Manitoba's Top Employers (2025) - Flipbook - Page 68
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MANITOBA’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2025)
For Winnipeg Airports Authority, safety is a core value
S
ince 2022, when Nick
Hays became CEO of
the Winnipeg Airports
Authority Inc. (WAA),
the spotlight has
increasingly been trained on the
employee experience, says Katelyn
Costa-Sale, manager, human
resources. “In the past few years,
we’ve really learned from the
workforce what was important
to them and their values, and
we realigned and repositioned
our vision, mission and values
statements.”
One effect has been a redefinition of safety and a renewed emphasis on it, to the extent it comes
first when WAA sets out its core
values: safety, respect, teamwork,
inclusion and excellence. “Our
focus now is on the employees and
ensuring that everybody is safe
within the work environment, not
just physically but psychologically,” says Costa-Sale.
WAA offers a wide array of
employee benefits and perks,
including flex days (paid time off
to attend to family or personal
needs), strong mental health
resources, ongoing professional
advancement support, and
enhanced pay for parental leave
(maternal, paternal and adoptive).
But the holistic approach to
safety has been particularly
significant, according to health
and safety specialist Phoenix Li.
“In workplaces, it used to be ‘park
your feelings at the door,’ as my
father would put it,” says Li.
“Your stress level — how well or
how badly you sleep, looking after
your kids, having to run in and
out of the workplace to make sure
your family is taken care of — all
that was discounted,” Li says. “But
that stress feeds into your dayto-day life and it can’t be ignored
when we’re trying to foster a
healthy and safe workplace. Just
incorporating that psychological
piece is huge.”
WAA’s commitment to meeting
employees’ needs has meant applying diversity, equity, inclusion
and accessibility (DEIA) principles
to its work culture, especially
accessibility, says Costa-Sale. “We
are all on some sort of spectrum
and we want ensure that everyone
has the proper tools and resources
to support them in doing their
best work.”
That has driven the creation of
ever more open communication
channels. “It’s not just the employee and the manager anymore. It’s
the employee and the director, or
the employee and the VP, having
scheduled one-on-one meetings,”
Costa-Sale says.
Our focus is on the
employees and ensuring
that everybody is
safe within the work
environment, not
just physically but
psychologically.
— Katelyn Costa-Sale
Manager, Human Resources
A Winnipeg Airports Authority safety team member at their desk.
“During our innovative, five-day
onboarding, new hires — who
have the opportunity to meet and
learn from teams across the WAA
— all have direct contact with our
CEO, Nick. Since I participate in
more of those leadership meetings
than before, I see the feedback
that all of our employees are
providing, and I see what’s being
done with it.”
For Li, open communications
and emphasis on all aspects
of workplace safety are major
