Sponsored Content
Community begins in the office at Canada Life

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/03/2024 (556 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When an organization gets as big as Canada Life, with its services supporting one out of every three Canadians, it has to reflect the country it serves inside its offices.

“A big part of how we build our culture is by focusing on our purpose – to improve the financial, physical and mental well-being of Canadians. That’s really the driving force of what we do,” says Katrina Lee-Kwen, senior vice-president of non-participating insurance solutions at the company’s Winnipeg headquarters.

“We strive to be a company that reflects the diversity of our customers and Canada as whole, and we want our employees to be representative of that diversity.”

Diversity, equity and inclusion has become a priority since the merger that brought together three companies under the Canada Life name nearly five years ago, resulting in a workforce of nearly 13,000 full-time employees in offices in five different cities.

For Ira Lester Reyes, a senior strategy analyst in the Winnipeg office, a big part of that inclusive culture is his involvement in three of the six employee resource groups (ERGs) created and supported by Canada Life.

Designed to give a voice to employees from a variety of communities and cultures, ERGs are organized around common identities, interests or backgrounds and comprise both employees and executive management.

“I’m a member of multiple ERGs,” Reyes says, “including our Pride at Canada Life group. This year, I joined hundreds of my fellow employees walking in the Winnipeg Pride Parade to celebrate 2SLGBTQI+ diversity. It was an experience I’ll never forget.”

Lee-Kwen is the executive sponsor of an ERG for Black and people of colour at Canada Life. “It provides an opportunity for employees to come together to network and share what’s on their mind,” she says. “It also provides support, education and awareness to our employees on topics such as microaggressions, to make sure everyone has perspectives on lived experiences.”

Reyes also talks about how Canada Life is focused on creating stronger communities, from annual charity drives in support of United Way agencies to a volunteer grant program that gives donations of up to $1,000 to charities and causes when employees volunteer at least 25-50 hours of their time.

“We’ve been in the vanguard of being engaged with community organizations and providing support,” Reyes says. “I haven’t seen that anywhere else.”

Canada Life also encourages employees to organize as teams for fundraising events, which the company sponsors by providing t-shirts and matching pledges up to $10,000, notes Lee-Kwen.

“Our corporate team program allows our employees to connect with co-workers and raise funds for a cause they care about.”

Ensuring employees develop to their fullest potential is another way Canada Life supports employees to be their best. Lee-Kwen says that size is an advantage when it comes not just to offering opportunities for advancement – she’s been at the company for over 30 years – but also in the resources it can provide.

“You can think of development as formal learning opportunities, but you can also think of it as opportunities to get exposure in different areas, and working for a large company allows you to do that because there’s so many roles you can take on in your career,” she says.

“There’s no other place I’d like to be,” Reyes says. “There’s a real sense of accomplishment in the things we do, the opportunities provided to be engaged within the organization and the community, and my ability to be my authentic self.”