Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 3
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CANADA'S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS (2025)
CANADA’S TOP SMALL &
MEDIUM EMPLOYERS
Anthony Meehan,
PUBLISHER
Editorial Team:
Richard Yerema,
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Kristina Leung,
MANAGING EDITOR
Chantel Watkins,
FLIPP
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Sonja Verpoort,
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Juliane Fung,
RESEARCH EDITOR
Cypress Weston,
SENIOR RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Vithusa Vimalathasan,
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Krista Robinson,
RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Advertising Team:
Kristen Chow,
MANAGING DIRECTOR, PUBLISHING
Ye Jin Suhe,
MANAGER, PUBLISHING
Chariemagne Kuizon,
PUBLISHING COORDINATOR
Vishnusha Kirupananthan,
SENIOR BRANDING & GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Sponsored Profile Writers:
Berton Woodward,
SENIOR EDITOR
Brian Bergman
Brian Bethune
Deborah Bourk
Abigail Cukier
Mary Dickie
Jane Doucet
Don Hauka
Patricia Hluchy
D’Arcy Jenish
Diane Jermyn
Sara King-Abadi
Allison Lawlor
Tom Mason
Michael McCullough
Rick McGinnis
Kelsey Rolfe
Stacey Stein
Nora Underwood
Barbara Wickens
©2025 Mediacorp Canada Inc. All rights reserved. CANADA’S TOP SMALL &
MEDIUM EMPLOYERS is a product of Mediacorp. The Globe and Mail distributes
the online magazine but is not involved in the editorial content, judging or selection of winners. CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS is a registered
trade mark licensed by Mediacorp. Editorial inquiries: ct100@mediacorp.ca
Toronto-based mobile advertising firm Flipp Corp. has a ‘remote first’ hybrid work policy where employees
can apply to work from anywhere in the world for up 30 days at a time.
T
his year marks the 12th anniversary of our
Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers
competition, which recognizes companies
with under 500 employees that lead their
peers in creating progressive workplaces and
forward-thinking human resources programs. When we
launched the competition, our editorial goal was to shine
a light on how smaller employers attracted and retained
staff under tight resource constraints.
With today’s announcement of our 2025 winners, the
differences between our SME winners and our broader
list of Canada’s Top 100 Employers are increasingly
difficult to discern. Across the areas our editors review,
many SME winners now offer benefits and perks once
found only at the largest employers.
One such area where many SME winners distinguish
themselves is paid vacation allowance. Employers like
Mistplay in Montréal, Pixieset in Vancouver and Toronto-based Adaptovate start all new staff at four weeks paid
vacation allowance. Vancouver-based Cadence goes
beyond this level, offering unlimited paid vacation
allowance to all new staff.
Family-friendly benefits are another area where this
year’s SME winners excel. Take Vancouver-based Yulu
Public Relations, which provides maternity and parental
leave top-up to 100 per cent of salary for 26 weeks. Or ISA
Cybersecurity and Longboard Architectural Products,
which top-up to 85 per cent of salary for 20+ weeks.
Calgary-based Mawer Investment Management is one of
our first SME winners to provide compassionate leave
top-up, to 100 per cent of salary for up to 16 weeks. At
Sutton Special Risk in Toronto, the benefits plan includes
coverage for fertility drugs, to a maximum of $12,000, a
benefit previously seen at only large employers.
Helping employees plan for life after retirement is an
area that we’ve long written about and, here too, this year’s
SME winners are raising the bar. Making matching
contributions to employee RSPs is an excellent step in this
direction – you’ll find this valuable benefit at employers
such as FBM, Genoa Design, Harris & Company,
InvestorCOM and WalterFedy.
Giving back to the community is an area where this
year’s SME winners take the lead. Edmonton-based Riva
International provides employees with three paid days off
each year to volunteer at local charities. Other winners
match employee donations, or make company donations
based on employees’ volunteer hours.
And finally, being smaller and more nimble, our SME
winners never disappoint in coming up with unique new
benefits that we don’t see at larger employers. Aquifer
Distribution in Saskatoon rewards employees for meeting
business goals by providing extra half-days of vacation
— on average, staff earn five to ten days off annually.
During the summer, companies like Winnipeg’s Artis
REIT and Toronto-based Nulogy offer reduced workweeks so employees can enjoy the warm weather. At
Toronto-based Uken, the four-day workweek is yearround to boost employee productivity and engagement.
This morning, our editors released detailed ‘reasons for
selection’ describing these and other programs for this
year’s winners at www.canadastop100.com/sme. If your
organization would like to be considered for the next
edition of Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers, please
reach out to our editors at ct100@mediacorp.ca
– Tony Meehan
