A renewable energy group is making its mark as an employer of choice
For the 2,300 Googlers working in the Great White North, technology giant Google continues to receive high marks as one of the best workplaces in Canada.
The company beat all other businesses named in Forbes’ annual list of top Canadian employers – landing in the No. 1 spot for the third consecutive year. It’s no surprise: Google has, for years, raised the bar in terms of offering the best employee perks.
In 2019, however, the tech firm nearly lost the crown to the University of Toronto, which this year dropped to the tenth spot. But employee retention remains one of the university’s strongest suits.
“We make a lifetime investment in people. We don’t hire for two years,” shared Kelly Hannah-Moffat, vice president of human resources and equity at U of T, during last year’s recognition.
The 2020 runner-up is clean energy producer Hydro-Québec, which employs nearly 20,000 workers.
People are proud of the company’s mission, according to Nathalie Dubois, vice president of human resources at Hydro-Québec.
“We contribute to the economy and the environment with green energy – it’s something that really glues the team together,” Dubois told Forbes.
The company’s candidate experience also wins points among job applicants for striving to be meaningful and productive and incorporating a feedback system into the screening process.
“We always make feedback part of the process,” said Dominic Roy, the firm’s HR services director. “If they still want to be in our pool of candidates, we call them when there’s another position.”
Forbes’ rankings are based on a survey of 8,000 Canadians at companies with a workforce of 500+. The respondents were asked how likely they were to recommend their employer to others (using a scale of zero to 10) and which other companies they were willing to recommend.
Here are the top 25 employers in Canada, according to their workers:
- Google, Toronto, ON
- Hydro-Québec, Montreal, QC
- Cisco Systems, Toronto, ON
- Costco Wholesale, Ottawa, ON
- Ubisoft, Montreal, QC
- Microsoft, Mississauga, ON
- Boeing, Winnipeg, MB
- Air Transat, Montreal, QC
- FedEx, Mississauga, ON
- University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
- General Dynamics, Ottawa, ON
- GlaxoSmithKline, Mississauga, ON
- Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC
- ABB, Saint Laurent, QC
- Pfizer, Kirkland, QC
- Ericsson, Mississauga, ON
- Apple, Toronto, ON
- BC Hydro, Vancouver, BC
- Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
- Starbucks, Toronto, ON
- Canada Cartage, Mississauga, ON
- Siemens, Oakville, ON
- Amazon, Toronto, OM
- Pratt & Whitney, Longueuil, QC
- Coca-Cola, Toronto, ON