Company lauded for job prospects it offers and the quality of employees it attracts and retains
Sun Life Financial has ranked as one of the best places to work in Canada for the third time in the past four years. The Waterloo, Ont.-based company was recently named to the 2007 list of Canada’s Top 100 Employers by job guide publisher Mediacorp Canada Inc.
The judges graded Sun Life as an employer in eight areas and cited the company’s excellence particularly in two: the job prospects it offers and the quality of employees it attracts and retains.
“I think what we’re being recognized for and what perhaps sets us apart in our industry is that we offer the kind of career management framework that people are really looking for today,” says Sun Life Financial’s vice-president of human resources, Vicken Kazazian. “And that framework holds three big buckets that employees can dip into: excellent benefits and pensions, a collaborative work environment where employees are given state-of-the-art tools to service customers and good people practices that give employees both feedback about their performance and guidance as to how they can advance their careers.”
More specifically among the qualities the judges most liked about Sun Life are: the inclusion of family-friendly extended health care in its flexible benefits plan; a generous share purchase program that lets employees benefit from Sun Life’s bottom-line success; matching contributions of up to three per cent of salary to employee RRSPs; flexible workplace options that include telecommuting; tuition subsidies of as much as $2,500 a year; and similar incentives for actuaries and other professionals to earn industry accreditations.
Selectors also admired how Sun Life encourages employees to become involved with their communities, especially with health-related initiatives. Each year the company names a National Volunteer of the Year who receives $10,000 to donate to the registered charity of her choice. For 2006, Sun Life picked Marie-Noel Duhaime of Montreal for the 285 after-work hours she devoted to nine charitable organizations, including her local chapter of the Breast Cancer Foundation. Three other finalists received $3,000 each for their charities of choice.
It is these philanthropic practices that Sun Life takes particular pride in, says Kazazian.
“But we’re also very conscious of what people are looking for in their business careers today,” he says. “More than ever before they are looking for opportunities to grow and develop. And they are looking to do that in comfortable and productive working conditions.”
Therefore, Sun Life spends a lot of time and resources doing ergonomic assessments and investing in technology.
“First of all, we create space and work stations that encourage collaboration and problem-solving. They are set up so if someone has a problem they can turn and talk to someone else about it,” he says. “We also have break-out areas in various locations where people can have closed meetings too. And then we try to give everyone the best online, e-mail, web conferencing, video conferencing and other electronic capabilities we can as part of the work environment.”
Nor has Sun Life forgotten the physical health of its employees. Its head office, a funky, renovated 1970s-style department store, comes complete with an on-site fitness facility.
Beyond its Canadian operations, the company is also an attractive employer for the chance it offers to do business internationally. Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in important markets worldwide, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda.
But Sun Life’s best HR practices start closer to home.
“Right at their desks employees can go online and see, first of all, very clearly spelled out, what their role is and what their accountabilities are,” says Kazazian. “They can also see other roles they can aspire to and move up to. Then they also all participate in our performance management program. It guarantees that the employee can sit down with their manager and ask ‘What about me? How am I doing? How can I develop?’”
To let employees further appreciate what opportunities are up for grabs, Sun Life stages a popular Career Expo every year.
“All the different wealth accumulation, insurance and other businesses we have within Sun Life Financial come and exhibit at Career Expo,” says Kazazian. “So that by the end of the day, hundreds of our employees end up walking away with a lot of information about where their careers could go.”
Andy Shaw is a Toronto-based freelance writer.
The judges graded Sun Life as an employer in eight areas and cited the company’s excellence particularly in two: the job prospects it offers and the quality of employees it attracts and retains.
“I think what we’re being recognized for and what perhaps sets us apart in our industry is that we offer the kind of career management framework that people are really looking for today,” says Sun Life Financial’s vice-president of human resources, Vicken Kazazian. “And that framework holds three big buckets that employees can dip into: excellent benefits and pensions, a collaborative work environment where employees are given state-of-the-art tools to service customers and good people practices that give employees both feedback about their performance and guidance as to how they can advance their careers.”
More specifically among the qualities the judges most liked about Sun Life are: the inclusion of family-friendly extended health care in its flexible benefits plan; a generous share purchase program that lets employees benefit from Sun Life’s bottom-line success; matching contributions of up to three per cent of salary to employee RRSPs; flexible workplace options that include telecommuting; tuition subsidies of as much as $2,500 a year; and similar incentives for actuaries and other professionals to earn industry accreditations.
Selectors also admired how Sun Life encourages employees to become involved with their communities, especially with health-related initiatives. Each year the company names a National Volunteer of the Year who receives $10,000 to donate to the registered charity of her choice. For 2006, Sun Life picked Marie-Noel Duhaime of Montreal for the 285 after-work hours she devoted to nine charitable organizations, including her local chapter of the Breast Cancer Foundation. Three other finalists received $3,000 each for their charities of choice.
It is these philanthropic practices that Sun Life takes particular pride in, says Kazazian.
“But we’re also very conscious of what people are looking for in their business careers today,” he says. “More than ever before they are looking for opportunities to grow and develop. And they are looking to do that in comfortable and productive working conditions.”
Therefore, Sun Life spends a lot of time and resources doing ergonomic assessments and investing in technology.
“First of all, we create space and work stations that encourage collaboration and problem-solving. They are set up so if someone has a problem they can turn and talk to someone else about it,” he says. “We also have break-out areas in various locations where people can have closed meetings too. And then we try to give everyone the best online, e-mail, web conferencing, video conferencing and other electronic capabilities we can as part of the work environment.”
Nor has Sun Life forgotten the physical health of its employees. Its head office, a funky, renovated 1970s-style department store, comes complete with an on-site fitness facility.
Beyond its Canadian operations, the company is also an attractive employer for the chance it offers to do business internationally. Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in important markets worldwide, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda.
But Sun Life’s best HR practices start closer to home.
“Right at their desks employees can go online and see, first of all, very clearly spelled out, what their role is and what their accountabilities are,” says Kazazian. “They can also see other roles they can aspire to and move up to. Then they also all participate in our performance management program. It guarantees that the employee can sit down with their manager and ask ‘What about me? How am I doing? How can I develop?’”
To let employees further appreciate what opportunities are up for grabs, Sun Life stages a popular Career Expo every year.
“All the different wealth accumulation, insurance and other businesses we have within Sun Life Financial come and exhibit at Career Expo,” says Kazazian. “So that by the end of the day, hundreds of our employees end up walking away with a lot of information about where their careers could go.”
Andy Shaw is a Toronto-based freelance writer.
