Queen's School of Business Names 2012's Best Small & Medium Employers in Canada

Fifty Organizations Recognized in Annual Study Conducted in Conjunction with Aon Hewitt

TORONTO, Feb. 8, 2012 /CNW/ - Queen's University's School of Business has released its annual list of the 50 Best Small & Medium Employers in Canada. The study is conducted with the assistance of Aon Hewitt, the global human resource consulting and outsourcing business of Aon Corporation (NYSE:AON). This year's list (attached below) appears in the March issue of PROFIT magazine, available on newsstands today.

"We use employee engagement as the standard for determining which organizations are the 'best' employers," said Einar Westerlund, director of project development at the Queen's Centre for Business Venturing, part of the Queen's School of Business. "In this study, feedback directly from employees about their workplace and their work experience enables us to measure how engaged they are."

Employee Engagement Challenges
According to Aon Hewitt's definition, employees are engaged when they "say, stay and strive": they speak positively about the organization to others, are committed to remaining with their current employer, and are motivated by their organizations' leaders, managers, culture and values to go "above and beyond" to contribute to business success. The average engagement score for this year's 50 Best Small & Medium Employers was 83 per cent; other participants in the study had an average score of 61 per cent.

"Achieving high engagement isn't easy at the best of times," stated Westerlund. "It's even more challenging in an improving economy when the demand for workers increases and employees have more options. Unless employers have been able to gain a strong level of commitment from their workforce, they will see employee turnover begin to increase." Best Employers research indicates that, in addition to greater employee retention, organizations with high engagement have decreased absenteeism, better employee health and lower job stress, enhanced customer service, and better business results.

Study Requirements
To be eligible to participate in the Best Small & Medium Employers in Canada study, organizations must have been in business in Canada for at least three years and have between 50 and 399 permanent, Canadian-based employees. Employers with 400 or more employees may take part in the companion Best Employers in Canada study. A total of 261 organizations participated in the two 2012 studies.

To learn more about the Best Small & Medium Employers in Canada study and register online to participate, please visit www.bsmestudycanada.com.

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 accomplishes 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 resource 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, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Through its more than 61,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovative and effective risk and people solutions and through industry-leading global resources and technical expertise. Aon has been named repeatedly as the world's best broker, best insurance intermediary, reinsurance intermediary, captives manager and best employee benefits consulting firm by multiple industry sources. Visit http://www.aon.com for more information on Aon and http://www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.

The 50 Best Small & Medium Employers in Canada of 2012
Ranking	Organization	Headquarters
1	Imaginet	Winnipeg MB
2	Arrow Group of Companies	Scarborough ON
3	Achievers	Toronto ON
4	Habañero Consulting Group	Vancouver BC
5	Solvera Solutions	Regina SK
6	RL SOLUTIONS	Toronto ON
7	Protegra	Winnipeg MB
8	Vigilant Global	Montreal QC
9	Nurse Next Door Home Care Services	Vancouver BC
10	iQmetrix	Regina SK
11	Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP	Vancouver BC
12	O.C. Tanner Recognition Company Limited	Burlington ON
13	Fusion Homes	Guelph ON
14	Northern Lights Canada	Oshawa ON
15	Bioniche Life Sciences Inc.	Belleville ON
16	Collective Point of Sale Solutions	Toronto ON
17	Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Canada	Mississauga ON
18	SaskTel International	Regina SK
19	Kawartha Credit Union	Peterborough ON
20	Wakefield Canada Inc.	Toronto ON
21	Assumption Life	Moncton NB
22	Sequel Naturals	Port Coquitlam BC
23	National Leasing	Winnipeg MB
24	FINCAD	Surrey BC
25	Nintendo of Canada Ltd.	Vancouver BC
26	Gibraltar Solutions Inc.	Mississauga ON
27	Intuit Canada	Mississauga ON
28	IHG	Mississauga ON
29	DORA Construction	Dartmouth NS
30	The Sovereign General Insurance Company	Calgary AB
31	Lakeside Process Controls	Mississauga ON
32	Mennonite Savings and Credit Union	Kitchener ON
33	Innovation Place	Saskatoon SK
34	Cruickshank	Kingston ON
35	Klick Health	Toronto ON
36	Cybertech Group of Companies	Edmonton AB
37	Naylor Group Inc.	Oakville ON
38	Desire2Learn Incorporated	Kitchener ON
39	Vista Projects Limited	Calgary AB
40	GEF Seniors Housing	Edmonton AB
41	BESTECH	Sudbury ON
42	Intelex Technologies Inc.	Toronto ON
43	North Shore Credit Union	North Vancouver BC
44	G Adventures	Toronto ON
45	Unitron	Kitchener ON
46	McMillan	Ottawa ON
47	Peel Senior Link	Mississauga ON
48	Furlani's Food Corporation	Mississauga ON
49	Geo. A. Kelson Company Limited	Newmarket ON
50	The CUMIS Group Limited	Burlington ON

 

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