City of Burnaby named one of BC’s top employers

The City of Burnaby was named one of BC’s top employers in Canada's Top 100 by Mediacorp Canada on Feb.12. According to Canada’s Top 100 website, the City of Burnaby’s generous maternity leave allowance of 17 weeks at 95% pay as well as discounted access to health and recreation facilities and tuition subsidies are among the features that make the city an attractive employer. 

“Over the last two years, our leadership team at the city has worked hard to rethink the way we approach our work. Just recently, we took a significant step forward with the approval of the new Burnaby promise: a commitment to uphold values of respect, integrity, and collaboration in all that we do,” said Mayor Mike Hurley during the council meeting on Feb. 12. “This achievement is not only a reflection of our present accomplishments but a celebration of our journey of creating a workplace culture that fosters inclusivity, innovation, and excellence.” 

Last December, city council voted to increase wages to meet the living wage rate of the Metro Vancouver area, which is $25.68. “We’re really grateful for organizations and municipalities like the City of Burnaby that step up and continue to pay a living wage when it’s so high. Because the reality is that right now life really is expensive,” Anastasia French, provincial manager for Living Wage for Families BC, told the Beacon last month. “We saw last year that, unfortunately, the City of Vancouver walked away from their commitment. The City of Surrey has not made that commitment.”    

On its website, the City of Burnaby states it fosters diversity and inclusion: “We warmly welcome applicants of all genders, ages, ethnicities, cultures, abilities, sexual orientations, and life experiences to join us in shaping a more vibrant and equitable future together.”

Other BC cities that made MediaCorp’s top 100 list include the City of Vancouver, even though it is no longer a living wage employer. The reasons given by Mediacorp’s editors include Vancouver’s pension plan, training opportunities and hybrid and flexible working arrangements. The cities of Maple Ridge and Coquitlam also made the list. 

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

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