RVA Named One of Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers for 2023

TORONTO—April 4, 2023—R. V. Anderson Associates Ltd. (RVA), a leader in the provision of engineering consulting services since 1948, has been named as one of Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers for 2023 by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, repeating its success for the fourth consecutive year.

Now in its tenth year, the annual Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers editorial competition recognizes organizations who create outstanding employee experiences based on the same criteria as Mediacorp’s Top 100 Employers competition: 1) Physical Workplace; 2) Work Atmosphere & Social; 3) Health, Financial & Family Benefits; 4) Vacation & Time Off; 5) Employee Communications; 6) Performance Management; 7) Training & Skills Development; and 8) Community Involvement. Winning organizations are compared to other organizations in the same field to determine which ones offer the best workplaces and forward-thinking human resources policies. Positive employment growth and the unique initiatives of each employer are also taken into account in determining winners.

Accounting for 99% of Canadian businesses, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have served as the backbone of the Canadian economy for generations. Since the pandemic, Canada’s Top SMEs have demonstrated remarkable agility in adapting to changing business conditions and have used that same agility to overcome the challenges of a tightening labour market.

“The employers chosen this year represent the ‘best of the best’ and many have pioneered initiatives that would have been unthinkable five years ago,” says Kristina Leung, managing editor of the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project. “These trailblazers are among the first in Canada to adopt new HR initiatives, such as offering permanent hybrid work options and removing formal caps on vacation allowance and paid time off. It’s a refreshing way to mark our 10th anniversary of the SME competition.”

With a rich 75-year heritage and a start-up mentality, RVA continues to maintain its advantage of adaptability to spur new best practices and ways of working to support employee wellbeing. Employment at RVA includes comprehensive compensation, a complete health and benefits plan, group pension plan with match, paid volunteering days, and top-ups for new and expecting parents. Many of the safeguards that were introduced to support staff during the pandemic period also remain in place, including our Employee Family Assistance Program (EFAP), increased mental health benefits, social events organized by a designated Social Committee, online health and wellness programs, and flexible working arrangements. Meanwhile, RVA has expanded its professional development opportunities to enrich our team’s institutional knowledge across all business functions, such as a formal mentorship program to help employees build long-term careers, ongoing ISO 45001-certified health and safety training, in-house courses for Envision Sustainability Professional designations (ENV SP), and an incentivized referral program that encourages employees to become recruiters for the firm.

This year’s recognition is a testament to the consistent efforts of our firm to create a magnetic company culture that upholds our people’s sense of belonging, pride at work, and a unifying #OneRVA team spirit. Commenting on the achievement, Terri Zimmer, Manager of Human Resources, spoke to the collective effort that led to this success:

“We are proud to accept this award on behalf of our amazing team, who are the heart of everything we do at RVA. As we celebrate our firm’s 75^th anniversary, we are grateful for the fact that people continue to tell us that their favourite part of working here is their coworkers. We are proud of how far we have come and will continue to evolve our employee experience with our values as a constant guidepost.”

Detailed reasons for our selection by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers can be found on our competition homepage. The complete list of Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers for 2023 was released today in The Globe and Mail, co-published in the official announcement magazine.

About Mediacorp Canada Inc.

Founded in 1992, Mediacorp Canada Inc. is the nation’s largest publisher of employment periodicals. Since 1999, the Toronto-based publisher has managed the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project, which includes 18 regional and special-interest editorial competitions that reach over 15 million Canadians annually through a variety of magazine and newspaper partners, including The Globe and Mail. Mediacorp also operates Eluta.ca, one of Canada’s largest job search engines, which reaches millions of job-seekers annually and features editorial reviews from the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project.

About RVA

At R.V. Anderson Associates Limited (RVA), we’re a community of thinkers, innovators, and collaborators who combine human ingenuity with technology and experience to deliver sustained outcomes that make a difference. We are an employee-owned community and an award-winning culture carrying forth a proud legacy of 75 years of engineering excellence, which has grown to a thriving organization of over 400 professionals. We work together across geographic, functional, and business lines to deliver dynamic solutions that are based in trust and informed decision-making. At the core of our brand is our values connecting people, projects, and planet.

For more information, please contact:
R. V. Anderson Associates Ltd.
marcom@rvanderson.com
www.rvanderson.com

Curious to see what makes us a top employer? Check out our Careers page to learn more about life at RVA and see the opportunities available on our team right now, including roles in engineering, architecture, business development, IT, and more!