Canada's Top Employers for Young People (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 62
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CANADA’S TOP EMPLOYERS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE (2026)
Work-life success is a key pillar at UFA Co-operative
W
hat’s a city
girl doing
working in a
role supporting
farmers
and ranchers? As it turns out,
quite a lot. Geeta Kilari is a
business intelligence analyst
at UFA Co-operative Limited,
a Calgary-based, memberowned co-operative that
supports agricultural producers,
commercial customers and related
rural businesses in Western
Canada. She joined as a summer
co-op placement in 2023 and
continued working part-time
before taking on a full-time
position last year.
For me, the investment
begins with actually
caring about people.
— Fred Thun
President and CEO
“My current job is a little different from my university major,”
she says. With a master’s degree in
epidemiology, Kilari specialized
in analyzing health data. But her
expertise in statistics has proven to
be an asset at UFA.
“We provide reports and data for
everyone in the organization, from
the C-suite to the farm stores, vendors and to our customers through
our mobile app,” she says.
Kilari and her team produce
reports ranging from supply chain
metrics and performance indicators to product information and
other data collected from UFA’s
farm and ranch supply stores and
petroleum agencies, which may
even include who has access to
the washrooms, she notes.
UFA Co-operative encourages employees to develop their professional skills through collaborative crop
protection consultations.
She credits the company’s
emphasis on knowledge transfer
with making the transition of
applying her statistical skills to a
business context. “My manager
and my team did a great job of
showing me the ropes. I felt really
supported, and there were a lot of
resources for me to lean on.”
UFA Co-operative has a
strong culture of investing in its
employees. “For me, it begins with
actually caring about people,”
says president and CEO Fred
Thun. “Every organization can
have an employee recognition
program but there is a point when
employees realize whether they’re
just a part of a cog, or whether
they really matter as people.”
Work-life success is a pillar of
UFA’s culture and is supported for
applicable roles with hybrid work
options and generous time-off
policies. “One of the things that really caught my eye was the remote
aspect because, once COVID hit, I
did my post-secondary education
online,” says Kilari. “Being able to
log off at the end of the workday
and not have to face a commute is
super helpful.”
Moreover, she adds, “management also encourages all employees to take advantage of their paid
time off. It’s great to have an extra
day to run errands or have some
downtime.”
Thun acknowledges the highly-competitive environment for
talent in agriculture and energy.
“People will always be able to go
somewhere else and make a bit
more,” he says. As a leader, he
believes in investing in developing
people by creating career paths
and personal development.
“We pay competitively but we
try to match the financial offer
with the opportunity to make a
difference in the community and,
at the same time, fulfill personal
ambitions. We tell our employees,
‘Find a way to be successful at
