Canada’s Top 100 Employers, an annual editorial competition to recognize the nation’s best places to work, has named its 50 best small and medium-sized employers for 2014.
Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers is a new competition that recognizes small and medium enterprises that “lead the nation in creating exceptional workplaces with forward-thinking human resources policies”. The 2014 winners were announced this morning in The Globe and Mail. Among some of the notable winners in tech are Freshbooks, Big Viking Games Inc., Fusion Learning Inc. and more.
“For several years, we have noticed a growing number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that provide their employees with great benefits and valuable workplace perks,” says Richard Yerema, Managing Editor of the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project . “Not only are these SMEs matching many of the workplace policies once found only at larger organizations, but their nimble size allows them to innovate and adapt new programs more quickly than larger employers.
Canada’s Top 100 Employers is a presented by Toronto-based Mediacorp. Publisher Tony Meehan said that the new competition recognizes “the vital role that small and medium enterprises play in the working lives of most Canadians and the nation’s economy”.
“Small and medium enterprises employ almost two-thirds (63.7 percent) of private-sector employees in Canada and account for over half of the nation’s gross domestic product,” he said.
The 2014 winners in alphabetical order are:
Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc.
Hatfield Consultants Partnership
Magna Electric Corporation / MEC
North Cariboo Flying Service Ltd.
Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. / RJC
The companies were evaluated by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers using eight criteria: Physical Workplace; Work Atmosphere & Social; Health, Financial & Family Benefits; Vacation & Time Off; Employee Communications; Performance Management; Training & Skills Development; and Community Involvement. To determine eligibility, the Top 100 editors adopted the SME definition used by Statistics Canada, limiting the competition to private-sector commercial organizations with under 500 employees.
