BC's Top Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 62
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BC’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2025)
The City of Maple Ridge focuses on its people
W
hen Michelle
Lewis was hired
five years ago
as executive director of human
resources for the City of Maple
Ridge, she was given a mandate to
build a new, more people-centred
culture in the organization in
preparation for the rapid growth
anticipated in the Lower Mainland
community over the next decade.
“We’re going through a cultural
transformation,” says Lewis. “It’s
about putting people first, and
creating policy, practices and
procedures that provide opportunities for more collaboration.”
The City recently completed
an engagement survey to gather
insight from staff, which will help
shape future initiatives. These
initiatives will be tackled by
joint staff- and management-led
committees in partnership with its
unions.
It also expanded its learning and
development programs, which
include both employer-led and
employee-led training, and added
initiatives like a new employee
orientation and a dynamic
Kirk McLeod, superintendent of roads and fleet, at the City of Maple Ridge.
onboarding program called City
Chase, which sends groups of
employees from different departments out into the city to connect
with each other and learn how
Maple Ridge works.
“Employees have the opportunity to make new connections with
their peers while discovering City
services and locations together,”
says Lewis, “and when they return,
they’re just vibrating with energy
and excitement.”
The City also runs education
and training programs in partnership with local institutions like
the British Columbia Institute of
Technology (BCIT) and Simon
Fraser University (SFU) to build
employees’ skillsets and help
them realize their potential.
It’s about putting people
first, and creating policy,
practices and procedures
that provide opportunities
for more collaboration.
— Michelle Lewis
Executive Director of
Human Resources
Lewis is also working on developing a three-year equity, diversity
and inclusion (EDI) training program. “We’ll have 30 individuals
go through this training, which
will make a huge difference,” she
says. “They’ll not just be learning
the concepts of EDI, they’ll be
learning how to adapt it into the
workplace and champion it, so it
will be fully in the fabric of the
organization.”
Kirk McLeod started working
for the City 10 years ago as an
engineering inspector, and three
years ago he was promoted to
superintendent of roads and fleet.
Along the way he’s been able to
take advantage of several professional development programs.
“They really encourage you to
find the courses and training that
will get you to where you want to
be,” he says. “They’re always very
supportive. They provide courses
and internal programs, but they
also encourage you to go on your
own path and find what works for
you.”
