Tag: Work

What are the best companies to work for in Canada?


A chocolate maker, a children’s hospital and several universities are among Canada’s top employers right now, according to a newly released ranking by Forbes.


The business- and lifestyle-focused media company released its annual list of Canada’s “best” employers Wednesday, a ranking based on factors including a competitive salary, opportunities for promotion and work-life balance.


Forbes’ editors said the ranking involved results of more than 40,000 survey responses.


They said they divided the respondents’ list into two categories: testimonies given by current employees and those who know the company through friends, family or industry connections.


Based on this criteria, Forbes gave the top spot to Hershey Co., noting its “family-friendly” work hours and training initiatives, and the added perk that employees get to sample “the newest chocolate creation.”


Also in the top five were the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), Brock University, Elections Canada and Concordia University, which all scored high for their commitments to employee wellness, Forbes said.


Of the top 100 employers on the list, about 20 per cent are organizations in education, while 15 per cent are government organizations.


Here are Forbes’ picks for the top 25:


  1. The Hershey Company

  2. Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)

  3. Brock University

  4. Elections Canada

  5. Concordia University

  6. Government of Prince Edward Island

  7. Hydro-Quebec

  8. Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)

  9. Parks Canada

  10. Fisheries and Oceans Canada

  11. Canadian Mental Health Association

  12. Carleton University

  13. The Keg Steakhouse + Bar

  14. Western Financial Group

  15. Bank of Canada

  16. Google

  17. Ville de Quebec

  18. WM (Waste Management Inc.)

  19. Mount Royal University

  20. Pratt
Read More ...

What are the best companies to work for in Canada?


A chocolate maker, a children’s hospital and several universities are among Canada’s top employers right now, according to a newly released ranking by Forbes.


The business- and lifestyle-focused media company released its annual list of Canada’s “best” employers Wednesday, a ranking based on factors including a competitive salary, opportunities for promotion and work-life balance.


Forbes’ editors said the ranking involved results of more than 40,000 survey responses.


They said they divided the respondents’ list into two categories: testimonies given by current employees and those who know the company through friends, family or industry connections.


Based on this criteria, Forbes gave the top spot to Hershey Co., noting its “family-friendly” work hours and training initiatives, and the added perk that employees get to sample “the newest chocolate creation.”


Also in the top five were the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), Brock University, Elections Canada and Concordia University, which all scored high for their commitments to employee wellness, Forbes said.


Of the top 100 employers on the list, about 20 per cent are organizations in education, while 15 per cent are government organizations.


Here are Forbes’ picks for the top 25:


  1. The Hershey Company

  2. Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO)

  3. Brock University

  4. Elections Canada

  5. Concordia University

  6. Government of Prince Edward Island

  7. Hydro-Quebec

  8. Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)

  9. Parks Canada

  10. Fisheries and Oceans Canada

  11. Canadian Mental Health Association

  12. Carleton University

  13. The Keg Steakhouse + Bar

  14. Western Financial Group

  15. Bank of Canada

  16. Google

  17. Ville de Quebec

  18. WM (Waste Management Inc.)

  19. Mount Royal University

  20. Pratt
Read More ...

What Are Corporate Credit Cards And How Do They Work?

Key takeaways

  • Corporate credit cards are cards where the business entity, rather than the business owner, is legally responsible for any charges made with the card.
  • Corporate cards are typically available to large companies with an established credit history and millions of dollars in revenue.
  • Small-business cards, on the other hand, can be beneficial for those with smaller companies or the self-employed. You’ll typically need a personal guarantee to be approved for a small-business card, meaning the cardholder is liable for any charges made with the card.
  • To qualify for a corporate card, contact a corporate card issuer directly and be prepared for a lengthier application process.

It’s the ideal scenario for a small-business owner: Your company is experiencing year-over-year growth, your business is profitable and your revenue increases every quarter. This is the kind of growth most small-business owners dream of.

When you start to see your company shift from a small startup to an established corporation, it’s time to think about transitioning your financial tools. This might mean switching from a business credit card to a corporate credit card — but before you begin the lengthy corporate credit card application process, it’s worth asking yourself whether a corporate card is really the right choice for your business.

Let’s take a closer look at how corporate cards work, how to manage a company card and how to decide whether your small business is ready to make the transition from a business credit card to a corporate credit card.

What is a corporate credit card?

A corporate credit card is a type of card issued to a corporation. This means that the business entity, not the business owner, is legally responsible for all charges made on the card. Because of this, corporate credit cards are generally only issued to large

Read More ...

Current and Future Trends in Remote Work

  • Many employees prioritize having the option to work remotely at least one day per week. 
  • Employees who work remotely show evidence of higher job satisfaction.
  • With remote work here to stay, more companies are investing in the systems their workers need for flexible work environments. 
  • This article is for managers and business owners interested in the current and future state of remote work. 

Remote work was rare a decade ago. Working from home was usually available only as a special arrangement to accommodate families in specific cases. However, teleconferencing and telework technology have advanced to the point where some businesses thrive with completely remote teams. 

The mass transition to remote working came about in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond preventing illness from spreading – a sick team can’t be as productive – remote work has proven beneficial in a number of ways. 

Since working from home is here to stay, it’s important to know how to get the most out of remote communication technology. After all, your team can be just as effective, if not more, working from home if you have the right tools. Read ahead for a guide on the past, present and future of remote working.

Is remote working effective?

A decade ago, most employers would have balked at the idea of employees regularly working from home. One major concern most employers had for working remotely was a loss of productivity. But the pandemic showed that employees could work on their own. Prodoscore, for example, reported that remote workers’ productivity increased 47 percent during the lockdown in March and April 2020, finding that communication activities such as emailing (up 57 percent), telephoning (up 230 percent) and chat messaging (up 9 percent) all climbed.

Other recent studies indicate that remote work options increase job

Read More ...

42 Powerful Local Marketing Ideas That Work (+Examples!)

Local business owners know digital marketing is critical. Unfortunately, many don’t sustain growth because they cannot maintain consistency or because they run out of ideas. The good news is, effective digital marketing is a beautiful mix of search engine optimization, pay-per-click marketing, content marketing, social media advertising, and more—and with ever-changing trends, there are always ways to come up with new ideas.

local marketing ideas near me search ad

Yet as a business owner, it can be hard to come up with those new ideas. That’s why we’ve created this guide, which will cover local marketing suggestions and tips in four overarching categories:

  1. Local Facebook and Google advertising
  2. Local listings and review sites
  3. Local SEO
  4. Social media marketing
  5. Email marketing
  6. Community-based marketing

Some of these strategies are tried and true, while others may be new to you (rhyme not intentional, but we’ll go with it). The point is, there is something in here for everyone, whether you’re a rookie local marketer or a more seasoned and savvy specialist.

Effective local marketing ideas: advertising

Small businesses often have a small budget, so it might seem strange to have this as the first and foremost grouping of local marketing ideas. The truth is, thanks to the advanced targeting capabilities of online ads, they are a cost-effective way to get qualified exposure for your lcoal business. The key is to do it right. Here are nine ideas and suggestions to use it to get a solid ROI on your advertising spend.

1. Run Google Ads

Google, one of the foremost search engines in the world, allows you to target potential customers in your local area specifically with pay-per-click ads. With this platform, you can run the classic search engine result Google Ad, Google Local Services Ads (Google LSA tips here), Google Shopping Ads, and more.

local marketing ideas: google local service ad

A higher volume of inquiries

Read More ...

Remote Jobs: These Canadians Don’t Leave Their Couch for Work


Helen Chen works for a tech company based out of Ireland, and reports to a boss in California

When I was in high school, I moved from my hometown of Nanjing, China, to Seattle, where I lived with a host family. I went to university for early-childhood education and teaching and later moved to Canada, where I did my master’s in curriculum studies at the University of Toronto. I graduated in May 2020, and by September, I’d found a job at a tutoring company training teachers and developing learning materials. The company implemented a hybrid schedule in 2021, so I was in the office three days a week. It was a 30-minute drive from my house in Markham, and since I hate taking public transit, my husband would drive me.

During the pandemic, I became interested in instructional design, which is self-directed e-learning. I asked my tutoring company if I could try developing new e-learning materials, but they weren’t interested.

I started job searching in March 2022. Instructional-design jobs are hard to find. It’s not a big market, and as a newbie, I didn’t have a lot of experience. I only applied to three jobs. Two were with Canadian companies—one in HR and the other in health care. The third was with a project-management software company called Teamwork, which is based out of Cork, Ireland. They were looking for someone to develop instructional materials for their software.

I had four interviews at Teamwork between April and May. The HR talent head was based in England and my prospective manager was in Sacramento, Calif. The job was a permanent, fully remote position. I didn’t really care where the company was located.

Read More ...

How Will ChatGPT Affect Your Job If You Work In Advertising And Marketing?

Recently, there’s been a lot of excitement about ChatGPT – the public preview release of OpenAI’s chatbot powered by the GPT3 language model. There’s no better way to get people interested in – and perhaps worrying about – artificial intelligence (AI) than showing it in action. And ChatGPT certainly acts as a powerful demonstration of what AI can do today.

Ask GPT to answer a question, or to create a piece of writing, and it will respond in well-structured, natural-sounding human language that most people simply would not guess has been created by a machine. Of course, this has immediately got people asking what the implications are for us humans – and one of the first professions to fear that they could be facing the chop are marketers.

This seems to be rational because many aspects of marketing and advertising involve creating text – whether it is writing copy for adverts, creating marketing emails, or just writing simple social media posts. Now that everyday machines are apparently able to carry out these tasks, is everybody working in these jobs in danger of becoming redundant?

The fact is that throughout history, we’ve seen that new developments in technology have tended to create new jobs as quickly as it makes old jobs redundant. What’s more, the jobs that are created are often more technical, creative, or highly-skilled – meaning that they are higher paying and often more rewarding.

For example, the arrival of mechanized farm equipment reduced the need for unskilled field workers but created a need for skilled engineers and technicians. And the dawn of the computing era made a lot of low-paid clerical filing workers and typists redundant but created higher-paid jobs in software engineering

Read More ...