Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 42
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CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS (2026)
A strong culture attracts top talent to LBMX
“M
y son was
around five
weeks old,
and one
afternoon
when I was playing with him, he
giggled for the first time,” recalls
Steven Baird, operations manager
at LBMX Inc. in London, Ont.
Baird, father of a girl and boy,
took parental leave in 2023 and in
2025 soon after being promoted
to manager. “To be able to bond
with both my children, these little
bundles — and in two months so
much changes as you start to see
their personalities come through.
It felt important to have that
opportunity.”
He can thank Candice Neil,
director of human resources at
the company, which provides
technology for independent
businesses in the building,
HVAC and plumbing industries
to procure supplies and rebates.
LBMX had only 32 employees
when Neil began working there in
2017.
“It was up to me to build the
HR department from the ground
up and run with it,” she says.
The company already had a
strong culture, but her mission
was to make it even better by
implementing policies and
programs that would attract and
retain top talent.
“We focused on the things that
are important to people, like
maternity and parental leave with
top-up benefits up to 100 per cent
of current salary for 12 months,
RRSP matching, and mentorship
programs,” she says.
The idea for the parental
leave benefit came directly from
Neil’s personal experience. “My
previous employer did a top-up
and I hugely benefited from it. I
proposed it to my CEO at LBMX,
and he said, ‘What a fabulous
idea.’ This benefit also helps with
our recruiting efforts of getting
more women into technology
careers.”
While it’s common for firms
to conduct exit interviews when
employees leave, it’s less common
for companies to implement
stay interviews. “We strive to
understand what keeps our
employees here — and what
would drive them out the door,”
says Neil. Based on the interviews
done so far, employees credit
the strong company culture
and the sense of pride they feel
in helping small independent
businesses prosper as the key
reasons for their commitment
to LBMX.
Mentorship is an important
part of supporting employees in
building long-term careers. “I
had zero management experience
when I started,” says Baird. “I have
an engineering background, but I
was a bit light on the people side.
I got two kinds of mentorship. The
first informal one was shadowing
my direct manager, watching how
he did things and how he focused
We strive to understand what keeps our employees
here — and what would drive them out the door.
The Customer Success (EDI) team at LBMX.
— Candice Neil
Director, Human Resources
