Hydro Ottawa Honoured with Employer Excellence Award from Hire Immigrants Ottawa

March 10 2016

Hydro Ottawa was recently recognized at the 2016 Employer Council of Champions Summit and Awards conference as an Employer of Excellence in the National Capital Region. The Employer Excellence Awards recognize local employers for their innovative workplace policies and practices around the recruitment and integration of skilled immigrant employees into their organization.

The annual Employers’ Summit brings together more than 100 business, government and civic leaders in a program designed to engage participants in a dialogue about the effective integration of skilled immigrants into the labour force, and to celebrate employer excellence in Ottawa.

Employers across industries are challenged with the greatest demographic shift in the labour force as the boomer generation enters retirement. Hydro Ottawa is no exception. About 44% of its trade and technical workforce is set to retire over the next decade.

A few years ago, the utility created its first diversity plan, as part of a talent management strategy, to attract qualified hires from a variety of groups: women, visible minorities, persons with disabilities, youth, LGBT, First Nations, and new Canadians.

“The quality of our workforce is our strength,” says Bryce Conrad, Hydro Ottawa President and CEO. “Diversity is essential to putting our customers at the centre of everything we do. By embracing a talented workforce that is reflective of the diversity of the communities we serve, we better understand the needs of our customers and offer additional customer value.”

Among its initiatives to facilitate the recruitment of new Canadians, Hydro Ottawa

  • works with community organizations that help immigrants secure meaningful employment
  • serves on the Employer Council of Champions with Hire Immigrants Ottawa, as well as one of its sub-committees
  • maintains a strong relationship with the YMCA-YWCA’s Power of Trades, a pre-employment training program designed to help internationally trained tradespeople and immigrants access jobs and achieve Ontario certification in skilled trades
  • employs an improved screening process to increase its pool of qualified skilled immigrant applicants and understand how foreign work experience can translate to a Canadian context

 

Related Articles


Latest Articles


Changing Scene

  • Federal Investment to Add 989 New Montreal Homes

    Federal Investment to Add 989 New Montreal Homes

    November 18, 2024 The federal government is providing nearly $364 million to help build 989 new homes in Montreal. The announcement took place at 5200 rue de la Savane, in Montreal, which received $100 million dollars through the Apartment Loan Construction Program (ACLP) to build 303 homes and will be operated by Olymbec. This rental building, named Lynk, is designed to… Read More…

  • ABB and NIEDAX Group Announce Completion of Joint Venture with the Formation of Abnex Inc.

    ABB and NIEDAX Group Announce Completion of Joint Venture with the Formation of Abnex Inc.

    November 18, 2024 ABB completed the previously announced 50/50 joint venture with Niedax Group. The Abnex Inc. joint venture (JV) will broaden solutions and advance opportunities in the rapidly growing North American cable management market. Integrating engineering and manufacturing capabilities of ABB’s Installation Products Division with Niedax Group will enable the newly formed company to deliver a… Read More…

  • Ontario Building More Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

    Ontario Building More Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

    November 18, 2024 The Ontario government is building over 1,300 new electric vehicle (EV) charging ports in small and medium-sized communities, marking a major milestone in the province’s plan to increase access to EV chargers outside of large urban centres and support the electrification of transportation across the province. As the province continues to see… Read More…

  • Ontario Investing Over $74 Million Through Next Round of Skills Development Fund Capital Stream

    Ontario Investing Over $74 Million Through Next Round of Skills Development Fund Capital Stream

    November 18, 2024 The Ontario government is launching the second round of its Skills Development Fund (SDF) Capital Stream starting November 29, with over $74 million in available funding to build, expand and retrofit training facilities for workers in the trades, including construction, manufacturing technology and health care. The government is also investing nearly $5 million from the first… Read More…