Opportunities are in the pipeline at SaskEnergy

For Jeddalyn Nadeau, no two days on the job are exactly the same. Whether she’s installing a natural gas meter, helping a customer change a furnace filter or responding to a potential emergency, Nadeau is happy to not only provide a valuable service but be a role model for women coming up behind her at SaskEnergy Incorporated.

As the only female operations technician working in the Saskatoon city office, she often gets a surprised look when she shows up at a customer’s door to help. “The best part for me is serving people however I can,” she says. “We are on the front lines of keeping our customers safe and making sure the infrastructure is maintained and dependable.”

Now, she’s encouraging other women to follow in her footsteps and become certified technicians for Saskatchewan’s natural gas distribution company. Having received support and guidance from women in the position before her, she tries to do the same for others. “I want more women to join, I want to continue to create a path for women to work in this field,” she says.

Nadeau took a winding route to get to her current position. She joined SaskEnergy in 2014, five years after moving to Canada from the Philippines. She worked as a customer service representative in Prince Albert, Sask., for four years before moving to Saskatoon to take on a new dispatcher role. A female trainer there encouraged her to look into SaskEnergy’s technician training program.

“The fact that someone thought I could do it was enough motivation for me to apply,” she says. “I had always been interested in the operations technician role, but I thought it was way too advanced for me. I didn’t have any experience in plumbing or gas.”

In 2019, she was accepted into the two-year technician training program where she was paid to receive both classroom instruction and on-the-job training. As part of the training, she worked alongside qualified technicians, some of whom were women.

“Working for a company like SaskEnergy, there is a diverse set of opportunities for employees. We will support you in your career path,” says Kevin Adair, executive vice president, customer service operations.

SaskEnergy encourages its more than 1,100 employees to continue developing their skills by providing both training and career options to move within the company. “Being able to offer employees a breadth of opportunities also keeps them with the company longer,” Adair says.

When Nadeau takes off her toolbelt and returns to the office, you won’t often find her stuck behind a computer. She could be helping to organize a cultural event or taking part in a discussion facilitated by the Joint Diversity and Inclusion Committee. For more than three decades, the committee has provided an avenue to celebrate the company’s diversity.

“I’m in this non-traditional role, so I thought it would be helpful to share my ideas about how to create a more inclusive and diverse workplace,” says Nadeau.

Thanks to the dedicated, community-minded employees at SaskEnergy, the company is known as Saskatchewan’s Champion of Volunteers, supporting hundreds of programs and events each year in the province, says Adair. He also credits the company’s employees for continuing to bring safe, affordable energy to customers and delivering on its commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from operations by 35 per cent by 2030.

“We are an integral part of Saskatchewan,” he says. “We live our values, and you can see that in our people.”

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.

SaskEnergy offers flexibility and opportunity

When Curtis Hatch graduated with a materials engineering degree, he had a tough choice to make: to accept a more lucrative remote job in the oil industry or join SaskEnergy Incorporated to stay close to his family and still be challenged by diverse projects.

Thirteen years later, he’s even more sure he made the right choice. Now, the Saskatoon-based operations manager oversees a team responsible for the safe and reliable operation of the distribution, transmission and storage facilities for Saskatchewan’s natural gas company.

“SaskEnergy gave me opportunities. Within my initial engineering role in system integrity, I learned a whole bunch of skills that became valuable to me as an operations manager,” says Hatch. “I’ve never looked back. I feel like we do enough diverse things that I’m constantly engaged and constantly feeling challenged.”

Currently, he is working with a project manager on the construction of a new natural gas station in Prud’homme, which his operations teams will oversee. Slated to open in late 2026, the $200-million project also includes the construction of large pipelines.

Maria McCullough, executive vice president, human resources and safety, has tremendous respect for SaskEnergy’s operations team. “They are the heartbeat of the company,” she says. “They make sure the system is safe and reliable and operating as it should.”

The team plays a vital role in helping SaskEnergy meet the growing demand for natural gas throughout the province and delivering on the company’s commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from operations by 35 per cent by 2030, says McCullough.

Hatch jumps at the chance to attend job fairs to promote SaskEnergy to engineering students. “There are a lot of different opportunities, whether it is planning, designing or building pipelines, pipeline facilities or compressor stations,” he says, adding that engineers also work on inspecting and maintaining infrastructure, as well as emissions reductions programs. “You have opportunities to work in the field without having to work too remotely.”

Each year, SaskEnergy’s co-op program welcomes about 45 students in programs ranging from engineering to human resources. The company also recruits young people interested in becoming operations technicians. If accepted into the two-year technician training program, they are paid to work while they learn.

“I think size matters in an organization. We’re small enough that you can get your hands dirty but not so small that you can’t get involved with a new group of people or with new initiatives,” says McCullough of the company’s nearly 1,200 employees.

SaskEnergy also offers employees flexible work schedules. The company’s permanent hybrid model gives many of them the option to work two days a week from home. Flex time and job sharing are also available.

Hatch appreciates the flexibility his employer offers. If either of his two young daughters are sick, he knows he can take a day off to be at home, allowing his wife to continue seeing patients at her busy medical clinic. He also participates in fun school events. “With a young family, I can take a day to go on a field trip with my kids,” says Hatch.

The company’s paid time-off program not only gives him flexibility but allows him to spend more quality time with his family. Last summer, they took a three-week road trip to the east coast. Now, with four weeks of vacation, plus accumulated days through the company’s earned time-off program, Hatch uses his six and a half weeks away from his job to strike a better work-life balance for his family.

“We are always trying to provide people with good career options that also allow them to enjoy the other parts of their lives,” says McCullough.

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Saskatchewan's Top Employers winners, published February 4, 2025 in the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon Star Phoenix. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.