EMPLOYEES’ CHOICE AWARDS
From left, ECA sponsor Michael Horne with Iversoft Solutions’ Vicki Iverson, Stephanie Daudlin and Graeme Barlow. PHOTOS BY MARK HOLLERON
‘It’s a fun place to come to work’ From welcoming pets to paying for summer camps, Ottawa’s top employers go above and beyond to make their offices happy places to be BY DAVID SALI david@obj.ca
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2017 ECA RECIPIENTS Brookstreet Hotel Collins Barrow Decisive Technologies Giant Tiger Iversoft Solutions The Marshes Golf Club Martello Technologies ProntoForms RealDecoy Syntronic Lee said the formula for being an employee-friendly firm isn’t complicated. “Don’t be too serious … and make sure there’s at least one good practical joke set up for everybody,” he explained with a chuckle. “You’ve got to do something fun. That’s important for us. This award means a lot to us.” There has been zero turnover among Martello’s 38 employees in the past 12 months, he said, a rare record of workforce stability in the tech sector. “That says a lot,” Lee said. “They’re very happy with their job and they’re very happy where they are. They feel at home and they’re treated with respect.” – With additional reporting by Caroline Phillips
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‘FIGHT FOR TALENT’ “In Ottawa especially, the fight for talent is fierce,” said Michael Horne, cofounder and partner at Meldrum Horne & Associates, a local firm specializing in employee benefits, pension, insurance and retirement planning. “Most of the companies we work with want to be at the top of whatever industry sector they’re in.” Meldrum Horne & Associates sponsored the awards, which were hosted by OBJ and the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce.
“Success in business truly is dependent on the quality of the team that you can build these days,” OBJ publisher Michael Curran said in his welcoming remarks. Giant Tiger senior vice-president of human resources Ron Hyson credits the discount chain’s “family atmosphere” for fuelling its rise from a single store in the ByWard Market more than 50 years ago to a national powerhouse with more than 200 locations and annual sales in excess of $1 billion. “We have many programs throughout the organization that really reinforce that (family-first) concept,” pointing to perks such as subsidies to help employees send their kids to YMCA summer camps. The retail chain now has roughly 8,000 employees from Alberta to Prince Edward Island but remains headquartered in downtown Ottawa. “Ottawa for us is a very familyfriendly community,” Hyson said. “It’s big enough to give us what we need as a head office, but it’s not so big that we lose connections with all our employees.” As one of Martello’s four original employees, software developer Eugene Lee goes to great lengths to create a collegial atmosphere at the company where he’s worked for the past nine years. He jokingly noted his efforts weren’t lost on former Martello boss Bruce Linton, who tagged him “chief culture officer.”
– MARTELLO TECHNOLOGIES SOFTWARE DEVELOPER EUGENE LEE, ON THE SECRET TO A HAPPY WORKPLACE
MONDAY, JANUARY 1, 2018
losing out a year in which it posted triple-digit revenue growth, closed a major acquisition and boosted its headcount by 50 per cent, Iversoft Solutions had yet another reason to celebrate in December. The east-end app development firm capped off a stellar 2017 in style when it was one of 10 Ottawa companies that received Employees’ Choice Awards during a networking reception and awards ceremony at the Rideau Club on Dec. 14. Iversoft co-founder and chief technical officer Vicki Iverson says all that success doesn’t just happen by accident: it requires dedicated employees who work together to achieve a common goal. To that end, the 30-employee firm prides itself on putting people first. Among its perks are a “pet-friendly” office environment where dogs are welcome. On any given day, you’re likely to find up to a dozen canine companions patrolling its halls. “We’ve definitely been putting a focus on strategic growth and the company culture,” said Iverson, whose company also hosts regular Friday afternoon socials, quarterly team-building activities such as zip-lining and gokarting and Dungeons and Dragons
game nights. It’s all part of an effort to boost camaraderie and keep 9-to-5 from turning into a grind. “We want everyone to feel like it’s a fun place to come to work,” she said, adding the more clearly defined her company’s culture becomes, the easier it is to recruit new employees who mesh with it. “It’s actually become a lot easier to find the cultural fit, just because people kind of self-select. Employees participated in the 11th edition of the awards by completing confidential surveys processed by TalentMap, an Ottawa-based company specializing in employee satisfaction surveys and software. In a market where highly skilled labour is at a premium, companies that treat their most valuable resources well are at a distinct advantage.
“Don’t be too serious … and make sure there’s at least one good practical joke set up for everybody. You’ve got to do something fun.”