Alberta's Top Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 72
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ALBERTA’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2025)
UFA plants success with support and flexibility
W
hen Alan Liu
was hired in an
IT support role
as a student
intern at UFA
Co-operative Ltd., he worried
that he was in over his head and
wouldn’t be able to provide the
expertise needed to help his fellow
employees with their computer
and technical issues. Luckily, the
support person was given his own
support.
“My supervisor assigned me a
mentor that I bombarded with
questions about how things
worked and what the procedures
and protocols were,” Liu says.
“That went on for a few months
until I finally felt I could confidently take a ticket, investigate
it and know how to solve it.
And then I started to be the one
people asked for advice, which felt
amazing.”
Jennifer Beatty is senior
director of human resources at
the Calgary-based co-operative,
which supports agricultural
producers, commercial customers
and other related rural businesses
in Western Canada. She points to
a suite of employee development
programs for both new employees
and potential leaders that involve
mentorships and formal training.
“Our employee value proposition states that we help each other
grow,” she says. “We’re actively
expanding our business, and as
the organization grows, we want
our employees to grow with it, and
that could be through innovations,
special projects, career development or skills development.”
UFA’s new hire orientation is
held in person for people working
in the office and online for those
working in remote locations. “We
also have a popular component
where people from the office go
out and spend the day visiting
various field locations and
customers to better understand
their business and learn about our
cooperative,” Beatty says.
As the organization grows,
we want our employees to
grow with it, and that could
be through innovations,
special projects, career
development or skills
development.
— Jennifer Beatty
Senior Director of Human
Resources
Alan Liu, technical support analyst at UFA, maintains cardlock machines and card readers across the UFA
network.
It’s something that Liu, now
a technical support analyst for
UFA’s cardlock machines, which
allow for fuel transactions across
the UFA network, has been able to
take part in.
“We took a group of people
from our head office out on a tour
bus to see how things work in the
field,” he says. “We visited a cardlock site and saw our impact, how
our actions directly support the
cardlock and the farm store. That
was an eye-opening experience,
and worth so much more than any
kind of instruction.”
Liu also appreciates the
company’s health and wellness
