Award Presented By Morneau Shepell & The Globe and Mail 

(Toronto, ON) March 23, 2018 – Canada’s leading corporate trade company, Active International, is honoured to be recognized as an Employee Recommended Workplace. The initiative presented by Morneau Shepell and The Globe and Mail recognizes and awards Canadian organizations that have successfully achieved a healthy, engaged, and productive workforce. A confidential survey that is completed by employees helps evaluate and score a company’s workforce in four areas: physical, mental, work and life. Companies that achieve a total health score above a certain threshold become recognized as Employee Recommended Workplaces, and are representative of healthy spaces in which employees thrive.

This is the second annual instance of the Employee Recommended Workplace Awards, and Active International is proud to be selected as one of the top workplaces for the second year in a row.

Active International is committed to employee growth and career development, and offers a variety of opportunities for internal advancement. Most recently, two employees that began their careers at Active as Media Assistants were promoted to Media Supervisors, after less than 4 years with the company. Active also supports inter-departmental transitions; when one employee went on maternity leave, Active recognized the career aspirations of two members of the Media team, and supported their transitions to the positions of Marketing Manager and Social Media Specialist.  

Active International also encourages participation in external learning opportunities such as industry conferences and events across all levels of the organization. Active also recently launched a Tuition Assistance Program which provides encouragement and financial assistance to employees interested in self-development and career advancement. The program allows employees to improve their effectiveness in current positions and prepare themselves for related future assignments. 

In addition to participating in the Employee Recommended Workplace initiative, Active International conducts its own internal annual employee satisfaction survey and has achieved an overwhelmingly positive score of over 90% for the last 4 years, topping the charts with an internal satisfaction score of 94% this past year. Through recurring meetings in which company results are shared across all teams, Active maintains a high level of engagement, a positive work environment and a strong culture that reinforces one of its core values of trust. Active uses the results of its internal Employee Satisfaction Survey to develop initiatives to improve on lower-scoring areas. Employees have a voice and help to shape the programs that are introduced year-over-year. 

One of the areas of focus in 2017 was Rewards and Recognition. Celebrating employee achievements is at the top of Active’s radar, and an Employee Anniversary Program was launched to commemorate Milestone Anniversaries and recognize employees for 5, 10, and 15 years of service with Active. A redesign of the internal Peers Recognizing Other Peers’ Success (“PROPS”) program was also done in 2017, and not only resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of PROPS being sent among colleagues, but also gave employees defined rewards for sending and receiving them. 

Another initiative added recently in response to the results of the internal employee survey is a Job Shadowing Program, which was launched in Q4 of 2017. The objective of this program is to encourage personal development and continuous improvement through learning new skills, while also developing an understanding of how each role affects the workflow of the organization and ultimately benefits the client. This initiative not only helps participants in terms of their own career development, but a greater understanding of the roles of their colleagues also allows for improved communication among departments and optimized productivity throughout the organization. 

Other benefits employees receive at Active include getting a day off for their birthday, an RRSP program with contribution matching, fitness subsidies, charitable contribution matching, healthy snacks in meeting rooms, flexible work hours, and work from home options. These perks all contribute to attracting top talent to the organization, as well as retention of current staff.

The Employee Recommended Workplace Award is the only award of its kind that is based entirely on feedback from employees. Employees were asked to complete a short confidential survey that includes questions about their physical and mental health, as well as aspects of their work and life – all elements of Total Health that impact employee engagement and productivity. Upon completion, they received a personal assessment that identified potential areas for improvement. Organizations received a summary report that identified areas of strength along with areas where more work may be needed to improve the health of their workforce.

Active is among 53 organizations that have been recognized as Employee Recommended Workplaces for 2018, and was presented with a certificate on March 20, 2018 at an awards ceremony in Toronto.  For more information, visit employeerecommended.com.