At BASF, there are many kinds of chemistry

When she enters the BASF Kids’ Lab at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, Daniela Lopera gets excited. She’s not a kid, but she loves to see the reactions of the children who participate. Which is understandable, since it’s her employer, BASF Canada Inc., that partners with ROM to offer the lab, which she helps organize. And for the global chemistry firm, says Lopera, the lab is “one way that BASF gives back to the community.”

Lopera is a communications specialist for BASF, focusing on social engagement and charitable giving, and her enthusiasm for the company and her job is immediately evident. She joined the Toronto-based company in 2022, not long before the ROM partnership was announced. Part of BASF’s social engagement strategy, the Kids’ Lab promotes STEAM education – science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics – among young museum visitors attending ROM’s Signature Family Programs.

“It's amazing to see the kids really engaging with science education and participating in the experiments,” says Lopera, who helps co-ordinate schools’ involvement and attends each session. “It's truly inspiring to see the kids’ faces light up.” Making slime is a big one – “they always ask to do more slime, because they want to make more colours.”

As part of her volunteer activities with the company, Lopera has also participated in donation drives and holiday wrapping activities for low-income families – it reminds her of her own early years, when her family had just arrived from Colombia and were the beneficiaries of a similar program. Seeing the same generosity at BASF, she says, “it was just déjà vu.” To support employees’ personal volunteering efforts, BASF offers up to one day annually of paid time off during work hours.

Lopera is also a passionate member of the Women in BASF employee resource group, which offers her more opportunities to get involved in volunteering and fundraising activities. “I love participating, because not only am I giving back to the community, but I'm also networking and connecting with colleagues.”

All of which syncs with her view of BASF, which she says has “a very collaborative environment. I can always go to a colleague if I have any questions or need help – someone said to me that BASF stands for Better Ask Someone First! And it’s true. There's a lot of interconnectivity and a very supportive culture.”

With just over 1,000 employees at 10 sites across the country, BASF is “very employee-centric,” says Peter Halder, head of people. “It's in our mission statement that we create chemistry for a sustainable future, but chemistry is also something we try to create for our colleagues and our work environment.”

As part of social engagement, BASF is also committed to sustainability and diversity, equity, and inclusion – which it showcases by engaging employees in eco-friendly activities like tree planting, and in diverse community initiatives with organizations like Indspire. “We put a lot of emphasis on building a diverse culture, having an organization where we welcome and advocate for people of all backgrounds,” says Halder.

The company draws from a wide range of professions, depending on the site, he says. “We have a large agriculture business, predominantly in the West, based around canola. So we have agronomists and agricultural background folks. We have engineers and we have specialists in coatings and paints for the automotive industry.” Not to mention technologists, with a growing interest in AI, and people in corporate roles.

One of whom is Lopera, who has found real chemistry at the company. “The great thing about BASF,” she says, “is that they hire for the potential they see in the person.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Canada's Top 100 Employers winners, published November 15, 2024 in The Globe and Mail. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.