At Pythian we recognize that to help you Love Your Data, it’s important for our employees to love what they do.
That’s why we’re so gratified to be one of the 2021 winners of the National Capital Region’s Top Employers competition—an annual competition organized by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, and judged on the following criteria:
- Physical workplace
- Work atmosphere and social
- Health, financial and family benefits
- Vacation and time off
- Employee communications
- Performance management
- Training and skills development
- Community involvement
Even before the pandemic roared in and changed so many workplaces, the majority of Pythian team members worked remotely. This meant Pythian had already put a lot of thought and effort into creating an inclusive culture for people working across time zones and continents.
Team member taking in the view in Niagara Falls, Canada.
The following are some of the initiatives we’re most proud of:
Work atmosphere and social
Making technology work for us
We’ve found Slack is a great water cooler stand-in, with some of our favourite channels involving gaming, speaking Spanish and sharing photos of our team members’ homes/home offices.
Quarterly online meetups allow our women’s employee resource group to connect, share experiences and learn from one another.
Using the strengths we have
One great example of this is leveraging the expertise of one of our principal consultants who is also a certified fitness instructor. She volunteered her time to run weekly classes online to help people stay in shape while in lock down from April to July. Employees can play the recordings anytime they feel like working out.
Letting the personal enhance the professional
The lines between work and home have been blurred for many people lately. Pythian finds a silver lining in this; encouraging employees to get to know each other through activities including:
- Pet days where employees post photos of their furbabies.
- An annual Halloween dress-up contest.
- A children’s art contest with the aim of designing a Pythian logo.
- Remote trivia based on Star Wars, Star Trek and anything else fun and nerdy.
Employees in India being treated to a meal as part of a remote Pythian celebration.
Time off and community involvement
These policies fall under the win-win category—they’re great for our employees and for the communities they live and work in:
Fundraising: We encourage and support team members to participate in fundraising events with registered charities.
Volunteering: Each Pythian employee gets one paid day to volunteer each year; helping organizations they believe in.
Professional development: We love it when Pythian employees further their career by attending conferences, workshops and training courses, as well as job shadowing and taking certification exams.
Technical community support: Pythian supports local user groups and sponsors technical community events which team members participate in.
Employees love to show off their swag while on vacation.
Training and skills development
In addition to providing time for employees to further their skills, Pythian also has structure and support in place to encourage training and development, including:
- A yearly allowance employees can use to help with their professional development.
- Leadership development learning modules and webinars for all our people leaders.
- Unconscious bias training for all new employees.
- The Yearly Throwdown Challenge that covers the cost of training and provides rewards for employees seeking cloud certifications if they are successful and meet their deadlines.
- Budget and time to support for senior technology team members wishing to speak at conferences.
- Our celebrated BORG (Bringing on Recruited Gurus) new-hire on-boarding designed to make new team members feel at home as quickly as possible.
The above initiatives are built upon Pythian’s policy of offering competitive salaries and generous benefits, as well as our vehicles for effective communication, including our weekly company newsletter and regular information-sharing meetings.
“Being recognized as an NCR top employer is especially validating during this time of heightened concern for our employees and the community,” said Keith Millar, president of Pythian. “Pythian knows that the company’s greatest strength is its people.”
Pythian is currently recruiting for a number of positions across the globe. Learn more and apply here.
