Manitoba employers are hiring in record numbers

Thursday, 17 March 2022 04:22.PM

There's never been a better time to be looking for employment in Manitoba, where employers have benefited from a widely diversified economy that's now firing on all cylinders. That's the message from this year's Manitoba's Top Employers, announced this morning by Mediacorp Canada Inc., which organizes the annual Canada's Top 100 Employers project.

"Manitoba is fortunate to have a diversified base of employers," says Kristina Leung, senior editor of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project. "This helped the province during the pandemic and today we can see that Manitoba employers are poised for growth." The latest Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada confirmed that Manitoba has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, with labour shortages in many fields.

"The pandemic accelerated changes in the economy that had started to take place," adds Anthony Meehan, Publisher at Mediacorp. "From technology to financial services and agribusiness, manufacturing to higher education and healthcare, Manitoba has world-class employers that are well-positioned to benefit from these changes. Customers far beyond its borders are buying what Manitoba has to offer – and this has created unprecedented opportunities for job-seekers."

Some notable initiatives singled out by the editors this year include:

• Canada Life encourages a holistic approach to employee well-being, offering a wellness spending account (to $600 annually) and a mental health practitioner benefit (to $5,000) as part of its health benefits plan. Additionally, the company reset annual benefit maximums for an interim 6-month period during the pandemic, doubling the amount of health and dental coverage available to employees.

• Arctic Co-operatives focuses its charitable efforts on the advancement of co-operative education, families, youth, social issues, the environment, and food security in the Arctic. During the pandemic, the co-op coordinated the shipment of over 100 tons of food to Arctic communities.

• Bold Commerce encourages ongoing employee development with tuition subsidies for outside courses, whether or not they are related to an employee's current position. The company also hosts unique 'Innovate or Die' days (48-hour hackathons) and encourages employees to dedicate 10% of their time working on anything that develops their skills.

• Wawanesa Insurance helps employees balance their work and personal lives with a variety of flexible work options and paid sick days when needed. The company recently introduced a distributed work option program to allow employees to choose where they work best: in the office, at home or a hybrid of both.

• Payworks has a program ('Pay It Forward) to support communities where the company operates, providing employees paid time off to volunteer – in addition to matching employee donations (up to $400 per employee annually). The Pay It Forward committee also helps employees find unique opportunities to volunteer.

Published annually since 2006, Manitoba's Top Employers is a special designation that recognizes Manitoba employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work. Employers are evaluated by the editors at Canada's Top 100 Employers using the same 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 offer the most progressive and forward-thinking programs. The annual competition is open to any employer with its head office in Manitoba and employers of any size may apply, whether private or public sector.

Founded in 1992, Mediacorp Canada Inc. is the nation's largest publisher of employment periodicals. Since 1999, the Toronto-based publisher has managed the Canada's Top 100 Employers project, which includes 18 regional and special-interest editorial competitions that reach millions of Canadians annually through a variety of magazine and newspaper partners, including The Globe and Mail. Mediacorp also operates Eluta.ca, one of Canada's largest job search engines, which reaches millions of unique visitors annually and features editorial reviews from the Canada's Top 100 Employers project. The company also publishes The Career Directory, now in its 29th year – a free online guide for recent college and university graduates looking for employers hiring candidates from their educational background.

The full list of Manitoba's Top Employers for 2022 was announced in a special magazine co-published this morning with the Winnipeg Free Press. Detailed reasons for selection with additional stories and photos were released simultaneously on the competition homepage: https://www.canadastop100.../

SOURCE: Mediacorp Canada Inc.