The economy may be in a downturn, but the mood was decidedly upbeat last week at information technology company Protegra Inc. as employees gathered at its Winnipeg head office to plan strategy for the year ahead.
Gathered in the boardroom, Protegra's 63 employees enthusiastically joined in a discussion of developing new business, offering a range of suggestions for improving project efficiency and company performance. They smiled and cheered when they were told Protegra expects to grow its profits by 20 per cent this year and expand its business with an acquisition of another company.
Such animation might be expected from a group of employees who consider themselves partners in the privately held company, many of whom actually own shares, and who know their ideas and efforts will be key to the company's future, says Wadood Ibrahim, whose title may be chief executive officer but who is "just Wadood" to the company's staff.
The fact that there are no titles nor any corporate ladder to climb is one of the key factors Mr. Ibrahim believes is behind Protegra's top ranking in this year's list of the best small and medium employers in Canada, expanded to 50 this year from 25 last year.
It's the fifth annual survey by Queen's Centre for Business Venturing at the Queen's School of Business and Hewitt Associates, a global human resources services company, in partnership with The Globe and Mail.
The rankings are determined on the basis of surveys of employee engagement and effective human resources practices.
And, like many of the other winners, Mr. Ibrahim believes his company's emphasis on the strengths of its people will set it up well to face off against the rocky economy.
"We want to be around for the long term," Mr. Ibrahim says. "In difficult times, if you encourage people to innovate, they will find creative solutions."
Such a belief in the value of employees is what makes this year's 50 stand out over others, says Einar Westerlund, director of project development at the Queen's Centre for Business Venturing.
"What each of these winners has done especially effectively is to shape its strategies, policies, programs, practices and approaches to the uniqueness of its own particular work force and business needs," Mr. Westerlund says.
Employees in the winning organizations give high marks to their employer's ability to recruit and hire people who are able to fit in smoothly, as well as their support for employee development and efforts to acknowledge staff input and reward their contributions to success, he explains.
Those are the kinds of factors that are likely to keep employees motivated and give their employers an edge as they face an economy in which engagement, teamwork and innovation could mean the difference between thriving and merely surviving, Mr. Westerlund says.
What else does it take to become a Top 50 employer, and what lessons can be drawn from their experience? Here are six key ways in which top-ranked employers stand out:
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Winning companies share a focus on recruiting and retaining talented people who fit well with their corporate culture, Mr. Westerlund says.
For instance, at No. 3-ranked information technology developer Gibraltar Solutions Inc. of Mississauga, "we hire people who will think of each other as peers in a family," says managing director Don Lee.
Gibraltar looks for self-starting, experienced employees with a track record of success, he says. Many of its hires, in fact, have been found through existing employees, who nominate people they feel would make good family members.
And they are rewarded for their scouting efforts: $1,000 is paid to an employee for a recommended recruit who joins the company.
The family feeling "creates a culture in which people go out of their way to support each other," Mr. Lee says.
And that makes for little need for micromanagement.
"Everyone is treated as adults and professionals who know their part to play and are given the autonomy to make their own decisions," he says.
