NB Power named one of Canada's top 100 employers
Published Friday October 3rd, 2008
Workplace 'We keep raising the bar'
Two recent awards will not go to the heads of NB Power managers, one of them said Thursday in an interview.
Last month, the provincial electrical utility won the 2008 Canada Awards for Excellence Silver recognition for Healthy Workplace presented by the National Quality Institute.
The award, developed in 1998 based on the National Quality Institute's Canadian Healthy Workplace Framework, goes to organizations that demonstrate employee health and wellbeing as an integral and strategic part of the way they do business.
This month already, Meadiacorp Canada Inc. included NB Power in its list of Canada's Top 100 Employers.
Mediacorp, a publisher of employment guides and job-hunting periodicals, examined the recruitment histories of more than 75,000 employers across Canada, then invited 10,000 of the fastest-growing employers, plus 6,000 other companies and organizations, to apply for this year's competition.
More than 2,000 employers started this year's application process.
The editorial team reviewed eight key areas: physical workplace, work atmosphere and social, health, financial and family benefits, vacation and time off, employee communications, performance management, training and skills development, and Community Involvement.
"We feel privileged to be part of this prestigious group," said Paul Thériault's, NB Power's vice-president of human resources.
He credits NB Power's new "team based resources process" for internal recruiting to fill vacancies for much of this success.
NB Power no longer posts vacancies, inviting employees to apply for vacancies, he said.
Instead, the corporation does a psychometric assessment of every employee to predict the type of work which would lead to a successful career.
When a position opens, an employee team looks at what it needs to improve its performance. NB Power searches its database for the person with the skills the team says it needs, and offers that person the job.
"We've had some pretty interesting results from that system," Thériault said. In went into effect on Oct. 1 2007.
Besides this system, NB Power management meets with leaders of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers quarterly to discuss challenges.
NB Power stresses employee well-being, Thériault said, with regular health assessments and individual health plans.
Further, NB Power has cut loss time accidents from an average of 110 per year from 1978 to 1993 to one last year among 2,500 employees.
Awards like this leave NB Power with new challenges, Thériault said. "Where we go from here is we keep raising the bar."
More Business
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
