Canada's Top Employers for Young People (2025) Magazine - Flipbook - Page 32
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CANADA’S TOP EMPLOYERS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE (2025)
Learning is a career-long pursuit at Canada Life
A
s a fresh mathematics graduate
looking to move
away from the
sciences, Shaydel
Purcell was nervous but excited
to enter a transitional period
of her life when she applied to
the Emerging Leaders program
with Canada Life Assurance
Company.
“Moving from the close-knit
math community to this huge
organization could have been
really jarring, but the transition
was great because this company is
so welcoming,” says Purcell, now
an associate in the program.
Everybody that I come
across genuinely wants
the best for you. They
want to see you succeed
and they’re willing to
help you get there.
— Shaydel Purcell
Emerging Leaders Associate
The supportive environment
put her at ease immediately,
and she was able to focus on her
professional development.
The two-year Emerging Leaders
Program hires six graduates every
year and provides them with
leadership training through multiple departments across the five
cities where this global financial
services company has head offices
in Canada.
“The biggest driver of the
program is getting exposure in
different areas,” Purcell explains.
Associates from the Emerging Leaders program at Canada Life gather outside the organization’s office in
Winnipeg.
“They want to keep us in our
comfort zone, but they also want
to take us outside of it so that we
can grow – that really matched
what I wanted to do.”
Over the course of three, eightmonth placements in different
departments, mentorship comes
from program leaders, but also
from the co-workers who are
invested in the associates’ growth
and learning.
“Everybody that I come across
genuinely wants the best for you,”
says Purcell. “They want to see you
succeed and they’re willing to help
you get there.”
At the end of the two years,
associates may be hired as fulltime permanent employees,
with the possibility to return to a
department that resonated with
them the most.
Emerging Leaders is one of
many different employee development programs offered by the
organization to support growth
at any career stage. The company
also offers actuarial programs
and subsidies for professional
accreditations, as well as tuition
reimbursement and an extensive
digital learning portal.
“Some of our very senior
leaders have come up through
those streams and have spent
their careers with us,” explains
Colleen Bailey Moffitt, executive
vice president and chief human
resources officer.
“We’re very committed to having
people join us, learn and grow
their careers,” she says.
Canada Life’s extensive professional development programs
are just one piece of the bigger
picture. Community and relationships are core to its culture, and
employee groups such as Young
Professionals also provide mentorship, learning and networking
opportunities.
“We’re hiring people for careers,
not jobs, so we want them to
come in and grow with us,” Bailey
Moffitt explains. “In the long run,
we are aiming to build knowledge,
capability, skill and a growth
culture, which is pivotal to who we
are as a company.”
Continuously progressing is
key to the company’s success in
serving the physical, mental and
