How to find a great employer

Everybody wants a good job with a great employer. One of the best ways to identify top companies is to take a look at the many lists of award winning organizations that are released each year.

Companies participate in top employer studies because they know top employer rankings are noticed by job applicants. In fact, a recent Canadian HRReporter Pulse survey on the perceived merits of top employer lists revealed that about a third of survey respondents were currently participating in a top employer competition and about a half have participated in one of these studies in the past.

Whether company location, size, diversity practices or social responsibility are important to you, there are organizations that have been recognized as best in class.
 
Here are a few of the lists published each year that may help you to narrow your job search.

The Best Employers in Canada and the Best Small & Medium Employers in Canada: 

These studies are conducted by the consulting firm Aon Hewitt in conjunction with the Queen's University School of Business. Another spin off is the list of Best GTA Employers .

Two hundred and fifty-one Canadian employers took part in the 2011 Best Employers studies. Organizations were selected as best employers based primarily on survey responses from more than 134,000 Canadian employees at these organizations measuring their level of engagement.

Canada’s Top 100 Employers:

Each employer is evaluated by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers using the following eight criteria: physical workplace; work and social atmosphere; health, financial and family benefits; vacation and  time off; employee communications; performance management; training and skills development; and community involvement. Then employers are compared to other organizations in their field to determine which offers the most progressive and forward-thinking programs.

This list is particularly useful as you can click on the name of each company and get a detailed summary of its submission under each of the eight criteria and how the organization is rated in each category.

Canada’s Best Diversity Employers:

Canada’s Best Diversity Employers recognizes employers across Canada that have exceptional workplace diversity and inclusiveness programs.

This competition examines a range of diversity initiatives covering five major employee groups: women; members of visible minorities; persons with disabilities; aboriginal peoples; and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered/transsexual people.

To determine the 2011 winners of the Canada's Best Diversity Employers competition, Mediacorp editors reviewed the applications of employers for the 2011 Canada's Top 100 Employers project (see above). Again, you can click on each company in the list and see a summary of their winning diversity practices.

The Branham300 Online:

The Branham300 Online ranks Canadian tech companies by revenue. There are also listings of a number of sub-groups including the top 25 multi-national information and communications technology companies operating in Canada. In addition, industry breakouts such as top software and top ICT security companies are available.

While revenue information tells you little about the company’s business practices, it at least speaks to their solvency. In addition, many of the high ranking tech companies (i.e Research in Motion and Telus) can be found on other best employer lists noted above.

The Top 50 Socially Responsible Corporations:

The Top 50 Socially Responsible Corporations in Canada were selected on the basis of their performance across a broad range of environmental, social, and governance indicators tracked by Jantzi-Sustainalytics. These companies have demonstrated strong performance in areas such as environmental initiatives; impact on local communities; treatment of employees; and supply-chain management. Some are notable for their development of products or services that contribute directly to sustainability.

Each of the companies featured is either Canadian-listed or a wholly owned subsidiary of a foreign-listed company with significant operations or brand presence in Canada.

Again, many of the top socially responsible companies (i.e. BMO Bank of Montreal, TD Bank Financial Group, Enbridge Group) have also been recognized as top employers. 

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