Want an authentic culture? Empower your people to speak up

For Diana Godfrey, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources and Corporate Affairs at Fidelity Canada, being a great place to work goes beyond brand or strategy – for her, it all comes back to the people. Godfrey told HRD that Fidelity’s diverse mix of employees collectively fosters a culture of openness and honesty.

“We pride ourselves on having a culture where people are free to speak up,” she explained. “When people feel empowered to voice their opinions, it allows us to adapt our practices and meet the needs of the business as a whole.”

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While Godfrey always knew her employees at Fidelity were one-of-a-kind, the pandemic highlighted the dedication of the entire organization through their unbreakable sense of community, despite operating through unprecedented times.

“The level of commitment that employees have shown to our clients, to each other, and to the organization throughout the pandemic has been exceptional,” she added. “And because of that, we really went above and beyond in supporting them too. While the pandemic was disruptive, it also allowed us to better know and understand our people. We saw them continually giving 100% in remote work – balancing their families and their responsibilities with their commitment to the company. That was pretty inspiring to see.”

At Fidelity, their unique set of perks are as generous as they are personalized. Godfrey told HRD that even if their packages don’t include a specific type of benefit, there are additional funds that employees can dip in to from time-to-time.

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“We really want to make sure that our programs are the best ones for our employees,” she explained. “As such, we have a relatively traditional benefits program, but it's a very generous program that’s intended to fulfil the needs of all of our employees and their families. That, in and of itself, can be challenging – so, we've added a flexible component, so that if it's not covered in our program, there’s some spending that's available to our people.”

From flash draws for concerts and sporting events, to two treat days per week, Fidelity is all about people coming together to encourage collaboration and, ultimately, fun. Looking ahead to the rest of 2022 and beyond, Godfrey revealed that she’ll be taking a core focus on mental health – as well as supporting their people back to dynamic working, Fidelity Canada’s flexible working program.

“From an HR perspective, mental health and wellbeing is still top of mind for us,” added Godfrey. “The challenges people have experienced aren't going away – and while we probably had a lot of them before, we really weren't as cognizant of them as we needed to be. Nowadays, we’re all just more in tune to it. To build awareness and eliminate the stigma, Fidelity has been involved with CAMH and has hosted training for our employees for years. I'm proud that we’re recognizing that and making changes. At Fidelity, our programs will continue to develop, we always strive to look for best practices, learning from our colleagues, the inspirational organizations out there, and the industry as a whole.”