CALGARY- A Calgary-based airline has been ranked as Canada’s most attractive employer for the second year in a row.
The Randstad Award is based on the results of an annual survey that looks at companies’ finances, training opportunities, job security, benefits, salaries and if they provide a good work-life balance. The survey looks at the 150 largest companies in different countries, which have more than 1,000 employees.
WestJet has once again won the Canadian award, by placing first overall for interesting job content and offering a pleasant working atmosphere. It also did well in the categories of good training and strong management, and ranked as one of the most attractive employers for workers aged 25 and up.
“We’re very humble about these sort of things…but when we’re recognized, we’re very appreciative of that,” says Richard Bartrem, WestJet’s VP of communications and community relations. “We have a corporate culture that takes a tremendous amount of effort to maintain. It’s simple, but not easy.”
The airline is so serious about that culture, that they have an entire department dedicated to ensuring that they focus on employees first and foremost. They can also afford to: 80,000 people applied to the company last year.
“We’re fortunate that we get about 1,200 to 1,500 resumes a week. We get to pick people that we believe share our values.”
WestJet offers profit sharing complete with two big parties every year, and flexible work hours. They also recently found a way to give 100 of their call centre employees the ability to work from home.
The president of Randstad Canada says there has been a shift in what some job seekers rate as important, when considering a company as an employer.
“In companies now, you see men and women are both looking for interesting job content,” explains Jan Hein Bax. “Men more looking for career possibilities, while women are more looking for flexibility and like to feel more comfortable with how a company is doing. Men more ‘what is happening to me next.’”
However, it still comes down to the bottom line in many cases.
“The financial components and benefits as a whole rated more important than other ones,” Bax explains. “I think people feel more confident to market their skills. Last year it was more ‘what is the economy doing.’ Now, they’re more concerned about financial security or how a company is doing.”
He adds that the best companies identify the different needs of different age groups and ‘play to them,’ and that company culture is extremely important.
“Culture needs to be about clarity and honesty about what is good in a company, what’s bad, what needs to improve. Social media is being used now, and if you say something that is blatantly not true, people will find out. You need to have consistency about what you say to employees and clients.”
Job seekers are also increasingly going online to vet potential employers.
“We see very clearly that if a candidate wants to join a company, they’re look at Facebook, websites, then blogs. People have a wide area of information sources they use now, to gauge a company. If that’s not consistent with the message and behaviour, you’re not going to attract the right talent.”
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