Leading Employers Aren't Resting: Winners of the 2009 Canada's Top 100 Employers Competition are Announced

TORONTO, Oct. 2 /CNW/ - The authors of the annual list of Canada's Top 100 Employers have released their 2009 winners and this year's results are remarkable. "Even amid the market uncertainties we've seen over the past year," says Managing Editor Richard Yerema, "forward-thinking employers are redoubling their efforts to improve working conditions for employees who help them weather these economic storms." The result is an exceptional list (shown below) of employers that lead their industries in attracting and retaining top talent.

Now in its 9th year, the annual Canada's Top 100 Employers competition recognizes employers that are industry leaders at attracting and retaining employees. The competition is organized by Mediacorp Canada Inc., the nation's largest publisher of employment-related periodicals and online directories. To develop this year's Top 100 list, Mediacorp examined the recruitment
histories of over 75,000 employers across Canada that it tracks for its popular job search site, Eluta.ca. From this initial group, Mediacorp invited 10,000 of the fastest-growing employers, plus 6,000 other companies and organizations in industries that Mediacorp editors wanted to examine more closely, to apply for this year's competition. Employers were asked to complete an extensive application process that included a detailed review of their operations and HR practices. Over 2,000 employers started this year's application process.

In reviewing each employer's application, Yerema and his editorial team
reviewed eight key areas:
(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.

These criteria have remained consistent throughout the nine years of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project.

The editors' internal grades for each of these eight areas - with supporting reasons - are now published on Mediacorp's popular job search site, Eluta.ca. "Publishing detailed reasons for selection," says Publisher Anthony Meehan, "is a distinguishing feature of the Canada's Top 100 Employers competition. Besides providing transparency, it allows other employers to discover what these special organizations are doing - and to emulate these best practices."

In choosing the finalists, Yerema and the editorial team considered how each employer compared to others in its industry and region. This year's list includes large and small employers from a range of industries, offering varying benefits and working conditions. What is common to all winners is that each is an industry leader: from architectural firms to community housing
agencies, the employers chosen this year are leaders in their industry in attracting and retaining quality employees.

"This year was the most competitive since starting the Canada's Top 100 Employers project almost a decade ago," says Yerema. "We received a record number of applications from employers and our benchmarks for the areas we consider have increased in all industries and regions. These employers are leading the nation."

2009 WINNERS - CANADA'S TOP 100 EMPLOYERS (Below are the construction related companies)
Aecon Group Inc., Toronto ON
FSC Architects & Engineers, Yellowknife NT
HOK/Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, Toronto ON
Jacques Whitford Ltd., Dartmouth NS
PCL Construction Group Inc., Edmonton AB

See complete list here: LINK