The City of Maple Ridge focuses on its people

When Michelle Lewis was hired five years ago as executive director of human resources for the City of Maple Ridge, she was given a mandate to build a new, more people-centred culture in the organization in preparation for the rapid growth anticipated in the Lower Mainland community over the next decade.

“We’re going through a cultural transformation,” says Lewis. “It’s about putting people first, and creating policy, practices and procedures that provide opportunities for more collaboration.”

The City recently completed an engagement survey to gather insight from staff, which will help shape future initiatives. These initiatives will be tackled by joint staff- and management-led committees in partnership with its unions.

It also expanded its learning and development programs, which include both employer-led and employee-led training, and added initiatives like a new employee orientation and a dynamic onboarding program called City Chase, which sends groups of employees from different departments out into the city to connect with each other and learn how Maple Ridge works.

“Employees have the opportunity to make new connections with their peers while discovering City services and locations together,” says Lewis, “and when they return, they’re just vibrating with energy and excitement.”

The City also runs education and training programs in partnership with local institutions like the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) and Simon Fraser University (SFU) to build employees’ skillsets and help them realize their potential.

Lewis is also working on developing a three-year equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training program. “We’ll have 30 individuals go through this training, which will make a huge difference,” she says. “They’ll not just be learning the concepts of EDI, they’ll be learning how to adapt it into the workplace and champion it, so it will be fully in the fabric of the organization.”

Kirk McLeod started working for the City 10 years ago as an engineering inspector, and three years ago he was promoted to superintendent of roads and fleet. Along the way he’s been able to take advantage of several professional development programs.

“They really encourage you to find the courses and training that will get you to where you want to be,” he says. “They’re always very supportive. They provide courses and internal programs, but they also encourage you to go on your own path and find what works for you.”

McLeod is instilling that attitude in his own staff. “I’ll work with them on a career plan and get them into courses at BCIT or other schools,” he says. “Quite a few people in my staff are taking after-hours courses at BCIT so they’ll be ready to take the next step when a position becomes available.”

Lewis’s team has published an Annual People Report that accompanies the City’s Five-Year Human Resources Strategic Plan. The report highlights the unique experiences of employees across the organization and showcases the City’s programming, sharing results and setting targets for future years.

“We want to show everyone that we really want to affect change and support our people,” Lewis says. “It’s a journey, and we want to communicate as much as possible and become employee-centred as well as citizen-centred.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's BC’s Top Employers winners, published February 11, 2025 in the Vancouver Sun. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.