Two North Coast organizations have been name to the listings of BC's Top Employers for 2024, with the Prince Rupert Port Authority and the City of Prince Rupert owned communication company CityWest claiming spots in the annual review of businesses that are considered exceptional places to work.
It's the 19th annual edition for the BC's Top Employers rankings, the Winners were announced in a special magazine co-published with the Vancouver Sun and released yesterday.
How the panel came to their decisions is outlined below:
For the
Prince Rupert Port Authority, this is the second year in a row that they have staked a claim to the list.
The Highlight sheet that goes with their placement noting of the 87 full time jobs that the port provides for in the region.
A range of employee programs helped the Port to maintain their placement from maternity and paternal leave to internship programs and retirement transition planning.
One example cited in the article notes of the sense of purpose that Port Employees have when it comes to their work.
"Adam Marcinkiewicz had already heard that the Prince Rupert Port Authority (PRPA) was the best employer in his hometown. When he returned last March to join the organization after a 20-year stint in Vancouver, he figured there’d be perks and a congenial corporate culture.
What he didn’t expect was the sense of purpose it would give him.
“We’re a relatively small organization of 100 people but what we’re doing is huge for trade across Canada and the world,” Marcinkiewicz says. “It feels pretty cool to be part of something so big. It feels like the work I do matters.”
Hired as a health and safety business partner, Marcinkiewicz conducts workplace inspections, develops programs and training, and liaises with health and safety committees at the Port Authority, which oversees Canada’s third-largest port. He found that people were willing to help him get up to speed and offer guidance."
The full Overview of what put the Prince Rupert Port Authority on the list can be reviewed here.
For CityWest, this marks their debut in the Annual Report and comes as they expand far beyond their head office on Third Avenue West in Prince Rupert.
The Highlight sheet for their listing notes of the growth to 115 full time and six part time employees among their workforce.
CityWest's investment in its employees and wellness programs caught the eye of the selection panel for 2024.
The overview of the Prince Rupert based communication company put some focus on its current expansion program and the new footprint found on Vancouver Island, that push to the south one which has also seen opportunities for employee retention to come with it.
"If you told Kim Verde even five years ago that in 2023 she’d be overseeing a team of 27 customer service agents, with plans to hire even more, she wouldn’t have believed you.
Verde, the senior customer service manager at CityWest, has been with the company for 22 years, growing from a union member to supervisor and now to management, and remembers when the company had one office and a very small team.
The Prince Rupert headquartered telecommunications company has been going through an exciting period of growth and reinvention that has swelled its ranks and its geographic footprint in B.C. “But it hasn’t lost its core values,” says Verde. “We have such a diverse team now while still being able to hold onto that identity.”
It’s been local for more than 100 years. CityWest was founded in 1910 as the telephone company for the community of Prince Rupert, and over the past century slowly expanded to serve Terrace, Smithers, Vanderhoof and other communities in northern B.C.
Five years ago, the CityWest board of directors gave it a new mandate to bring telecommunications services to more small and remote communities across B.C. The company is now in the midst of a project to place a subsea fibre-optic network that stretches from Prince Rupert to Vancouver and around Vancouver Island.
Its ‘Connected Coast’ project is expected to benefit 175,000 British Columbians in 139 communities, including several First Nations. As part of that new mandate, CityWest doubled its employee population within the last three years.
“Our team is proud of CityWest’s mandate to help serve more rural, remote and Indigenous communities, and of the partnerships we’ve built throughout B.C.,” says Tanya Jenkins, vice-president of peoples and markets.
“By increasing our footprint to employ both in-office and remote employees, we’ve been able to recruit professionals across B.C. that are looking for career opportunities while living the CityWest values every day.”
Verde has taken advantage of the wider geographic footprint, as she was able to continue working for CityWest when her family moved to Campbell River. She notes having employees all over B.C. is beneficial for its customers, too.
“I know that our customers really appreciate having local people service the area. They’re talking to their neighbour, potentially.”
The full overview towards how CityWest made it to the list of Best BC employers
can be reviewed here.
A number of other corporations that have operations on the North Coast, but are not based here also are on the list, among them DP World, BC Ferries, BC Liquor Distribution, BC Housing and BC Hydro to name a few.
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