Employee Opinion Determines Best Employers in the Greater Toronto Area in Aon
Hewitt / Queen's School of Business Research Study

Wide Range of Organizations Recognized in November 20 Edition of Toronto Star

TORONTO, Nov. 19 /CNW/ - The 64 organizations identified as 2011's Best Employers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) vary widely in terms of industry and workforce size. Nevertheless, research conducted by Aon Hewitt, the human capital consulting and outsourcing solutions business of Aon Corporation (NYSE: AON), in conjunction with the Queen's University School of Business, indicates that they all share the key requirement to be named as one of the Best Employers in the GTA - high employee engagement. Organizations that have achieved this status for 2011 (see attached lists) will be profiled in tomorrow's Toronto Star.

"The human resources practices and programs that engage employees are as different as the Best Employers themselves," said Neil Crawford, Aon Hewitt's study leader. "However, when engaged, employees speak positively about the organization, want to stay with the company, and go 'above and beyond' to help their employer meet its business objectives."

According to Aon Hewitt's global research into employee engagement, investing in measures to boost employee engagement results in a positive return for employers. "The benefits of high engagement include lower turnover, less absenteeism, greater employee productivity, and higher customer satisfaction," stated Crawford.

Those eligible for the GTA list are drawn from participants in either the 2011 national Best Employers in Canada or Best Small & Medium Employers in Canada study. They are headquartered in the GTA and/or have a significant employee population working there. Twenty-six organizations appear on the GTA list for small to medium-sized employers (50-399 employees), while 38 organizations with 400 or more employees are recognized on the list for larger GTA employers.

"It's as much a challenge for small organizations to engage their employees as it is for large ones," said Einar Westerlund, director of project development at the Queen's Centre for Business Venturing. "Nevertheless, the number of Best Employers in the GTA grew from 50 to 64 organizations this year. More employers of all sizes took part and many of the new participants met the Best Employers high standard. We hope to see even higher participation in the future as more great employers seek recognition for all their hard work."

To learn more about the Best Employers studies and register online to participate, please visit the Best Employers Web site at www.hewitt.com/bestemployerscanada.

About Queen's Centre for Business Venturing (QCBV)
Based at Queen's School of Business, Canada's leading business school, QCBV's mandate is to become the leading and definitive source of knowledge and expertise in the creation, leadership and management of new ventures. It will accomplish this by developing innovative curriculum, providing access to pools of capital to fund new ventures, conducting applied research, brokering and being a hub of SME and new venture knowledge, and by playing a key role with decision-making bodies.  Its focus is to increase the odds of success for Canadian new ventures.

About Aon Hewitt
Aon Hewitt is the global leader in human capital consulting and outsourcing solutions. The company partners with organizations to solve their most complex benefits, talent and related financial challenges, and improve business performance. Aon Hewitt designs, implements, communicates and administers a wide range of human capital, retirement, investment management, health care, compensation and talent management strategies. With more than 29,000 professionals in 90 countries, Aon Hewitt makes the world a better place to work for clients and their employees. For more information on Aon Hewitt, please visit www.aonhewitt.com.

About Aon
Aon Corporation (NYSE:AON) is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human capital solutions and outsourcing. Through its more than 59,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to deliver distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon's industry-leading global resources and technical expertise are delivered locally in over 120 countries. Named the world's best broker by Euromoney magazine's 2008, 2009 and 2010 Insurance Survey, Aon also ranked highest on Business Insurance's listing of the world's insurance brokers based on commercial retail, wholesale, reinsurance and personal lines brokerage revenues in 2008 and 2009. A.M. Best deemed Aon the number one insurance broker based on revenues in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and Aon was voted best insurance intermediary 2007-2010, best reinsurance intermediary 2006-2010, best captives manager 2009-2010, and best employee benefits consulting firm 2007-2009 by the readers of Business Insurance. Visit http://www.aon.com for more information on Aon and http://www.aon.com/unitedin2010 to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.

Best Employers in the Greater Toronto Area 2011
(400 or more employees)

Rank	Organization	Headquarters
1	Cisco Canada	Toronto ON
2	EllisDon Corporation	London ON
3	PCL Constructors Inc.	Edmonton AB
4	McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited	Toronto ON
5	Marriott Hotels of Canada Ltd.	Mississauga ON
6	Bennett Jones LLP	Calgary AB
7	Wellington West Holdings Ltd.	Winnipeg MB
8	Chubb Insurance Company of Canada	Toronto ON
9	Edward Jones	Mississauga ON
10	OMERS Administration Corporation	Toronto ON
11	Delta Hotels & Resorts	Toronto ON
12	Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. (Canada)	Toronto ON
13	Graham Group Ltd.	Calgary AB
14	Stikeman Elliott LLP	N/A
15	The Co-operators	Guelph ON
16	GlaxoSmithKline Inc.	Mississauga ON
17	Flight Centre	Vancouver BC
18	LoyaltyOne	Toronto ON
19	Scotiabank Group	Toronto ON
20	Aecon Group Inc.	Toronto ON
21	TD Bank Financial Group	Toronto ON
22	Amex Canada Inc./Amex Bank of Canada	Markham ON
23	Earl's Restaurants Ltd.	North Vancouver BC
24	Meyers Norris Penny	Calgary AB
25	Dillon Consulting	Toronto ON
26	Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP	Toronto ON
27	G&K Services Canada Inc.	Mississauga ON
28	ING DIRECT	Toronto ON
29	Ivanhoe Cambridge Inc.	Montreal QC
30	Novotel Canada	Mississauga ON
31	Keg Restaurants Ltd.	Richmond BC
32	Bentall LP	Toronto ON
33	HATCH	Mississauga ON
34	National Bank Financial Group	Montreal QC
35	Cintas Canada Limited	Mississauga ON
36	Mars Canada Inc.	Bolton ON
37	Ceridian Canada Ltd.	Markham ON
38	Golder Associates Ltd.	Burnaby BC

Best Small & Medium Employers in the Greater Toronto Area 2011
(50-399 employees)

Rank	Organization	Headquarters
1	I Love Rewards	Toronto ON
2	Booty Camp Fitness Inc.	Toronto ON
3	RL Solutions	Toronto ON
4	Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Canada	Mississauga ON
5	O.C. Tanner Canada	Burlington ON
6	Phonak Canada Ltd.	Mississauga ON
7	Gibraltar Solutions	Mississauga ON
8	Peel Senior Link	Mississauga ON
9	Unisync Group	Mississauga ON
10	beerbistro	Toronto ON
11	Wakefield Canada Inc.	Toronto ON
12	The CWB Group	Milton ON
13	Maple Reinders Constructors Ltd.	Mississauga ON
14	TIC Travel Insurance Coordinators Ltd.	Toronto ON
15	Furlani's Food Corporation	Mississauga ON
16	Wish Mobile Inc.	Toronto ON
17	Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc.	Toronto ON
18	Getinge Canada Limited	Mississauga ON
19	Cole Engineering Group Ltd.	Markham ON
20	The CUMIS Group Limited	Burlington ON
21	Klick Inc.	Toronto ON
22	Solutions 2 GO	Mississauga ON
23	Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada, Inc.	Mississauga ON
24	FUSE Marketing Group	Toronto ON
25	JPL Vehicle Management Services	Toronto ON
26	C.S.T. Consultants Inc.	Toronto ON

For further information:

Media Contacts: 
Marcia McDougall, 416-227-5713, [email protected]
Sandra Olszowka, 613-533-3119, [email protected]