ING DIRECT recognized as a top employer in the Greater Toronto Area

ING DIRECT named among Greater Toronto's Top Employers for the second time by Mediacorp and GTA 50 Best Employers for the first time by Aon Hewitt

TORONTO, Nov. 22 /CNW/ - ING DIRECT is among the Greater Toronto Area's best employers for the second year, according to Mediacorp's Greater Toronto's Top Employers list. Last week, Canada's leading direct bank also received Aon Hewitt's GTA 50 Best Employers Award for the first time, and was selected as one of its 50 Best Employers in Canada in October.

Top employers selected for Mediacorp's list were chosen based on details provided in an application submitted by companies as well as through independent research. Employers were graded based on various areas including employee engagement, work atmosphere, company-wide communications, training and development, and physical environment.

The primary requirement to be named a GTA 50 Best Employer by Aon Hewitt is high "employee engagement" - a measure of how positively employees feel about their employer, how likely they are to stay, and how committed they are to doing their utmost to achieve business objectives. ING DIRECT ranked 28^th out of 251 eligible organizations that participated in the contest.

"All of our employees are instrumental in the success of our business. By creating a work environment that promotes creativity and innovation, we are enabling our employees to engage with our clients and community in a meaningful way. Collaboration at all levels is what enables employees to work together to develop and maintain an environment where they feel challenged, appreciated and well rewarded," said Peter Aceto, President & CEO at ING DIRECT.

"The orange colour that appears in our branding goes beyond our marketing.  'We are Orange' are the words our employees use to describe our unique culture," said Rob Landry, SVP of Human Resources, Legal and Operations at ING DIRECT. "As a top employer in Canada's most populous and diverse region, part of our commitment to being 'Orange' means we are continuously evolving our workplace to create an environment where all employees can thrive and focus on creating 'WOW' experiences for our customers."  

ING DIRECT employees can take advantage of our variety of programs designed to support them achieve their personal goals to rewarding them for their dedication. For example, all employees who have celebrated 10 years with the company are required to participate in a six week Orange Discovery sabbatical program. The program was introduced this year and more than 100 employees are expected to take part over the next 2-3 years. Another highlight for employees is "Orange in the Community", an annual event that inspires hundreds of employees to roll up their sleeves and work alongside local communities in need. Last month, more than 500 employees helped to rebuild an outdoor space at a Toronto Community Housing complex on Lawrence Avenue East.

About ING DIRECT
ING DIRECT is Canada's leading DIRECT bank with over 1.7 million Clients and more than $29 billion in total assets. ING DIRECT gives the power of saving to all Canadians by offering high-value, simple products such as high interest savings accounts with no fees or service charges, and low rates on mortgages. Low cost, index based mutual funds are sold through ING DIRECT Funds Limited. ING DIRECT has been operating in Canada since 1997 and has paid more than $4.5 billion in interest to Clients. ING DIRECT is open for banking 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at ingdirect.ca, on mobile devices at m.ingdirect.ca or by calling 1-800 ING DIRECT (1-800-464-3473)

Follow Peter Aceto on Twitter at: Twitter.com/CEO_INGDIRECT

And find ING DIRECT at: Facebook.com/SuperStarSaver; Twitter.com/SuperStarSaver; YouTube.com/SuperStarSaver

About Greater Toronto's Top Employers (2011) Selection Criteria & Applicant Statistics

Now in its fifth year, Greater Toronto's Top Employers is an annual competition organized by the editors of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project. This special designation recognizes the employers in the GTA that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work.  The project is unique in that it's the only editorially based competition recognizing outstanding workplaces specifically in the GTA.

Employers are evaluated by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers using the same eight criteria as the national 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.  Employers are compared to other organizations in their field to determine which offers the most progressive and forward-thinking programs.

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.

For further information:

Lynnette Visaya, ING DIRECT
416-758-5544
[email protected]

Lisa Naccarato, ING DIRECT
416-758-5072
[email protected]