Satisfaction guaranteed for each employee?

They apparently are pretty good employers, so much so that Northern Savings has been acclaimed in a recent survey put forward by Hewitt Associates and the Globe and Mail.

Queen's University School of Business and Hewitt Associates conducted an extensive survey into the work atmosphere at many Canadian companies large and small, and in the small and mid size category, Northern Savings made the grade, scoring within the top fifty for its category, finishing in the 36th place on the list.

The success was hailed by a Northern Savings press release as well as with stories in both the Northern View and the Tuesday edition of the Daily News.

Credit Union praised for excellence
Local employer named one of the best places to work in the nation
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Page One

Northern Savings is a good place to work, according to the annual Best Employer competition sponsored jointly by Hewitt Associates and the Globe & Mail newspaper.

Northern Savings was recently named as one of the 50 Best Employers in the Small and Mid-Sized Business category for Canada. This recognition came after Northern Savings participated for two years running in the annual competition.

"This recognition is very meaningful to us," said Mike Tarr, Northern Savings CEO.

"The recognition gives credit where credit is due but participating in the competition also gave us some very clear indications of areas of our operations where we can improve and need to improve in the years ahead."

It's been a good 30 days for the local credit union.

Last month, Northern Savings was handed two awards by the Prince Rupert chamber of commerce.

During the Chamber of Commerce 100-year anniversary and awards dinner, the institution was recognized for its involvement with the Community Involvement award and named as Business of the Year.

With this award, the company looks to build its reputation in the North Coast community.
The results from the annual Best employers competition are compiled from an extensive staff survey carried out by Queen's University School of Business and Hewitt Associates, an international human resources consultant.

The primary measure that is sought out by researchers is the extent to which a company's employees are "engaged" as workers and therefore most likely to make contributions to improve working conditions, create better business processes and efficiencies and develop a reputation as a "great place to work."

"We will be repeating the surveys every couple of years so we stay on track and continue to focus on areas where we can do a better job of engaging staff and ultimately make our credit union a stronger competitor and a better community citizen," added Tarr.