Greater Toronto's Top Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 84
84
( 2026)
SPONSOR CONTENT
A culture of empathy encourages LCBO people to stay
J
ust a week after getting
married, Abhishek Khurana
was laid off from his job at
a marketing agency in the
midst of the pandemic. Then,
he saw a posting for a marketing
planner at the Liquor Control
Board of Ontario (LCBO). He
reached out to some LCBO
employees on LinkedIn to learn
more about the beverage alcohol
products wholesaler and retailer.
“I noticed people had been here
the longest time,” he recalls. They
typically had 10- to 15-year tenures
with the provincial Crown corporation. So Khurana asked them
what made them stay. He learned
that not only was LCBO a huge
operation — with 8,000 positions
and diverse career opportunities
— but it still managed to have a lot
of heart.
Employee well-being is
something I have experienced first-hand as
one of the top priorities
here at LCBO.
— Abhishek Khurana
Customer Intelligence Analyst
“Employee well-being is something I have experienced firsthand as one of the top priorities
here at LCBO,” says Khurana, who
has since moved from his contract
position to a permanent role as a
customer intelligence analyst.
As first-generation immigrants,
Khurana and his wife had no
extended family to help when they
had their first child, so, between
LCBO supports communities in Ontario through in-store fundraising, volunteer opportunities and impactful
partnerships.
them, they took the maximum
combined parental leave (which
included 12 weeks for Abhishek).
During his leave, LCBO’s top-up
pay brought his income up to 93
per cent of his working salary.
“Even when I returned to work,
my director asked me if there was
anything they could do to support
me,” he says. “I was able to have
additional flexibility to adjust
to being a working parent. That
really touched me.”
He also had the full backing of
his colleagues. “My team threw
me a baby shower before I left.
Everyone was very kind and
supportive,” Khurana says.
Not only does LCBO offer
the formal benefits that help
employees thrive — a broad suite
of training, development and
mentorship programs, tuition
assistance, employee family assistance — it also has volunteer-led
employee resource groups (ERGs)
that promote diversity, equity and
inclusion.
“I’ve had my share of discrimination in a previous role. When I
had the opportunity to be a voice
of change, as a voice for racialized
people at LCBO, I grabbed it at the
first go,” says Khurana, who serves
on a committee with the ERG representing racialized communities.
“I get to learn about experiences
that I don’t live and that helps me
serve my team better,” says Kelly
Taylor, a member of the Women’s
Action Alliance and senior director of customer and employee engagement. Taylor, who has worked
in multiple different departments
over 35 years at LCBO, has both
experienced and tried to embody
the company’s culture of empathy.
“You really see the commitment
of the organization in times of
tragedy, like when we’ve had
employees on my team pass away
due to health issues. I had help
navigating a challenging situation
from the workplace wellness team
