Canada's Top 100

Resort Municipality of Whistler

•  provides municipal government services to nearly 10,000 residents of the resort community

provides compassionate leave top-up payments for employees who are caring for a family member (to 100% of salary for 1 week)

helps employees balance their personal and working lives with alternative work arrangements including flexible work hours, telecommuting, shortened work week (fewer hours with less pay), reduced summer hours, and a compressed work week option -- and just happens to be located in one Canada's leading vacation destinations

encourages ongoing employee development with tuition subsidies, subsidies for professional accreditation, in-house training programs, and career planning services

helps prepare older employees for retirement with contributions to a defined benefit pension plan, phased-in retirement work options, and retirement planning assistance

Telus Corporation

• provides maternity leave top-up payments to employees who are new mothers (to 100% for 6 weeks) and access to emergency daycare services when needed
• invests in employees' ongoing development with generous tuition subsidies for courses at outside institutions, subsidies for professional accreditation, and financial bonuses upon course completion
• manages a formal work-from-home program which enables employees to work through the company's specially designed intranet
• helps older employees prepare for retirement with retirement assistance planning and contributions to a defined contribution pension plan
• offers a number of excellent financial benefits, including year-end bonuses, signing bonuses for some employees, referral bonuses (to $1,000) and a variety of performance related bonuses, from quarterly share options to company-paid holidays

BC Hydro

• provides maternity leave top-up payments to employees who are new mothers (to 85% of salary for 17 weeks)
• offers employees up to 20 paid personal days off each year and provides them with the flexible options to 'cash-out' unused days
• manages a technologist-in-training program for candidates in the engineering, operations and electrical systems maintenance and repair fields and hosts in-house apprenticeship programs for graduates from a wide variety of technical fields
• also encourages employees' ongoing development with generous tuition subsidies, in-house and online training programs, and subsidies for professional accreditation
• offers a range of onsite amenities including a fitness facility with massage therapy and physiotherapy services, a quiet room for meditation or religious observance, and a cafeteria with subsidized meals
• helps employees prepare for retirement with generous contributions to a defined benefit pension plan and a phased-in retirement work option that allows employees to gradually decrease their hours

Royal Canadian Mint

encourages ongoing employee development with tuition subsidies for courses taken at outside institutions, subsidies for professional accreditation, in-house and online training initiatives, language training, and career planning services

provides generous maternity and parental leave top-up payments for new mothers (to 93% of salary for 52 weeks) as well as parental leave top-up for new fathers and adoptive parents (to 93% of salary for 37 weeks)

also supports employees with older children through an academic scholarship program (to $3,000) for children pursuing post-secondary education

starts new employees with three weeks vacation allowance and considers previous work experience when setting vacation entitlements for experienced applicants

helps older workers prepare for retirement with retirement planning assistance services and contributions to a defined benefit pension plan

Yellowpages

• offers maternity and parental leave top-up payments for new mothers, fathers and adoptive parents
• provides new employees with three weeks of paid vacation after their first year on the job
• is located in a new head office that offers an onsite fitness facility (with free memberships) and a marche-style cafeteria that offers healthy menu items
• offers employees a variety of alternative work options, from reduced summer hours and telecommuting to flexible hours
• encourages ongoing employee development through tuition subsidies (to $1,000 each year) and a variety of in-house and online training initiatives
• provides a variety of excellent financial benefits, including referral bonuses (to $1,000), year-end bonuses, share purchase plan and a defined contribution pension plan