Waiting it out isn’t a strategy anymore. Canada’s labour market has stopped rewarding people who sit still, and this year’s Canadian HR Reporter data on the best companies to work for in Canada proves it.  

Global employee engagement is in decline, and fewer Canadian employees are willing to switch jobs for better working conditions than at any point in the past three years, down to 37.27 percent in 2026, according to CHRR’s own survey data. Staying put isn’t loyalty; it’s fatigue.  

It isn’t fatigue born of a simple war for talent, says Ashlee Langlois, CEO and registrar of Chartered Professionals in Human Resources (CPHR) Saskatchewan. It’s something messier. Employers are now weighing economic uncertainty and productivity demands against the ongoing need to attract, develop, and retain the right people.  

“The challenge has shifted from ‘How do I find people?’ to ‘How do I find the right people with the skills we actually need?’” she says.  

Langlois says the moment calls for intentionality: a deliberate rethink across four connected areas, tackled together rather than one at a time:  

• Workforce planning 
   

• Skill development 
   

• Productivity 
   

• The employee experience as a whole

For employees, she says, credentials alone no longer carry the weight they once did. What matters more now is adaptability, a genuine commitment to continuous learning, comfort with new technology, sharp problem-solving, and the ability to work well with others. 

This year’s CHRR Employers of Choice winners are proof as all 28 cleared the 75 percent satisfaction threshold required to qualify, and the top scorer hit 93.5 percent. These aren’t companies employees tolerate; they’re companies employees choose. 

How they got there varies, and not neatly along public or private lines. Some winners built flexibility and recognition into daily culture; others leaned on structured development and measurable community impact; and several combined both regardless of sector. Different playbooks, same result: high satisfaction, whichever path got them there. 

Canadian employers are contending with a workforce that looks stable on the surface and strained underneath it, a strain this year’s CHRR Employers of Choice are managing well.

According to Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report, global employee engagement fell to 20 percent in 2025, its lowest level since 2020, driven largely by a steep decline in manager engagement, down to 22 percent from 31 percent in 2022.

The United States and Canada still post among the highest engagement rates in the world at 31 percent, but half of employees in the region report significant daily stress, the highest rate of any region measured, while confidence in the job market has fallen sharply to 47 percent.

Global Economic Impact Note: In 2025, low engagement cost the world economy approximately $10 trillion in lost productivity, or 9 percent of GDP. (Source: Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report)

The return to the office is reshaping what flexibility even means in practice. According to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey for May 2026, only 11.4 percent of employed Canadians worked exclusively from home, down from 18.7 percent in May 2022, while hybrid arrangements have held steady at just under 10 percent since 2023. Flexibility, in other words, has stopped meaning remote work by default.

Recognition as an Employer of Choice is built to cut through that noise. Winning organizations complete a detailed employer submission, then have that submission verified through an independent employee survey, with a minimum number of responses required based on company size.

“Being an employer of choice increasingly comes down to the quality of the employment relationship itself, not just compensation and perks,” Langlois says. Employers, she argues, need to be asking why a talented person would choose their organization, and what would make that person stay.

A handful of practices separate the organizations getting this right. Flexibility now extends well beyond remote work to include when, where, and how work gets done, though Langlois cautions that the strongest employers design that flexibility intentionally rather than offering it blindly.

Career development matters just as much. Employees want to know whether they will be better off professionally two or three years after joining an organization, which means meaningful development, internal mobility, mentoring, and leadership growth need to be built in.

“Strong leadership may be the most underrated lever of all,” Langlois says. A weak manager makes an employee far more likely to leave, which is why leading employers are investing directly in manager capability, including communication, coaching, feedback, and psychological safety. Underpinning all of it is alignment between what an organization says about itself as an employer and what employees experience day to day.

Something has cracked open in what Canadian employees expect from work. Flexibility, once a perk, has locked in as table stakes. Diversity and inclusion, once climbing, has fallen further and faster than any other benefit measured, a reversal that runs directly against the conventional wisdom that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) priorities only rise over time. And a cluster of once-rising priorities, including recognition, incentives, and technology, all cooled at once in 2026 after a record 2025. 

For a closer look at how Canadian employers are approaching inclusion this year, see the 2026 5-Star Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Employers report. 

This year’s Employers of Choice winners got there first. Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada built accessibility into its culture at a moment when national commitment to inclusion is sliding. Cognition+ and Kryton International engineered deep, lived-in flexibility years before it became table stakes. 

The City of Vaughan launched an entirely new recognition program in 2025, the same year interest in reward and recognition peaked nationally. The Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville runs its own Game Changer Awards program, recognizing employees through both manager and peer nominations. 

• Hybrid environment and flexibility: “Maintain a hybrid work environment and provide employees flexibility to work from home when appropriate. This flexibility helps staff manage both their professional and personal responsibilities,” says one employee at an Employer of Choice winner in Ontario. 
   

• Core offerings: “Recognizing employees, communication, benefits, salary, technology, and support of innovation,” says another employee at an Ontario-based winner, on what their organization is doing well. 
   

• Supportive and inclusive atmosphere: “Creates an inclusive, supportive, and appreciative workplace where people feel valued for their contributions and dedication,” says an employee at a winning organization in British Columbia. 
   

• Growth avenues: “Could become an even better place to work by creating more opportunities for career growth and professional development,” says another employee at that same British Columbia organization. 
   

Where Canadian employees want to work has flipped. For years, employers offered more hybrid arrangements than staff wanted. In 2026, that reversed: 43.98 percent of employees now say they would choose hybrid work, narrowly ahead of the 42.74 percent who currently have it, meaning preference now outpaces availability.

Full remote work is cooling in step, with both current and preferred numbers easing back for two years running. Meanwhile, the fantasy of unlimited personal choice over location is fading fast, and full office mandates carry the widest gap between what’s offered and what’s wanted of any arrangement measured. That gap is already playing out publicly, as some employers push ahead with five-day office mandates that many staff resist.

This year’s Employers of Choice winners are ahead of that shift, even if the target keeps moving. That doesn’t mean the ask has stopped. Some employees at this year’s winners still cite hybrid and remote options among the areas they most want to see improve, a reminder that flexibility keeps resetting the bar rather than settling at it. None of them are guessing at what employees want. Their own people are saying it, both where it’s working and where it isn’t.

Willingness to switch jobs for better working options just had its worst year in the three years of data analyzed. After sitting flat for two years, right around 44 to 45 percent, it dropped to 37.27 percent in 2026, the sharpest single-year move among the Employers of Choice metrics measured. 

This doesn’t mean employees feel trapped. It means fewer of them have a reason to leave. This year’s winners posted satisfaction ratings as high as 93.5 percent, well above the bar required just to qualify. When flexibility, recognition, and career development are already built in, there’s simply less reason to look elsewhere for them.

For Canada’s Employers of Choice, that’s the whole point. Retention isn’t something these organizations are fighting for; it’s a side effect of doing the rest of it right. 

Two things unite every single Employer of Choice winner this year, and last year, they didn’t. All 28 winners now offer both flexible work options and structured training or mentorship programs, up from 91.67 percent and 95.83 percent, respectively, in 2025. Neither is a differentiator anymore; both are simply the price of entry.

Reward and recognition programs held essentially flat at 92.86 percent, still nearly universal. But green and sustainable initiatives saw the sharpest gain of any category, up 6.54 points to 85.71 percent, even as employee-side interest in green benefits nationally remains comparatively low.

Winners are moving on sustainability before employees are asking for it. Communication is speeding up, as well. Quarterly was the most common company-wide meeting cadence in 2025, but this year, monthly overtook it.

Recognition and reward as culture

Nationally, employee interest in recognition programs eased slightly this year after peaking in 2025, but four of this year’s winners moved in the opposite direction. 

The Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville spent the past year deepening a culture built on visible recognition and long-term investment in its people. At the centre of that effort is the Stouffville Game Changer Awards, a program open to both manager and peer nominations that celebrates contributions, ranging from innovation and leadership to integrity and teamwork. The awards are presented each year at a town-wide celebration, reinforcing a culture where achievement is seen and shared across departments.

Leadership development runs through Stouffville LEADS, a structured leadership program built in partnership with the Schulich School of Business, combining classroom training with practical, on-the-job learning for emerging and current leaders.

Family support follows the same long-term thinking. The town’s maternity and parental leave top-up currently sits at 75 percent of salary for 26 weeks, with planned increases. Combined with childcare and eldercare support through its employee assistance program, the benefit reflects a deliberate, multi-year commitment to employees across different life stages.

Average staff tenure sits at 7.9 years, with turnover of between one and five percent, numbers that point to a workforce that stays. Regular engagement surveys, quarterly town halls, and direct access to senior leadership round out a workplace where feedback loops back into action.

Claudette Banks, director of human resources at the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, says: “What makes the Town of Stouffville stand out is our commitment to our employees. We have built a culture where employees are empowered to contribute their ideas, take on new projects, and grow in their careers while making meaningful impacts in the community. Our employees are collaborative, supportive and focused on delivering exceptional service to our residents. This combination makes the town an exceptional place to work.”

Employee perspectives:

• “We’re focused on creating a positive employee experience by listening to our employees and making meaningful improvements based on their feedback,” says one employee. 
   

• “My organization has created a culture where employees feel supported and are recognized for their efforts. Our social committee has elevated office spirit by organizing fun, team-building activities,” says another.  
   

• “I genuinely enjoy coming to work each day. I appreciate the positive culture, the strong sense of teamwork, and the support I receive from my colleagues and leaders,” a third sums up simply.   
   

Every new hire is walked through the company’s strategic plan personally by the CEO, who also takes new employees to lunch after their first three months to check in and answer questions directly.

That accessibility extends into a broader communication structure, including quarterly Breakfast with the CEO sessions where employees weigh in on a pre-chosen topic, alongside a formal whistleblower policy that allows employees to raise concerns anonymously. In 2022, the entire employee base took part in co-creating the company’s five-year strategic plan, an inclusive process the organization is repeating this year to shape its next five-year priorities.

Family-friendly benefits include a 12-week paid parental leave top-up, and the company has committed to carbon neutrality by 2030 as part of its environmental, social, and governance strategy, with its current employee engagement score reported at 90 percent.

Dana Gledhill, assistant vice president, human resources at Tokio Marine Canada, says: “Culture starts from the top. At Tokio Marine Canada, we firmly believe it’s important that everyone understands the culture we’re trying to build, how we’re trying to build it, and the direction we’re heading. We recognize every single person is instrumental in the company’s success. Employees love being included and knowing that what they do is important.”

Employee perspectives:

• “We have a wonderful culture; everyone is respected and has their opinion heard. There is opportunity for career advancement, the compensation is fair, our benefits are competitive, there is flexibility and generous paid time off,” notes one employee. 
   

• “Giving employees the tools to be independent while also creating a culture that allows for collaboration and ease of access to information when needed,” highlights another. 
   

• “They recognize individuals that are working very hard, are transparent in terms of the goals of the company, and have a we-win-all-together attitude,” points out a third. 
   

The City of Vaughan used the past year to formalize two programs that reflect a broader shift toward embedding recognition and inclusion directly into how the municipality operates. In 2025, it launched its first Beacon of Excellence Awards, honouring municipal employees across four categories: North Star for leadership, Rising Tide for emerging leadership, Beyond the Horizon for going above and beyond, and Explorer for driving efficiency and sustainable innovation.

This is in addition to its existing Years of Service Awards recognizing milestone anniversaries from five to 35 years, with day-to-day appreciation running through Above & Beyond, an e-postcard program that lets any employee thank a colleague informally.

Also new in 2025 is the NextGen program, which supports youth with disabilities transitioning from high school into the workforce through specialized training in municipal recreation roles, graduating its inaugural cohort of 13 participants in September 2025 as a concrete step toward inclusive employment pathways.

Internally, the city launched Leannovation, a continuous improvement initiative open to all employees regardless of role or level. Structured leadership development includes a mandatory master’s program for newly promoted supervisors and an emerging leaders program.

That investment shows up in the numbers: average staff tenure at the City of Vaughan sits at 10.76 years, with turnover of just one to five percent, among the strongest retention figures in this report.

“I’m incredibly proud that the City of Vaughan has been named a Canadian HR Reporter Employer of Choice 2026 recipient. This recognition belongs to our dedicated employees whose passion, innovation and commitment to service excellence help make Vaughan the best place to live, work, and play,” says mayor Steven Del Duca. “By investing in our people, fostering inclusion, and creating opportunities for growth, we are building a workplace where employees can thrive and continue delivering exceptional service to our community.”

City manager Zoran Postic adds, “I believe that when employees feel supported and empowered, they do their best work, and that translates into exceptional service for our residents. Initiatives like the Beacon of Excellence Awards and NextGen Program demonstrate the city's commitment to recognizing excellence, fostering inclusion, and creating meaningful opportunities for people to make a difference. This award is a great honour, and I couldn't be prouder of our organization and the people behind its success.”

Employee perspectives:

• “Leadership supports the growth and development of staff. Promotions are largely internal, providing staff with advancement opportunities and the belief and understanding that leadership values their service and works to develop them,” notes one employee.
   

• “People leaders are willing to do the work to make things better, as seen with our employee engagement scores that have consistently been going up,” highlights another.
   

• “Our organization excels at delivering responsive and compassionate service to the community. Staff demonstrate a strong commitment to public education and public safety, often working in challenging situations with professionalism and care. We also have employees who are passionate about continuous improvement and who genuinely care about the success of the service we provide to residents,” points out a third.
   

JEMM Truck & Trailer, based in Scarborough, ON, and part of the Hansen’s Group of Companies (HGC), has built a workplace culture the organization itself describes as remarkably free of the silos that often separate departments and business units. That connected culture shows up in the details, from a shared digital newsletter covering wellness, benefits, and employee spotlights across the group, to a quarterly 50/50 lottery funding employee prizes and charitable giving in equal measure.

Financial recognition runs deep at JEMM, with an annual profit-sharing bonus program supplementing a $5,000 December charity donation chosen by employees each year and a $10,000 annual scholarship program supporting the children and grandchildren of staff.

Average tenure across the organization sits at 9.3 years. Sustainability efforts include a full switch to LED office lighting and recycling programs for engine oil and other fluids, alongside formal accessibility accommodations and annual leadership development retreats.

Annette Dhanasar, group director, human resources and privacy officer at HGC, says: “The culture of connection across Hansen’s Group of Companies is evident in the way we support, respect, and invest in one another every day. Whether someone is joining the organization, pursuing professional development, or celebrating a career milestone, they are encouraged to grow and succeed.”

Employee perspectives:

• “Human resources does a great job promoting our culture, programs, and benefits and keeping us updated via the HGC Insider. Management has invested in our technology, technical development, improving our work environment, and ensuring we are provided with the tools, support, and guidance we need,” says one employee. 
   

• “We communicate with each other well, we help each other out when needed like family, we all work well with each other, there’s no tension,” describes another. 
   

Flexible work became universal among this year’s winners, but Cognition+ and Kryton International were building it into daily life years before it became the baseline. 

Cognition+, a London, ON-based insurance technology company, has built its culture around a principle that might seem counterintuitive for a remote-first employer: connection has to be engineered, not assumed. With most of its workforce operating from home offices across Canada, new hires receive a $500 home office setup allowance along with a company-provided laptop, second monitor, keyboard, and mouse, alongside monthly all-staff meetings and a Summer Friday compressed-week program.

Recognition follows a similar deliberate design via a dedicated Slack channel built on the Matter recognition platform, tracking weekly engagement and naming a Most Valuable Participant who chooses a $25 gift card. Health and dental premiums are fully paid by the company, including eligible dependents.

Learning is treated with intentionality. Employees access over 30,000 courses through Udemy Business, logging over 700 hours of training in 2025 supported by a dedicated training budget covering course fees, designations, and travel costs.

The company’s semi-annual employee survey uses a Net Promoter Score format, which has already led to a flexible benefits plan, the Summer Friday program, and a peer recognition initiative, helping Cognition+ achieve an Employee Net Promoter Score of 63.

Katie Thibeault, HR manager at Cognition+, says: “We pair that flexibility with a strong investment in growth through challenging work, support for ongoing professional development, and company-wide learning initiatives, which resulted in more than 700 hours of employee training last year.”

Employee perspectives:

• “Cognition+ does a great job of listening to employees and following through on their feedback. There’s a genuine focus on employee well-being, recognition, flexibility, and professional growth, which helps create a culture where people feel supported, valued, and connected, even in a remote-first environment,” says an employee. 
   

• “Our organization does an excellent job of fostering a healthy work-life balance while maintaining a strong culture of collaboration. Team members are trusted to manage their responsibilities in a way that supports both personal well-being and professional success,” notes another. 
   

At Kryton International, a Vancouver-based construction materials manufacturer, culture is built less around formal programs than around a lived sense of belonging. Employees can bring their dogs to work, receive care packages during illness or caregiving, and are rewarded with a fully paid group trip to Mexico whenever the company hits its annual budget targets. The company offers unlimited sick days, alongside 90 days of caregiver leave, 90 days of study leave, and 30 days of mental health leave.

Retention reflects this approach, with average staff tenure standing at 8.9 years and turnover of between just one and five percent. Profit sharing, growth bonuses, and sales commissions extend financial reward beyond base salary, while milestone service awards at 10, 20, and 30 years pair plaques and monetary rewards with a spot at the company’s monthly staff meeting. Women make up 33 percent of Kryton’s executive level, above the company-wide average of 26.7 percent.

Marnie Perez, HR manager at Kryton International, says: “There’s also a strong sense of family here. Many employees have been with us for 10 to 25 years, and that creates a real connection and loyalty across the organization. The trips and the dogs may make great stories, but it’s the everyday culture and relationships that really drive retention.”

Employee perspectives:

• “We have a supportive, family-like culture where colleagues genuinely care for one another, work collaboratively, and celebrate each other’s successes,” expresses an employee. 
   

• “Employee pension plan, unlimited sickness, family oriented, profit sharing, and Mexico if we reach our goal,” points out another. 

While national commitment to diversity and inclusion slid further than any other benefit measured, Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada and Atlantic Beef Products built their workplace culture directly around the communities they serve and employ. 
 

Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada, headquartered in Toronto, builds accessibility into the foundation of its practices. Approximately 15 percent of the organization’s workforce identifies as blind or partially sighted, supported by dedicated employee committees that help shape accessibility improvements.

Recognition runs through a platform giving employees, managers, and executive leaders quarterly points to celebrate collaboration, innovation, and leadership, resulting in over 6,700 exchanges in fiscal year 2025.

A centralized wellness lounge brings together mental health, physical wellness, and financial well-being resources, alongside national and regional town halls.

Angelina Algranti, vice president, people and culture at Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada, says: “One of the greatest benefits of prioritizing accessibility is that it raises the standard for everyone. By intentionally designing our workplace to remove barriers, we’ve fostered a culture of inclusion, innovation, and continuous improvement where employees feel valued, supported, and empowered to contribute.”

Employee perspectives:

• “Staff training and employee wellness initiatives. We’re a very inclusive workplace that provides flexibility and promotes work-life balance,” shares an employee. 
   

• “Work-life balance, recognition, communication at all levels in the organization, teamwork, and collaboration is very strong, commitment to mission,” adds another. 

Atlantic Beef Products, based in Albany, Prince Edward Island, operates in an industry where production-floor turnover is often difficult to avoid and has responded by investing directly in competitive pay, tailored benefits, career growth pathways, and a program specifically designed to support newcomers to Canada and their families. The benefits package covers medical, dental, vision, life, disability, long-term care, mental health support, and fitness discounts, supplemented by annual salary reviews and an employee referral program.

Communication runs through quarterly town halls, weekly announcements, and an employee self-serve portal, while a social committee organizes sports events and community food bank support.

Bruce Andrews, president of Atlantic Beef Products, says: “The management and staff of Atlantic Beef Products Inc. recognize the challenges and opportunities encountered by new employees, especially those coming from outside the province or country. To ensure newcomers get off to a great start with ABPI, we assist them in their first few days and weeks with everything from paperwork to getting groceries and other needs they may have.”

Employee perspectives:

• “Strong support of the maritime economy and a service to the region’s beef producers. A great relationship with employees of diverse backgrounds,” notes an employee. 
   

• “I think from management to the floor workers, there is a good sense of connection and knowing the people you work with,” highlights another. 

How would you characterize the current state of Canada’s labour market, and what does that mean for employers and employees right now?

“Canada’s labour market in 2026 is no longer simply a ‘war for talent’. It’s a more complicated market where employers are balancing economic uncertainty and productivity pressures with the need to attract, develop, and retain the right people. The challenge has shifted from ‘How do I find people?’ to ‘How do I find the right people with the skills we actually need?’”

What are the best employers in Canada doing in 2026 to stand out and earn a reputation as an employer of choice?

“Being an employer of choice is increasingly about the quality of the employment relationship, not just compensation and perks. Employers, if they aren’t already, need to start asking ‘Why would a talented person choose our organization as a place to work and what would make them stay?’ ... They offer flexibility when the work allows for it. ... They invest in career development.”

What emerging benefits, policies or practices are gaining traction among top employers, and why are they resonating with employees?

“Being a top employer isn’t about having a list of trendy benefits. I think that the biggest play here is personalization and flexibility. Employees increasingly value benefits that recognize that people have different needs at different stages of life.”

What challenges are job seekers facing today, and how are leading employers addressing them?

“Getting that first ‘foot in the door’ opportunity. We’re seeing an interesting tension where employers say they need skills, but many entry-level opportunities are becoming harder to access because organizations are using technology and AI to automate some of the work that historically provided an entry point into a career. ... Leading employers are responding with internships, apprenticeships, co-op programs, graduate programs, mentorship, and skills-based hiring rather than relying exclusively on years of experience.”

Does what it takes to be an employer of choice vary across industries, regions, or company sizes in Canada?

“There’s no single Canadian employer-of-choice formula. For example, what attracts a nurse in rural Saskatchewan isn’t necessarily the same as what attracts a nurse in downtown Toronto. What I’m finding in the province of Saskatchewan, where I’m located, is that the value proposition is becoming more about meaningful work, creating community or making an impact in local community, career stability, and flexibility.”

The Best Companies to Work for in Canada |
Employers of Choice 2026

• 
  Atlantic Beef Products
   
  
• 
  City of Vaughan
   
  
• 
  JEMM Truck & Trailer
   
  
• 
  Kryton International
   
  
• 
  Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville