Montreal's Top Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 18
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MONTRÉAL’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2025)
Air Canada is where new careers take flight
T
here’s good reason,
Arielle MeloulWechsler says, why
her position at Air
Canada carries an
unusual job title. “It does look
like a mishmash of roles,” says the
airline’s executive vice president,
chief human resources officer, and
public affairs. “But it just means
I cover the whole of stakeholder
relations, whether internal or
external — employees, government or public — where our
messaging needs to be consistent
and authentic,” she explains.
“Transparent communication
has been absolutely key in
building trust with our employees,
because they know whatever
we’re telling them is the same as
we tell everyone.”
In recent years, Air Canada has
intensified its use of communications avenues, including the Viva
Engage platform, “which is a kind
of internal chat room for employees to ask about anything and get
answers from each other and from
leaders,” Meloul-Wechsler says.
That effort is only one part
of Air Canada’s commitment to
support and engage its employees.
“We believe in stretch goals, where
you’re taken out of your day-to-day
comfort zone and put to doing
something completely different
— like a lawyer becoming head of
HR,” says Meloul-Wechsler, who
began her Air Canada career in
the airline’s legal department in
1997. “And I’m only one example
among many.”
Another, by his own description,
is Eric Naki, now a team care
manager – benefits, who joined
Air Canada’s general reservations
department in 2012. “Since then,
doors have kept opening and I’ve
always been pushed in the right
direction to go ahead, to grow and
to really make the most out of the
opportunities that I’ve had here,”
says Naki.
Making the most of opportunities is aided by a variety of
supports for ongoing learning and
development. “Air Canada has
assistance for continuing education, from support for in-house
training — online courses and
workshops — to apprenticeships
and skilled trades certification
programs to university courses,
including tuition reimbursement,”
Meloul-Wechsler says.
“We’ve invested a lot in mentoring, pairing senior managers
with mid-level managers. That’s
win-win because the senior
people really love to transfer their
knowledge to the next generation
of leaders.”
Transparent
communication has been
absolutely key in building
trust with our employees,
because they know
whatever we’re telling
them is the same as we tell
everyone.
— Arielle Meloul-Wechsler
Executive Vice President,
Chief Human Resources
Officer, and Public Affairs
Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, executive vice president, chief human resources officer, and public affairs, at Air
Canada.
A hybrid work option, flexible
schedules and vibrant employee
resource groups representing
women, visible minorities,
Indigenous Peoples, those living
with disabilities, and LGBTQ+
people are other core elements of
Air Canada’s workplace culture,
as is its continuing commitment
to diversity, equity and inclusion
(DEI).
“DEI is something that we
were embracing long before it
was on everybody’s radar — we
were one of the first employers to
offer same-sex family benefits,”
says Meloul-Wechsler. “When
I’m asked whether I’m concerned
about the trend we’re seeing in
