BC Business
Becoming one of the best companies to work for in B.C. may seem a comprehensive journey but take heart, once you get there, being recognized for it is pretty straightforward.
The process on our end began in March when we once again partnered with the Vancouver office of Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a global HR consulting firm, to find the top employers in this province. Eligible for inclusion was any organization – private, public, Crown, university, municipality, branch plant, hospital, etc. – with at least 100 employees in B.C. To participate, companies had to register, and have their senior execs fill in a confidential online survey detailing their people practices. They were then asked to randomly select 30 per cent of their employees to complete an anonymous survey on what it’s really like to work there. (And here’s a tip: almost every year at least one boss figures he can ace that second part by marching a group of his most cowed staffers to the nearest computer to submit bogus responses. There are a number of ways that can be detected, and is detected.) In the summer, once the surveys were completed, Watson Wyatt crunched the data and, placing greater emphasis on the employee answers, assessed the companies. The criteria for the evaluation comes from their ‘four-pillar model of productive engagement,’ an analytical tool based on the notion that employees should:
Best Companies to Work for in BC: 1-800-Got-Junk:How to create employee evangelists Island Savings Credit Union: How to create trust Odlum Brown: How to reward performance Joe Fortes Seafood and Chop House: How to provide the right tools WCG International: How to provide training Cintas Canada: How to hire As evidenced in the preceding pages, this year’s ‘Best Companies’ can rest assured that their people know exactly what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.