At Mercer Peace River: one team, one goal

An operational quirk of a pulp mill is that it runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. That, and the fact mills tend to be deep in the woods where their raw material comes from, presents inherent challenges to giving employees the freedom and access to amenities that many Canadian workers take for granted.

“One of the things we’re continually striving to do better at is making this a place where there’s work-life balance for everybody,” says Roger Ashfield, managing director of Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd., located near the small town of Peace River in northern Alberta.

That's the impetus behind a generous vacation package that extends up to seven weeks for long-tenured employees. Plus, after each five years of service, workers get additional paid weeks they can use anytime over the next five years.

This year, Mercer Peace River introduced a program of up to 10 personal days off per year, too.

“We’re a little bit remote. Actually, we’re a lot remote,” Ashfield explains. Going to see a doctor, for example, might require a trip to Grande Prairie or Edmonton. “People were stressing over being able to take a day with no notice.”

The personal days enable people to do that without using up vacation days that could end up compromising a family trip. Whether workers have a sick child or a broken furnace to attend to, they can do it.

There’s a four-day, 10-hour work schedule for most employees, with multiple schedule options available (a smaller group of core operators and maintenance technicians does shift work). That has long made Mercer a go-to employer in the area, says stores lead technician Scott Pearson. Having a three-day weekend “allows us to take advantage of our short summers here,” he says. “You’re able to find a really good work-life balance.”

What Pearson didn’t appreciate until after he’d been hired as a parts technician five years ago was the opportunity for career advancement. Mercer put him through trade school, continuing to pay him during six weeks of full-time coursework every year, as well as covering his tuition and other costs.

“I was the only one in my class, over three years, who was fortunate enough not to have to go on EI or anything like that,” Pearson says. After obtaining his journeyperson certificate, he was promoted to his current role, a supervisory position.

Other perks he likes include an RRSP matching program on top of the company pension, along with full dental, massage and physiotherapy coverage.

“We work our bodies every day, so it’s nice to know we have access to these health benefits,” Pearson says.

“The mill has been on a journey to enhance its safety performance,” Ashfield adds. In three years, it’s lowered its accident rate from 7.8 per 100,000 person-hours to less than two in 2023 and, in recent months, below one – far ahead of industry standards.

Mercer Peace River has also taken steps to improve communications – hard in a facility that runs 24/7. Ashfield now hosts a regular video podcast, complete with a jingle composed and recorded by a couple of musically inclined employees. The mill’s monthly newsletter, The Pulp Pages, now gets mailed directly to employees’ homes so that other family members see it too.

The company is deeply ensconced in Peace River and its neighbouring communities, backing events, sports teams and other local causes. “We try to be present in many ways,” Ashfield says.

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Alberta’s Top Employers winners, published January 28, 2025 in the Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.