Sustainability is rapidly becoming a core value at Canadian workplaces: "Canada's Greenest Employers" for 2016 are announced

TORONTO, April 22, 2016 /CNW/ - If your organization isn't building sustainability principles into its workplace and day-to-day operations, you're running a huge risk.  There's a large class of environmentally-minded consumers and talented employees who will take a pass on your company or workplace if you aren't building these values into your culture – that's the message from this year's winners of the Canada's Greenest Employers competition, announced today by the editors of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project at Mediacorp Canada Inc.

"For years, we advanced the argument that building environmental values into your workplace culture helped organizations reduce waste and recognize the true costs of doing business," says Richard Yerema, Managing Editor at Mediacorp.  "Today, we've moved well beyond the business case to the point where we can say that a large part of Canadian society now expects the organizations they deal with to incorporate sustainable business practices into their operations.  It's like what we've witnessed over the past few weeks around the unveiling of a beautiful new electric car: record numbers of purchasers want to be a part of this vision, regardless of gasoline prices."

Now entering its 10^th year, Canada's Greenest Employers is an editorial competition that recognizes the employers that lead the nation in creating a culture of environmental awareness.  The winning employers, selected by the editors at Canada's Top 100 Employers, are evaluated on the following criteria: (1) unique environmental initiatives or programs they have developed; (2) whether they have been successful in reducing their own environmental footprint; (3) whether their employees are involved in these programs and contribute any unique skills; and (4) whether their environmental initiatives have become linked to the employer's public identity and attract new people to the organization.  This competition grew out of two remarkable speeches by Al Gore and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the annual editorial conference on the Top 100 project in 2006 and 2007.

Here are a few examples of how this year's winners are driving environmental changes in their workplaces and beyond:

• Employees at Toronto-based Keilhauer Ltd. have redesigned the furniture maker's manufacturing process and materials to improve the lifespan of its products, use renewable energy and create zero waste from manufacturing operations.
• The City of Calgary is the first large municipality in Canada to require that all new or renovated city workplaces are LEED-certified, ensuring staff work in buildings designed to the highest environmental standards.
• Employees at apparel manufacturer Arc'Teryx Equipment Inc. of North Vancouver, BC have achieved impressive waste diversion rates of over 90% with the help of a company initiative that featured colour-coded bins and signage throughout the office, as well as individual training on reducing work-area waste.
• Winnipeg-based Assiniboine Credit Union Limited offers a host of incentives for employees to leave their cars at home – from subsidized bus passes to carpool matching services, this medium-sized credit union makes an outsized impression when it comes to reducing the environmental impact of commuting to work.
• Employees at Toronto-based Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre undertook a huge environmental review of the hospital group's operations, focusing on everything from reusable meal containers to adopting new environmentally friendly cleaning products and eliminating stray medical gases.

This year's list of Canada's Greenest Employers was expanded to 65 winners, a reflection of strong interest in the competition and the number of new green projects by employers across the country.  For photos and stories on hundreds of other initiatives by this year's winners, please read the editors' detailed "reasons for selection" released this morning at:
http://www.canadastop100.com/green

http://canadastop100.com/green%C2%A0

About Mediacorp
Founded in 1992, Mediacorp Canada Inc. is the nation's largest publisher of employment periodicals and guides. Since 1999, the Toronto-based publisher has managed the annual Canada's Top 100 Employers project, which includes a series of regional and special-interest editorial competitions that annually reach over 13 million Canadians through a group of magazine and newspaper partners.  The publishing firm also operates the popular search engine, Eluta.ca, which brings job-seekers new postings directly from employer websites and exclusive editorial reviews from the Canada's Top 100 Employers project.  Mediacorp also manages the Top Employer Summit, an annual editorial conference that explores themes related to the Canada's Top 100 Employers project.

CANADA'S GREENEST EMPLOYERS 2016 WINNERS
Aramark Canada Ltd. (Toronto ON) Arc'Teryx Equipment Inc. (North Vancouver BC) Assiniboine Credit Union (Winnipeg MB) BC Housing (Burnaby BC) BC Hydro (Vancouver BC) BC Public Service (Victoria BC) BlackBerry Inc. (Waterloo ON) Body Shop Canada, The (Toronto ON) Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd. (Toronto ON) Calgary, City of (Calgary AB) Dalhousie University (Halifax NS) Desjardins Group (Lévis QC) Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc. (Toronto ON) EfficiencyOne (Dartmouth NS) Emterra Group (Burlington ON) ENMAX Corporation (Calgary AB) Federated Co-operatives (Saskatoon SK) Ford Motor Company of Canada, Ltd. (Oakville ON) General Motors of Canada Co. (Oshawa ON) Griffith Laboratories Limited (Toronto ON) Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. (Mississauga ON) Home Depot of Canada Inc. (Toronto ON) Humber College (Toronto ON) Hydro Ottawa (Ottawa ON) IKEA Canada LP (Burlington ON) Keilhauer Ltd. (Toronto ON) KPMG LLP (Toronto ON) Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Surrey BC) Labatt Breweries of Canada (Toronto ON) Ladysmith, Town of (Ladysmith BC) LoyaltyOne Co. (Toronto ON) Manitoba Hydro (Winnipeg MB) Mohawk College (Hamilton ON) Mountain Equipment Co-op (Vancouver BC) Nature's Path Foods, Inc. (Richmond BC)	Ontario Public Service / OPS (Toronto ON) Ottawa, City of (Ottawa ON) Perkins+Will Canada Architects Co. (Vancouver BC) PowerStream, Inc. (Vaughan ON) Provincial Health Services Authority (Vancouver BC) RBC (Toronto ON) Red River College (Winnipeg MB) Rogers Communications Inc. (Toronto ON) RONA Inc. (Boucherville QC) SAS Canada (Toronto ON) SaskTel (Regina SK) School District No. 36 (Surrey BC) Sheridan Nurseries Limited (Georgetown ON) Siemens Canada Limited (Oakville ON) Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Toronto ON) Symcor Inc. (Mississauga ON) TD Bank Group (Toronto ON) TELUS Corporation (Vancouver BC) Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. (Cambridge ON) UBC / University of British Columbia (Vancouver BC) University of Alberta (Edmonton AB) University of Northern B.C. (Prince George BC) University of Toronto (Toronto ON) Vancity (Vancouver BC) Vancouver, City of (Vancouver BC) Veridian Corporation (Ajax ON) Whistler Blackcomb (Whistler BC) Xerox Canada Inc. (Toronto ON) YMCA of Greater Toronto (Toronto ON) York University (Toronto ON)

SOURCE Mediacorp Canada Inc.

Image with caption: "2016 Canada's Greenest Employers (CNW Group/Mediacorp Canada Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160422_C2129_PHOTO_EN_671751.jpg

Kristina Leung, Senior Editor, 416-964-6069 x1464