Best Places to Work 2024 - Fidelity Investments Canada

Sarah Dobson  00:00:08 

Hi there, I'm Sarah Dobson, Managing Editor at Key Media. And today I'm speaking with Diana Godfrey, Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Corporate Affairs at Fidelity Investments Canada. The company has been named one of HRD's Best Places to Work for 2024. I'm looking forward to hearing about their winning strategies and initiatives. So welcome, Diana, and congratulations on your award. 

Diana Godfrey  00:00:34 

Hi, Sarah. Thanks for having me. Fidelity is thrilled to be recognized as one of the Best Places to Work during 2024. And I'm happy to be here to talk to you a little bit more about what we do. 

Sarah Dobson  00:00:46 

Well, we have a lot to cover. So let's get started. Obviously, Fidelity offers quite an impressive array of Employee Benefits. Can you talk about how you ensure they stay relevant and appreciated by employees? 

Diana Godfrey  00:00:59 

You know, the reality is that benefits only matter if employees are interested in them. So what we do is ensure that we're listening to what our employees have to say. So we spend time working in focus groups, having listening circles, doing surveys, all the ways that you would expect to hear more from your employees. I think the other thing too is understanding what the marketplace looks like and what the trends are and how things are changing. So you spend time again, communicating and understanding so the more time you spend listening, the better you are able to deliver benefits that matter to people. 

Sarah Dobson  00:01:38 

Perfect. Well moving into the mental health sphere, can you talk about some of the ways your company works to support employees?  

Diana Godfrey  00:01:46 

Coming out of the pandemic, we understood that the game had changed, we had a partnership with km h, long before the pandemic occurred. We utilize the program not myself today. During the pandemic, we understood that our employees needed more help. They were in their homes, in their condos, staying with people they weren't accustomed to being with living on their own, all of those things. So we increased our our support through psychology coverage, because we saw people were struggling. Coming out of the pandemic, we understood that we needed to keep those benefits in place, but there was more we could do. We introduced a program for Mental Health First Aiders in the organization providing peer support with a referral program. We introduced some fun things that relieves stress. We have canine therapy in the office, we ensure that we have celebrations, we encourage fitness, we have a walking room, we encourage walking meetings, we do what we can to change things we've brought a ping pong table in. It's not the answer to everything, but it certainly changes the stress level.  

Sarah Dobson  00:03:03 

Very impressed. Well, on the compensation side, why is it important to offer things like profit sharing in annual bonuses? 

Diana Godfrey  00:03:11 

at Fidelity, we believe that all employees should be able to participate in the success of the organization. So whether you participate in a bonus program, profit sharing program, a commission program, the idea is that our compensation policies and practices allow everybody to participate in the success. And that means we're all tied to the organization. 

Sarah Dobson  00:03:36 

Okay, well, of course, there's been a lot of focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. Can we talk about how Fidelity has evolved this program over the years? 

Diana Godfrey  00:03:44 

We're really thrilled that our diversity, equity and inclusion programs started with our employees. Our initial foray into what was Diversity and Inclusion at the time over 10 years ago, was the establishment of our ERGs or Employee Resource Groups. We started with the Women's Leadership Group. And over time it evolved to include other communities in the organization. The reality is that these communities of employees have allowed us to be educated about the nuances of their community. They've ensured that all of us understand the challenges that they face and how we can help. Over time the organization has embraced diversity, equity and inclusion, because I think we all know that diversity of thought leads to stronger business solutions. And so there's a business imperative in all of this as well. It's good business and it's good for the employees. 

Sarah Dobson  00:04:46 

Right, that's very impressive. Well, of course, there's been a lot of focus on hybrid work with people working from home and the office, a challenging area. How is fidelity working to be successful in this area? 

00:05:00 

Fidelity is really proud of the the flexibility we've created coming out of the pandemic. I like to say the unintended positive consequence of COVID was the proof that we needed to say that flexibility belonged in the workplace. I think what makes us successful is that we understand it's an evolution. It's not a one size fits all, and therefore you've solved the problem. I think we continue to morph our program, when we returned to the office that presented a new challenge for us. And that people had gotten used to being at home for two years. So we had to find a way to make them want to come back. We did that with treats. And with celebrations, I think what we've come to learn is that if you want people in, it needs to be in for a meaningful experience. Now, it's not enough to just say you have an edict of so many days in the office, we don't want them to sit at their desk and do what they could do at home. So networking is important. Connectivity's important team meetings, meeting challenges, and enjoying your time in the office too. So we continue to celebrate. 

Sarah Dobson  00:06:16 

Well, and finally, the reason why you are here, why is it important for Fidelity Investment Canada, to be recognized as a top employer? 

Diana Godfrey  00:06:26 

We are honored to have been selected as one of the Best Places to Work in 2024 We continue to strive to be better each and every year. And we can only do that by working closely with our employees and the changes that we make based on hearing from them validates that we've done the right thing. I think what allows us to utilize that information in a new way is taking it on the road to help bring new employees in. So it's really about attraction and retention but in the most positive of ways. 

Sarah Dobson  00:07:04 

Diana, thank you so much for taking the time today to talk about the winning strategies and initiatives at Fidelity Investment Canada, making it one of the Best Places to Work for 2024  

Diana Godfrey  00:07:15 

Thanks for having me.  

Sarah Dobson  00:07:17 

And for more insightful videos be sure to tune in to hcamag.com/ca.