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http://www.canadastop100.com/manitoba/
There's  listing of the best employers of 2018.
It says the selection process: "Employers are evaluated by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers using the same eight criteria as the national competition: (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. Employers are compared to other organizations in their field to determine which offers the most progressive and forward-thinking programs."
There seems to be many of them that have mentoring, surveys every 12 months, 3 weeks paid vacation in the first year, flexible hours. St John's Ravenscourt pays their employees to volunteer for charities, which I think is a great idea.
Jaime

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Great-West Life Makes Forbes Top 100 Employers

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Great-West Life Makes Forbes Top 100 Employers

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I am proud to see that Great-West Life has made the top 100 list of employers! It has been a big year for the organization but through it all they have always kept their employees informed and engaged. Working for an organization that truly values the employees and the community is something I am proud of and proud to be apart of.

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This is an article from Jan 13, 2018 on the Winnipeg Free Press. It starts off the discussion of the importance of individuals looking at themselves starting the year off right but also how businesses should also be looking at the areas of their business to improve its performance and Employee Engagement is one of those areas! It's great to see that by doing a search in Google it doesn't take long to find articles such as this outlining the importance of Employee Engagement (along with other areas) but the more these topics are talked about the more we will see a shift in our organizations! Work directly affects everyone we come in contact every single day and the more we emphasize engagement the happier our community will be.

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Mirror, mirror on the wall - time for corporate self-reflection.

Last week, I wrote about the importance of personal self-reflection and self-awareness as a good place to start for a new year. In my view, the same concept applies to organizations, whether or not these are private sector, government, and/or not-for-profit agencies. While I realize many organizations conduct an annual strategic planning process where they look at where they're going in the future, I'm not certain enough attention is being paid to their current human resource status. Thus, I am suggesting that corporate self-reflection in the following areas might assist in creating a positive 2018.

Reflect on your human resource role

I am pleased to see that smaller organizations are now often employing a human resource professional as compared to other years. However, if the HR is not sitting at the corporate table where decisions are being made, then you are not getting full use from this employee. In fact, you are putting HR behind the so called "eight ball", always catching up instead of lending "just in time" support for any changes you are making. Give your HR person a more strategic role.

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Mirror, mirror on the wall - time for corporate self-reflection.

Last week, I wrote about the importance of personal self-reflection and self-awareness as a good place to start for a new year. In my view, the same concept applies to organizations, whether or not these are private sector, government, and/or not-for-profit agencies. While I realize many organizations conduct an annual strategic planning process where they look at where they're going in the future, I'm not certain enough attention is being paid to their current human resource status. Thus, I am suggesting that corporate self-reflection in the following areas might assist in creating a positive 2018.

Harry Wessel / The Orlando Sentinel

Reflect on your human resource role

I am pleased to see that smaller organizations are now often employing a human resource professional as compared to other years. However, if the HR is not sitting at the corporate table where decisions are being made, then you are not getting full use from this employee. In fact, you are putting HR behind the so called "eight ball", always catching up instead of lending "just in time" support for any changes you are making. Give your HR person a more strategic role.

Reflect on organization structure

When was the last time you reorganized to increase your efficiency and effectiveness? Have you grown, but not incorporated additional structural support? Evidence shows that a flat organization with few leaders and managers and sometimes no job titles or job descriptions can fall flat on its face, especially when no one wants to take responsibility. What is your organization structure and is it working effectively? Perhaps it is time for an organization review.

Reflect on yoursexual-harassment policy

With the hyper vigilance and high profile career crashes occurring as result of the sexual-harassment #Metoo campaign, now might be the time to review your sexual-harassment policy to see if it is robust enough. Is there a whistleblower clause? Are there instructions for reporting inappropriate behaviour by senior staff? Is the investigation process and reporting clear?

Reflect on new cannabis legislation

Although the new legislation is postponed, take time to reflect on how the new cannabis legislation will impact your organization. While the medical marijuana legislation has been in place for some time, recreational cannabis is what is worrying most organizations. At the same time, review the alcohol policies and determine how these two issues can be combined.

Reflect on social media policy

Most organizations today have a website and social media policies related to the use of internet and social media in the workplace. However, few have paid much attention to the use of social media by employees outside of work. Several organizations have been caught unaware of inappropriate behaviour outside of work that reflects on their public relations image. It's time to reflect on your social media policy, reconstruct this to include behavior outside of work and to educate employees on your expectations.

Reflect on workplace analytics

Analytics today is more than keeping tabs on employee attendance; in fact, it can provide much more information for overall corporate decision-making. With new sophisticated software, managers can now identify the need for new departments and/or employee positions and/or which departments or positions should be reassigned and/or eliminated. Analytics can identify the elements that influence job satisfaction and/or predict future challenges and/or needs and help with organizational change issues. Where is your organization with respect to making good use of workforce analytics?

Reflect on succession planning

For the most part, baby boomers have moved out of the workforce and today those millennials are your "older" generation. What is the status of succession planning in your workplace? Have you identified individuals who could replace an employee should something happen? Have you built in development plans for these individuals? Failing to think about succession planning could leave you stranded with a large hole in a specific service area.

Reflect on leadership development

Leadership training was the biggest growth area in 2017, in particular because leadership style has changed. No longer is the traditional top-down hierarchial mode of leadership effective. Thankfully, leadership style has continued to move much more toward coaching of employees. This has led to ensuring that new leaders are also taught to coach and mentor their employees. In addition, corporations are noticing higher benefit costs for mental-health claims and so better training for managers is needed. Reflect on your leadership development program and determine if new freshness is required.

Reflect on training and development

Staying competitive means much more than purchasing new equipment. It means that all your employees need to be fully trained in order to keep productivity high and effective. In particular, with the use of teamwork, employees need training on the so-called "soft skills" so that they can build effective workplace relationships. Positive relationships help build strong morale and harmonistic workplace cultures.

Reflect on compensation

With the anticipated 2.3 per cent average salary increase for 2018, it is time to reflect on the status of your compensation framework. Have you sustained a strong compensation system and/or has it been applied in a haphazard way so that salaries are not based on the market rate and/or equal pay in the workplace? What is the impact of a poor system on recruitment, retention and even morale? Perhaps it is time to conduct a whole new job evaluation process.

Reflect on employee benefits

The trend for 2018 is to reduce costs and improve efficiency, especially in the area of short-term and long-term disability. However, simply dropping your support for current areas of health-care coverage will do more damage than good. Conduct a thorough analysis with respect to employee benefit costs and reflect how and where costs could be reduced. Think about educational programming to help employees manage their health and so that managers can be more cognizant of mental health issues in the workplace.

Reflect on employee engagement

Employee engagement is defined as creating a workplace where employees want to give their best every day and are committed to the organization. Research has been showing that too many employees in too many organizations are "disengaged," thus impacting corporate success. So it is no wonder that Morneau Shepell's annual trends in HR survey identified that 65 per cent of participants wanted to focus on employee engagement in 2018. Corporations can't afford the cost of ambivalence. When you look in the mirror, can you define your level of engagement?

Reflect on flexibility

Technology is greatly increasing the flexibility workplaces have with respect to the where, when and how work takes place. With VPN connections to the workplace and with sites such as Skype and Zoom, employees can now work at home more easily and be part of any teamwork activities. Flexibility is also a tool to attract new employees. Take time early in the new year to reflect on how you can apply flexibility in your workplace. Corporate self-reflection and self-awareness as a good place to start for a new year. What will you be doing?

Source: Human Resource Trends for 2018 Morneau Shepell

Barbara J. Bowes, FCPHR, CMC, CCP, M.Ed, is president of Legacy Bowes Group. She is also an author of eight books, a professional speaker, executive coach and workshop leader. She can be reached at barb@legacybowes.com and/or barbarabowes.com.

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Time to reflect on improving your business this year

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Mirror, mirror on the wall - time for corporate self-reflection. Last week, I wrote about the importance of personal self-reflection and self-awareness as a good place to start for a new year. In my view, the same concept applies to organizations, whether or not these are private sector, government, and/or not-for-profit agencies.

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True North has a culture of engaged, motivated and challenged people that live their goals and mission. They made Manitoba's top 100 employers 2018!
I think it is remarkable what this organization and the people have brought to Winnipeg and I am always so excited to hear more about what they dreams are for Winnipeg.

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We Are True North. For our employees, it's not just a tagline, it's a way of life. A culture has developed where our employees are engaged, challenged and motivated. We are intentional in ensuring our employees personal values, match our organizational values of Team, Trust & Respect, Doing the Right Thing and Continuous Improvement. Beyond common values, our company seeks to find the best people in their respective fields, who produce outstanding results and desire to overachieve. Additionally, our team members are passionate about the community they live in, demonstrated by their unwavering commitment to making positive, long-lasting contributions.

True North is always looking for people who embrace our values to join our team. Visit our Careers page for more information.

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Our People - True North Sports + Entertainment

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We Are True North. For our employees, it's not just a tagline, it's a way of life. A culture has developed where our employees are engaged, challenged and motivated. We are intentional in ensuring our employees personal values, match our organizational values of Team, Trust & Respect, Doing the Right Thing and Continuous Improvement.

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CUCM  communicates information of importance to Manitoba credit unions. CUCM is proud of its positive work environment.  CUCM’s corporate giving is driven by decisions its employees make – as individuals and as a group through staff club events and the United Way/All Charities Campaign – about their own philanthropy. CUCM matches employee donations to organizations whose aims are consistent with CUCM’s core values.  By adding a Community Leadership & Engagement score to the company balanced scorecard, CUCM incents employees to donate time to organizations’ ongoing activities or special projects.

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Hey guys! I've never used Padlet before but i'm just wondering if when you author a new post here and don't move it over to a "free" space if that is what is causing the inability to read full comments or to add comments to some posts? If so - could the authors of those posts just move them over a touch! I only ask because i realized i commented on one as anonymous and went to edit it but couldn't' because i can't reach the bottom of my comment!

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While this definitely isn't an example of engaged employees, i feel like it provides a very real example of how employees who feel like their voice isn't being heard by their employers can turn even the most engaged employee into a disengaged or actively disengaged employee and how the results of that can lead to actions such as an entire union group going on strike.

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WINNIPEG -- More than 2,200 Safeway workers in Manitoba are being asked to give their union a strike mandate after a break-off in contract talks with Sobeys West Inc.

The United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 832, says the company is threatening to close some of its stores in the province if the workers don't agree to cuts.

Local president Jeff Traeger says they hope to return to the bargaining table on March 5 with an overwhelming strike mandate.

The union contract expires on March 17.

Jacquelin Weatherbee, Sobeys' director of external communications, says the company is committed to working toward a deal that works for everyone.

Sobeys has 23 stores in Manitoba, including 18 in Winnipeg.

"It's like bargaining with a gun to your head. It's a really bad situation for our members," said Traeger, who believes it's similar to what's happening to Safeway workers in British Columbia.

Last month the union said the company was closing 10 stores in that province, but if it received favourable terms and conditions for its FreshCo discount banner outlets it could open five of those in the shuttered Safeway locations.

"We've been bargaining for the workers (in Manitoba) for five decades. There's a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get the workers to where they are now and it seems Sobeys wants to turn the clock back to the 1960s and 1970s," said Traeger. (Winnipeg Free Press)

(Companies included in this story: TSX:SBY)

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Manitoba Safeway workers' union hopes for strike mandate to back contract talks

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WINNIPEG -- More than 2,200 Safeway workers in Manitoba are being asked to give their union a strike mandate after a break-off in contract talks with Sobeys West Inc. The United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 832, says the company is threatening to close some of its stores in the province if the workers don't agree to cuts.

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The link shows up strange on my computer - but if you click it, it's still functioning. Hopefully it works on the other end because I was really excited to find this one! Even though its an older article, back from 2012, a lot of it still rang true today. I liked the mention of the story of the jets - or the strategic narrative. It gives the brand a meaning and engages the jets players in becoming part of that comeback story. While its taken us a while from where we were in 2012, with a supporting fan-base and a young team motivated to grow and achieve, we're finally starting to see those results on the score-boards. Despite some tough injuries in the 2018 season, the team has been able to pick up the slack, continuing to be engaged, and each develop their strengths for overall team depth. It is this depth and focus along with the great brand that has helped the team to "rise together."

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Are you game? Last week I attended my first Winnipeg Jets hockey game. It is a challenge to get tickets as the 15,000 seats are always sold and the season tickets sold out in a couple of minutes for the first 3 or 4 years. Thanks to my neighbour Andy, who knew someone, my wife and I finally got to a game with the Winnipeg Jets playing the Boston Bruins. We (notice the sense of identification) beat the Bruins, the Stanley Cup champions, 4 to 2. But the real story for this employee engagement site is the lessons we can learn from the Jets for employee engagement. To have a positive impact on engagement you don't need to read another business or leadership book, you may just need to look at thing right in front of you and look for the lessons that apply to employee engagement. Engagement is the strength of connection to work, results, the organizations, and each other.

Lesson 1: An engaging story. Winnipeg lost their NHL franchise to Phoenix about 15 years ago. This season we got an NHL team back in Winnipeg. This has become an engaging and classic story of pride, loss, challenge, and victory through return of the team to Winnipeg. This is not quite the Odyssey but it certainly has elements of a very powerful story that fully engages the city of Winnipeg. Even my massage therapist wears a Jets jersey on game day because her young son will not let her leave the house without putting it on. Our logo, of the fighter jet, hints of the battle to win a team back. The feverish passion of Jets fans may be just as much about the narrative story as the players on the ice. What story does your organization tell that engages employees? Are your employees part of the story?

Lesson 2: An engaged brand. The Winnipeg Jets have a wonderful logo and a strong brand. In today's age though your brand is less what you say it is and more what your customers and employees say it is. The company responsible for bringing the Jets to Winnipeg is True North Sports & Entertainment Ltd. It must thrill their ears before every game during the singing of O Canada to hear 15,000 fans shout out the words TRUE NORTH embedded in the lyrics of O Canada. What would it take for your employees and customers to" shout out" your brand?

Lesson 5: Progress and Set backs. Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer in The Progress Principle wrote about how important progress is for engagement and that setbacks are very detrimental to engagement. Set backs are two times as powerful as progress so it is vital to prevent and guard against set backs. The Jets are built around solid goalies and strong defense. Is your organization designed to maintain engagement by being built to prevent setbacks that would diminish both progress and engagement?

David Zinger is an employee engagement expert and a fan of the Winnipeg Jets. He founded and hosts the 4600 member global Employee Engagement Network. If you would like to learn more about engagement visit his website or contact him at zingerdj@gmail.com

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Winnipeg Jets - David Zinger - Employee Engagement Speaker

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Are you game? Last week I attended my first Winnipeg Jets hockey game. It is a challenge to get tickets as the 15,000 seats are always sold and the season tickets sold out in a couple of minutes for the first 3 or 4 years.

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Grace Hospital - Wait times increasing...a result of disengagement? 

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Grace Hospital - Wait times increasing...a result of disengagement? 

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Discussed on nearly every night's news segment lately has been the changes to Winnipeg's hospitals and emergency care clinics. I found this article interesting as it sites overall wait times across Winnipeg emergency rooms are down, but the Grace, though expected to increase volume in acute care needs based on the changes and provided additional capacity to support such, is experiencing increases to wait times. While the city had provided additional positions to staff the volumes, length of stay for patients and wait times are continuing to increase. While part of the issue could still be a lack of manpower to cover the increased volumes, I suspect there may also be disengagement as a result of the changes, job requirements, and likely lack of communication/employee involvement in the reorganization decision. Based on the class reading, disengagement can lead to decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, and less "going above and beyond" for the best of the organization. With employees feeling disengaged as a result of the reorganization, I suspect this has contributed- at least in part, to the increased wait times and length of stay for patients at the Grace.

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Overall wait times in Winnipeg emergency rooms may be down since the Pallister government launched its hospital reorganization plan in October. But wait times for ER patients at Grace Hospital who require a hospital bed are skyrocketing.

Manitoba's Wait Time Reduction Task Force, released in December, warned that once Victoria closed its doors as an acute care facility - one of the key changes under government's hospital consolidation plan - the majority of its acute care patients would wind up at Grace. Trouble is, Grace doesn't have the capacity to absorb the increase. And the data is bearing that out.

According to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority's Phase 1 evaluation report released Wednesday, the volume of patients requiring admission at Grace is up a staggering 51%. And while some resources were added to accommodate that surge, including an extra 2.1 full-time equivalent physician positions and 7.0 FTE in nursing, it hasn't been nearly enough.

The "length of stay" median wait time for ER patients sick enough to be admitted to hospital jumped 32% to 18.6 hours during the first three months of the WRHA's consolidation plan, compared to the same period a year before. The 90th percentile wait time for those same patients - where nine out of 10 patients get a hospital bed within the reported time - soared 23% to nearly 42 hours. That means some patients languished in the ER for close to two full days before getting a bed on a medical ward.

That's not progress.

Grace is the only hospital in the city that has seen a substantive increase in any of its ER wait times. ER wait times have dropped at most other sites. Which means Grace, which had markedly improved its ER wait times in recent years, is bearing the brunt of the patient volume load.

Concordia and St. Boniface hospitals have also seen significant increases in the number of admitted patients since consolidation - 24% and 29% respectively. But their length of stay wait times for admitted patients have dropped. In Concordia's case, the median wait dropped significantly, by 33%.

"The Grace had made a huge improvement and we don't want to lose that," Lori Lamont, the WRHA's acting chief operating officer, said Wednesday.

But they are losing it, at least so far. Phase 2 of the consolidation plan, which includes shutting down Seven Oaks and Concordia hospitals as acute care facilities, is expected to be announced sometime over the next two months, said Lamont. And those changes, along with other tweaks to the system - including expanding capacity at Grace and diverting patients to other hospitals - should help alleviate pressure at the Grace, said Lamont.

"It's not a single thing and it's not a simple thing," she said. "But we are very aware that we don't want the Grace to lose the progress that they have made."

The WRHA has another problem, too. Under the consolidation plan, the WRHA shifted less acute patients to new "sub-acute" beds at Victoria Hospital, which is no longer an acute care facility. Until recently, those less acute patients were spread out among all facilities, in many cases taking up acute care beds even though they didn't need the same level of care.

But the sub-acute beds at Victoria are now full, causing a new "bottleneck" in the system, according to the evaluation report. And steps will have to be taken to expand that capacity, possibly by opening more sub-acute care beds at Seven Oaks and Concordia sooner than expected.

All of this is starting to feel a little bit like musical chairs. Only the chairs are hospital beds and the players are patients. Is the WRHA really getting the right care for the right patient at the right time? Or are they just shifting patients between facilities?

Sometimes it's hard to tell.

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Overall wait times in Winnipeg emergency rooms may be down since the Pallister government launched its hospital reorganization plan in October. But wait times for ER patients at Grace Hospital who require a hospital bed are skyrocketing.

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I saw a story on the news tonight surrounding some of the changes the Forks Market is going through. While at first, my thought was the Forks Market employees were engaged from the facts on the news. Global mentioned the increased profitability experienced by new additions such as "the common" and new dining options coupled with later hours of operation than traditionally offered. After reading the attached article for WFP related to the changes, its clear the Market is going through a period of transition. It appears the long-time tenants mentioned in this article felt "a real detachment between the management and the vendors" leading them to question continuing their involvement with the forks based on differing visions. This leads me to believe the change has not been positively received and the makeover is also a sort of re-branding to provide space and leases to those organizations with a shared vision for the new forks market, while severing the relationships with long-term tenants that failed to adapt and commit to the new business model.

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It's just after 10:30 a.m. Friday when The Common at The Forks Market really begins to buzz.

Two women on a doughnut date talk business while typing away at laptops. Senior citizens chow down on early lunches brought from home. A mom dashes after her toddler who made a beeline for The Almond Tree candy store. A Spotify playlist curated by Manitoba Music crackles over the speakers.

The Forks, a 6,000-year-old meeting place, is alive and well in Winnipeg, though it's undergone some major changes in the last few years.

The most recent shuffle is the closure of Sydney's, a 100-seat fine dining restaurant located on the market's second floor. Owner Michael Schafer said the closure is "due to very personal reasons" he didn't want to elaborate on publicly.

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It's just after 10:30 a.m. Friday when The Common at The Forks Market really begins to buzz.

Two women on a doughnut date talk business while typing away at laptops. Senior citizens chow down on early lunches brought from home. A mom dashes after her toddler who made a beeline for The Almond Tree candy store. A Spotify playlist curated by Manitoba Music crackles over the speakers.

The Forks, a 6,000-year-old meeting place, is alive and well in Winnipeg, though it's undergone some major changes in the last few years.

The most recent shuffle is the closure of Sydney's, a 100-seat fine dining restaurant located on the market's second floor. Owner Michael Schafer said the closure is "due to very personal reasons" he didn't want to elaborate on publicly.

JESSICA BOTELHO-URBANSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Sydney's is closing for very personal reasons.

Sydney's is serving its last suppers on the weekend, by reservation only, though its lease is up at the end of the month.

Chelsea Thomson, manager of marketing and communications for The Forks North Portage Partnership, said The Forks hasn't decided what will go in the vacated spot yet.

"We're not in a super rush to fill spaces," she said Friday. "We want to make sure (to find) the right tenant for the place."

The market's sales have seen a 30 per cent increase across the board in the last year, Thomson said, but there's no waitlist for new tenants clamouring to get in.

So far at least two new businesses are moving in soon. McNally Robinson will offer a bookshop on the second floor, likely open by February, Thomson said. And Jenna Rae Cakes will open a second, smaller store at the market, hopefully by March, owner Ashley Illchuk said.

JESSICA BOTELHO-URBANSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

New tenants coming to The Forks include Jenna Rae Cakes and McNally Robinson.

There are still a few old standbys, like Fro-gurts and Skinner's, who have been around since the market's launch in 1989. Taste of Sri Lanka opened six months after that and continues to do well, said owner Peter Bastians. Sales went up 60 per cent last summer from the year before and 20 per cent in the winter.

Still, Bastians said he worries about the variety of food vendors at the market - or lack thereof. Having three places serving Italian-influenced food - PASSERO, Red Ember and Zorba's Pizza - pits those tenants against one another, he said.

Thompson said an "independent food hall advisory committee" helps curate a wide variety of options and the menus for the three Italian spots mentioned differ from one another.

Chief among the changes at The Forks is obviously The Common, where it can be tough to even find a table most nights. Here, running clubs, families, tourists and myriad millennials convene for dinner and drinks.

For five years, Generation Green, an eco-friendly store focused on beauty and health supplies, occupied a first-floor stall in the same hallway as Fergie's Fish 'n Chips and Beachcomber. But when The Forks needed to make more seating available, management asked if Sherry Sobey would move Generation Green upstairs. She contemplated the idea, but ultimately declined. The new lease and renovations - which would factor into her rent costs - would be too expensive, she said.

JESSICA BOTELHO-URBANSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Fools and Horses opened its second location at The Forks last year.

Now set up in the Exchange District, Sobey said she found twice the square footage for far less rent. She enjoyed her five years at The Forks, but saw "a real detachment between the management and the vendors."

"I do appreciate the fact that with all these changes, it is a business in the end that they're running," she said. "It's just unfortunate that it's kind of losing that home-grown kind of grassroots appeal to it. It was really focused at one time on being a family destination whereas now it's more a millennial destination."

The Forks is trying its best to appeal to all demographics. "If it's a place that Winnipeggers want to go to, then the tourists will come too," Thompson said. And hordes are coming - an estimated 30,000 people showed up last Sunday when the weather warmed up.

Other developments on the Forks' horizon include looking for a possible festival replacement for Interstellar Rodeo, which announced it was leaving Winnipeg last year.

If railside redevelopment plans go as scheduled, people could soon be living at The Forks, too, Thompson said. Construction for residential development could start as soon as 2019, over the surface parking lots near Union Station.

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @_jessbu

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It's just after 10:30 a.m. Friday when The Common at The Forks Market really begins to buzz. Two women on a doughnut date talk business while typing away at laptops. Senior citizens chow down on early lunches brought from home. A mom dashes after her toddler who made a beeline for The Almond Tree candy store.

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I was reviewing articles on Manitoba Hydro. Manitoba Hydro is voted on of the top employers. This company is very engaged in it's employees. The benefits are focused on the employees family such as family responsibility leave of 6 days annually. There is also an internal employee fund that the company matches to help employees with medical expenses that are not covered under any other plans.  They have their own board to help others.  I have read a lot about engaging employees but realize companies like Manitoba Hydro are also engaged in the Public like supporting programs such as Project Search (Disability Access Program) that helps students and young adults get work experience to prepare for the workforce.  Engaging the community is also important because people will want to work for companies that are focused on the people which in return helps companies.

Here is a link of the level of engagement and programs offered.

Top Employer: Manitoba Hydro

Other in-house communications | formal policy to encourage employees to contact senior personnel directly, including the CEO

https://content.eluta.ca/top-employer-manitoba-hydro

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I looked up the top employers in Manitoba for 2018 and found it interesting that a lot of the focus, for all of them, is employee engagement.

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The company I read stories and articles on is GOOGLE. I think that the engagement level in the company is beyond great. It ranks as the best place to work at and the employee are treated great. They get to travel and have open discussion with each other. There is forums every week where employees can ask questions regarding their job at Google. They have their own activities, they can work out and stay fit which I think would really help with engagement at the office. I would defiantly say that employee are well engaged at work and if they enjoy coming to work it would be that much better. Engaging your employee like they do at google would help to drive productivity, boast morale, and increase knowledge for sure.
http://www.businessinsider.com/google-best-things-about-working-at-2016-8

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This was a youtube clip that i had watched in a previous course about Google and there employees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY8v-O5Buyc

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Short video about engagement at my workplace

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Louise Gauthier

I was intrigued with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.  Details of their collective agreement for journalists, technicians, graphics were in the cultural industries section of the January 22 2018 issue of the Canadian Labour Reporter (www.labour-reporter.com)  This organisation is also on the top Manitoba employers list for several consecutive years as well as the top 100 Canadian employers.  Many of their benefit premiums(medical, short term disability, dental, life insurance, AD&D) are 100% paid by the employer.  Other indirect benefits such as bereavement leave are generous (ex. 3 days for a cousin).  They have numerous benefits and programs to assist students and employees (mat leave, bursaries, etc).  Not only are they taking care of their people, the societal benefits to the work they do in shining a positive light, giving a voice to our First Nations and breaking a long cycle of racism is invaluable and cannot be expressed in numbers.

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In 1998, all Karyn Pugliese wanted to do was to live and breathe the news.

But the fresh Carleton journalism grad and single mom struggled to get a break, feeling "like a kid who couldn't get a chance to play in the schoolyard."

Heartbroken, she became a technical writer in the federal government to stay near her family in Ottawa - while polishing off a masters degree in history on the side.

A chance call from a professor, along with her being a member of the Algonquin First Nation of Pikwàkanagàn, led to a job as a news researcher for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Inc. (APTN ), a national network with programming by, for and about aboriginal people.

After honing her craft there from 2000 to 2006, Ms. Pugliese went on to work for Vision TV and then for the Assembly of First Nations before coming full circle back to APTN this year as director of news and current affairs at their Winnipeg headquarters.

"APTN did two things - the formal training and the chance to get your hands dirty," says Ms. Pugliese, 42.

"If you failed, it was okay. They let you make mistakes. In my second year there, stories broke about some controversial legislation that was going through and next thing I knew, I was a parliamentary reporter. What they did was very smart, pairing me with a cameraman with years of experience on the Hill. They always made sure I had the support I needed."

That support allowed Ms. Pugliese to schedule work around her child custody agreement. If she took her son along when reporting from out of town, the company helped to find and pay for daycare.

Named to Canada's 100 Top Employers for the first time, APTN continues to find resources to invest in its staff. It's a priority and a key reason why the company made the list for 2013, along with other first-time winners such as Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. and The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT).

Approximately one-quarter of the organizations named to the list each year are new.

Besides supporting ongoing education and career development as well as offering flexible work arrangements, other perks among the top companies typically include generous top-up payments for new and adoptive parents, extended health benefits and a variety of profit sharing, pension plans and retirement programs.

So how do these winning companies do it, especially in slower times? APTN cuts back on other things but not on people, according to CEO Jean LaRose. With almost half of their employees taking advantage of training and development opportunities, he looks for savings elsewhere by asking staff to come up with cost-cutting ideas for their departments and by shaving substantial amounts off flights.

"WestJet has these seat sales, so if managers know they have travel coming up, staff go online and book flights at the best rates," Mr. LaRose says. "Over the past few years, we've saved about half a million dollars in flight costs. All of that money stays within the organization to pay for things like training and development programs."

While APTN prides itself on being an employer of choice for aboriginal people, with a low turnover, many first-timers to the Top 100 see the award as an effective recruitment tool.

For that reason, Sheila Bassi-Kellett, deputy minister of human resources for the GNWT, says they are thrilled to be on the list. As a growing organization in the process of devolution - transferring responsibilities from the Government of Canada to the GNWT - they're anxious to attract more employees to the North. While about one-third of their work force is aboriginal, a percentage they want to increase, Ms. Bassi-Kellett says they still need people to come from elsewhere.

She believes what makes the GNWT notable - besides generous compensation and leave packages, such as five paid holidays during their dark winter - is a chance to make a difference.

"We're a very horizontal organization," Ms. Bassi-Kellett says. "As a deputy minister, I regularly have contact with interns and program officers, which is not a reality in bigger governments like Ontario. So the opportunity to actually have an impact - to have access to decision makers and be able to present innovative ideas - really exists within our government. That's incredibly attractive."

One area where the GNWT is very aggressive in recruiting is their student and intern summer program, designed to promote a northern work force and provide a taste of what the public service has to offer. It worked out well for Martin Goldney, now the executive director and chief negotiator for the GNWT's Office of Devolution. Mr. Goldney spent five summers as a student for the GNWT, starting when he was a university undergraduate.

"I'd come back and work for the GNWT doing everything from being a driver examiner for transportation to eventually working in the legal division for the Department of Justice," says Mr. Goldney, who grew up in Yellowknife. "That led to an articling position and being hired on as a lawyer. Those summers made me feel that this might be a career I wanted."

At the Toronto headquarters for Shoppers Drug Mart Inc., Mary-Alice Vuicic, chief administrative officer and executive vice-president for human resources and public affairs, says that being named as one of Canada's top employers provides an objective validation of their organization and is an important benefit for recruiting. With offices across the country, the company is the licensor of retail drug stores operating under the name Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix in Quebec.

"Our objective is to be an employer and a franchisor of choice," Ms. Vuicic says. "When people are looking for jobs, they want to know if the company has been recognized by others as a good place to be associated with and a good place to work."

But what she believes sets their company apart is their ability to listen - to customers, employees and franchisees - through extensive surveying of their people and listening sessions twice a year with an open Q and A.

"Every year we do engagement surveys across the business, with participation rates of roughly 90 to 95 per cent," Ms. Vuicic says. "We focus very keenly on the results of those surveys with specific action plans that we report on and track throughout the year."

Ms. Vuicic believes that their high participation rates, even after five years of employee surveys, speaks to the fact that people feel something will be done as a result of their feedback, so there is a sense of empowerment.

Empowerment is also what Ms. Pugliese feels being back at APTN, where if one her staff needs help or she has questions, there's an open-door policy.

"APTN is just this very creative and supportive place where everyone says, 'Nothing is impossible; we can figure this out,' " Ms. Pugliese says. "We're really a team."

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In 1998, all Karyn Pugliese wanted to do was to live and breathe the news. But the fresh Carleton journalism grad and single mom struggled to get a break, feeling "like a kid who couldn't get a chance to play in the schoolyard."