Alberta's Top Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 24
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ALBERTA’S TOP EMPLOYERS
Support and well-being are key to the culture at ASEBP
W
hen a former
colleague
informed her
about a new job
opening at the
Alberta School Employee Benefit
Plan (ASEBP), Tamara Russell,
now supervisor, communications
services, jumped at the
opportunity. “My co-worker was a
new mother and had been looking
for a company that supports worklife harmony and flexibility. She
loved working here and thought
I’d be a great fit, too, so I applied
and got the job.”
Established in 1968 by
the Alberta School Boards
Association and the Alberta
Teachers’ Association, ASEBP is
an employee life and health trust
that provides comprehensive
health benefits and services to the
province’s publicly funded K–12
education sector.
Wellness is embedded
in what the organization does, including
how we treat our
employees.
— Jocelyn Plakas-Lock
Interim CEO
“Our mission is to support
the health and well-being of
public education workers,” says
interim CEO Jocelyn PlakasLock. “We really believe in those
underpinning pieces. Having a
healthy, safe, supportive work
environment is important to us
and that includes psychological
Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan focuses on delivering comprehensive health benefits through its
mission of supporting public education workers.
safety in the workplace. Wellness
is embedded in what the
organization does, including how
we treat our employees.”
Russell agrees. “In other
organizations, there can be
pressure to separate your work life
from your personal life, but this
is a very supportive, flexible, and
people-focused environment,” she
says.
Supervisors schedule regular
check-ins with team members.
One typical question during
these meetings is: Out of 100,
what is your current capacity?
“Maybe your capacity is 60 per
cent that week because your child
is sick,” says Russell. “We use
this as a benchmark to maintain
sustainable workloads and honour
how people might be showing up
at work.”
When Russell was promoted
to supervisor, she was juggling a
large workload. She was wrapping
up her current portfolio in her
advisor role and figuring out
how to delegate a pipeline of
pending projects to her new team.
Coincidentally, she had upcoming
time off booked.
“My manager encouraged me
to take the time off because it was
important for me to do a mental
reset before changing positions,”
says Russell.
The organization demonstrates
a belief that — while employees
are part of the ASEBP community
— they are also part of families
and other communities outside
of work. Total compensation
practices include hybrid work
and flexible work schedules,
benefits such as an earned days off
program, additional time off for
days of personal significance, and
