Generous top-ups, ample vacation, health-care options, tuition subsidies and flexibility all must-haves for Canada’s Top 100 Employers
Time off has been a big focus at AltaGas in the past year. The Calgary-based energy company changed its vacation policy for the third time in eight years and reduced its workday from eight hours to 7.5. It also gives employees eight “corporate” days off and workers enjoy provincial statutory holidays from outside their jurisdiction.
“We tried to listen to employees in terms of what’s important and certainly time off stood out,” says Kent Stout, vice-president of corporate resources at AltaGas. “Time off, quality of life, work-life balance are the issues we’re taking to centre stage. And fun, we’re trying to inject that as well.”
AltaGas’s range of generous benefits is typical of employers on Canada’s Top 100 Employers list, published by Mediacorp Canada. To join the prestigious clan, organizations typically provide ample vacation, maternity leave top-ups, retirement savings options, bonuses, tuition subsidies and health benefits, along with fitness incentives and flexible work arrangements.
AltaGas evolves its benefits every year and tries to incorporate findings from annual employee surveys while balancing those desires with the resources of the company, says Stout.
“We have a highly competitive, challenging labour market in Calgary, particularly in the industry we operate in, so there’s lots of competition out there, lots of big oil and gas producers that have very attractive compensation packages, including benefits, so somehow — we’re not that large — we have to distinguish ourselves and attract and retain employees.”
AltaGas offers three weeks’ vacation to new employees but decided to steer away from flex days and instead offers five pre-designated corporate days aligned with long weekends, so employees can take a four-day break. Three other corporate days are given at Christmas, usually making for a 10-day break.
“Employees really like it because they don’t have to feel guilty, worrying about others working, because the office shuts down, so they can relax more,” says Stout.
Employees also enjoy quarterly events, contingent on financial success, that include scavenger hunts, cross-country skiing or dinners, with prizes such as WestJet gift certificates.
On the financial side, the 357-employee company provides signing bonuses, year-end bonuses up to $57,400, a share-purchase plan, a pension plan with employer contributions up to six per cent, life and disability insurance and discounts on home computers.
AltaGas also pays 100 per cent of health premiums and employees receive full family coverage. Family-friendly benefits include maternity leave top-up to 100 per cent of salary for six weeks, emergency short-term daycare and compassionate top-up payment to 100 per cent for one week.
“It’s a very competitive marketplace but we seem to be attracting good quality employees,” he says.
Healthy options, generous leaves at Bayer
Compensation is not the highest priority at Bayer. Instead, the Toronto-based pharmaceutical company focuses on the needs of its 963 employees by offering a range of benefits.
“We’re not trying to be the top payer, trying to be competitive, because we believe when employees look at all the offerings we have, it’s a very compelling package compared to the competitor,” says Gord Johnston, vice-president of HR at Bayer.
Employee surveys prompted the launch of a Life at Work program to meet the physical and emotional needs of employees, with benefits such as healthy food options, fitness classes and a conservation area.
In addition to a health-care spending account, employees can contribute to a savings plan that is partly matched by the company. They can then transfer a portion of the match into the health-care spending account on a tax-free basis.
“We’re finding people want that flexibility, they like the health-care spending account concept because they can transfer dollars in tax-free for larger purchases not covered by the plan, such as laser-eye surgery,” he says, adding Bayer is considering the same option for the company bonus.
Employees can enjoy summer hours if they put in extra hours and Bayer now gives four weeks of vacation to managers instead of three, which other employees receive to start, along with four weeks at five years and five weeks at 10 years, depending on grade level.
The thresholds could change again, says Johnston.
“We could easily provide that to employees with no cost,” he says. “It’s not causing any recruitment issues, any internal issues, so it’s the right balance for now.”
When it comes to more traditional benefits, changes are made based on “basically what our competitors are doing, what the U.S. organization is doing and looking at our own demographics and what we think might be a value-added benefit,” he says.
The company has a closed defined benefit pension plan and a defined contribution plan to which it contributes based on grade level. There is also a stock purchase plan matched by Bayer.
The employer provides up to $7,000 in tuition subsidies for unrelated courses every year. And employee referrals have increased, from $1,000 to $3,000, with Bayer gaining about one-quarter of its hires this way, says Johnston.
The company pays 95 per cent of health-care premiums and the plan is flexible. Employees receive full family coverage and there is retiree coverage with no age limit. Employees also receive discounted health-care products through an on-site store.
Bayer also provides a compassionate top-up payment of 100 per cent of salary for eight weeks. Top-ups for maternity leave, paternity leave and adoptive leave are 100 per cent for six weeks and are currently under review, says Johnston. (But if there is an increase, Bayer may introduce some kind of payback if an employee leaves shortly after returning from a leave, for retention value.)
While being a Top 100 employer has paid off in terms of attracting potential employees, he says, making the list isn’t the only factor guiding the company’s benefit decisions. “At the end of the day, it’s got to make business sense to change those areas and the culture of the company.”
Ramped-up recognition at MUHC
As part of Quebec’s public health-care system, McGill University Health Centre’s (MUHC) benefits are subject to collective agreements negotiated provincially. But two years ago the law changed, allowing employers to negotiate non-monetary clauses, so the Top 100 employer is focusing on areas such as vacation and access to promotions, says Vincent Altomonte, associate director of HR operations at the Montreal-based centre.
An academic health institution made up of five hospitals, MUHC recently raised vacation for managers from five weeks to six after five years, while other employees already have four weeks of vacation after their first year. The change was prompted by employee surveys, he says.
“Managers put in a lot of extra time, working weekends, evenings, so we were trying to find a way to compensate them and since we couldn’t modify the pay scales, we had latitude to move the vacation package.”
That approach applies to the development of most of the benefits at the 5,467-employee centre, he says.
“We’re trying to work on the non-monetary and put a lot of energy into recognition packages and accommodating flexible time, working within our boundaries to see how to accommodate employee needs, be they for family obligations or whatever.”
The centre has introduced on-the-spot rewards and online nominations by co-workers and the milestones for service awards were reduced from 20, 25 and 30 years to five, 10 and 15 years.
Top-ups are 93 per cent for 21 weeks for maternity leave, 100 per cent for one week for paternity leave and 100 per cent for 10 weeks for adoptive leave. There is also a generous compassionate leave that has been modified as many workers come from overseas.
“We rearranged leaves to try to meet the needs of our staff,” says Altomonte.
MUHC also tries to accommodate the particular needs of nurses by offering a mix of traditional hours with compressed workweeks.
“This permits younger nurses and professionals coming in to buddy-up with employees who have tenure and more experience, versus other institutions where the shifts are fixed, where senior staff work days and junior people work evenings, nights and weekends. New staff really appreciate that,” he says.
Just recently, the centre asked employees to come up with recommendations that could help the environment. One project involves the collection of batteries commonly used in pagers. There are also events, such as Christmas parties, a Halloween party for kids and departmental retreats. And the centre has improved its discount partnership with different corporations, such as the Montreal Ballet and the Brick.
The range of benefits has helped put MUHC on the Top 100 list but “the pressure’s on to be on again and our aim definitely is to stay on it next year,” says Altomonte.
“We tried to listen to employees in terms of what’s important and certainly time off stood out,” says Kent Stout, vice-president of corporate resources at AltaGas. “Time off, quality of life, work-life balance are the issues we’re taking to centre stage. And fun, we’re trying to inject that as well.”
AltaGas’s range of generous benefits is typical of employers on Canada’s Top 100 Employers list, published by Mediacorp Canada. To join the prestigious clan, organizations typically provide ample vacation, maternity leave top-ups, retirement savings options, bonuses, tuition subsidies and health benefits, along with fitness incentives and flexible work arrangements.
AltaGas evolves its benefits every year and tries to incorporate findings from annual employee surveys while balancing those desires with the resources of the company, says Stout.
“We have a highly competitive, challenging labour market in Calgary, particularly in the industry we operate in, so there’s lots of competition out there, lots of big oil and gas producers that have very attractive compensation packages, including benefits, so somehow — we’re not that large — we have to distinguish ourselves and attract and retain employees.”
AltaGas offers three weeks’ vacation to new employees but decided to steer away from flex days and instead offers five pre-designated corporate days aligned with long weekends, so employees can take a four-day break. Three other corporate days are given at Christmas, usually making for a 10-day break.
“Employees really like it because they don’t have to feel guilty, worrying about others working, because the office shuts down, so they can relax more,” says Stout.
Employees also enjoy quarterly events, contingent on financial success, that include scavenger hunts, cross-country skiing or dinners, with prizes such as WestJet gift certificates.
On the financial side, the 357-employee company provides signing bonuses, year-end bonuses up to $57,400, a share-purchase plan, a pension plan with employer contributions up to six per cent, life and disability insurance and discounts on home computers.
AltaGas also pays 100 per cent of health premiums and employees receive full family coverage. Family-friendly benefits include maternity leave top-up to 100 per cent of salary for six weeks, emergency short-term daycare and compassionate top-up payment to 100 per cent for one week.
“It’s a very competitive marketplace but we seem to be attracting good quality employees,” he says.
Healthy options, generous leaves at Bayer
Compensation is not the highest priority at Bayer. Instead, the Toronto-based pharmaceutical company focuses on the needs of its 963 employees by offering a range of benefits.
“We’re not trying to be the top payer, trying to be competitive, because we believe when employees look at all the offerings we have, it’s a very compelling package compared to the competitor,” says Gord Johnston, vice-president of HR at Bayer.
Employee surveys prompted the launch of a Life at Work program to meet the physical and emotional needs of employees, with benefits such as healthy food options, fitness classes and a conservation area.
In addition to a health-care spending account, employees can contribute to a savings plan that is partly matched by the company. They can then transfer a portion of the match into the health-care spending account on a tax-free basis.
“We’re finding people want that flexibility, they like the health-care spending account concept because they can transfer dollars in tax-free for larger purchases not covered by the plan, such as laser-eye surgery,” he says, adding Bayer is considering the same option for the company bonus.
Employees can enjoy summer hours if they put in extra hours and Bayer now gives four weeks of vacation to managers instead of three, which other employees receive to start, along with four weeks at five years and five weeks at 10 years, depending on grade level.
The thresholds could change again, says Johnston.
“We could easily provide that to employees with no cost,” he says. “It’s not causing any recruitment issues, any internal issues, so it’s the right balance for now.”
When it comes to more traditional benefits, changes are made based on “basically what our competitors are doing, what the U.S. organization is doing and looking at our own demographics and what we think might be a value-added benefit,” he says.
The company has a closed defined benefit pension plan and a defined contribution plan to which it contributes based on grade level. There is also a stock purchase plan matched by Bayer.
The employer provides up to $7,000 in tuition subsidies for unrelated courses every year. And employee referrals have increased, from $1,000 to $3,000, with Bayer gaining about one-quarter of its hires this way, says Johnston.
The company pays 95 per cent of health-care premiums and the plan is flexible. Employees receive full family coverage and there is retiree coverage with no age limit. Employees also receive discounted health-care products through an on-site store.
Bayer also provides a compassionate top-up payment of 100 per cent of salary for eight weeks. Top-ups for maternity leave, paternity leave and adoptive leave are 100 per cent for six weeks and are currently under review, says Johnston. (But if there is an increase, Bayer may introduce some kind of payback if an employee leaves shortly after returning from a leave, for retention value.)
While being a Top 100 employer has paid off in terms of attracting potential employees, he says, making the list isn’t the only factor guiding the company’s benefit decisions. “At the end of the day, it’s got to make business sense to change those areas and the culture of the company.”
Ramped-up recognition at MUHC
As part of Quebec’s public health-care system, McGill University Health Centre’s (MUHC) benefits are subject to collective agreements negotiated provincially. But two years ago the law changed, allowing employers to negotiate non-monetary clauses, so the Top 100 employer is focusing on areas such as vacation and access to promotions, says Vincent Altomonte, associate director of HR operations at the Montreal-based centre.
An academic health institution made up of five hospitals, MUHC recently raised vacation for managers from five weeks to six after five years, while other employees already have four weeks of vacation after their first year. The change was prompted by employee surveys, he says.
“Managers put in a lot of extra time, working weekends, evenings, so we were trying to find a way to compensate them and since we couldn’t modify the pay scales, we had latitude to move the vacation package.”
That approach applies to the development of most of the benefits at the 5,467-employee centre, he says.
“We’re trying to work on the non-monetary and put a lot of energy into recognition packages and accommodating flexible time, working within our boundaries to see how to accommodate employee needs, be they for family obligations or whatever.”
The centre has introduced on-the-spot rewards and online nominations by co-workers and the milestones for service awards were reduced from 20, 25 and 30 years to five, 10 and 15 years.
Top-ups are 93 per cent for 21 weeks for maternity leave, 100 per cent for one week for paternity leave and 100 per cent for 10 weeks for adoptive leave. There is also a generous compassionate leave that has been modified as many workers come from overseas.
“We rearranged leaves to try to meet the needs of our staff,” says Altomonte.
MUHC also tries to accommodate the particular needs of nurses by offering a mix of traditional hours with compressed workweeks.
“This permits younger nurses and professionals coming in to buddy-up with employees who have tenure and more experience, versus other institutions where the shifts are fixed, where senior staff work days and junior people work evenings, nights and weekends. New staff really appreciate that,” he says.
Just recently, the centre asked employees to come up with recommendations that could help the environment. One project involves the collection of batteries commonly used in pagers. There are also events, such as Christmas parties, a Halloween party for kids and departmental retreats. And the centre has improved its discount partnership with different corporations, such as the Montreal Ballet and the Brick.
The range of benefits has helped put MUHC on the Top 100 list but “the pressure’s on to be on again and our aim definitely is to stay on it next year,” says Altomonte.
