Payworks creates opportunities for employees to connect and work as a team.Provided
Cindy Tarasow has no shortage of good things to say about Payworks, her employer of five years. From the company’s continuous product development and agility as a medium-sized business to its Canadian and female-founded origins, she has plenty of praise to sing.
But the biggest plus, she says, is a culture focused on the company’s mantra of doing right by people.
“That DNA of caring for people ensures that the objectives that get implemented are right by the business, customers and employees,” says Tarasow, an HR and analytics specialist in Payworks’ Toronto office. “I’ve been around long enough to know when it’s good, and it’s good here. I have that validation every day that I made the right choice.”
Jennifer Johnston, the company’s vice-president of human resources, says that culture has partially been thanks to the effort Payworks puts into creating opportunities for connection between employees, including team-building events, people leader summits and its two paid giving-back days per year for volunteering, which employees can participate in as a team.
Johnston says she and the company’s president also meet with new hires during their three-day onboarding, and then connect with them again three to six months later to ask whether their experience of working for the company matches up with their hopes and if they have any feedback on what could be done better.
“I had a session recently and people were describing the sense of community they felt, and how people take care of each other,” she says. “We’re creating an environment that’s open to sharing, we trust each other and we have fun together.”
That fun continued even during the pandemic, when employees were working remotely and spread all across the country. Tarasow says joining the company’s employee groups – such as its diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging committee and the pay it forward group – and virtual events made her feel “more connected during a time when most people felt disconnected.”
Johnston says the company also shows its appreciation for employees through a recognition program called Gold Star. The program allows employees to nominate colleagues from across the organization for a variety of good deeds, ranging from being inclusive to helping out a colleague to volunteering in the community.
The Gold Star committee evaluates all nominations and highlights quarterly winners, including representation from each department in the company. A draw is held at the end of the fiscal year and the Gold Star draw winners along with sales representatives who make their targets are invited to attend a three-day recognition and team-building trip. Last year’s trip was to Whistler, B.C., and this year attendees will be flown to New York City.
Tarasow appreciates that the company doesn’t just focus its recognition on its sales team, something that she’s experienced at other companies.
“So many people outside of the sales team can participate in the annual celebration because they were part of our success,” she says. “It’s not divided where you have a sales-focused culture – we appreciate the people in other departments, too.”
More from Canada’s Top Small and Medium-Sized Employers
Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.