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An Atlantic Business Magazine exclusive, presented in partnership with Mediacorp
With all the talk of a double-dip recession and slow economic growth, you might be excused for thinking that employers had gone back to the old days when just having a job was enough for most folks. But the 2012 winners of the fourth-annual Atlantic Canada’s Top Employers competition show how serious leading employers are about recruiting and retaining the best employees.
In fact, Mediacorp — which organizes this recognition program as well as Canada’s Top 100 Employers — notes that there was a record number of employer applications this year, 15 per cent higher than last year.
Tony Meehan, Mediacorp publisher, attributes the higher level of interest to the compressed job market. “The reality of Canada’s labour market is that the unemployment rate in many key occupations is less than four per cent, even in the current economic climate. This… is bringing many employers to the realization that they need to become more attractive places to work — not just to ensure future growth, but simply to maintain the operations they have now.”
Look for sidebars at the end of this article:
Powerful People
What makes a top employer
How to apply for next year’s Top Employers list
Top Employers
Admiral Insurance Services Inc.
Location: Halifax, N.S.
Number of employees: 308
Who are they: provider of automobile insurance products and services.
What makes them great: support new mothers with maternity and parental leave top-up payments (to 100 per cent of salary for 20 weeks) and parental leave top-up for new fathers or adoptive parents (to 100 per cent of salary for 14 weeks); support professional development with tuition subsidies for courses taken at outside institutions, in-house and online training, subsidies for professional accreditation and a formal mentoring program; contributions to a defined benefit pension plan (to five per cent of salary); a share purchase plan that is available to all employees, and a variety of financial rewards including referral and year-end bonuses.
Alcool NB Liquor /ANBL
Location: Fredericton, N.B.
Number of employees: 446
Who are they: provincial Crown corporation responsible for the purchase, importation, distribution and retail activity of all beverage alcohol in New Brunswick.
What makes them great: defined benefit pension plan, defined contribution pension plan, and matching RSP contributions; maternity leave top-up payments to new mothers (to 75 per cent of salary for 15 weeks); flexible work arrangements including reduced summer hours and a compressed work week option; academic scholarship program for children of employees (up to $2,500); a self-funded leave program that lets employees defer a portion of their salary and take extended time off (up to one year) with pay; supports ongoing education by covering the full cost of tuition for employees completing courses at outside institutions (with no annual maximum).
Annapolis Valley District Health Authority
Location: Kentville, N.S.
Number of employees: 1,031
Who are they: providers of health and wellness services to the counties of Kings and Annapolis.
What makes them great: new employees start with four weeks of paid vacation allowance, in addition to personal paid days off; subsidies for courses taken at outside institutions, subsidies for professional accreditation and a variety of in-house and online training programs; new mothers receive maternity leave top-up payments (to 93 per cent of salary for 15 weeks) as well as a variety of flexible work arrangements for when they are ready to return to work; parental leave top-up payments to employees who are new fathers or adoptive parents (to 93 per cent of salary for 10 weeks); retirement planning assistance, generous contributions to a defined benefit pension plan and health benefit coverage that extends to retirees.
Cape Breton District Health Authority
Location: Sydney, N.S.
Number of employees: 2,284
Who are they: provider of community health services to 130,000 residents of Cape Breton, Northern and Central Inverness County and Victoria County.
What makes them great: new employees get personal paid days off as well as three weeks of paid vacation allowance; tuition subsidies for job-related courses (to $5,000), financial bonuses for some course completion and in-house and online training programs; maternity leave top-up payments for new mothers (to 93 per cent of salary for 15 weeks) as well as extended health benefit coverage during their leave; parental leave top-up to employees who are new fathers or adoptive parents (to 93 per cent of salary for 10 weeks); generous contributions to a defined benefit pension plan, retirement planning assistance and phased-in work options to help employees transition out of the workforce.
Dear Mr Editor: I currently work for Air Canada Jazz, been employed by this company for over 15 years. Yes it is a great company to work for but there are several glowing, and misleading statements in your article. Off the 4880 stated employees only about 5% have access to almost all the benefits you listed. Those employee are at the Halifax base. The remainder 4400 people work at various location across Canada. At my base, with about 250 co-workers. our lunch room has chairs and tables, vending machines with no fruits, nothing else, No nap room, no gym (we can’t leave the hanger during our breaks for a short walk), no cafeteria (with healthy and special diet menus) not even a computer to surf the web on down time. Air Canada Jazz does charge us for coffee we drink. Buck per cup. The academic scholarship program for children of employees, one year was won by Joe Randel(check company reports, Joe is paided very well) himself. My child didn’t win. The subsidies for professional accreditation is a stated benefit, but when you email the dept, no one answers your request. The alternative work arrangements including flexible hours, telecommuting, a formal earned days-off program are only for upper management. I work 8 hr a day 5 days a week, all requests for these programs are declined.
The only thing all 4880 employees share is a monthly base performace sharing program bonus called ensomble with a max yearly payout.
To correct your article either remove the stated 4880 employees and replaced with Halifax based numbers or state that the listed benefits are only for Halifax based employees