OBAA 2019 Finalists: Ontario Leader in Accessible Employment Award

Since 1983, The Ontario Business Achievement Awards (OBAAs) has been the most recognized industry gala in the province with a single focus on celebrating business success. Throughout the evening, we will celebrate our spectacular Ontario business community, highlighting the incredible innovations and achievements of each one of our 2019 OBAA finalists. Join us on Thursday, November 14 as we reveal our winners at Beanfield Centre in Toronto!

Presenting: The Ontario Leader in Accessible Employment Award

The Ontario Leader in Accessible Employment Award recognizes a business that has created an accessible work environment. This organization values the contributions of persons with disabilities and promotes the development of an inclusive workplace culture for all.

Finalist #1: Sodexo Canada

Industry: Food Catering – Facilities Management

When did your organization first open its doors? What motivated you to get into business?

Sodexo was founded in 1966 by Pierre Bellon in Marseilles, France. He firmly believed that when people are healthy, happy and motivated, they are more efficient and productive. By delivering services that improve quality of life, people and organisations prosper.

Sodexo remains majority family-owned today and is a worldwide leader in food services and facilities management. We partner with some of the world’s largest companies, backed by nearly 460,000 employees in 72 countries to provide over 100 services.

What does being an OBAA finalist mean to you?

This acknowledgment is a tribute to our people and their commitment to driving inclusiveness. We know that our actions to promote inclusion and diversity are the number one driver of employee engagement at Sodexo. It is important to receive recognition from external sources who validate our leadership and our best practices. This tells us that we are moving the right direction with our openness with other organizations to spread accessibility throughout Ontario, Canada, and our operations around the world.

How does your organization positively contribute to Ontario’s economy?

Sodexo employs talent throughout the province, in various professions, at dozens of locations which range from healthcare and long-term care facilities, universities, sports stadiums, and cultural venues and corporate offices. We extend our culture and mission beyond our workforce, through our supply chain and community partnerships.

Across the country, we work with 430 small and medium enterprises, 21 businesses that are owned by visible minorities, 89 Indigenous enterprises, and 31 women-owned enterprises. Furthermore, we partner with progressive organizations in Ontario including: Ready, Willing and Able; ODEN; Dolphin Digital Mentoring Day; Canadian Council for Rehabilitation and Work. We were a key partner in the Ontario-based, internationally-acclaimed documentary film Talent Untapped about the value of hiring and developing people with disabilities. Through our partnerships and community initiatives, we share best practices and continue to evolve to better serve our clients.

What can we expect to see from your organization in the years to come?

We will continue to improve and preserve the quality of life in the communities where we operate. We are expanding our mentoring programs with people with disabilities. We continue to recruit more under-represented talent, particularly Indigenous talent, refugees and newcomers, and people of all faiths, cultural backgrounds and sexual orientations. With our diverse talent, we will continue to innovate to improve our solutions for our clients.

To strengthen the impact of our Stop Hunger Foundation, we will work with community organizations to deliver more sustainable food systems. We will continue to recognize and encourage deserving students who make a difference in their communities through our Stop Huger scholarship program. https://ca.sodexo.com/home/media/news-and-pressreleases/newsListArea/news-and-press-releases/les-bourses-detudes-de-la-fondat.html

Connect with Sodexo Canada on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

“Our people are the core of our success. Their commitment to improving their communities, nurturing diverse talent and respecting all of our resources is the anchor of our business. At Sodexo, we strongly believe that we can do business and do good through our business. It’s our responsibility to deliver high quality of life and preserve it for generations to come.”

Suzanne Bergeron, President Sodexo Canada

Finalist #2: TD Bank Group

Industry: Banking

When did your organization first open its doors? What motivated you to get into business?

Since our founding in 1855, TD Bank Group has experienced dramatic change. We have grown from a single-branch bank serving grain millers and merchants, to a major financial services company, providing financial solutions to individuals and businesses around the world. We’re proud of our accomplishments and the things that make us unique, including our emphasis on customer service, community involvement, and our strong, diverse team of employees. For more than 150 years, we’ve maintained a dedication to satisfying our customers, our employees, our shareholders and our communities. Inspired by our history and a vision of being the Better Bank, we look forward to a strong future.

What factors helped contribute to the success of your organization?

At TD, our people are our greatest competitive advantage. It is their passion, dedication, and enduring commitment to our customers and our colleagues that gives us a critical edge in a rapidly changing industry. Our people are responsible for creating legendary experiences for our customers and clients while continuing to earn the public trust and give back to the communities we serve.

Our vision to be the Better Bank is about more than financial results. We care deeply about creating an environment that encourages our employees to bring their authentic selves to work. Our goal is to make full inclusion a fundamental part of “how we do things” at TD. Diversity and inclusion are embedded at the very core of our values, mission, leadership profile, leadership development, talent management strategies, coaching models, learning and development programs – and systematically integrated into supporting policies and practices. At TD, it’s not enough to encourage our people to go faster, work harder and expect greater results. Our job is to guide them, empower them and provide them with everything they need to be successful today, and into the future.

How does your organization positively contribute to Ontario’s economy?

We are proud to use our business to serve the needs of all Ontarians and increase their confidence in their financial futures. Through our philanthropic and volunteer activities we are also striving to build a more inclusive tomorrow for everyone.

For example, in 2018 The TD Ready Challenge was established to help identify and support innovative, scalable solutions that can contribute to building a more inclusive and sustainable tomorrow. In total, 10 non-profit organizations across Canada and the United States were each awarded a $1 million grant to help support innovative, scalable solutions that can contribute to building a more inclusive and sustainable tomorrow. Of those 10, half of the grant recipients were based in Ontario.

In addition, TD supported the creation of the TD Sustainable Future Lab – the first cleantech accelerator in Ontario. Through The Ready Commitment, we contributed $1 million support the development of the TD Sustainable Future Lab within EvolvGREEN, a collaborative workspace for entrepreneurs, researchers and clean economy supporters in Waterloo. The lab is designed to support and mentor startups working on developing innovative and sustainable cleantech solutions to transition us to a low-carbon economy. We have over 13 thousand fulltime employees headquartered in Toronto. Most of our corporate functions (including Finance, Marketing, Risk, Human Resources and Technology) operate out of the expansive TD complex in the heart of downtown.

With over 1,200 Canada Trust branches spread coast to coast, our over 15,000 colleagues in the retail branch network service the needs of our customers in the markets in which they live. Additionally, many of our specialists in Wealth, Business & Commercial banking teams are co-located within our retail network to ensure a seamless level of services for our customers, with product and corporate teams based out of Toronto, ON. Through four of eight major operational hubs located on Ontario (Ottawa, Markham, Mississauga, London), we’re servicing the needs of our customers 24 hours per day, through our Contact Centres and Back-Office Operations. We have 7,134 employees providing support through shared services in Canada.

What is a fun interesting or unique fact about your company?

At TD, our unique and inclusive culture is what makes us special. We know that our people are our key to success – we aim to attract and retain the best employees, and we invest in promoting inclusion and diversity. For our more than 85,000 employees, we want to create a work environment where they feel they can be their best selves, do their best work, and feel equipped to navigate a changing economy. What’s good for them is good for us as a business.

At TD, we are committed to providing our people with an inclusive environment within which they can engage in meaningful and fulfilling work. We value diversity and are committed to recruiting people with disabilities, visible minorities, LGBTQ2+ people, women and Indigenous people.

Here are some of our initiatives and successes in attracting a diverse workforce in 2018:

• TD is the only Canadian financial institution with a dedicated assistive technology research lab that ensures
  colleagues have access to innovative tools to be their best.
• TD is the only financial institution in Canada to have a team in place to source and attract talent from our diverse
  communities. Our team comprises of a dedicated sourcer for each of our areas of focus: Persons with disabilities
  (PWD), Indigenous People, Visible Minorities, LGBTQ2+ and Women in Leadership (WIL).
• To help develop the LGBTQ2+ leaders of tomorrow and to attract talent, we worked with community organizations
  such as Start Proud and Venture Out in Canada to support career development and networking opportunities through
  conferences and regional events.
• We are a key sponsor of the Women in Capital Markets’ Return to Bay Street Program, which provides opportunities
  for professional women to return to their industry careers after extended periods of leave, usually due to family
  commitments.

Connect with TD Bank Group on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

“At TD, our people are our greatest competitive advantage. Their passion, dedication, and commitment to our customers and colleagues gives us a critical edge in a rapidly changing industry. Our people are responsible for creating legendary experiences for our customers while continuing to maintain public trust and give back to the communities we serve.”

Bharat Masrani, Group President and Chief Executive Officer, TD Bank Group

We reveal our winners on Thursday, November 14 at the Beanfield Centre in Toronto!