Wellness leaders are the best employers, as 'Alberta's Top Employers' for 2019 are announced
Feb 20, 2019, 10:00 ET
CALGARY, Feb. 20, 2019 /CNW/ - Something remarkable is happening across Alberta these days that you can see on the faces of thousands of working Albertans. Employers across the province are paying attention to employee wellness – and going to considerable lengths to improve it in their workplaces. That's the message from this year's Alberta's Top Employers, announced this morning by Mediacorp Canada Inc., publishers of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project.
"Alberta employers are investing in improving employee wellness in a wide range of fields," says Richard Yerema, Managing Editor of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project. "From mental health to physical fitness and nutrition, employers across the province are doubling down on efforts to improve overall levels of employee wellness inside their organizations. The leading employers now see these programs as 'must-have' initiatives and no longer as 'nice-to-have' programs for staff."
"Increasingly, forward-thinking employers recognize that promoting wellness isn't just a matter of 'doing the right thing' for their staff," adds Kristina Leung, Senior Editor of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project. "It's also a smart business decision, as wellness issues can cascade quickly into major expenses that affect the bottom line. From absence costs to the workplace consequences of mental health issues, it's not only employees who bear the costs of poor wellness practices."
Here are some of the notable initiatives the editors singled out among this year's winners:
- Alberta Blue Cross provides employees with free access to its newly renovated Balance Wellness Centre, offering a variety of fitness classes, and recognizes employee efforts through a 'wellness superhero' recognition
- WCB Alberta lets new employees improve their work-life balance with four weeks of paid vacation allowance, plus up to five paid personal days off each year.
- Calgary-based Stuart Olson employs a full-time health and wellness coordinator, in addition to offering staff a personal wellness spending account (to $300 per year) that can be used for wellness related expenses.
- Edmonton-based NAIT employs a dedicated mental health coordinator and recently hosted a professional development day dedicated to employee well-being.
- Calgary-based Rogers Insurance offers a remarkable program, called 'Rogers Dreams', that sees four employees chosen each year to receive $10,000 to fulfill a lifelong dream, with many recipients spending their award on significant personal wellness projects.
- Pembina Pipeline Corp. of Calgary provides employees an annual wellness spending account ($1,000) and promotes company-wide employee wellness through a special 'take a wellness break' campaign that features monthly wellness themes.
First published in 2006, Alberta's Top Employers is a special designation that recognizes Alberta employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work. Employers throughout the province were evaluated by the editors at Canada's Top 100 Employers using the same criteria as the national competition: (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. Employers are compared to other organizations in their field to determine which offer the most progressive and forward-thinking programs. The annual competition is open to any employer with its head office in Alberta; employers of any size may apply, whether private or public sector.
Founded in 1992, Mediacorp Canada Inc. is the nation's largest publisher of employment periodicals. Since 1999, the Toronto-based publisher has managed the Canada's Top 100 Employers project, which includes 18 regional and special-interest editorial competitions that reach over 15 million Canadians annually through a variety of magazine and newspaper partners. Mediacorp also operates Eluta.ca, a large job search engine that includes editorial reviews from the Canada's Top 100 Employers project and is used by almost 8 million users in Canada each year. Mediacorp also hosts the Top Employer Summit, Canada's largest annual conference for senior-level HR professionals.
The full list of Alberta's Top Employers for 2019 were announced in a special magazine published this morning in the Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal. Detailed reasons for selection, explaining why each of the winners was selected, with hundreds of additional stories and photos, were also released today and are accessible via the competition homepage.
SOURCE Mediacorp Canada Inc.
For further information: Tony Meehan, Publisher 416-964-6069 x9179