The presentation of the 5th Annual Surrey Board of Trade Surrey Child and Family Friendly Workplace Award took place on Wednesday, June 15th at the 52nd Surrey Board of Trade Chair’s Dinner and Annual General Meeting. The winner was Pacific Community Resources Society (PCRS).
"As part of the Surrey Board of Trade’s Leadership Surrey Program, which began five years ago, we are pleased to showcase a business that has created workplaces that support their employees in both their work and child/family responsibilities," said Anita Huberman CEO, Surrey Board of Trade.
At PCRS, policies were initially established to reflect family based values to attract and retain individuals with the same values. Collaborative feedback to the executive team of directors from staff and their staff association with interests and needs to accommodate are reviewed as they occur. Formal and informal policies have been implemented to accommodate the needs of individuals to address the work-life balance issues.
Employees at PCRS are more engaged at work knowing there are policies in place to allow for family, child care or elderly parent needs. Wellness education and training for all staff are available through webinars/lunch n’ learns and accessible through their internal interoffice program. While there is currently no statistical data to support the reduced absenteeism, their benefits provider has projected a decrease in short-term disability claims due to the establishment of a robust wellness committee.
PCRS’s commitment moving forward is to continually empower employees through strength based performance reviews, promote learning, training and development of work/life wellness initiatives and provide a nurturing, collaborative environment that supports holistic development. They have recently established several new systems (SAP Jam, HR Employee Self Service, ShareVision), initiatives (Mindful Employer) and procedures to improve communications throughout the agency. They believe this will further enhance the well-being of their staff as a tool to work more effectively towards their agencies mission ‘Everyone thriving in strong healthy communities’ and their mission ‘Inspiring healthy and inclusive communities through leadership and collaboration’.
“Workplaces are changing. Employees from all sectors are quick to list the changes they are experiencing in their workplaces: Globalization, technological advances, rise of non-standard employment/work hours, increased workload, greater learning pressures,” said Anita Huberman. “This is why the Surrey Board of Trade continues to showcase a Surrey business each year that shines above the rest of the applicants in our assessment of how the business manages flexibility in the workplace, supportive supervisors/managers, a culture that is family-friendly, alternative work arrangements and a recognition of child and elder care issues.”
