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'Canada's Top 100 Employers' is an annual competition that recognizes the best places in Canada to work. First held in 1999, the project aims to single out the employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional working conditions and progressive human resources policies. Winners are announced each October in Maclean's magazine,^[1] with the full reasons for each employer's selection published shortly afterwards in a popular paperback book. The annual paperback is one of Canada's most-reviewed business books^[2] and is published by Mediacorp Canada Inc., which also manages the annual competition.

Contents

Selection Process

Academic Advisory Board

2007 Winners

Regional and Special-Interest Competitions

Top Employer Summit

References

External links

Selection Process

Employers are evaluated by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers using eight criteria: (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.^[3] Employers are compared to other organizations in their field to determine which offers the most progressive and forward-thinking programs. Any employer with its head office or principal place of business in Canada is eligible for the award. Employers of any size may submit an application, whether private or public sector.

Academic Advisory Board

A blue-ribbon Academic Advisory Board oversees the selection criteria for each year's Canada's Top 100 Employers competition. The distinguished panel members, drawn from universities across Canada, have each written or edited a major human resources textbook in Canada.^[4] The current advisory board is chaired by Dr. Daniel A. Ondrack, who is Academic Director of Executive Programs and Professor of Management at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Other members of the advisory board include: Dr. Richard J. Long, Professor of Industrial Relations & Organizational Behaviour at the College of Commerce, University of Saskatchewan; Dr. Nina Cole, Associate Professor of Human Resources Management at Ryerson University; and
Dr. Andrew Templer, Professor of Management & Labour Studies at the Odette School of Business, University of Windsor.

2007 Winners

The following employers were chosen by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers for their 2007 list (in alphabetical order):

★ Abebooks Inc.

★ Alcoa Aluminerie de Deschambault

★ Algorithmics Incorporated

★ Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc.

★ AltaGas Income Trust

★ Altana Pharma Inc.

★ Appleby College

★ Assiniboine Credit Union Limited

★ Association of Management, Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario, The / AMAPCEO

★ Atlantic Lottery Corporation Inc.

★ Bank of Montreal

★ Bayer CropScience Canada Inc.

★ Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

★ Business Development Bank of Canada / BDC

★ Canada Post Corporation

★ Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto / CCAS Toronto

★ Cementation Canada Inc.

★ Ceridian Canada Ltd.

★ Christie Digital Systems, Inc.

★ Cognos Incorporated

★ Conexus Credit Union

★ Cronus Technologies Incorporated

★ Dalsa Corporation

★ Diagnostic Chemicals Limited / DCL

★ Dofasco Inc.

★ Durham Regional Police Service

★ Ecotrust Canada

★ Effem Inc.

★ Enbridge Inc.

★ EPCOR Utilities Inc.

★ Ernst & Young LLP

★ Export Development Canada

★ Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

★ Farm Credit Canada

★ Fidelity Investments Canada Limited

★ Frank Russell Canada Limited

★ G•A•P Adventures Inc.

★ General Dynamics Canada, Ltd.

★ Golder Associates Ltd.

★ Great Little Box Company Ltd., The

★ Halifax Herald Limited, The

★ Hamilton Health Sciences

★ Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co.

★ Hill & Knowlton Canada

★ HSBC Bank Canada

★ I Love Rewards Inc.

★ iAnywhere Solutions, Inc.

★ IKEA Canada Limited Partnership

★ Indigo Books and Music Inc.

★ Jacques Whitford Environment Ltd.

★ Keane Canada, Inc.

★ KPMG LLP

★ Kwantlen University College

★ Laurentide Controls Ltd.

★ Law Society of Upper Canada, The

★ L'Oréal Canada Inc.

★ MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.

★ Manitoba Liquor Control Commission

★ MBNA Canada Bank

★ Medavie Blue Cross

★ Microsoft Canada Co.

★ Mintz & Partners

★ New Flyer Industries Ltd.

★ North Atlantic Refining Ltd.

★ Oliver Bonacini Restaurants

★ Patient News Publishing Inc.

★ PCL Constructors Inc.

★ Pfizer Canada Inc.

★ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

★ Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. / P&G Inc.

★ Progressive Solutions Inc.

★ Radical Entertainment Inc.

★ Research In Motion Limited / RIM

★ Rogers Insurance Ltd.

★ Royal Canadian Mint

★ Royal Canadian Mounted Police / RCMP

★ SAS Institute (Canada) Inc.

★ SaskTel

★ Seven Oaks General Hospital

★ Shell Canada Limited

★ Sophos Inc.

★ Spruceland Millworks Inc.

★ Sun Life Financial Assurance Company of Canada Inc.

★ Suncor Energy Inc.

★ Syngenta Crop Protection Canada, Inc.

★ Thomson Nelson

★ Toronto Hydro Corporation

★ Toronto International Film Festival Group

★ Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc.

★ University Health Network / UHN

★ University of Toronto

★ Urban Systems Ltd.

★ Vancouver City Savings Credit Union / VanCity

★ Vancouver, City of

★ Veer Incorporated

★ Wardrop Engineering Inc.

★ WorleyParsons Komex (International) Ltd.

★ Yanke Group of Companies

★ Yellow Pages Group

★ Regional Municipality of York, Ontario
A unique feature of the annual Canada's Top 100 Employers competition is that the reasons for each employer's selection are published by the judges each year.^[5] In addition to making the competition transparent, this provides guidance to other employers on how they can improve their own workplaces and benefits. The Globe and Mail newspaper has praised this aspect of the competition, going so far to call the annual publication of the judges' reasons "an instant bible to human resources professionals and job seekers" alike.^[6]

Regional and Special-Interest Competitions

In addition to the national competition, the organizers of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project also manage 18 other "top employer" competitions with 22 large newspaper and magazine partners across Canada.^[7] These include regional competitions in British Columbia,^[8] Alberta,^[9] Saskatchewan,^[10] Manitoba,^[11] Greater Toronto,^[12] Hamilton-Niagara, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ottawa,^[13] Montreal,^[14] New Brunswick, Nova Scotia^[15] and Newfoundland. Also included are five special-interest competitions that recognize Canada's best employers for family-friendly benefits,^[16] young people,^[17] recent immigrants,^[18] older people,^[19] and earth-friendly workplaces,^[20] plus the Financial Post newspaper's Ten Best Companies To Work For competition.^[21] Employers complete a single application to be considered for all the competitions.

Top Employer Summit

Each spring, the organizers of the Canada's Top 100 Employers competition host a unique policy-oriented conference that brings together the writers and editors who work on the project.^[22] Held annually since 2004, the Top Employer Summit explores topics related to the competition in a non-commercial format and is Canada's largest annual event for senior-level HR professionals.^[23] Presenters at the conference have included Al Gore, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Stephen Lewis, Joe Clark, Peter Mansbridge, Dick Pound and Richard Bolles. Speakers at the event are hand-picked by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers to bring CEOs and senior HR professionals the latest thinking on becoming an employer of choice.

References

1. Maclean's Magazine Cover Story, October 13, 2006
2. Press Reviews, Canada's Top 100 Employers
3. Selection Criteria, Canada's Top 100 Employers
4. Academic Advisory Board, Canada's Top 100 Employers
5. List of Finalists, 2007 Canada's Top 100 Employers
6. The Globe and Mail, "Much Ado About Lists", May 21, 2003
7. Media Partners, Canada's Top 100 Employers Project
8. BC's Top Employers
9. Alberta's Top Employers
10. Saskatchewan's Top Employers
11. Manitoba's Top Employers
12. Greater Toronto's Top Employers
13. National Capital Region's Top Employers
14. Montreal's Top Employers
15. Nova Scotia's Top Employers
16. Canada's Top Family-Friendly Employers
17. Canada's Top Employers for Young People
18. Best Employers for New Canadians
19. Top Employers for Canadians Over 50
20. Canada's Most Earth-Friendly Employers
21. Financial Post's Ten Best Companies to Work For
22. Conference Program, 2007 Top Employer Summit (PDF)
23. Top Employer Summit

External links

★ CanadasTop100.com