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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - FSC Architects and Engineers has been named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers by Mediacorp Canada, as published in the Oct. 2 edition of Maclean's Magazine.

The honour follows on the heels of Up Here Business Magazine naming FSC as one of the top employers of the North in September.

FSC Architects and Engineers is a Top 100 Canadian employer, according to Media corp Canada. Above, Jerry Jaud, operations manager for FSC Architects and Engineers. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

The Mediacorp list serves to highlight businesses that not only offer their employees a good a salary and benefits package but also instill a spirit of camaraderie in the workplace, according to Warren McLeod, co-owner of FSC.

"It's quite a detailed submission list," said McLeod of the Mediacorp list's nomination process.

But this was not a case of bosses tooting their own horns.

One component of the submission process required a substantial portion of the nominee's employees to answer an online questionnaire on how engaged they were in their jobs.

"We needed to have a participation rate of 95 per cent," said McLeod. "Out of our 65 people, we needed 61 people to complete the survey. It took a lot of needling and knocking on doors but it happened."

From what McLeod said of company benefits, employees have good reason to feel great about their job. FSC has dropped sick leave and instead offers personal leave to its employees.

Explained McLeod, "If you need to take an hour to redo your mortgage, we'll let you do that without taking vacation time or whatever. You still get paid for it."

In February, all 65 employees were flown to Las Vegas for a personalized business conference.

Their spouses could join provided they paid for the flight.

McLeod said the sojourn brought the entire FSC crew - some of whom work in Iqaluit, Whitehorse and Edmonton - together as a team.

"We work in different offices with different people, over the Internet and through emails," said McLeod. "A lot of times, we knew names but we didn't know faces.

"There's a lot more corporate team unity now."

It wasn't always that way. According to operations manager Jerry Jaud, until a few years ago, there was a lot of turnaround at the company.

But a company shakeup in 2006 - going from a majority shareholder to a team of shareholders - meant taking the company in a new direction, said McLeod.

"We were struggling to find our direction," said McLeod.

"Morale was a little bit low around the office."

Now things have changed, especially in the wake of the Las Vegas trip, which accounted for much of the company professional development budget for 2008, added Jaud.

"I can say today that the investment paid off," he said.

"The business side of our operation is great. It's much better than it has been in previous years."