Recognized as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers (2025) and Alberta's Top Employers (2025):
By Richard Yerema and Kristina Leung, Mediacorp Canada Inc. staff editors (Nov 14, 2024)
Here are some of the reasons why Graham Construction was selected as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers (2025) and Alberta's Top Employers (2025):
- Graham Construction donated more than $1.4-million in community investment and charitable donations in the past year and enables employees to have a direct impact on the communities in which they live and work with paid time off to volunteer and matching charitable donations
- Graham Construction encourages employees to keep their skills up to date through its extensive in-house Builders Framework program (led by internal professionals), tuition subsidies -- the company additionally manages a graduate program as a platform to develop future talent
- Graham Construction is 100 per cent employee-owned and supports an ownership mentality through a share purchase plan, available to all employees -- the company also helps employees build long-term savings through a defined contribution pension plan
Employee-owned Graham has built a culture of engagement
Since Dmitriy Kirillov’s former employer was formally acquired by Graham Construction in 2021, the health and safety specialist has seen first-hand the ethos that the Calgary-based construction company calls “the power of one.”
Kirillov has seen it in the way company leaders are proactive in keeping their teams connected at all times, in the attention executives give to all employees’ careers, and in the regular check-ins, team meetings, casual conversations and company-wide town halls that senior managers hold.
“There is continuous and constant access to pretty much every level of management and leadership in the company,” says the Toronto-based senior regional safety manager.
Kirillov says the wildfire situation in northern Alberta, which has threatened Graham employees on several industrial sites in the region in the past few years, epitomizes the company’s all-for-one commitment to its staff. He says its tenacious efforts to assist and support employees potentially in harm’s way – as well as the communities where they work – has been “enormous.”
“Employees don’t feel alone,” Kirillov says. “They feel that they’re part of an organization that’s absolutely committed to holding this journey together.”
Keeping all staff connected at 99-year-old Graham – which has offices and projects dotted across North America – is born out of the DNA of a company that is employee-owned.
“That is really first and foremost who we are,” says Carolynne Laughy, Graham’s senior vice president, people. “We truly provide every employee the opportunity to buy into the company, and as a result it’s created a proud group of employees at all levels who are very much engaged in understanding profitability, what we’re building, where, and how we’re doing it. Our employees challenge each other to make prudent decisions because they genuinely care about Graham’s success.”
Laughy says Graham is very transparent in communicating with its employee-owners. The executives host quarterly financial and strategy updates, and once a year there is a live, hosted Meet the Board session.
“Being new to an employee-owned model myself, it’s interesting to see how everybody participates in those discussions and meetings,” she says. “Our people care about each other, our clients and partners, our performance, and what decisions our leaders are making.”
In addition, Graham is competitive in terms of initiatives such as its training programs, flexible benefits package and mental health support, Laughy says. “We provide training for our staff at all levels,” she says. “We have technical training for our junior and mid-level professionals, management training for our new leaders and leadership development for more senior leaders that we hope to advance into executive roles one day.”
Kirillov can attest to the effectiveness of the resources Graham puts into helping its employees advance. He says the company offers a huge variety of options for its staff to broaden their work horizons at the company through internal and external resources.
For instance, given his interest in health and safety issues and the company’s continuous focus on mental health, Kirillov had the opportunity to be sponsored to obtain a psychological health and safety certification through the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Through the program, Kirillov was able to participate in various sets of training around mental health and well-being.
“Our top priority at Graham is the safety and well-being of people,” Kirillov says. “And when we were offered an opportunity to broaden our knowledge around the psychological, personal, mental well-being of individuals and how we can affect that positively, that was definitely an eye-opener for me.”
Graham Construction builds careers and legacies
One word pops up repeatedly as Jason Steward describes his career trajectory at Graham Construction over the past 14 years: opportunity.
The operations manager at the Calgary-based construction company has been able to take advantage of challenging roles in different parts of the company and move around to various parts of Alberta and British Columbia. In that time, he has received several promotions and learned new skills each step of the way. He’s even had to turn down opportunities, such as working in Saskatchewan or Washington State.
“I’ve always felt like I’ve had the opportunity to continue growing my career and doing new things from day one,” says Steward, who is now managing operations for Graham’s industrial group in Fort McMurray. “And I still see growth in where I can go.”
Steward’s advance has been facilitated by Graham’s steady expansion and the formal and informal training opportunities the company offers. Graham encourages employees to keep their skills up to date through several programs, including its inhouse Builders Framework, which is led by internal professionals. Steward says the biggest boost to his own learning experience has come from the everyday on-site discussions he has had with Graham veterans. “I was able to partner up with them and learn a lot.”
Steward has also wholeheartedly bought into Graham’s 100 per cent employee-owned structure, which he says aligns everyone’s interests with the success of the company. He has been purchasing shares in the company at almost every opportunity and has even borrowed money to buy additional Graham shares. The company also helps employees build long-term savings through a defined contribution pension plan.
Carolynne Laughy, Graham’s senior vice president, people, agrees that the employee-ownership structure aligns the staff with the company, financially and emotionally.
“That Graham pride definitely rings loudly, and a lot of people have been able to be invested in the company for 20-plus years,” Laughy says. “So they are definitely strongly affiliated with the organization.”
Leaders also promote active community engagement, Laughy says. “As proud as we are of being owners, we’re also proud of what we do in our communities,” she says. “So, there’s definitely encouragement, right from the corporate level, for employees and teams to get involved in doing volunteer work.”
People find satisfaction at Graham when they see its completed projects, she says. “We build things that are legacies and communities,” Laughy says. “When I visit offices in different cities, employees are so proud to show me the projects that they’ve built in that city.”
Given the company’s growth and the continued competition for skilled workers in Alberta and elsewhere, Graham has put a lot of time and effort into attracting new people from all demographics. For instance, Graham works with associations like Women Building Futures to actively promote getting women into the construction trades.
“As a result, we’re ahead of the construction industry in Alberta in terms of the proportion of women in trades roles in our company,” Laughy says. “We’ve got similar relationships with new immigrant and Indigenous associations. And we partner with other industry groups to draw under-represented populations into the construction industry.”
For Steward, what ultimately makes employment at Graham so satisfying is the people. They work hard on difficult projects, he says, but rarely lose their sense of humour and camaraderie.
“It always comes down to the people,” Steward says. “Even in serious moments, everybody’s always happy to have a laugh about something. I think that’s really important.”
The Career Directory
Graham Construction has been selected for The Career Directory, our guide to entry-level recruitment for recent college and university graduates.
