Manitoba's Top Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 48
MANITOBA’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2026)
48
StandardAero promotes a family-friendly work culture
W
hen Andrea
Bedia thinks
about what
drew her to
StandardAero
Ltd., she smiles: it was the positive
feeling her husband, Rolando,
brought home every day. While
Andrea returned from her
customer service job at another
company stressed and drained,
Rolando — a Red Seal machinist
at StandardAero’s gas turbine
engine division — walked through
the door satisfied, knowing he
worked in a place that valued him,
supported him and helped him
leave work worries behind.
Seeing that difference, Andrea
thought, “I want to feel that
way too.”
If you raise your hand
and you want to fix
something, the team
here empowers you to
help fix it.
— Peter Wheatley
Vice-President and
General Manager
The couple wondered at first
whether StandardAero welcomed
family members. To their surprise,
not only does the company
embrace the idea, it even rewards
employee with a bonus for
referring qualified candidates.
That encouragement — along
with the chance for a fresh career
— motivated Andrea to enrol in
the aerospace manufacturing and
maintenance orientation program
at Winnipeg’s Tec-Voc High
Employees at StandardAero distribute T-shirts in support of the Winnipeg Jets hockey team during their
playoff run.
School, one of StandardAero’s key
local training partners. Within two
months of graduating, she joined
the company’s gas turbine repair
and overhaul training program,
which is dedicated to providing
new employees with classroom
and on-the-job training to develop
into an aerospace technician.
Today, Andrea is a detail
inspector and is already working
toward becoming a quality
inspector. She and Rolando now
return home from their shifts with
the same sense of balance and
satisfaction that first inspired her
to make the leap.
Family friendliness is woven
throughout StandardAero’s
culture. Working the same shifts
allows the Bedias to share time
at home, and the company’s
generous benefits — such as up to
three weeks of vacation in the first
year, depending on experience
— support family life outside the
workplace. Team-building events,
from summer golf tournaments
and park picnics to winter
billiards, potlucks and bowling,
help co-workers form connections
that feel more like extended
family. Annual traditions, such
as the company-wide barbecues
served by senior leaders, turkeys
handed out at Christmas time,
and holiday parties for both
employees and their children,
reinforce a culture of appreciation
and togetherness.
For Andrea and Rolando, these
activities — and the company’s
sports teams, including basketball,
baseball, and hockey — create
an environment where work-life
balance is more than a slogan.
“They really give us that balance,”
Andrea says.
Career growth is another
hallmark of the StandardAero
experience. Peter Wheatley, vicepresident and general manager for
the CF34/CFM56 business unit,
began as a 19-year-old summer
student, drawn in part by shared
conversations about hockey
during his interview. Over 21
years, he has progressed through
engineering, quality control, sales
operations and customer-facing
