Vancouver, BC - October 22, 2009 - IT security
and data protection firm
Sophos today announced that it has once again been named as one of
*Canada's Top 100
Employers and British Columbia's (BC) Top 55
Employers.
This year's winners of Canada's Top 100 Employers and BC's Top
55 Employers were selected by the editors at Mediacorp, the
nation's largest publisher of employment-related periodicals and
online directories. Top employers were selected based on eight key
areas: (1) Physical Workplace; (2) Work Atmosphere & Social;
(3) Health, Financial & Family Benefits; (4) Vacation &
Time Off; (5) Employee Communications; (6) Performance Management;
(7) Training & Skills Development; and (8) Community
Involvement.
"We've seen a change this year in the programs and benefits
offered by the winning employers," says Richard Yerema, Managing
Editor of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project. "Stability and
continuity in workplace programs have become the dominant values,
with the flashy extras taking a back-seat to traditional benefits
that make a real difference in the lives of working Canadians."
Sophos's key
perks and benefits for fulltime and part-time staff, include:
annual vacation allowance, two volunteer/charity days for employees
to use towards a cause of their choice, employer-paid health
benefits, tuition reimbursement, matching RSP contributions,
maternity, paternity, and compassionate leave top-ups as well as a
share purchase plan and life and disability insurance.
"We've always valued our employees as they are the pillars of
our company. Providing a generous package of benefits and a
workplace that encourages professional and personal growth truly
shows our employees that Sophos has their best interest at heart,"
said Bruce McDonald, Vice President of Operations, General Manager
at Sophos in Vancouver. "We are delighted and honored to once again
be recognized as a top employer on a national and regional
level."
"A profound 'reset' has taken place this year in the programs
and benefits that leading employers are offering," says Tony
Meehan, Publisher of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project.
"Things we have taken for granted for a generation - like private
pensions and government's role in the employment relationship - are
now up for discussion and forward-thinking employers are responding
quickly to this sea-change."
To develop this year's Top 100 list, Mediacorp examined the
recruitment histories of over 75,000 employers across Canada that
it tracks for its popular job search site, Eluta.ca. From this
initial group, Mediacorp invited 16,000 of the fastest-growing
employers to apply, plus another 8,000 companies and organizations
in industries that it wanted to examine more closely. Employers
completed an extensive application process that included a detailed
review of their operations and HR practices. Over 2,600 employers
started this year's application process. The final applicant pool
was up 3.7% over last year's total, which was also a record.
*Sophos was named one of Canada's Top 100 Places to Work in
2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010. Sophos was also named as one of BC's
Top 55 Places to Work from 2006-2010.
About Mediacorp
Now in its 10th year, the Canada's Top 100 Employers competition
recognizes employers that are industry leaders at attracting and
retaining employees. The annual competition is organized by
Mediacorp Canada Inc., the nation's largest publisher of
employment-related periodicals and online directories. Since 1992,
over one million of Mediacorp's job-hunting guides have been sold.
Mediacorp also operates the popular job search engine, Eluta.ca,
which lets job-seekers find new job postings - and verified
information on perks and benefits - directly from thousands of
employers across Canada. Last year, more than 3.8 million people
used Eluta.ca, making it one of the nation's most-visited career
sites. Each year, Mediacorp also organizes a policy-oriented
conference on the Canada's Top 100 Employers project called the
"Top Employer Summit", which is Canada's largest annual gathering
of senior-level human resources professionals.