As one of the great Northern heavyweights of mine-building, Cementation Canada Inc. sees its greatest resource to be its ever-growing workforce, whose development is key to its success.
“We want to offer opportunities for success in one’s personal life as well as the business life,” says Lois Henderson-Campbell, vice-president of finance and director at Cementation.
“Really, we’re looking at the whole personality, and that’s important to us.”
With 1,500 employees across its international operations, including 850 throughout Northern Ontario, the North Bay-based company has worked on the development of Vale Inco’s Totten Mine and Xstrata’s Nickel Rim project.
With countless other mining projects in Sudbury and around the world, the company has seen rampant growth since its inception in 1998. However, officials have always sought to create a great place to work, even in those early days, says Henderson-Campbell.
Every year, employees are asked to develop a series of goals and outline any training that may be required to achieve them.
The company then ensures that they are provided with the necessary learning opportunities, be it through academic education or private training.
For instance, a receptionist who was struggling with some of the francophone callers was able to seek out and attend French-language classes. Staff in the IT department are regularly sent for training to keep them on top of ever-changing technology, and purchasing staff attend courses to update their skills.
This policy extends throughout the organization. Even Henderson-Campbell has benefited, recently having completed some courses on facilitation in Ottawa.
Professional development goes hand-in-hand with personal development at Cementation. As health and wellness issues become a growing concern for its employees, they have become a growing point of interest for Cementation as well.
Programs have been put into place to try and encourage better living, including regular visits from nurse practitioners to test employees’ blood pressure and cholesterol levels. To help people keep on top of the road to better health, discounts are offered for gym memberships.
Health benefits are equally comprehensive. Rather than having to wait the standard six months to a year before benefits kick in, employees need only wait to the first of the month following their hire.
These benefits have also grown to meet the needs of the employees, with additional services such as chiropractic care being brought under the company’s coverage as per staff suggestions.
Other tweaks to the benefit plan’s flexibility have recently been put into place as a result of feedback earned through employee surveys, a testament to the importance of listening to your people, says Henderson-Campbell.
“What’s the point of asking for a response from your people if you’re not willing to actually do something about it?”
This combination of strong business practices and attention to employee needs has left Cementation constantly expanding, often faster than expected.
New facilities acquired in 2004 proved to be too small for the growing workforce requiring the engineering group to be located separately downtown.
With recent additions, that office has also become packed to capacity.
However, plans are in place to move everyone into a central location in 2009.
This forward-thinking approach has left employees with plenty of room for advancement.
A successorship plan has been put into place, with key employees regularly being identified for promotion.
