Leading Employers Take Aim at the Future: Winners of the 2011 Canada's Top<br>100 Employers Competition

TORONTO, Oct. 15 /CNW/ - Amidst daily news of Canada's modest economic growth, there is a remarkable group of far-sighted employers that are offering lessons to other Canadian employers in creating exceptional places to work.

These forward-thinking employers are treating the current economic slowdown as a rare opportunity to strengthen their organizations and pull ahead of others in their industries -- and nowhere is this better illustrated than in today's release of the 2011 winners of the Canada's Top 100 Employers competition by Mediacorp Canada Inc.

"This is one of those moments when experience makes a difference," says Richard Yerema, Managing Editor of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project.  "The decisions that employers make during times like these will affect their organizations for years to come, because challenging economic times also present many subtle opportunities for progress."  After a decade of writing about the nation's top employers, Yerema adds, "today we see a calmness and desire to stay-the-course towards building better workplaces by the nation's best employers."

For far-sighted employers, the benefits of being considered one of the nation's best places to work are considerable. "The elephant in the room is Canada's changing demographic composition," says Mediacorp Publisher Tony Meehan.  "Even with modest economic growth, it will soon be nearly impossible to replace Canada's current workforce, given current rates of immigration and labour force entry.  Forward-thinking employers are seizing this opportunity to prepare for the day when not all organizations will be able attract the key people they need."

Now entering its 12th year, the Canada's Top 100 Employers competition is an editorial project organized by Mediacorp Canada Inc., a specialty publisher of employment guides and periodicals.  To develop this year's list, Mediacorp editors examined the recruitment histories of over 75,000 employers across Canada that it tracks for its popular job search site, Eluta.ca.  From this initial group, Mediacorp invited 10,000 of the fastest-growing employers to apply, plus another 2,500 companies and organizations in industries its editors wanted to examine more closely.  Employers completed an extensive application process that included a detailed review of their operations and HR practices.  Over 2,750 employers started this year's application process.

"Despite challenging economic times, we've seen strong interest by employers in maintaining and improving their working conditions for employees," says Richard Yerema.  "Many of this year's winners have learned from past economic slowdowns that you can do lasting damage to an organization by scaling back on benefits that are important to employees."

The Canada's Top 100 Employers project is unique in that its editors publish detailed reasons explaining why each winner is selected, providing transparency and guidance for job-seekers and employers.  These reasons are published exclusively on Eluta.ca, where they can be read free of charge.  Each winner is graded by Mediacorp editors on eight key areas: (1) Physical Workplace; (2) Work Atmosphere & Social; (3) Health, Financial & Family Benefits; (4) Vacation & Time Off; (5) Employee Communications; (6) Performance Management; (7) Training & Skills Development; and (8) Community Involvement.  These criteria have remained consistent since the project's inception in 1999.

About Mediacorp

Founded in 1992, Mediacorp Canada Inc. is the nation's largest publisher of quality employment periodicals and guides.  The Toronto-based publisher manages the annual Canada's Top 100 Employers project, which includes the national competition as well as 18 regional and special-interest competitions.  Mediacorp also operates a popular job search engine, Eluta.ca, that lets job-seekers find new job postings - and verified editorial information on perks and benefits - directly from thousands of employers across Canada.  Last year, more than 5.3 million people used Eluta.ca, making it one of the nation's most-visited career sites.  Each year, Mediacorp organizes a policy-oriented conference on the Canada's Top 100 Employers project called the "Top Employer Summit", which is Canada's largest annual gathering of senior-level human resources professionals.  Mediacorp also organizes two other popular HR conferences each year, focusing on diversity employment and green workplaces.

The full list of the 2011 winners is attached.  For detailed reasons for selection explaining why each employer was chosen, please visit: http://www.CanadasTop100.com/national

For further information:

Kristina Leung,
Editor, Canada's Top 100 Employers
Mediacorp Canada Inc.
Tel. [phone] x1464
[email protected]