For Winnipeg Airports Authority, safety is a core value

Since 2022, when Nick Hays became CEO of the Winnipeg Airports Authority Inc. (WAA), the spotlight has increasingly been trained on the employee experience, says Katelyn Costa-Sale, manager, human resources. “In the past few years, we’ve really learned from the workforce what was important to them and their values, and we realigned and repositioned our vision, mission and values statements.”

One effect has been a redefinition of safety and a renewed emphasis on it, to the extent it comes first when WAA sets out its core values: safety, respect, teamwork, inclusion and excellence. “Our focus now is on the employees and ensuring that everybody is safe within the work environment, not just physically but psychologically,” says Costa-Sale.

WAA offers a wide array of employee benefits and perks, including flex days (paid time off to attend to family or personal needs), strong mental health resources, ongoing professional advancement support, and enhanced pay for parental leave (maternal, paternal and adoptive).

But the holistic approach to safety has been particularly significant, according to health and safety specialist Phoenix Li. “In workplaces, it used to be ‘park your feelings at the door,’ as my father would put it,” says Li.

“Your stress level — how well or how badly you sleep, looking after your kids, having to run in and out of the workplace to make sure your family is taken care of — all that was discounted,” Li says. “But that stress feeds into your day-to-day life and it can’t be ignored when we’re trying to foster a healthy and safe workplace. Just incorporating that psychological piece is huge.”

WAA’s commitment to meeting employees’ needs has meant applying diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) principles to its work culture, especially accessibility, says Costa-Sale. “We are all on some sort of spectrum and we want to ensure that everyone has the proper tools and resources to support them in doing their best work.”

That has driven the creation of ever more open communication channels. “It’s not just the employee and the manager anymore. It’s the employee and the director, or the employee and the VP, having scheduled one-on-one meetings,” Costa-Sale says.

“During our innovative, five-day onboarding, new hires — who have the opportunity to meet and learn from teams across the WAA — all have direct contact with our CEO, Nick. Since I participate in more of those leadership meetings than before, I see the feedback that all of our employees are providing, and I see what’s being done with it.”

For Li, open communications and emphasis on all aspects of workplace safety are major positive results. “We have a level of collaboration and self-awareness among employees that sets us apart from a lot of different places,” she says. “Work at an airport is very diverse and you have to be able to collaborate. Like a game of volleyball — you just kind of fill in wherever you’re needed, wherever you can.

“Here, because we’re now quite self-aware about our limitations and our strains, we’re constantly checking the pulse at all levels to make sure that we’re aligned, all working towards our goals.”

It makes for a better, safer workplace, says Li. And a better experience for customers, adds Costa-Sale. “The emphasis we place on ensuring our employees are feeling safe and respected within the work environment really translates into the way that they positively interact with customers,” she says.

This article appeared in the magazine announcing the winners of this year's Manitoba's Top Employers competition, published March 11, 2025 in the Winnipeg Free Press. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, who did not write or review the content.