Weston offers variety in projects – and growth

What keeps someone working at the same company for 35 years? For Mark Emery, president of Weston Consulting Group, part of the answer is that every day presents different opportunities. “There’s lots of variety in the types of clients and projects,” he says of the Toronto-based planning and urban design firm. “No two days are the same. It keeps it interesting.”

It also has something to do with the company’s employee growth and development programs, which include mentorships, leadership training courses, external speakers, team retreats and a willingness to advance staff members in their careers.

“It’s a great place to grow and expand your skills,” Emery says. “We encourage employees to get their registered professional planner or project management designation. We have people that coach and mentor them, and we celebrate when they’re successful. And we don’t hold back on promotions. If people are ready, we move them up.”

Emery says the company expanded its leadership training this year, and now features experts from different facets of the industry coming in every month to speak to the staff about transportation, the environment, air quality and other relevant issues.

“One of the biggest land surveyors in Ontario was recently here and it was really just a great education for people in the office,” he says. “We had 45 people engaged in learning for two hours and asking great questions.”

Darrin Cohen has been a planner at Weston Consulting for three years. “There are a lot of learning opportunities and initiatives,” he says. “If you want to take a course to learn a job-related skill, they’ll cover the tuition, and formal leadership training is ongoing. We have regular check-ins with our supervisors, and there’s easy access to the leadership team for informal mentorship.”

Cohen also appreciates the company’s generous benefits plan, which includes an RSP matching program and a wellness allowance. “It’s a $500 discretionary fund that we can spend every year,” he says. “It can be anything that makes us happy, within reason. I bought a new desk for my home office.”

Emery has been impressed by the impact of Weston’s charitable giving program on its staff, adding that the program embodies Weston’s values and mission by giving back to the community.

“We are involved with a number of organizations,” he says. “Our Thanksgiving food drive was a huge success, and a number of staff did tree planting with the City of Vaughan and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. If we can combine team-building with some sort of positive community endeavour, that’s a success because people feel engaged, they feel part of something larger than themselves. And I think that’s really important.”

Cohen values the company culture’s emphasis on growth and development for its staff.

“I’ve worked in a lot of places, but I’ve never worked in a place with a culture like Weston’s,” he says. “It’s grounded in a philosophy where you’re allowed to make mistakes and ask questions. The expectations of us are quite high, but at the same time we’re encouraged to take risks. I think the leaders understand that having staff who are growing and learning means we are better able to deliver for our clients.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Greater Toronto’s Top Employers winners, published December 3, 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.

Weston Consulting gives its people a lot of latitude

Brazilian-born Vivian Gomes was already intrigued by Weston Consulting Inc. when she went through the planning and design firm’s interview process. She liked the creative ideas of the design director and the progressive approach of the firm. But what capped it off was when, at the end, president Mark Emery said “thank you” in Portuguese (“obrigado”).

“It was really nice,” says Gomes, now senior urban designer at the Vaughan, Ont.-based firm. “I felt appreciated. Because it’s always me making the effort in another person’s language. And another senior person said, ‘what kind of leader do you want to be? What is your voice?’ Because as immigrants, we try be more like everybody else instead of like my authentic self – a Latina, a louder Brazilian who is a little bit warm and passionate. Many times, our voices are not heard, and I appreciate being heard. At Weston, they embrace me fully, my whole identity.”

Gomes also embraced her design team, deciding she wanted to be “a leader who cares, who takes care of her team,” which Weston supported. “I appreciate the space they made for me to grow as a leader my own way and that they created opportunities for me to expand my skills and add to my expertise.”

Arriving in Canada in 2014 with degrees in architecture and urban planning, Gomes added a master’s in environmental studies from the University of Waterloo. She joined Weston in 2021 and has taken a strong role in the design of areas “between the buildings and the streets” – from plazas to front porches – and in public consultations.

Leaders like Emery, she says, regularly discuss with staff decisions that will affect them. “They are constantly improving their culture to incorporate the needs of the people who work with them. They hold themselves accountable, and this is something I value a lot.” She also appreciates being able to work from Brazil a few weeks each year in order to visit family.

Emery, for his part, calls Gomes “the kind of employee we would love more of.” The firm, where he has been employed since 1989 and president since 2007, does most of its business in Ontario. Its urban planners help clients navigate projects through the municipal labyrinth and its planners and designers are involved in the creation of new projects, generally in the private sector. Weston also works closely with architectural and engineering firms.

“We give our teams a fair bit of latitude to run with projects,” Emery says. “And what we offer that a lot of firms don’t is a massive variety of project types – everything from residential high-rise to industrial buildings to places of worship to community plans to low-rise and townhouses to rural and agricultural planning.”

Currently the firm is branching into affordable housing projects and is putting a toe in the water to bid on international ventures. From 70 staff in early 2024, says Emery, Weston plans to grow to 100 by the end of the year, with most of the expansion likely to be on the design side.

He says the firm, which also has a smaller office in downtown Toronto, likes to hire people straight out of university, primarily Waterloo and Toronto Metropolitan (formerly Ryerson), and give them a wide variety of experience. “People with three to five years at our firm have the equivalent of 10 or 15 years in another more defined or segmented role.”

Add in the compensation and benefits that compete with larger organizations, he says, plus the flexibility of a small firm – “I have an open-door policy” – and there’s much to say “obrigado” for.

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers winners, published April 2, 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.