2008-10-19 - The Vancouver Province
By: The Province
Best Bosses Try Harder
Cactus Club Strives to Keep Workers Happy
You don't have to create a beach in the lunch room to win a place on the list of B.C.'s top 50 employers, but you do have to put an effort into making a great place to work.
In B.C., 50 companies have been recognized this year for leading their industries in creating exceptional places to work. Only one of them has a tiki bar and beach sand on the lunch room floor, but all have developed programs to attract and retain employees.
At a time when talent is in short supply, these organizations may have some ideas other mays want to explore.
ADVENTUROUS WORKPLACE
When staff arrive for work at Vancouver video game developer Action Pants Inc. they walk through an office decorated like the set of an Indiana Jones movie. They sit on beach chairs in the lunch room and spend Friday afternoon cocktail hour around a tiki bar.
It's all part of the two-year-old company's goal to keep employees feeling like every day at work is an adventure.
"We really invest in talent here," says Wendy Boylan, marketing director for the company founded by four former employees of Electronic Arts. "We have a lot of benefits you would see across the industry but we also try to offer a few extras so our employees feel attached to their workplace and their colleagues."
To encourage creativity, Action Pants provides a stocked art studio away from the office so employees can explore their talents outside of their job descriptions. Guest speakers are invited to talk about creativity in a variety of fields, and new staff get a $200 desk fund to personalize their cubicles. The company also offers space in the office for staff to display their art, whether it's woodworking, jewelry or silk-screened t-shirts.
""It inspires others and it gets people talking to each other," Boylan says. "When you're stuck in a cubicle, talking on the phone or e-mailing, you don't get to know your team. You do a better job when you respect the people you work with."
HOME IMPROVEMENTS
Vancouver-based property developer Parklane Homes Ltd. offers employees competitive benefits packages along with one perk only a home builder can provide: a discount on a new home.
After one year on the job, employees are eligible for a four-per-cent discount on the purchase price of a company-built home or townhouse.
"It's definitely a unique benefit -- we don't know of any other developers offering it," says Gretchen Tardif, the company's office manager.
Tardif says eight of the 85 employees have taken advantage of the benefit in the past four years. As well, the company pays half the cost of gym memberships for staff and kicks in a-third of the cost of a new home computer every four years.
"We hire people to fit our team. We're all willing to get our hands dirty and get a job done -- even if it's something that's not necessarily part of our regular work," she says.
FOOD AND LEARNING
Recruiting new employees for its 19 restaurants is top priority for Cactus Club. Keeping them happy and learning is next on the list.
"We want to make this not just a job," says Anna Grolle, director of people and culture for Vancouver-based Cactus Restaurants Ltd. "We believe in encouraging people to be the best they can be -- that way, they will stay and grow with us."
Grolle says the company strives to identify employees interested in advancing and trains them for new roles. Managers are awarded for developing their staff and encouraged to keep learning themselves.
Cactus Club also operates a rotating mentorship program for people who want to increase their skills. To keep employees engaged, the company recognizes staff with prizes at regular social events and offers surprise gifts to reward good work. With a young workforce, Grolle says flexible schedules are a given, as are staff food discounts. One interesting benefit is the Cactus Club's test kitchen, where cooking staff can train with celebrity chef Rob Feenie who creates menu items for the chain.
"We make sure people are engaged, and that's what makes us successful," Grolle says. "People enjoy coming to work here, our environments are very fun, and there is a lot of opportunity for advancement. "The biggest challenge for recruiting is getting people to realize there's a career in the restaurant industry, not just a job."
EASING INTO RETIREMENT
At Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, retirement doesn't have to mean walking out the door one day and never going back. Instead, the organization has developed phased-in retirement options to help people make the transition away from work -- and to keep desperately needed health professionals a little longer.
"We're facing serious shortages in a whole range of occupations, so if people want to remain employed -- even a little -- we want to keep them," says Anne Harvey, vice-president of employee engagement.
The health authority offers part-time hours and casual shift work to employees who would like to keep their hand in the workforce after age 65.
"We need to retain that experience," Harvey says. "We're hiring more and more new grads, and they benefit from having those experienced employees in the workforce, as do the patients and the organization.
"They can pass on their expertise, and they also add a certain stability to the working environment that we really value."
© Pacific Newspaper Group Inc. (The Vancouver Sun/The Province), a CanWest Company. Provided for information only - no endorsement is made or implied.