Published on 01/6/2010

Three insurance companies among Canada’s top 50 employers

The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine, along with Hewitt Associates, has released its annual survey of the country’s most impressive employers. In their eleventh year of compiling the 50 Best Employers in Canada list, Hewitt and ROB reviewed applications from 134 Canadian organizations.

Among the top fifty were several insurance firms.

Chubb Insurance Company of Canada came in at number 16, compared to number 27 last year.

Guelph, Ontario’s The Co-operators was ranked this year at eighteenth, slightly down from its twelfth spot last year.

Regina’s Co-operators Life Insurance rose in the ranks this year, from 41 last year to 32.

Regionally, 25 of the country’s top employers are based in Ontario. Nine are from Alberta, six from BC and four from Quebec. Saskatchewan is home to three of the top fifty, with Manitoba and Nova Scotia each with one. The last company is jointly headquartered in Quebec and Ontario.

Hewitt Associates said that the primary requirement to be named a Best Employer is high “employee engagement” – a measure of how positively employees feel about their employer, how likely they are to stay, and how committed they are to doing their utmost to achieve business objectives.

Best Employers are determined by the results of three surveys: the Employee Opinion Survey, the Leadership Team Survey and the Human Resources Survey.

Two construction firms took the top two spots in the annual list of the Fifty Best Employers in Canada.

Edmonton's PCL Constructors took the top spot after finishing second on last year's list and EllisDon Corp. of London, Ontario, finished second.