BC's Top Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 38
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BC’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2025)
Community Living BC is on a mission to improve lives
M
ore than a few of
the approximately
750 employees
of Community
Living BC (CLBC) have a loved
one receiving services from the
provincial Crown agency or are
recipients themselves. And that
can only be a good thing for
the organization: these are the
people most likely to “get” its
mission-driven culture.
“We have that intrinsic value
proposition,” says Karen Mackay,
vice-president, people and culture.
“Because we were born out of a
grassroots movement primarily
relating to de-institutionalization,
we haven’t forgotten our roots.”
CLBC provides funding and
support to adults with developmental disabilities, as well as
autism spectrum disorder and
fetal alcohol syndrome disorder. It
strives to place the people it serves
and their families at the centre
of decision-making around what
support they receive, giving them
the greatest possible autonomy
to potentially live in a home of
their own, obtain higher learning
and develop careers. It’s about
giving people with disabilities
the opportunity to lead a full and
fulfilling life that most of society
takes for granted.
Indeed, that mission is so
important that every new hire,
whether a facilitator to support
planning with the individuals
and families CLBC serves or
an IT technician at head office,
goes through a unique, six-part
onboarding process known as Our
Common Purpose. It focuses not
so much on what CLBC does or
how but why.
“Our Common Purpose demonstrates to each other that we’re all
in it for the same reason,” Mackay
says.
Jessica Humphrey is one of
those employees personally
invested in CLBC’s mission. She
first joined the agency 15 years
ago as part of her fourth-year
practicum towards a degree in
social work. CLBC had offered a
practicum placement specifically
for someone like her, the mother
of a child with a disability, to bring
a family perspective to its service
delivery.
“It was a pretty incredible
opportunity to do a placement as a
young mom with an organization
that was just starting out on its
own journey,” Humphrey says.
“I was able to bring my ideas,
challenges and barriers. What
struck me about CLBC from
the beginning, and why I stay,
was their commitment to stay
connected to the perspective and
lived experience of the people that
they’re serving.”
What struck me about
CLBC from the beginning,
and why I stay, was
their commitment to
stay connected to the
perspective and lived
experience of the people
that they’re serving.
— Jessica Humphrey
Community Engagement
Manager
Employees at CLBC attend a team-building event.
Today Humphrey serves
as community engagement
manager. And the support that
her daughter, now 23, receives has
enabled her to live with support in
her own apartment, study at the
University of Victoria and get a
summer job.
CLBC has taken the same
thoughtful approach to its
employee offering. Staff can
access the LifeSpeak wellness
hub through CLBC’s portal, as
well as attend monthly wellness
workshops. There’s a maternity
and parental leave salary top-up of
up to 85%. Most full-time positions
are eligible for earned time off or
flex days. And the Deferred Salary
