Canada's Top Employers for Young People (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 44
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CANADA’S TOP EMPLOYERS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE (2026)
A great knowledge evolution is underway at Hydro Ottawa
W
hen it came
time for
Courtney
Mosley to
decide where
she’d do her co-op placement, it
was an easy choice: she wanted
to work at Hydro Ottawa. After
meeting the utility’s distribution
design manager through her
program at Algonquin College,
Mosley says it was clear Hydro
Ottawa offered a “fascinating
career path for me to follow.”
There hasn’t been one
day where I haven’t
learned something
new.
— Courtney Mosley
Apprentice Meter Technician
Mosley, a 22-year-old apprentice
meter technician, did her co-op
within the utility’s distribution
design team and then snagged
a part-time role while finishing
up her electrical engineering
technician diploma. Mosley
eventually followed her curiosity
to the metering team, where
she’s now the youngest member
and working through an
apprenticeship program to get her
journeyperson designation.
“There hasn’t been one day
where I haven’t learned something
new,” she says. “As an apprentice,
you’re always working one-on-one
with a journeyperson whenever
you’re doing jobs. I always have
someone beside me that can help
me understand and they’ve been a
huge help. They know the city like
the back of their hand.”
Hydro Ottawa is in the midst of
Courtney Mosley, apprentice meter technician (left), and Brandon Krakana, safety partner, at Hydro Ottawa.
an organization-wide knowledge
transfer, says Donna Burnett
Vachon, director of change and
organization development. About
35 per cent of the company’s
employees are under the age of 35,
and that share is only continuing
to grow as the company continues
to hire to meet the growing
demand for electricity and as
many of its long-term employees
are getting ready to retire.
“It’s a big transition for us,
and it’s causing us to rethink
what we do around training and
more specifically, safety-related
training,” she says.
The company is bringing back
recent retirees as instructors for
its powerline technician program
with Algonquin College and as
mentors for its apprenticeship
programs to make sure younger
employees can take advantage
of their decades of knowledge
and experience, Burnett Vachon
says. It’s also employing novel
and interactive technologies for
important safety training.
Brandon Krakana, a 32-year-old
safety partner at Hydro Ottawa,
has been deeply involved with the
company’s technology adoption.
He’s assisted with the creation
of videos that walk through how
to complete a task safely, such as
a safe evacuation from a bucket
truck. The videos are available for
employees to access anytime using
their mobile devices.
He has also supported the
review of new virtual reality
modules, which will be embedded
into the company’s student and
apprenticeship programs.
“Lots of trades and technical
employees throughout the
company are more visual learners,
so we want to assist with that and
play to their strengths,” Krakana
says.
Mosley says she’s itching to
try out the VR module for meter
technicians. In addition to
completing technical tasks, she
and other technicians are the
face of the company and must
interact with the public regularly
to manage sensitive customer
situations and communicate the
