Saskatchewan's Top Employers (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 13
13
SASKATCHEWAN’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2025)
CREATIVE RECRUITING
Cont.
arrangements, flexibility, sustainability,
community involvement and career
progression.
To address the need for people with
specific mining skills, she points to a
“new-to-industry” program called The
Potash Academy, created by the company
in partnership with Carlton Trail College.
“We take completely inexperienced
candidates with no prior mining
experience and we give them all the
essentials to be successful with BHP,”
notes Wild. “We focus on local and diverse
candidates, and it has really shifted the
dial in terms of our diversity statistics.” For
its most recent session, which produced 14
successful placements, BHP had more
than 1,900 applicants.
Kirk Zawislak, executive director of
human resources at Saskatchewan Crop
Insurance Corporation, faces another
challenge familiar to many
well-established companies. “At SCIC,
we’ve been fortunate to have a lot of
long-service employees with a lot of
knowledge and experience. Now that we
see those employees transition into
retirement, we need to have a stronger
focus on recruitment and training to build
up knowledge and experience.”
A key to successful recruiting at SCIC is
a focus on transparency in its job postings
and the corporation’s requirements,
compensation and benefits. “Candidates
are looking for that transparency,” says
Zawislak. “They want to understand the
workplace and the culture we have. When
we’re interviewing them, they are just as
much interviewing us. We’re very aware of
that.”
David Gwilliam, director of human
resources at the Saskatchewan Workers’
Compensation Board, says, “It’s a lot
harder now than it was 10 years ago when
it comes to finding qualified candidates, so
we have to be creative in our recruiting.
For every generation, what’s important to
them is a bit different.”
He points to time off as “a very big and
popular perk,” so in its recruitment
advertising, WCB emphasizes its policy of
giving in-scope employees every second
Friday off. Once candidates are hired, the
emphasis shifts to the organization’s
purpose and history. The onboarding is
conducted by WCB executives, which
often impresses young recruits and helps
to instil a sense of pride and belonging.
“Our organization’s purpose is about
working together to get injured workers
back to work and preventing injuries in
the first place,” says Gwilliam. “You can
work here and make a difference.”
That same feeling of purpose is readily
evident at Saskatchewan Blue Cross.
“Employees feel they fit with us,” says
CEO Kelly Wilson. She meets with all new
employees “to get to know them and have
them get to know the organization.”
Wilson asks the new hires why they
chose to work for Blue Cross. “They often
cite our purpose and the sense of giving
back to the community. It’s part of our
DNA,” she says.
Blue Cross addresses its workforce
recruitment challenges by aligning its
hiring strategies with its culture, mission,
vision and values. “We have a strong
corporate culture centred on employee
well-being, and promoting diversity, equity
and inclusion,” says Wilson.
This year’s Saskatchewan’s Top Employers
understand the days of “one size fits all”
are over. So, too, are glossy corporate
statements that go no further than ink on a
page. They know that to attract and retain
the people they want, they need to ensure
that employees feel appreciated as
individuals, know they belong and want to
belong.
This story was created by Content Works,
Postmedia’s commercial content divison, on
behalf of Saskatchewan’s Top Employers.
SIGA
The executive team at Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA) wear their orange shirts in support of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
