Cognos' Nancy Crain works up a sweat in the company gym. (Darren Brown, OBJ)

There's a shift taking place in the Canadian workplace as the significance of attracting and retaining employees intensifies in the face of a looming labour and skills shortage. Human resource specialists say forward-thinking companies are going out of their way to make their workplace more attractive, whether it's through perks, additional benefits or skills development training.

This year, eight Ottawa companies and organizations were named on the annual list of Canada's Top 100 Employers. The list, which singles out the employers across the country with exemplary workplace environments, profiles those who are leaders in attracting and retaining employees. It considers everything from work atmosphere and vacation time to skills training and charitable efforts.

"We're now seeing exceptional workplace practices become increasingly widespread," says Anthony Meehan, president of Mediacorp Canada Inc., publisher of the 2006 edition. "More employers are recognizing the demographic changes Canada is facing and asking 'How do we improve our workplace practices to attract – and keep – the talented employees we need to stay in business?'"

Representatives for local defence electronics firm General Dynamics Canada say its strategies to keep its employees healthy and happy have placed it on the list of Canada's Top 100 Employers for the past three years.

"We offer our employees an on-site fitness centre and cafeteria, free parking, a flexible benefits plan, help the United Way, a recreation association that puts on summer picnics, runs sports teams and we offer reduced tickets to Ottawa Senators games," says Carol Snook, benefits advisor at GD Canada. "We also try to help employees find a work/life balance by shutting down at Christmas time until New Year's and offering a compressed work week in the summer."

Employees work an additional hour a day in the summer and then they're able to take off every second Friday. GD Canada currently employs 1,200 people in Ottawa and has a total workforce of 2,000 across Canada.

The company also offers a leadership development program to help managers and managers-to-be develop their leadership capabilities. One human resources strategist says more and more companies are recognized the value employees place on this type of investment in training and skills development.

"I personally view fitness memberships, free hockey tickets, etc. as gimmicks that are short-term in nature," says Tim McConnell of McConnell HR Consulting. "Most organizations these days are taking a much longer look at retention so things like compressed work weeks are becoming popular. The other key element is a longer-term approach to skills development and training."

He says quite often, especially with knowledge workers, a candidate will have a number of job offers with the same salary and position and it's a company's approach to sustained and long-term training that can easily make the difference.

"So, it's not just a hodge-podge of here's a course here and here's one there, but where the employee is actually given a career map for progression in the company, especially it's a junior or middle-level professional," says Mr. McConnell.

"Obviously, the bigger the company, the easier it is to do this, but many companies will invest in training and growing employees into a future job. Not only do you get to keep your skills current, but you're going into an organization that views training not as a reward, but as a career development strategy."

He adds that many companies are already planning for a labour and talent shortage that has been forecast across the country. The Conference Board of Canada is predicting a shortage of up to one million qualified workers in the next decade.

"The smarter companies are looking ahead, but it hasn't quite hit yet, although the storm is on the horizon with baby boomer retirement and especially with the economy heating up," Mr. McConnell says. "The other companies won't realize it's raining until the deluge has hit."

Nancy Crain, senior manager of global workforce planning and recruitment at Cognos, says her company is aware of the looming labour shortage and has already taken steps to address the new reality of marketplace. The company is another Top 100 employer for 2006 from Ottawa.

"We recognize the workforce today and the workforce of tomorrow will be quite different," she says. "As a result, Cognos is leading the way with the creation of a formalized workforce planning function on future human capital requirements."

The business intelligence software firm sees skill and career development as a priority and an investment that is critical to its success.

"Cognos provides our employees opportunities to learn through a variety of methods including online learning, classroom, simulations, project work and mentoring," says Ms. Crain. "Training is available for job related needs, personal growth and development, as well as career development goals."

In order to build a satisfied workforce, the company employs a "people strategy" that focuses not only on skill and career development, but also employee health and wellness, communications, work environment and community relations and corporate giving.

She adds that the company prides itself on the thousands of hours of work time its employees volunteer to the community, as well as the financial contributions to support local hospitals, parks, recreation programs and food banks.

"We ensure that work is challenging, exciting and provides a sense of accomplishment, along with the ability to make a real difference," adds Ms. Crain. "We acknowledge our professionals as investors worthy of returns that reflect their efforts."