Manitoba's rich diversity of industry ranges from high-tech manufacturing to finance, insurance, health care, education and its popular credit unions. Add in the perks and policies offered by this year's winners, such as flexible work options, continuous learning and generous parental leave top-ups, and you'll find employers that are competitive with leading companies nationwide.

For instance, Turning Leaf Community Support Services, a non-profit organization providing crisis intervention and treatment services for vulnerable people, offers competitive wages, a healthy benefits package and a strong focus on opportunities for growth and development.

"We're constantly growing so there's plenty of room for growth internally," says Andrea Whittle, recruitment manager at Turning Leaf. "We prefer to look internally first to fill all our vacancies before searching externally. If people need to increase their skill set, we have a full training department, including internal courses for leadership."

Whittle describes the organization's culture as "very person-centered", not only for participants enrolled in their programs, but for employees as well. That helped the organization manage the challenges of working throughout the pandemic and adapting to a post-pandemic environment.

"We already had a very strong culture, so the pandemic just made us more adaptable and resilient with all the changes," says Whittle. "We even grew by 50 per cent in our Intensive Home Supports program. Early on, we gave tablets and cell phones to our community participants so we didn't lose our connection with them and did social events online with staff to stay connected that way as well.

"Our current flexible arrangements are working out very well for employees," she continues. "The flexibility increases morale and allows those with families and personal commitments to find more of a work-life balance. But for the most part, we try to do as much as we can in person to make that personal connection."

With a vision focused on helping farmers succeed, the community for Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA) extends beyond Manitoba. For four decades, the organization has helped Western Canadian farmers better market their farm commodities and support the working capital needs of their farms by providing farmers access to cash advances. In addition, the association's work in policy development and advocacy affects positive change in seven key policy areas affecting Canada's 43,000 canola farmers.

"Agriculture is a very big part of Manitoba's economy and our people are proud to be part of this vibrant sector," says Larysa Motruk, vice president, human resources at CCGA. "Our new recruits are really inspired by what we do and how we show we care. As a relatively small organization, we are creative in how we offer learning and career opportunities, and people appreciate that."

When the pandemic hit, the organization had to quickly adjust to remote work – something its teams hadn't done before. Today, CCGA has a hybrid policy, with employees working three days in the office and two at home, with flexible options.

"Adapting to hybrid work is a learning process and we continue to make adjustments to adapt to the business and employee needs," says Motruk. "That may take some time to figure out – it might be completely different two or three years down the road. The key is to listen to what your employees are looking for and how that can work for the business, and then how we can merge those two things so we all benefit from it."

Whatever tomorrow brings, it's a fair observation that Manitoba's Top Employers will still thrive. As Yerema notes, "provinces like Manitoba that are more community-oriented have fared much better in terms of the pandemic. It's very hard to damage a solid community easily."

– Diane Jermyn

From the official magazine announcing Manitoba's Top Employers (2024), co-published with the Winnipeg Free Press on March 19, 2024. All rights reserved.