The annual list of top employers in B.C. includes dozens of businesses, ranging from sawmills to supermarkets, from massive government organizations to small software companies.
For the third year in a row, the list also includes Whistler Blackcomb, one of Canada’s most famous ski resorts. The news was no surprise to Joel Chevalier, who’s worked for Whistler Blackcomb since 1999, when he “gave up the suit and tie for the ski suit.”
“It’s a fun organization to work for,” said Chevalier, now vice-president of employee experience at Whistler Blackcomb. “It’s a cool place to be.”
Editors of the B.C.’s Top Employers list evaluate companies on eight criteria, including work atmosphere, benefits and community involvement.
Chevalier said a positive workplace culture is a “top priority” for several reasons.
For one thing, he said, Whistler Blackcomb’s customers “don’t fly from all over the world to meet with senior executives at Whistler Blackcomb. They fly from all over the world to deal with our front-line staff, who are delivering that amazing experience. And if our people aren’t happy, then that experience isn’t as good as it could be.”
Whistler Blackcomb was also recognized last year as one of Canada’s Top Ten Most Admired Corporate Cultures in the mid-market category, named alongside three other B.C. companies in the same category: Canadian Direct Insurance, Coast Capital Savings and Flight Centre Travel Group.
That list, released in November by executive search firm Waterstone Human Capital, selected 40 national winners in four categories.
Whistler Blackcomb has 2,948 full-time employees, according to the Top Employers list, released last week by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers.
Some of the largest employers on the list include the B.C. Public Service, with 24,901 full-time employees; the Fraser Health Authority, with 12,136 full-time staff; and the Telus Corporation with 24,532.
On the other end, some of the companies that made the list of top employers employ only a few dozen people, such as Vancouver’s 6S Marketing Inc., with 26 full-time workers, and Columbia Power Corporation, a hydroelectric power company based in Castlegar with 39 employees.
