Community begins in the office at Canada Life

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.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Manitoba’s Top Employers winners, published March 19, 2024 in the Winnipeg Free Press. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.

Canada Life tracks its place in a greener future

‘Greening’ business is an effort some may imagine in factories or mines, but offices are getting environmental makeovers as well. Don Lecuyer, vice-president of Canadian property management and services at Canada Life, has been involved in the greening of his workplace for nearly two decades.

“Even though we’re an insurance, wealth management and benefits provider, creating positive lasting change is at the forefront of what we do,” Lecuyer says, “whether investing for long-term returns, operating in a sustainable way or expanding the diverse perspectives that shape our company for the future.”

When Canada Life began seeking to understand its environmental impact nearly 15 years ago, it owned or leased over four million square feet of real estate. “We aspire to manage down our consumption and the emissions associated with our consumption,” Lecuyer says.

“One of those pieces is the real estate footprint we own and manage, and we’ve been able to manage down about a million square feet of real estate in the last five to six years, enabled prominently by changes in technology and business processes that enable people to work more flexibly and use space more efficiently.”

In the past, office work was “very paper and file intensive,” he says, but new software and digitizing drastically cut this down. At Canada Life, they’re focused on in-house waste reduction and recycling programs beyond municipal minimums. “We prioritize waste reduction at corporate office properties to create green-minded office environments for employees,” Lecuyer says. “We use responsibly sourced paper and other forest products and divert workplace items and waste from landfills as much as possible.”

But Canada Life extends its environmental efforts outside the workplace, through community outreach and charity work. According to Stephanie Halligan, manager of community relations, “Our current support goes from tree planting to wetland conservation and protection of natural spaces. More recently, we’ve increased funding around access to safe and clean drinking water, as we know that’s important to Canadians. And we’ve done it by supporting charities directly and through our employees.”

Canada Life supports national organizations like Tree Canada and local charities like Vancouver Food Runners, which delivers surplus food from hotels, restaurants and cafes directly to non-profits in the city. And it works with Water First, which addresses water challenges in First Nations communities through its school program in Western Canada.

“We’re trying to get to students,” Halligan says, “to foster their understanding of the environment and environmental challenges and to engage the next generation.”

Halligan sees these programs in harmony with the company’s purpose, “when we talk about how we want to support the mental, physical and financial well-being of all Canadians – where we live and work is a part of that conversation.”

In 2023, Canada Life’s parent company, Great-West Lifeco, was once again recognized for managing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change-related risks and opportunities, receiving an A- rating on the global monitoring organization CDP’s climate change questionnaire. Great-West Lifeco’s score is among the top life and health insurers in North America and globally. Additionally, the company published Advancing Inclusive Growth, a report on impact, inclusion and citizenship, which sets out its efforts to create positive change for its customers, people and communities.

“We’re on a journey but we’re not at the end of it by any stretch yet,” Lecuyer says. “It’s a journey I’ve been on for almost 20 years now and we’ve seen really good progress.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Canada's Greenest Employers winners, published April 16, 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.