Oct 4: Vancity Credit Union named best employer in Canada

Vancouver, October 4, 2004 – Vancity Credit Union has been chosen as the best place to work in Canada by Maclean’s Magazine as part of its annual Top 100 Employers issue released today.

Each year, Maclean’s publishes a list of the top 100 employers in Canada compiled by Mediacorp Inc., a publisher of job-hunting periodicals, including Canada Employment Weekly.

Available in a special double issue of the magazine and later in book format, the list includes private companies, not-for-profit groups and government agencies. The organizations are not ranked, but for the first time since Maclean’s started publishing the list three years ago, the magazine has selected one organization to highlight as the best place to work in the country. Vancity was selected for the breadth of its benefits and its commitment to employees.

Vancity CEO Dave Mowat says he is both humbled by and proud of this recognition and attributed it to a team of extraordinary employees with a “fierce passion for the organization and its membership.”

“We have an amazing team of people here who work incredibly hard and get a charge from the service they provide and the difference we make in the community. This honour belongs to them for making Vancity a great organization and for making us all proud to work here. It’s also a nod to the vision of Vancity’s Board of Directors who are the voice of our members, and who are so supportive of our work,” he says.

For this year’s list, from an initial group of 52,000, Mediacorp invited 6,000 of the fastest-growing Canadian employers to complete an extensive application process. More than 1,000 responded. The organizations were reviewed on their physical workplace; work and social atmosphere; health, financial and family benefits; vacation and time off; employee communication; performance management; training and skills development; and community involvement.

The past few years have been historic ones for Vancity with record earnings and membership growth and this year, the highest employee engagement scores in the organization’s 58-year history.

See the special issue of Maclean’s featuring Canada’s Top 100 Employers on sale this week or at www.macleans.ca.

Vancity is Canada’s largest credit union, with $9.3 billion in assets, 305,000 members, and 41 branches throughout Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Victoria. Vancity was chosen as the best place to work in Canada for 2005 by Maclean’s Magazine as part of its annual Canada’s Top 100 Employers issue. Vancity owns Citizens Bank of Canada, serving members across the country by telephone, ATM, and the Internet. Both Vancity and Citizens Bank are guided by a commitment to corporate social responsibility, and to improve the quality of life in the communities where we live and work.