should realize that there is not that much of a gap between us and the people we are helping.”

An unwritten rule that reflects Equitable’s caring culture is “No Layoffs.” Even though business is very slow in the Calgary office these days, with the collapse in oil prices, Equitable is shifting some Ontario work westward and B.C. work eastward to keep these employees busy and on the payroll.

Another way Equitable sustains its culture is by hiring the right people. The company gives $1,500 to employees whose referrals lead to hirings. “It used to be $1,000,” says Moor, “but we increased it last year because employees told us they really like the incentive. It saves us money in recruitment, and it works. Referrals are our Number One path to finding great employees that match our culture.”

Thank You

Our employees make us different.

We are proud to be one of Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers for another year!

g

in team build

re we aequitable!

O Canada!

21

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

I

n the summer of 2015, David Ballantine sensed that there were tensions building among his staff at Edmonton-based First Access Funding Corp. and decided he had to do something to lower the temperature in the office. “Cliques were forming and there were signs of infighting, so we called a staff meeting,” says Ballantine, who is President of First Access. “We said, we can be a normal company – or we can try to be something different.”

Growing as a family at First Access

They opted for “something different” by bringing everyone together to eliminate the strains and create an open, positive atmosphere. The problems arose, in part, because First Access has grown so quickly. First Access is a non-bank auto financing firm. It lends to individuals who are purchasing automobiles but can’t get loans from banks. In some cases, the borrowers have poor credit ratings.

In others, they are new to the country and need to establish a track record.

“I don’t have a family in Edmonton, but working here has become my family.”

– Omar Shalaby, Assistant Manager, Accounting

The company was founded in 2012 and the staff doubled in size between 2014 and 2015. That rapid growth is likely to continue. First Access currently finances vehicle purchases in the four western provinces, but plans to make its service available to Ontario buyers this year.

Ballantine says he expects to be operating nationally in the not too distant future.

“We’re growing so fast that there’s tons of stress,” says Ballantine. “You get so focused on the business that it’s hard to focus on other things, especially the people side of the business. The key

is communication – making sure the senior management is approachable.”

To that end, First Access maintains an open concept office. All the senior managers, including Ballantine, sit with the staff. “Everyone knows everyone,” says Omar Shalaby, Assistant Manager in the accounting department. “I love it here. When I worked somewhere else there wasn’t much connection with your fellow employees or senior management.”

First Access is just the opposite. The company sponsors a co-ed softball team in a summer recreational league and a floor hockey team in the winter.

Ballantine plays softball with his staff and makes 80 per cent of the games despite a heavy travel schedule. The staff also organize a number of social events, such as monthly bowling nights, movie nights and potluck dinners, and managers are encouraged to participate.

First Access gives employees the opportunity to participate in the growth of the company through a stock option

FIRST ACCESS FUNDING CORP. SOFTBALL TEAM CELEBRATES THEIR YEAR-END AWARDS

31

full-time staff in Canada

37

years, average age of all employees

1,000

job applications received last year

42%

of employees are women

plan, which is a big motivator, says Shalaby. “Everyone here is working to maximize the potential of their shares,” he says. “Everyone knows they hold stock that will have value in the future when we go public.”

Employees also have the opportunity to grow professionally with the company. Ballantine says that First Access covers the cost of business or management courses offered through the University of Alberta’s continuing education programs. And he is a big proponent of promoting from within.

In fact, all the company’s managers started within the ranks, but have moved up to managerial positions.

For his part, Shalaby joined First Access in 2014 when it was a start-up company. He left briefly to pursue a certified professional accounting degree and returned in the summer of 2015.

“It feels great to be back,” he says.

“I don’t have a family in Edmonton, but working here has become my family. I’ve never worked in a place that makes me feel like that.”

That is, apparently, a common sentiment among First Access staffers. “One of our female employees came up to me during the Christmas party,” recalls Ballantine.

“She said ‘I love working here. It’s like family and I’ve never experienced that in the workplace before.’”

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

22

E

Shared values drive an ambitious team at FreshBooks

ach summer, FreshBooks employees are treated to a cottage weekend north of Toronto. The PORCHFEST getaway is more than a clever catchphrase – it’s also an acronym that embodies the company’s values.

Experience) Designer, she helps ensure that the company’s product is intuitive and simple to use. “When we’re working on new features, I conduct research sessions with customers to ensure we’re keeping them close during the building process,” she says.

PORCHFEST stands for “Passion, Ownership, Results, Change, Honesty, Fun, Empathy, Strive and Trust,” and they’re what CoFounder and CEO Mike McDerment looks for when hiring employees for his Toronto-based company, which produces cloud accounting software for small businesses.

Amaral evolved her career path after expressing an interest in becoming a UX Designer. “I was encouraged to try it out for three months, and I received full support to make sure I met my goals,” she says. Although Amaral feels there are still many new skills for her to acquire, she’s now in a position to mentor junior designers and co-op students. “One of my favourite things to do is to help someone learn,” she says.

“Our people are diverse, but they all share those values,” he says. “Who we are and how we do things are the reasons we produce a worldclass product for our customers.”

“We create an environment where people feel safe to test themselves, to reach beyond what they think they can do and to grow.”

– Mike McDerment, Co-Founder and CEO

Since the company was established in 2003, more than 10 million people have used FreshBooks to save time billing and to collect billions of dollars. McDerment and his staff are dedicated to executing “extraordinary experiences every day” for their clients, who range from lawyers and marketing agencies to plumbers and therapists.

Thais Amaral enjoys her direct interactions with customers. She became a “FreshBooker” in 2013, when she was hired as a Visual Designer for the marketing team. Now a UX (User

Another part of the FreshBooks culture Amaral appreciates is the weekly company-wide meeting, where free lunch is shared, along with any new updates and employee successes. “When you work for a company that gives credit where it’s deserved, it makes you want to work harder and keep growing,” she says. “At the end of the meeting, Mike shares a ‘nugget’ of inspiration. He wants to inspire all of us to be leaders.”

The corporate culture encourages all employees to push beyond their comfort zone. “We create an environment where people feel safe to test themselves, to reach beyond what they think they can do and to grow,” says McDerment. “We have teams of smart people working collaboratively on big ambitious goals together – we’re building a first of its kind product for a fast-growing market of self-employed professionals.”

With almost 250 employees, it’s challenging for all of the FreshBookers to get to know each other. That’s where the company-wide Blind Dates come in, where teams that wouldn’t normally interact are introduced over coffee or lunch. This initiative helps employees share ideas, collaborate and innovate, which results in producing the best possible product for customers.

FRESHBOOKS USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNER THAIS AMARAL (TOP RIGHT) JOINS COLLEAGUES AT A BRAINSTORMING SESSION

246

full-time staff in Canada

11,226

job applications received last year

70

jobs available last year

776

total staff volunteer hours last year

Employees are passionate about their work and recognized for their accomplishments with Values Cards, which come with a gift card and are presented to deserving individuals from their coworkers. Several employees’ dogs hang out at the office – including McDerment’s rescue, Munroe – which puts smiles on faces. “We spend more waking hours at work than we do anywhere else, and we want people to enjoy themselves while they’re here,” says McDerment.

Along with the hard work, continuous learning and lightheartedness, a sense

of responsibility for encouraging future technology leaders prevails. For the second year in a row, FreshBooks has hosted a March Break camp called Girls Learning Code, where eight- to 12-year-olds are taught how to build a technology business and get to showcase their projects at the end of the week.

“We believe it’s early days for technology,” says McDerment.

“The world is moving more toward software technology, and we want to show the next generation that solving big challenges through technology is a great career choice.”

23

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

Fusion Learning builds fun into the culture

F

usion Learning Inc. takes care of its employees both personally and professionally.

Kamita Persaud, Client Solutions Associate, even has a role specially created for her.

“I joined Fusion in 2012 as a project manager but I’m now in a hybrid role which also involves designing client training programs,’ she explains.

“I wanted to develop within the company so this position was created to help me transition into design.”

Fusion is a sales training organization based in Toronto. It has clients nationwide in many industries including financial services, telecommunications and manufacturing. Fusion also has unique headquarters, a brick and beam loft built in 1919 converted into a modern workspace.

“We are committed to taking great care of our people.”

– Aaron Kotick, President

The company provides a comprehensive onboarding program for new hires.

This program, notes Persaud, was key to her joining. It ranges from three to 15 months and provides guidelines on what employees should be competent in by a certain time and how Fusion will help them get there.

One aspect of the program is for new employees to arrange meetings with their co-workers to learn about Fusion and its products. Once onboarding is completed, bottles of champagne are opened. Management then presents a gift to these employees

– stylish luggage for the men, a Tiffany bracelet for the women.

Both floors of the office feature a gong and prize wheel. Following a sale, the successful salesperson hits a gong and everyone congregates to hear the news. Next the salesperson asks the co-worker who helped with the deal to spin the wheel and win a gift card.

“We have a highly engaged and over-achieving culture, but we also have lots of fun,” says Aaron Kotick, President. “Everyone has individual targets, including the executive team, which allows us to stay close to the business and make smarter decisions.”

In addition to individual bonuses paid quarterly, the company offers monthly and annual rewards for surpassing company goals. Staff have previously been rewarded with trips to the Caribbean, Cancun, New York and Ontario’s Collingwood vacation area for exceeding Fusion’s annual sales targets.

The organization is heavily involved with CRC, a local charity. Employees have participated in CRC’s community meal program serving food to homeless people. Fusion provides staff with one and a half days paid volunteering plus matches their donations.

Last fall they had a dunk tank event to support CRC’s summer clothing drive. Staff donated clothes and toiletries and in exchange nominated colleagues for a dunking. Within hours they also raised over $500.

CEO KEVIN HIGGENS JOINS EMPLOYEES FOR FUSION LEARNING’S CHARITABLE ‘DUNK TANK’ EVENT

25

full-time staff in Canada

3

weeks starting vacation allowance

234

staff volunteer hours last year

71%

of employees are female

wall of the Fusion Fun Room. The first employee to tick off their items wins a two-month paid sabbatical.

Fusion’s social committee arranges a fun activity for employees every month. These have included a tour of Toronto’s Distillery district, a dodgeball tournament and chocolate truffle making on Valentine’s Day.

This competition, notes Kotick, shows Fusion is interested in the lives of its people and not just their work.

“All our activities and events are a way for us to connect with staff.

We are committed to taking great care of our people,” he explains.

In July, a social competition was introduced to further brighten the workday. Staff were asked to compile a bucket list of 10 items which were then designed and displayed on the

There are also Beer Fridays, an afternoon of socializing in the Fusion Fun Room, to help employees relax after the week. And Yoga Mondays to prepare staff for the

week ahead, where an instructor comes to the office, subsidized by Fusion. Employees are often allowed to bring their pets to work too.

Other company perks include free parking for the first five cars and paid-for dinner and cabs home if staff are working late. Fusion’s benefits package includes an $80 credit for health club membership and a matching retirement savings plan.

“We are a family here,” says Persaud. “Some workplaces lack an interpersonal connection but Fusion does well keeping this going.”

FUSION LEARNING INC. sales training solutions. sustainable results.

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

24

M

Fusion Project Management rewards high achievers

atias De Paoli’s bet paid off.

In 2011, he was working on a project development team constructing the interior of a Vancouver casino when he saw a brochure from Fusion Project Management Ltd., a Vancouver firm which designs and builds office interiors in the health care, educational, legal, financial and technology sectors.

“These were the type of projects I wished to be involved in,” he recalls.

“I wanted to work on a variety of different projects and expand my knowledge.”

So he joined Fusion as a project coordinator. He has since worked his way up to Senior Project Manager, moving from participation in projects of 10,000 square feet to the management of larger, more complex projects of 75,000 square feet with project budgets of up to $10 million.

“Despite consistent yearover-year growth, our rapid career development programs have managed to keep very much alive the entrepreneurial spirit upon which Fusion Projects was founded.”

– Bruce MacKenzie, Human Resources Leader

De Paoli’s advancement has mirrored Fusion’s own growth spurt. The company has grown 60% over the past couple of years.

“Our workplace is dynamic and collaborative,” says Bruce MacKenzie, Human Resources Leader. “It brings together three distinct phases of construction – design, project management, and construction

management – and Fusion manages that entire process. So we are highly reliant on our team members’ exceptional communications skills and the ability to make decisions under fairly stressful conditions.”

The company culture relies on employees to be direct, approachable and responsive, says MacKenzie. “Despite consistent year-over-year growth, our rapid career development programs have managed to keep very much alive the entrepreneurial spirit upon which Fusion Projects was founded. We’ve created teams or pods, so our team members enjoy the same type of interaction and mentorship that existed when Fusion was a much smaller company.”

For its project management personnel, Fusion recruits staff who have training and/or experience in construction management, architectural technology or general project management. The company also has three business development team members, and a small finance and administrative team.

Fusion regards itself as “Vancouver’s premier construction and project management team in the Design Build sector.” It prides itself on offering its clients high-value tenant improvement. “Clients want to be on the cutting edge of design and office appearance, yet functionality is the primary goal,” says MacKenzie.

Clients have included technology companies such as Sony Pictures Imageworks, Hootsuite, Unbounce, Clio and DHX Media, insurance brokerage HUB International, along with many real estate companies such as Cadillac Fairview, Avison Young, and Colliers.

Fusion has also recently built out its Health & Wellness practice, providing local healthcare providers with highly functional spaces in which to treat their patients.

For De Paoli, the most challenging project to date has been converting a floor of the

BUILDING OUTSTANDING OFFICE INTERIORS AT FUSION PROJECT MANAGEMENT LTD.

40

full-time staff in Canada

100%

subsidy for health club membership

100

job applications received last year

8

charities helped last year

old Eaton’s building on Granville Street in Vancouver for Sony Pictures Imageworks, the visual effects and animation unit of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, in 2014-15. “The overall project involved consolidating several satellite offices into a headquarters facility,” he says, “and we had to turn retail space into office space.” Fusion completed it on time and on budget, despite an extraordinarily short time frame.

Team members who are high achievers can earn a significant annual bonus. Fusion pays membership fees for its staff at a nearby health club, provides extended health and dental coverage, and offers a plan to match employees’ RRSP

contributions. “It’s one of the best benefits packages in the industry,” says De Paoli.

Fusion encourages employee skills development, offering tuition subsidies for job-related courses. De Paoli, for example, has taken courses at the B.C. Institute of Technology, studying towards a Bachelor of Technology degree in Construction Management.

“Team members are valued by the ownership and management teams, and the company invests in their professional and personal development. We want to see how our team members’ work lives fit into their whole lives,” says MacKenzie.

25

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

Igloo Software puts hierarchies on ice

Y

ou don’t get bossed around at Igloo Software. Founder and CEO Dan Latendre takes pride in ensuring the company is a “flat” organization, rather than a hierarchy. “No one person is more important than another,” he says.

That means a lot of teamwork and collaboration, and a lot of self-starters.

“We say, don’t come if you need to be told what to do,” says Latendre.

Instead, “we ask, what do we need to do to get the best out of you?”

Igloo, based in Kitchener, Ont. in the heart of Canada’s leading tech community, has built a better intranet, the internal communications system that companies use to keep their employees informed. Many older systems are better at one-way communications, posting information for staff to read, but Igloo is much more social and interactive.

“We ask, what do we need to do to get the best out of you?”

– Dan Latendre, Founder and CEO

“We help companies make their intranet a destination,” says Latendre.

“Employees communicate, collaborate and share information to get their work done. We’re really leveraging the social side of business and putting people front and centre in the organization.”

There is a Twitter-style module for instant messages and chats, and such popular apps as Skype, Dropbox and Google Hangouts can be seamlessly integrated. The system is based in the cloud, meaning it can be accessed anywhere on a web-

connected device, and is much easier to set up than traditional intranets.

Among Igloo’s enterprise clients are BDO, Home Instead, and Golin, a communications firm owned by the Interpublic Group.

Founded in 2008 and now at 95 full-time employees, Igloo has been growing quickly. At one point in February this year, there were 30 positions open. The company’s key job categories include software developers, project managers, client consultants, and sales and marketing roles, along with corporate functions.

Latendre says the company has set up what it calls “communities of practice”, in which people who do similar tasks in different parts of the firm get together on a weekly basis to share information and best practices.

This might involve designers or project managers from across the company, or writers from the technical side and from marketing. “You want the best and brightest minds working together,” says Latendre. “It really helps with information and knowledge sharing.”

Everyone at the company is an owner – stock options are part of the compensation. There is also a strong benefits package, three weeks’ vacation to start and a wellness program involving weekly visits by a massage therapist and a homeopath.

But for Brian Weed, an experienced developer who started at the company in April 2015, the real attraction was the product itself. “I like the idea of making a social intranet,” he says.

“Today, people are used to using Facebook and Google+. They want to collaborate and communicate quickly, and they don’t want to do it over email.”

Weed joined as an applications developer and is now Technical Lead, Front-End Development, meaning he is accountable for what users see.

As a veteran of BlackBerry and IBM,

IGLOO SOFTWARE .NET DEVELOPERS COLLABORATE AT THEIR HEAD OFFICE

95

full-time staff in Canada

5,134

job applications last year

57

jobs available last year

35

years, average age of all employees

he likes the family feel of the much smaller Igloo. “I know everyone’s name here,” he says. “If you need something done, you just walk across the floor.”

is the Ice Squad, an employee group that helps plan regular events including golf and tubing outings, holiday parties, and cake on payday, every other Friday.

The surroundings are attractive, too. The open-plan office has a cluster of standing desks where staff often like to gather with their laptops. People can get around on hoverboards – which may be the new foosball at tech companies. And then there

People often work remotely and on their own schedule – they’re simply required to be available in the core hours of 10am to 3pm. But Weed says he generally prefers to go to the office.

“It’s a good atmosphere,” he says.

Igloo is good people.

We’re a mid-sized tech company that acts more like a startup. And, we’re growing fast. If you’ve got what it takes to join the team, we should meet.

Deloitte Fast 50/500 winner

3 office hover boards

350 bullets per Nerf gun fight

Mac or PC? It’s your choice

Visit us at IglooSoftware.com/careers

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

26

Old-fashioned values drive Jayman BUILT’s modern success story

T

here’s something about the business of homebuilding that sets it apart from other livelihoods. “Buying a home is a pretty significant purchase and can be a very emotional one as well,” says Trevor Henkel, Construction Manager for Calgary-based Jayman BUILT, one of Alberta’s largest and best-known home builders. “To be part of that – to build a home for a family and get it right – is definitely rewarding.”

Sunny Ghali, Jayman BUILT’s Human Resources Vice President, concurs. “We are developing people’s individual castles while also helping to create entire communities,” he says. “The amount of attention to detail and quality that needs to go into that takes a combined effort. It’s not just your sales or construction teams; it’s also your support staff.

Everyone has to come together to make something like that happen.”

“We are developing people’s individual castles while also helping to create entire communities.”

– Sunny Ghali, Vice President Human Resources

Jayman BUILT was founded 35 years ago by Jay Westman, now Chairman and CEO, and his late father, Al Westman. Today, it is a company with nearly 400 employees that still strives to live by old-fashioned farm values that Al imparted to his son, Jay. One of those values was the following: “You only have one thing in life and that’s your name. Your name is your credit card of life.”

Another value: “Do what you say you are going to do when you said you would do it. If you do that consistently, you will stand out.”

The company, which has built more than 23,000 homes in Calgary, Edmonton and surrounding communities, has followed Al’s advice by building a brand known for the consistently high quality of its products and services.

“Our business plan is based on three essential pillars,” says Ghali. “They are: provide the pinnacle of customer service; achieve operational excellence; and be the best place to work.”

In recent years, Jayman BUILT has engaged employees to get their views on how the company can continuously improve its work culture and provide the best possible opportunities for career growth.

Employees are encouraged to consider on a regular basis what they want to be doing five years down the road – and then are given the training, education and on-the-job mentoring to help them achieve their goals.

“The idea is that we have to be doing our job to set people up for success,” says Ghali. “It’s only then that you can hold people accountable for doing their part.”

Henkel, who joined Jayman BUILT in 2005 as a field technician, says he benefited from that kind of support as he worked his way up the ranks to his current position as Construction Manager.

“I was attracted by Jayman BUILT’s name and reputation for quality,” he says. “The people here are here for a reason – and they are all eager to help you get to the next level.”

Henkel says he is impressed by the company’s core values and its commitment to giving back to the community. Jay Westman and his company have contributed millions of

JAYMAN BUILT EMPLOYEES SHOW THEIR HALLOWEEN SPIRIT

347

full-time staff in Canada

35

years, longestserving employee

5,275

job applications received last year

180

charities helped last year

dollars to post-secondary institutions in Alberta and provided significant support for medical research on multiple sclerosis and Camp Kindle, a summer camp for children with cancer.

The company provides employees with up to $1,000 each in financial support for community initiatives of their choosing and encourages them to get involved in a wide range of volunteer opportunities.

“This company’s values are also reflected in the way we deal with our

We couldn’t build your dream home without our dream team.

Thank you to all our employees and for naming us one of Alberta’s Top Employers.

Jayman.com

customers, with our trades partners and with each other,” says Henkel.

“One of those values is trust, which is a big thing — especially given the kind of economic downturn Alberta is experiencing. You have to be able to trust the people you work for and with. I know this is a well-managed company that’s been through a lot of booms and busts in the economy. There is a stability there that will carry us through to better times.”

27

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

T

Lawton Partners manages money and people with flair

he affluent are different on the Prairies, where Lawton Partners Financial Planning Services Limited, a leading independent wealth management firm, has been in business for 40 years in Manitoba and recently branched out into Saskatchewan.

Their clients have quiet money and want understated but top notch care.

“Lawton Partners has an established reputation for its value investing strategies and also strong relationships with accountants and lawyers,” says Dwaine King, one of a team of 10 partners. The others are Sean Lawton, Elden Wittmier, Wayne Townsend, Laurie Baird, Susan Stobart, Cameron Inglis, Terry Snell, Mark Mancini and Greg Gillis.

“Our key resources are our people. Lawton Partners prides itself on cultivating a great work environment combined with many opportunities for educational and professional growth.”

– Sean Lawton, Partner

“Managing money is the easiest part of what we do,” says Wayne Townsend.

“The difficult part is helping people manage people. We have lived almost every experience our clients are going through, whether it’s an HR issue or dealing with a bank. It’s a huge advantage for us to be able to add real value to our clients.”

Lawton Partners entered a period of rapid growth in 2015, adding new

advisors and associates along with their teams to the organization. “The benefits of becoming larger more than make up for any growing pains,” says Sandy Chahal, Director of Operations.

“Our key resources are our people,” says Sean Lawton. “Lawton Partners prides itself on cultivating a great work environment combined with many opportunities for educational and professional growth.”

More than 50 per cent of the staff have been with the company for more than 15 years. And Sharon the receptionist, who is famous among clients and couriers alike, is now in her third decade with Lawton Partners. She knows every client by name and treats them all like guests in her home.

Clients benefit from the diverse experiences and backgrounds of partners and staff. “Our firm includes business valuators, accountants and actuaries,” says Laurie Baird. “This gives us the ability to be proactive and think beyond the questions clients might be asking. We are committed to

PARTNERS AND ASSOCIATES AT LAWTON PARTNERS CELEBRATING AT THE FIRM’S ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY

46

full-time staff in Canada

60%

of employees are women

40

years, longestserving employee

25

charities helped last year

understanding our clients’ objectives and providing advice to meet their specific needs to help them grow, preserve and enjoy their wealth.”

Administrative staff collaborate closely with their advisors and have the chance to interact regularly with clients.

Lawton Partners recently set up a Client Services Committee made up of administrators. Its goal is to streamline processes and ensure everyone has the best tools possible to do their jobs.

As a financial planning services firm, it’s not surprising that Lawton Partners helps its employees plan for life after work through retirement planning assistance, matching RRSP contributions

and phased-in retirement work options.

It provides subsidies for work-related courses as well as in-house career planning. Lawton Partners is committed to helping employees achieve worklife balance, by allowing flexible hours and telecommuting options.

Lawton Partners Charitable Giving Foundation, managed by in-house expert DeWayne Osborn, is a great way for clients and their families to support the causes they care about through their own private foundation, but without any of the administrative responsibilities. Lawton Partners also has a Firm Sponsorship program for children of staff participating in a high-level sports or arts competition.

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

28

W

Petcurean Pet Nutrition loves animal lovers

hen you join Petcurean Pet Nutrition, you get this message from your new colleagues: “Welcome to the pack!”

Not surprisingly, the staff of the B.C.-based premium pet food maker is full of animal lovers. In fact, one of the perks of working there is free food for your dog or cat.

Jason Leung got the message when he joined six years ago. He started as a sales associate travelling around B.C. and Manitoba, and now is Export Manager for the Asia-Pacific and South American regions.

Leung had arrived from a large company, and found that smaller companies really are different. When he got the welcome message from everyone else on the team, “I didn’t know how to respond,” he says. “Here it really feels like family.”

“Whether they’re in Toronto or Florida, we want them to feel they’re part of the pack.”

– Cari McClelland, Human Resources Manager

Petcurean – headquartered in Chilliwack, B.C., about an hour east of Vancouver – produces high-quality food for dogs and cats, sold through pet stores. “People don’t realize the power food has over pets,” says Leung. “They disregard how the ingredients relate to the health of their cat or dog. Once they’ve fed them our food, they feel like they have a new pet.”

The company has seen fast growth in recent years, with expanding numbers of sales associates across Canada and the United States, a new Export Manager for Europe, and distribution arrangements in Central America, South America, Asia, and

Australia/New Zealand. A production plant is located in Elmira, Ont. Since so many of the 64 global staff are in sales and work remotely out of their homes in Canada and the U.S., Petcurean puts a lot of emphasis on reaching out to them.

“Whether they’re in Toronto or Florida, we want them to feel they’re part of the pack,” says Human Resources Manager Cari McClelland. “Managers have meetings with them through Skype and conference calls. Managers also do a lot of travel to meet staff and make them feel that they’re participating.”

Recently the company flew staff from all over the continent to Whistler, B.C. for a sales summit and state of the company meeting, including a lot of newer employees. “It was a phenomenal way to bring everyone together,” says McClelland.

The company culture, she says, is very collaborative. “We want everyone’s input.” That includes opinions on the pet food itself.

Sometimes employees join formal focus groups, but often they simply

petcurean.com

The Petcurean MarkeTing TeaM MeeT in Their boardrooM

35

full-time staff in Canada

91

rescue shelters and animal charities supported in 2015

52%

of managers are women

9,500

pounds of Petcurean product donated

advise senior colleagues on how their pets are doing while using the product.

McClelland says that when she arrived about a year ago, “what amazed me was the benefits plan – it was phenomenal for a company of this size.”

Employees have extended health benefits, long-term disability, an employee assistance program, a year-end bonus and maternity leave top-up to 100 per cent for 17 weeks. Recently, she says, staff asked if vision care was possible. Senior management looked into the costs, and now employees can get $350 every two years towards the cost of prescription eye care.

Petcurean also supports employees’ studies at outside institutions, including management programs at the University of British Columbia.

McClelland says there are often opportunities for head office staff to work from home. But the open, big-windowed workplace has its own attractions, including lunch-and-learn sessions and monthly birthday celebrations with cake. “We have a work-hard, play-hard atmosphere,” McClelland says. “It truly is family oriented.”

Animals, naturally, loom large in the corporate culture. The company donates food to local animal shelters, and employees volunteer at shelters and support pet rescues. Moreover, in the ultimate in accommodation, a Petcurean executive who recently got a puppy began working from home in order to take care of the new member of her family. Call it “puppy leave.”

29

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

M

Sharing the wealth at Peto MacCallum

elissa King did not take kindly to being labelled as a “Category C.” That’s how a large consulting engineering firm described her potential position when she was looking for a new job in 2003. Instead, she opted to join a competitor, Peto MacCallum Ltd., in its Geoenvironmental Services division. “They were smaller, and saw me as an individual, rather than fitting into a corporate slot,” King says. “I felt I would not get lost and have more opportunities to develop my career.”

Indeed, King has more than found her way, advancing over the years to her current position as the Toronto-based company’s lead for Geoenvironmental Services, one of the firm’s specialties.

En route, early on, she became a Peto MacCallum shareholder, an opportunity only some small and midsized businesses offer to their staff.

“If you look after your employees, your employees will look after your business.”

– Wayne Belcourt, Director and Head of Building Science

Explains company Director Wayne Belcourt: “We respect all our people, regardless of their level. We look at the job they do, not where it fits into the pecking order. Based on demonstrated motivation, leadership and technical skills, we invite employees from clerical to senior management to become shareholders.”

Belcourt, who joined the company in 1984 and became a Director in 2000, adds that allowing everyone to potentially share in the company’s profits is one of several ways Peto MacCallum encourages employee

growth. “Staff are encouraged to advance up the corporate ladder as far as their talent will take them,” he says.

Offering shares to employees is also an essential element of Peto MacCallum’s corporate culture. “If you look after your employees,” says Belcourt, who manages the firm’s Hamilton office, “your employees will look after your business.”

King, who also works out of Hamilton, became a shareholder just three years after joining the company. “I considered it a huge compliment,” she says. “I was honoured that they saw potential in me and were prepared to invest in it.”

Adds King: “It’s a wise policy. As a shareholder, you are invested in the company’s success and reap the benefits of your hard work. Being a part owner makes you realize that your work is not just a job. You appreciate that you are a part of something much larger.”

Peto MacCallum also encourages professional growth by providing employees the tools they need to acquire new skills. “If someone needs a laptop, they get a laptop,” says Belcourt, who has over the years attended numerous company-sponsored courses. In King’s case, she acquired a diploma in Management Studies part-time, with the company picking up the entire tab.

Education support extends as well to employees’ children, who can receive annual scholarships of $1,000.

Brian Squire joined Peto MacCallum’s Kitchener, Ont., office in 1996 after graduating university in civil engineering. He came as a field technician to help with the expansion of the Toyota car-assembly plant in nearby Cambridge, a major Peto MacCallum contract. Within five years of joining, he, too, became a Peto MacCallum shareholder. “Becoming part owner means that you are not just putting in time, but that the company recognizes

EMPLOYEE SHAREHOLDERS AT PETO MACCALLUM’S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

170

full-time staff in Canada

1%

voluntary turnover last year

60

years in business

5

charities helped last year

efforts and potential,” says Squire, now the company’s Geotechnical Lead. “I really appreciated it.”

For King and Squire, the company’s relatively small size, with fewer than 200 employees, is a real boon. Says Squire: “We’re not a multinational, which means you are not just a number. We work in small teams with mentors. You won’t get buried within the company, and you have tremendous opportunities to learn.

It also means that you can have an impact early in your career.”

Adds King: “Most engineering firms divide up projects into separate tasks with people working only on that aspect until the very end. At Peto MacCallum, we work collaboratively as we tackle the whole project.”

That means a greater chance to participate meaningfully and influence results. Says King: “You are seen and you are heard.”

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

30

J

Respect means retention at Reid’s Heritage Group

ennifer Weatherston needed a work break, but nine months later she was back at her desk at Reid’s Heritage Group of Companies. “I missed the people, the challenges and the opportunities,” she recalls, “especially the chance to learn from your mistakes and create something better. Here, everyone has your back and wants you to do your best.”

That was more than a decade ago, and she hasn’t looked back since her return. Today, Weatherston is Director of Estimating and Innovation for the award-winning, Cambridge, Ont.based homebuilder. One of the many factors that has kept her happily at work, she says, is that, “We have passionate leaders who really care about their team members.”

“When we bring on new team members, we look for the three Cs – character, competence and curiosity.”

– Doug Sider, Vice-President of Team Development Resources and Corporate Culture

None more caring, no doubt, than company President Tim Blevins. “Our secret sauce is our team members,” he says. “The key to our success goes beyond delivering a quality product; we deliver a quality experience for our customers, from the house plans to after sales. We can’t do that without an engaged staff and we know that happy team members translate into happy customers.”

The corporate strategy is to hire the right people, treat them properly and give them an opportunity to grow. “When we bring on new team members, we look for the three Cs – character, competence and curiosity,” says Doug Sider, Vice-President of Team Development

Resources and Corporate Culture. “Once hired, though, our work really starts.”

To encourage professional development, each team member is entitled to a minimum $1,000 annually for outside training or coursework. Internally, there are regular professional development programs, including monthly sessions for managers. Everyone has a professional development plan. Says Darryl McMillan, who wears a number of hats including Director of Construction and Customer Service: “You can roadmap your own career. If you work hard, opportunity is provided.”

McMillan joined the company shortly after college graduation in 2000 and has steadily moved up the ranks from a junior position. “Other companies sometimes try to recruit me, but I can’t see myself working anywhere else,” he says.

For McMillan, one word describes what makes Reid’s Heritage special – respect. “Even as a 24-year old, I was treated with courtesy,” he says.

“It starts at the top and goes down throughout the organization.”

Sider translates respect into three team member needs. “People want to feel valued, they want to be trusted and they

REID’S HERITAGE GROUP EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATING IN TUG OF WAR AT COMPANY BBQ

260

full-time staff in Canada

35

charities helped last year

4,300

job applications in 2015

38

years, longestserving employee

want to be provided opportunities,” he says. “When you hire the best people and treat them with respect, you have a winning situation. That’s how our culture produces a competitive advantage.”

For his part, Blevins credits the company’s strong corporate culture as the basis for winning its top-employer awards as well as honours for overall quality, several in competition with more than 700 major builders across North America. “We don’t inculcate people with our values, but we expect them to buy into them,” he says.

“The train is leaving the station, and we only want passengers who have bought into our culture.”

Values such as being respectful, aspiring to be the best and, simply, having fun are also responsible for what Blevins terms an “extraordinary” retention

rate when compared to others in the building and construction industries.

More than 40 of the firm’s 260 team members have been on staff for 15 years or more. “Retention goes way beyond salary and frills,” he says. “It’s about providing people with recognition and a sense of where they are going.”

The company’s caring culture extends to the communities it serves. Team members, who are given one day off annually to devote to a charity of their choosing, also are enthusiastic backers of corporate charitable initiatives.

An annual golf tournament raises as much as $70,000 for different causes. “We’re successful because of our communities,” Blevins says.

“We build neighbourhoods, they give to us and we give back to them.”

Change Your Career for the Better ReidsHeritageHomes.com

RHCbuilds.ca

Hy-Mark.ca

ReidsProperties.com

31

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

A

Richter has its entrepreneurial spirit down to a T

s a partner for 17 years with Richter LLP, Tasso Lagios has helped to guide the firm through almost two decades of continual change.

Founded in 1926 as a two-man accounting practice, Richter now employs a staff in Canada of over 450 people. The firm still attends to its clients’ tax- and accounting-related concerns. But its services extend much further.

Working with a client’s senior management team, Richter provides advisory and financial consulting services ranging from business assessment, financial reorganization and profitability improvement to crisis management, insolvency consulting, transaction advice and conducting due diligence for asset-based loans.

“We work in a complex global environment,” says Lagios, Richter’s Managing Partner. “Things in our marketplace move quickly. We have to evolve as our customers ask us for more.”

“We don’t just act as practitioners. Our partners run the business.”

– Tasso Lagios, Managing Partner

Richter’s customers include thousands of mid-sized and large private and public companies in the innovation and technology sector, as well as manufacturing and distribution, real estate and construction, gaming, and retail. Just as its clients depend for their success on the entrepreneurial vision of their leaders, Richter depends on the acumen of its partners and staff to adapt to its fast-moving marketplace. And as the leaders of a mid-sized firm, all of Richter’s 62 partners participate in operating the firm.

“We don’t just act as practitioners,” says Lagios. “Our partners run the business.”

EVOLUTION OF EXCELLENCE

That entrepreneurial culture distinguishes Richter from its larger competitors.

The country’s three largest accounting firms, for example, employ more than 4,500 people apiece and have more partners than Richter’s entire staff. Many employees may never meet each other.

At Richter, staff and partners know each other by name, and everyone shares the firm’s entrepreneurial spirit.

“That’s something I really like about Richter,” says Marc-Vincent Caillé, who joined the firm about four years ago when he was in his early twenties. “Everyone’s very close. They give you a chance to grow from early in your career. And as your skills increase, they give you more responsibility.”

Now an Associate in the firm’s Financial Consulting Services practice, Caillé turned down offers from three other firms to pursue his career with Richter. Initially, he worked as an entry-level senior staff accountant while pursuing his Chartered Professional Accountant’s designation, for which Richter covered the cost. Once he earned his designation, he received a promotion that advanced him two levels beyond his status.

ALL STAFF AT RICHTER LLP SHARE THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT

464

full-time staff in Canada

30

years, longestserving employee

35

years, average age of all employees

$5,000

maximum referral bonus for successful new hires

“I’m still young,” says Caillé, who’s now 28, “but already I’m managing seven other staff.”

Richter’s professional staff specialize in a particular field. Lagios, for example, advises clients in areas such as corporate reorganizations, financing and employee remuneration. But they also gain a broad understanding of the scope of the firm’s services through a concept based on the shape of the letter T. “With the T concept, staff receive broad training in all facets of the company,” says Lagios, “but they also receive deep training in the area where they want to work.”

For Caillé, that meant spending time in different areas of the firm as he worked as

an auditor. “You can rotate through different departments,” he says, “learn about the full service of the company and then tell clients about all the services. It’s very useful.”

Last year, Caillé decided to move from auditing to the firm’s restructuring practice.

“I felt reluctant at first to move,” he says.

“I wondered if I’d let people down. But everyone was very supportive. They were glad that I was staying with the company.”

Caillé’s initiative in seeking new challenges confirms the advantages of Richter’s entrepreneurial character. As Lagios says, “We’re much more than an accounting firm. We constantly have to innovate to ensure that our business continues in a sustainable way.”

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

32

Setting sights high at Rocky Mountaineer

O

ne summer, a guest on a Rocky Mountaineer luxury passenger train journey in British Columbia found something amiss: there was no green tea for her to drink. When the train manager learned of the situation, he phoned ahead to the next city en route – by coincidence his hometown – where his mother met him at the station with green tea. Problem solved.

President Steve Sammut says that anecdote is just one of hundreds he could cite that illustrate just how passionate Rocky Mountaineer employees are about ensuring their guests enjoy more than just the spectacular scenery. This includes everyone from the chefs who prepare world-class cuisine to maintenance crews who keep the trains rolling in top-notch condition.

“Everybody throughout the company really cares about our guests having a wonderful experience,” Sammut says.

“Continuous improvement is the key to our future.”

– Steve Sammut, President

Since its inception in 1990, Rocky Mountaineer has become the largest privately owned luxury tourist train company anywhere. The winner of numerous international awards, it’s frequently named as one of the world’s most unforgettable travel experiences.

Orientation for all new Rocky Mountaineer employees includes an all-expenses paid train trip through the majestic Canadian Rockies so they experience first-hand what the company offers and see how guests react. “It’s a source of pride when guests hug the hosts at the end of a trip that delivered everything they wanted and more,” Sammut adds.

Scott Dearin, Senior Manager, Rail Operations, who joined Rocky Mountaineer in January 2013, agrees: “Our goal is to

provide guests with an amazing onboard experience and it stirs my heart to see how we achieve our purpose.”

In a company dedicated to continuous improvement, Sammut says another virtue of the orientation trips is that all employees are in a position to offer informed and knowledgeable suggestions.

And that input is solicited regularly. The company holds quarterly employee town halls at its head office in Vancouver.

Sammut, who also holds less formal round tables with 10 to 12 employees, has an actual Welcome mat outside his office door. “I want people to feel free to raise any issues they might have so that we’re proactive in addressing them,” he says.

Rocky Mountaineer offers competitive pay and benefits and encourages the professional development of its employees with a range of training and educational programs. Among them is the Accelerated Team Leadership program the company established at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business that’s open to high-potential managers, directors and vice-presidents.

ROCKY MOUNTAINEER ONBOARD HOST IN THE WORLD-FAMOUS GOLDLEAF SERVICE

175

full-time employees in Canada

4,400

job applications received last year

77

jobs available last year

52%

of employees are women

Dearin, an alumnus of the Sauder program’s two one-week intensive sessions, says Rocky Mountaineer also helped him obtain his project manager certification. He joined the company after working in the oil and gas industry and while many of his skills were transferable, he says such training is crucial in his role heading up the company’s asset development and engineering teams.

“It’s great to work for a company that has a vested interest in developing its staff,” adds Dearin, who is based in Kamloops where some 50 employees service and maintain the trains year-round.

The city is located over 350 km east of Vancouver and Dearin says the training programs also enable him to meet and connect with employees from different

locations and departments. “Together we can leverage our strengths,” he says.

Innovation has played a key role in helping Rocky Mountaineer achieve and maintain its worldwide reputation for excellence.

And as Sammut sees it, great ideas don’t always have to focus on the big things, like creating new levels of service or adding new routes through the Pacific Northwest, B.C. and Alberta. “Innovation can happen anywhere, whether it’s faster accounts payable or in how guests board the trains,” he says. “Continuous improvement is the key to our future.”

“We are a world class company,” Dearin says. “Finding efficiencies or new ways to do my job can help the entire company perform better. It’s a great feeling.”

33

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

W

Rodan Energy wants to spark employee ideas

hen Nishant Gehani joined Rodan Energy as a Power Systems Specialist in 2010, the job description included the standard “additional duties as required.” But he soon discovered that this clause means something quite different at this innovative and fast-growing mid-sized company than at many larger companies.

“Not to blame big business, but roles become more defined as corporations mature and many of their procedures become standardized,” says Gehani, an engineer who had previously worked for two large, long-established organizations.

“At Rodan, the ‘other duties as required’ are the largest part of my job.

“Ultimately, it’s about giving the employee the flexibility to define the scope and the nature of their job,” he says. “Here I am encouraged to develop innovative solutions by combining customer needs, company capabilities and my personal ideas.”

“We empower our staff to take ownership of their career and take the initiative in serving their clients.”

– Paul Grod, President and CEO

The seeds for Rodan Energy were sewn in the early 2000s when Ontario was in the process of breaking up and selling off parts of its publicly owned electricity utility. At the time, Paul Grod, now Rodan’s President and CEO, was a lawyer with one of Canada’s largest law firms. Working on the deregulation of Ontario Hydro, he realized that opening up the province’s electricity market to competition could produce some exciting opportunities.

He had sought out a small metering services company in Belleville, Ont., and together with business partner and Rodan CFO Borys Chartchenko, bought it and set up headquarters in Mississauga, Ont. In the 13 years since, Rodan Energy has grown from a six-person operation with one basic service to 70 employees offering state-of-the-art energy analytics and management. These provide power producers, distributors and large electricity consumers with the means to better control their total energy footprint.

While some of Rodan Energy’s growth has come through acquisitions, being innovative has allowed the company to grow organically, evolving and moving into new markets. Rodan Energy, for instance, was the first company in Ontario to enable commercial, industrial and institutional energy consumers to participate in demand response programs. These programs help keep the energy grid in balance by paying large power consumers to reduce their usage during peak demand periods like hot summer days.

A key Rodan Energy strategy is to hire talented people and provide them with the framework where they feel free to do their best work and reach their full potential, says Grod. “Creating a culture of innovation takes a number of steps,” he adds. “We hold weekly meetings where we encourage everyone to be up to speed on developments in their sector and come to the table offering suggestions. We also empower our staff to take ownership of their career and take the initiative in serving their clients.”

In addition to a dynamic can-do culture, Rodan Energy offers competitive salaries and benefits, including a matching RRSP pension plan and financial support for ongoing employee training and development. It helps employees balance their work and personal lives with shortened and compressed work weeks, flexible hours and telecommuting work options.

EMPLOYEES TAKING PART IN ONE OF MANY RODAN ENERGY FUNDRAISERS TO ASSIST LOCAL CHARITIES

70

full-time staff in Canada

12

charities helped last year

11

jobs available last year

44

average employee age

First, however, they have to get through the hiring process, which Grod himself acknowledges is not easy. Job candidates may be asked to role play, make PowerPoint presentations or draw up a business development plan.

“We spend a lot of time before we hire someone, which can turn off some candidates who say ‘it’s too much work’,” says Grod. “We want to see how they function and make sure they’re a good fit so that six months later neither side feels it made a mistake.”

We’re Hiring Join Our Team! www.rodanenergy.com/careers/

Gehani, who was recently promoted to Manager of Engineering, views the time and effort he spent preparing for three rounds of job interviews as an investment in his future. The payoff is friendly, collaborative fellow employees and a productive career.

“I was looking for a job where the focus is on finding really creative, innovative solutions to customers’ problems,” he says. “It’s worked out even better than I’d anticipated.”

RODAN

Energy Solutions

Mississauga | Kitchener-Waterloo | Calgary

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

34

W

Rogers Insurance finds the ‘cool’ factor

hen people talk about insurance, they seldom use the word “cool”.

But for Jesse Pollard, Communications Specialist for Rogers Insurance Ltd. in Calgary, that word comes to mind more than once when he talks about the company.

An employee at Rogers for almost three years, Pollard works closely with sales and marketing teams on corporate identity and branding and assisted in implementing new products and services. He helped in establishing EasyCover, one of the only online products of its kind in Canada that offers professional liability insurance.

More recently, he worked with Sharp Insurance, co-owned by Rogers, on the company’s mobile and digital platforms for home and auto insurance.

“We now provide an insurance app that provides accident recreation, real-time pink-card information and other cool features for clients,” says Pollard.

“We’re big enough to offer our staff great perks, but small enough to have a family feel. We all know each other’s names.”

– Lindsay Mather, Vice President of Human Resources

Rogers provides products and services in all areas of insurance and is now one of the largest independent insurance brokerages in Canada, with more than 330 employees.

“We’re big enough to offer our staff great perks, but small enough to have a family feel,” says Lindsay Mather,

Vice President of Human Resources.

“We all know each other’s names.”

In addition to providing competitive pay and benefits, wellness programs and social events throughout the year, Rogers encourages employees to become coowners of the company after two years of service. Not only do motivated employeeowners feel loyal to Rogers, they also suggest ways that the company can stay on the leading edge of the industry.

Pollard, for example, was in his final year of a B.F.A. New Media degree at the University of Lethbridge, when a family friend suggested that he look into Rogers Insurance for a three-month internship as part of his undergraduate requirement. Until then, the company had never hired an intern, but it had already embraced the digital world with online products and services for its clients. “The company created a role for me in the communications department,” Pollard says. “Three months later, they hired me full time.”

Considering that Rogers began in 1977, when telephones were still attached by wires to a wall outlet and computers weighed almost as much as the people who used them, the company’s emphasis on technology and inspiring its employees seems to work.

“It’s in our soul,” says Mather. “Just because we’re a top employer doesn’t mean we’re off the hook. We’re always looking for ways to hold ourselves accountable, to push ourselves to do better. It’s embedded in our culture.”

ROGERS INSURANCE LTD.’S KAYLIN WESTBROOK (LEFT), KEVIN ROBICHAUD, JESSE POLLARD AND NATALIE CHUNG

390

full-time staff in Canada

37

years, longestserving employee

6

weeks, maternity leave top-up pay

83%

of employees are women

Every year, Mather says, Rogers looks for new ideas and new programs that will capture the company’s family spirit. Last year, a program that offered bonuses to staff members in return for money-saving ideas generated a wealth of suggestions, from re-orienting processes to changing the way the company provided coffee in the employee lounge area.

company set up Rogers University, a six-month training course leading to a general insurance licence. “Everyone outside of insurance doesn’t consider it the most beautiful thing,” says Pollard, “so Rogers created the university as a way of attracting young people who might not think of the industry when they’re looking for a job.”

To attract recent graduates from postsecondary educational programs, the

Since the program began, about 10 people have passed through Rogers

University, and all of them have found careers in insurance.

Pollard himself successfully completed the first level. “For me to market Rogers successfully, I saw the importance of understanding our field,” he says. “It’s a very complex industry, but once you get into it, you realize you’re in a field that’s dedicated to helping people.”

CANADA’S MOST AWARD WINNING BROKERAGE

PROUD TO BE ONE OF CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

35

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

I

At Scalar Decisions, growth is part of the culture

n his previous job, Kevin Graham kept running into competitors from a growing IT solutions integrator in Toronto called Scalar Decisions Inc.

“They were a pain in the neck,” he says. “I kept hoping they’d go away. But they didn’t go away. My former employer went away.”

Graham recognized the cultural differences between Scalar and other IT firms, including his own. As he became friends with his rivals, they suggested several times that he join them.

In 2011, as his own employer floundered, Graham took their advice. “I even made a backward career move,” he says. “I accepted less pay to do a job I’d already done at my previous employer.”

His backward step didn’t last long.

Scalar was still growing by more than 25 per cent a year, and Graham advanced along with it. In less than a year, he’d been promoted to a partnership role. Within three years, he’d become a National Partner Manager. As an Account Executive since 2014, he has developed new business, maintained relationships with existing customers and managed teams of Scalar professionals as the company expands further across the country.

“We talk about how we can become a great

It means I’ve been part of the growth that makes our company successful.”

The qualities that sustain Scalar’s continuing expansion didn’t happen by accident. They were in place from the day that CEO and President Paul Kerr founded the company in 2004.

“I came from a company that had a phenomenal culture,” Kerr says. “When I started Scalar, I tried to create the same culture, in everything we did.”

That included meeting new employees like Graham on their first day on the job. “I walked into the office at 8:30 in the morning,” says Graham, “and I met Paul. He showed me to my desk, said, ‘Have a good day’, and I went to work.”

As Scalar remains true to Kerr’s vision, he recognizes the challenge of combining its culture with its business growth. The company now employs 338 people in eight cities across Canada, and Kerr can no longer meet every new employee when they arrive for their first day on the job. And yet the firm’s defining culture prevails.

That culture, he says, is based on a simple concept: compete hard, play hard. Scalar’s leaders work hard not only to build their company but to sustain its culture as well. That means paying attention to details like considering a new employee’s previous work experience when setting vacation entitlements and communicating clearly with employees about each step involved in the company’s expansion.

“Our growth has never been stressful,” says Kevin Graham. “The changes have always been calculated and communicated in advance.”

company, not just a big company.”

– Paul Kerr, Founder, CEO and President

“I’ve had seven managers in five years,” says Graham. “But it’s never been an ‘ohmy-god, this is horrible’ kind of situation.

Continuing growth confirms that Scalar competes hard. To play hard, the firm’s employees take turns assuming the position of Director of Fun, organizing outings that have ranged from umbrella self-defence and axethrowing to go-karting and archery tag.

Proud to be a top employer.

EMPLOYEES AT SCALAR DECISIONS TAKING PART IN TEAM-BUILDING EXERCISES AT ANNUAL COMPANY GATHERING

338

full-time staff in Canada

2,500

job applications received last year

65

jobs available last year

3

weeks starting vacation, with previous work experience considered

“People at other companies often come up to me and say, ‘You guys seem like you have a ton of fun,’,” says Graham.

Competing hard and playing hard seem to pay off. Scalar now ranks among the leading companies in its field in Canada.

Since mid-2015 alone, the company has made two further acquisitions, increasing its annual revenues to $325 million.

Thanks to our exceptional people that deliver a great experience to our clients every day. Learn more at scalar.ca/careers

Meanwhile, senior staff still welcome new employees when they arrive for their first day on the job and help them to integrate smoothly into the organization.

“Now we talk about how we can become a great company, not just a big company,” Kerr says. “It’s a process of hiring great leaders, stepping back and letting them be great too.”

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

36

Staying on the cutting edge at Silvacom

R

ick Reid’s first job after university was with Silvacom, an Edmonton-based company that provides consulting and software solutions to improve land management in the forestry and energy sectors. “I worked in the field as a compass man, which is probably the most junior position you could have,” recalls Reid.

Twenty-one years later, Reid is Silvacom’s Vice President of Operations. But he is still on a learning curve.

“Staying current and progressive in our job knowledge is really critical to the kind of work we do,” says Reid.

“We operate in an environmental space that requires applying the latest best practices and using very advanced computing technology. So we are really big on continuous learning – and that’s true for everyone from the CEO to the most junior employee.”

“You can’t make people work for you; you have to create an environment where they want to work with you.”

– Rick Reid, Vice President, Operations

Reid, who does most of the company’s hiring these days, has several characteristics in mind when interviewing potential recruits.

“We look for people who are passionate about what they do and aren’t happy with the status quo,” he says.

“They are lifelong learners, creative thinkers and want to produce results.

They also need to be adaptable and team-oriented. Beyond all that, they

should have a sense of humour. We like to have fun and there’s always laughter around the office.”

Once they find talented employees, the goal is to reward and retain them.

“Given the nature of our work, we need highly experienced, top-quality personnel,” says Reid. “More than a third of our current staff have been with us more than 10 years. We’ve learned that the key to retaining people is to trust and respect them, seek out their opinions and give them challenges and responsibilities. We also recognize their individual talents and contributions and pay them well.”

At the same time, Silvacom encourages employees to think like owners. This has been facilitated through a broadbased employee ownership program.

Reid says today’s employees want to know a company is concerned with more than just its fiscal bottom line.

Silvacom, for example, is a strong supporter of the charitable organization, Classrooms for Africa. In recent months, employees and management have worked together to raise funds that built four classroom projects in Uganda.

For Elva Fogarty, who joined Silvacom in 2014 as the company’s marketing and communications coordinator, that kind of community commitment is a big attraction. “This is a charity the owners of Silvacom have been involved with for many years,” says Fogarty. “The cause is so commendable that you can’t help but feel like you are working for a company that is making a positive difference.”

THE SILVACOM TEAM OUTSIDE OF THEIR EDMONTON OFFICE

60

full-time staff in Canada

11

jobs available last year

3

weeks starting vacation

$170k

donated by Silvacom and staff to charity last year

media. There’s huge career growth for me here and I definitely feel like I can contribute and that I’m appreciated.”

Fogarty, who emigrated from Ireland shortly before joining Silvacom, appreciates the challenges and responsibilities she has been given.

Fogarty also enjoys the social aspect of working at Silvacom. “Our social club sponsors regular events, including potlucks, video game nights and sporting activities,” she says. “There’s also a strong emphasis on wellness, with fresh fruit brought in every day and yoga classes at lunch time.”

“We have 60 employees and I’m the only marketing and communications person,” she says. “There was no one in my role before, so I got the opportunity to set up all of our social

A commitment to fitness and worklife balance is reinforced through a flexible spending account which gives employees $1,000 annually to spend on a wide range of things,

We provide consulting and software solutions to improve land management.

We’re proud to be named one of Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers! www.silvacom.com

including gym memberships or buying additional vacation time.

Employees are kept in the loop through an office intranet that everyone can post on. As a result, what Fogarty calls “our internal Facebook” features everything from updates on business unit activities to “shout-outs” in praise of individual performance.

Observes Reid: “We’ve learned over the years that you can’t make people work for you; you have to create an environment where they want to work with you. That’s what we try to do every day.”

37

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

W

Walter Surface Technologies stresses ‘green-ification’

hen Mike Christodoulou arrived for his job interview at Walter Surface Technologies last year, the welcome mat was out: Pierre Somers, the owner, Chairman and CEO, met him at the entrance. It was not only a good omen – Christodoulou was hired as President and Chief Operating Officer – but also a good indication of the workplace culture.

“This is not the kind of company where employees, when they see the owner coming, run the other way,” says Christodoulou. “Everyone is very comfortable with the owner. Senior management and the board of directors are open to ideas from employees.

We encourage communication at all levels with all levels.”

“Senior management and the board of directors are open to ideas from employees. We encourage communication at all levels with all levels.”

– Mike Christodoulou, President and Chief Operating Officer

A leader in surface treatment technologies, Walter provides abrasives, power tools, tooling, chemical solutions and environmental solutions for the metal working industry. Its head office and Canadian manufacturing operations are located in Montreal, Québec.

Much of the company’s product line supports the grinding, sanding, cutting and finishing of metal. Its newest products, however, are its BioCircle solutions, which use a natural

process – free of petroleum-based chemicals – for cleaning industrial parts. For example, a truck that is driven into a diesel-engine repair shop may have its fuel pump cleaned with a Bio-Circle solution prior to repair.

Bio-Circle fluids clean without solvents, protecting both employees and the environment from highly volatile vapours and toxic chemical compounds.

The Bio-Circle division already accounts for about 15 per cent of Walter’s sales. “That’s where I see much of our future growth coming from, in keeping with the increasing ‘green-ification’ of industry,” says Christodoulou.

Last year, Walter hired 30 new employees in Canada. While the company recruits engineers and chemists for its R&D unit, the largest numbers of recruits are for positions in sales, marketing, finance, operations and human resources.

“We look for well-rounded, capable people,” says Christodoulou.

One of the ways Walter finds new talent is through its paid internship program, called Next to Succeed, which gives two university students the opportunity to learn from its top executives in R&D, finance, operations and marketing for three months during the summer.

David Wright, Business Development and Analytics Manager, joined the company full-time in February, 2016 after completing an MBA at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. He had been a Next to Succeed intern the previous summer.

“I was attracted to the internship because it puts you right next to upper-level management,” says Wright. “That wouldn’t happen at a large company.

Also, the company is interesting: they develop their own products, and customers want to use them specifically.”

In addition to an application and a resume, would-be interns have to submit a 60-second video pitch and,

WALTER SURFACE TECHNOLOGIES CEO PIERRE SOMERS AND STAFF AT NATIONAL SALES MEETING GALA

150

full-time staff in Canada

2,756

job applications received last year

30

jobs available last year

42

years, longestserving employee

in the final stage, do an interview in person or by video-conference.

Much of Wright’s work as an intern was helping the company prepare its 10-year strategic plan, an exercise that involved gathering input from senior executives in the company’s four sales regions ― Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Brazil.

“The hardest part was the forecasting uncertainty,” says Wright. “You have to get these things right, because a lot of people are counting on you.”

New employees such as Wright start at Walter with three weeks of paid vacation.

All employees can take up to five paid personal days off each year to manage their personal commitments. The company matches its employees’ RSP contributions.

It offers retirement planning help and a part-time work arrangement for staff wishing to transition into retirement.

Walter views the skills development of its employees as key to company growth. It provides in-house and online training programs. It also reimburses tuition costs for courses taken at outside institutions. “I’m a great believer in self-development,” says Christodoulou.

An innovative paid internship program. To learn more, visit walter.com/nexttosucceed

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

38

WalterFedy is all about building community

G

arth Cressman’s first experience at WalterFedy came back in 1999 when he was a co-op student at the University of Waterloo doing a placement in mechanical engineering and looking to see what different workplaces had to offer. After stints at other companies, he eventually chose WalterFedy -- an integrated, Kitchener, Ont.-based firm with architects, engineers and construction management professionals -- as his first full-time job.

“What I loved about the environment was that every day there was something different,” he says. In four short years, Cressman went from providing support on projects to running his own projects to heading up the mechanical engineering team within WalterFedy’s engineering services group.

“We try to encourage the development of their leadership skills. We want to grow our next set of leaders here within the organization.”

– Paul Reitzel, CEO

And then his uncle started a construction business. As a kid who grew up on a farm, Cressman has what he calls a “get-my-hands-dirty approach to life.” He wanted to see what else was out there above and beyond his first job. He took up his uncle’s offer and worked in construction for seven years.

“I loved it and learned a ton,” says Cressman. “In mechanical engineering, you see a slice of building systems, but

not the entire building. In construction, you get a much more holistic view.”

Yet, despite all this, Cressman, who completed his MBA while working at the family firm, came to realize that construction wasn’t the best fit for him. He reached out to Al Hayes, then CEO of WalterFedy and now leading the firm’s expansion into Hamilton.

Cressman wasn’t looking for a job, but rather some advice. He had kept in touch with a number of his WalterFedy ex-colleagues and was always interested to hear what they had to say. Hayes was then in the process of starting up a new business line in energy management. It was part of WalterFedy’s commitment to the environment and sustainability.

“He proposed something to me that was completely out of left field and really intrigued me,” says Cressman. After thinking it over, he decided to rejoin WalterFedy. The new position combined entrepreneurialism with working in a great firm. According to Cressman, who has since taken over as the Business Unit Leader for Engineering Services, “it was like coming back home.”

Paul Reitzel, who was recently named CEO of WalterFedy after 17 years with the company, says one of its key priorities is investing in the development of staff. While employees have always been “very dedicated to keeping up to date on their professional skill sets,” says Reitzel, “we try to encourage the development of their leadership skills. We want to grow our next set of leaders here within the organization.”

He cites the company’s three priorities as financial stability, community building and environmental responsibility. The energy management unit that Cressman helped start -- which has done studies in hospitals, schools and private businesses to evaluate their energy use -- now generates more than $1 million in revenues, up from zero less than two years ago.

Proud to be one of the best places to work in Canada.

WALTERFEDY EMPLOYEES VOLUNTEERING AT HABITAT FOR HUMANITY WATERLOO REGION

130

full-time staff in Canada

300

job applications received last year

23

jobs available last year

60

charities helped last year

Reitzel is also proud of a sustainability program put in place by staff at WalterFedy. Among other things it covers recycling, composting and commuting. It encourages employees to carpool, cycle or take the bus, regularly sending out afternoon reminders on their computers.

As an architectural and engineering firm that has participated in building and revitalizing the KitchenerWaterloo region, WalterFedy wants to “encourage our people to get out there and give back to their community,”

says Reitzel. The company’s volunteer program gives employees two full days off work to volunteer during the year. And if an employee completes 20 hours of volunteer work, WalterFedy will make a $200 donation to the charity of their choice.

“As Kitchener-Waterloo has transformed itself over time, we’ve enjoyed the success of the community,” says Cressman.

“Maintaining strong community relationships is important to us.”

KITCHENER | HAMILTON

Thank you to our bright and creative people, who have delivered exceptional solutions to our clients for 65 years.

walterfedy.com

39

CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS

X

Respect is the currency of choice for XE.com

E.com CEO Steven Dengler and President Beric Farmer took a simple approach when they started the online foreign exchange services company in 1993: create the kind of company they would like to work for.

In the ensuing years, the Newmarket, Ont.-based Internet pioneer – known globally for its popular web-based and mobile currency converters – has grown to 42 full-time employees. But Dengler says the company still sums up its overriding philosophy with the initials R.S.S. – respect (for colleagues and customers), solve (customer and business problems), and simplify (the user experience).

“There’s no physical benefit you can give that’s as important as the respect of your co-workers and feeling like you’re doing a meaningful job,” says Dengler. “We don’t expect you to give your soul to the company. If a company relies on employees to give unreasonable amounts of their time, then it’s doing something wrong.”

“I find the number of employees is perfect. I know everyone on a personal level – not only as fellow employees, but as friends.”

– Nirujan Suresh, Software Developer

XE.com’s respect for employees is reflected in many ways. In a rare perk for a smaller employer, it provides exceptional top-up payments to staff members who are new parents, bringing income for new moms to 95 per cent of salary for 52 weeks. New dads or adoptive parents receive 95 per cent of salary for 37 weeks.

The company helps employees save for the future with year-end bonuses and matching

XE.com employees work hard and play hard

retirement savings plan contributions of up to 7.5 per cent of salary.

It also provides a variety of complimentary onsite amenities, including a fitness facility and the services of a personal trainer. A nicely appointed staff lounge offers a television, video games, foosball, table hockey, and table tennis. The company also provides lunch every Friday. “That’s a great time for people to gather around and connect with each other,” says User Experience Designer Solomon Hsu, a graduate of Seneca College’s Creative Advertising program who was hired in November 2015.

Hsu says friends who returned to his native Taiwan to pursue careers complain about competitive work environments rife with office politics. By contrast, he says, he’s impressed with the collegial atmosphere at XE.com and the sense of teamwork. “The culture is great,” says Hsu, 26. “There’s a feeling that we’re working together to create a great product

42

full-time staff in Canada

36

years, average age of all employees

52

weeks, parental leave top-up pay

28

charities helped last year

for the end user. And the company values employees’ personal lives, too.”

Software Developer Nirujan Suresh liked it so much he returned to XE.com to do a second co-op placement when he was a student in the Software Engineering program at the University of Waterloo.

Hired full-time in July 2015, he says the open, friendly environment actually makes him more productive because no one hesitates to help when he’s working on a big project and managers are easy to approach.

“I find the number of employees is perfect,” says Suresh, 23. “I know everyone on a personal level – not only as fellow employees, but as friends.”

At one time, the company’s smaller size made it more difficult to attract and retain talented candidates because they were worried about limited opportunities for advancement, says Dengler. That changed last July, when XE.com was acquired

by Euronet Worldwide, a U.S.-based provider of electronic payment services with 5,600 employees in 55 countries.

“Now you kind of get the best of both worlds,” he says. “You’re working for a small company and know the people you work with, but you’re part of a larger company and you have opportunities all around the world.”

Tell us your story If you are an exceptional small or medium employer† with

progressive HR programs and initiatives, we invite you to

submit an application for next year’s edition of Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers.

For more information, please visit: CanadasTop100.com/2017 Applications for our 2017 competition must be submitted by April 22, 2016.

2017

2017

† To be eligible, you must meet the StatsCan definition of a SME: you must be a private-sector enterprise with under 500 employees worldwide.