Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers (2026) Magazine - Magazine - Page 5
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CNB
CANADA’S TOP SMALL & MEDIUM EMPLOYERS (2026)
p Although it has less than 65 employees, Vancouver Island accounting firm Chan Nowosad Boates offers some exceptional benefits to attract long-term employees,
including a $30,000 low-interest loan to help with a house down payment.
‘Though she be but little, she is fierce’
Sometimes, the biggest benefits come from SME winners that are smallest in size
O
f this year’s Canada’s Top
Small and Medium Employers,
nearly 35 per cent have less
than 100 full-time employees; 10 per cent have fewer
than 50. But small can pack a big punch.
Even the smallest of this year’s winners
provide robust benefits you might not
expect from a small firm, making them
contenders for today’s top talent.
For instance, Toronto-based Rubicon
Strategy matches RSP contributions, starts
new employees with four weeks of paid
vacation and supports all stages of
parenthood, including coverage for
fertility drugs.
Or how about the competitive stock
option program Sequence Bioinformatics
in St. John’s offers so employees can share
in its success?
Yet small also has challenges.
Derek Lamb, partner at Chan Nowosad
Boates (CNB), says recruiting is the biggest
challenge. The accounting firm, which
fluctuates between 55 to 65 employees,
operates in Campbell River and Courtenay
on northern Vancouver Island. As Lamb
points out, “there isn’t a university
pumping out CPA graduates” so the firm
focuses on building its own pipeline,
including bursaries for top accounting
students at the area’s North Island College.
“We’re recruiting for five years from
now,” says Lamb. “Every summer, CNB
takes more co-op students than we need
because we’re planting a seed for the long
term. A student might go away to work in
Vancouver but later want to come back
and slow down.”
To boot, CNB must compete with flashy
big-name firms that have prestige and very
good marketing – a challenge met head
on.
“First, people care how much money
they’re making, so we have above average
salaries,” says Lamb. “It’s a cost of business
for us. You either pay people more or you
don’t grow.
“Second is being creative with benefits.
We offer a low-interest loan of $30,000 for
employees to buy their first home. It helps
because often individuals just lack that
five per cent down payment. We also
review what our peers are doing with
benefits and match them or do better, so
we provide big maternity top-ups as well
as large mental health spending accounts
on top of what’s already in our annual
benefits.
“The last piece is opportunities for
growth. As an owner-managed business,
we show a pathway where you can
eventually become your own boss.”
CNB also offers what big firms can’t:
lifestyle, a relaxed family atmosphere and
time.
“You can have a whole house here for
$600,000 and drive everywhere in 10
minutes,” says Lamb. “Experienced staff
can work from anywhere — Laos, Mexico,
Cambodia — and we have significantly
reduced hours outside the busy season.
From August to end of January, we go
down to six-and-a-half-hour days, with the
option of stacking that into four-day
weeks.
“We’ll literally do anything that makes
sense and doesn’t impact the end
product.”
— Diane Jermyn
