Canada’s top 100 employers for 2024 have been announced, including Loblaw Companies Ltd., just as the company faces looming strikes from some of its employees.
Mediacorp Canada Inc. released its annual list of the top 100 employers in Canada on Friday, and the grocery giant made the cut for the 13th year in a row.
Canada’s Top 100 Employers uses eight criteria to evaluate companies: workplace; work atmosphere and social; health, financial and family benefits; vacation and time off; employee communications; performance management; training and skills development; and community involvement.
Mediacorp Canada Inc. gave Loblaw mostly A’s and A+’s for this criteria, with the lowest grade being B- for vacation and personal time off.
Canada’s Top 100 Employers
“Loblaw encourages ongoing employee development through role-specific learning paths, upskilling and re-skilling programs, and manages an enterprise-wide learning platform (with personalized dashboards that show completed, in progress, and planned learning),” reads the report.
It also highlights the company’s employee referral bonus program and the President’s Choice Children’s Charity as some of the other reasons Loblaw made it onto the list.
But many Loblaw employees may not agree with this honour.
The union representing more than 1,200 employees of No Frills, the discount grocery chain owned by Loblaw, is gearing up to go on strike.
It announced that the action could come in just a few days if it cannot negotiate a deal with the supermarket chain.
“Every single financial quarter, Loblaw posts higher profits than the last. It’s past time the workers helping them earn these profits get a share so they can support their own families,” Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a release announcing the looming strike on Thursday.
“Loblaw must come to the table prepared to raise wages, improve working conditions, and create more full-time jobs for these grocery store workers. They deserve decent work and pay. It’s as simple as that.”
The statement cites an “out-of-control disparity” between the compensation of staff on the ground in No Frills stores and Loblaw Companies’ “enormous” profits.
The currently heightened cost of living, especially when it comes to food prices, has also added more fuel to the fire.
Loblaw Companies Ltd. reported its latest fiscal results on Wednesday, noting a staggering $18.27 billion in revenue and $621 million in profit in Q3 2023 — increases of 5% and just shy of 12%, respectively, from the same period last year.
With files from Becky Robertson
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