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Talent development and engagement

Attracting and developing employees with the right skills and aptitudes remains a constant priority for our organization. We believe that to meet our business goals and create long-term shareholder value we must continue to attract and retain the most talented people through continuous learning and performance reward programs.

Our commitment

We are committed to developing a highly skilled and performance-based workforce. We empower our people to develop their teams in ways that reinforce our responsible management culture within a tradition of strong and disciplined leadership. Our objective is to create positive working relationships with our employees and to provide them with opportunities for career growth, as they contribute to the success of our business and of society as a whole.

Programs

Our talent development strategy is based on building leadership capabilities, creating a responsible management culture, and recognizing and rewarding performance.

Talent development focus
Programs

Building leadership capabilities

Skills development programs are offered through relevant internal and external training sessions stressing specific competencies and job responsibilities, including professional development, continuing education courses, seminars and conferences.

On-the-job coaching and development opportunities within our group companies are provided to employees so that they can broaden their perspectives, gain a better understanding of the diverse activities within our group, and share their experiences.

Opportunities are offered to work with executives and leadership teams to gain knowledge through exposure to leadership practices and strategies and to develop individual talent to its fullest potential.

Creating a responsible management culture

Our employees receive regular reminders of our responsible management philosophy and core values as espoused in our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, and they are required to annually attest their compliance to our Code and our related corporate policies. As part of the mandatory annual training session on our Code, we raise awareness and educate our people on key sustainability themes such as conflict of interest, anti-corruption, data privacy, respect at work, human rights, and the environment. 

Rewarding performance

Our performance and career management program focuses on four performance development pillars:

  • Results-based goals – we establish individualized, results-based goals that align with our core business levers towards long-term value creation, quality of execution and risk management.

  • Leadership skills – we have defined clear leadership skills to support how we achieve objectives through behaviors that are aligned with our values.

  • Career growth – we consider an employee's career growth as a partnership between the employee and their manager. As their career progresses, we invite employees to reflect on what career growth means and how it can be achieved. Career growth can be achieved through development opportunities in their current role, through opportunities with other departments or even within the Power group.

  • Development plans – we elaborate development plans that benefit employees through ongoing learning to help them stay relevant in their field or gain knowledge to progress in their career. Development opportunities include professional training, mentorship, coaching, skills training, and academic training, to name a few.  

Our performance and career management program includes a formal annual performance review process for all eligible employees at the holding company level.  

We offer progressive compensation packages, comprised of a balance between fixed and variable remuneration programs and competitive pension, savings and benefits programs.

Engaging employees

We engage with employees through a variety of communications, training, awareness sessions, and other employee activities. For further information, visit the Stakeholder Engagement page of this microsite. 

Power Corporation encourages and supports engagement with the not-for-profit sector and personal giving by employees through its Employee Giving Program. The program recognizes and rewards employees’ efforts in two ways: by matching personal charitable donations and providing grants to eligible charitable organization where employees volunteer. 

Human capital management

Highlights from our group companies

Employee Engagement

Great-West Lifeco and its operating companies are committed to enhancing the employee experience and continues to measure and monitor employee engagement across the group companies. For instance, GWL Realty Advisors leverages its mentorship and process excellence program, insights from its annual employee engagement surveys, and ongoing and open dialogue to build a culture and an environment where team members can thrive. In 2023, this played a part in the company achieving an inclusion score of 69.5%, placing them above the real estate industry average. 

Creating a highly engaging workplace experience for its employees is also critical to building a culture of better across IGM Financial. The company’s annual employee engagement survey helps measure the health of the organization and short pulse surveys provide feedback on specific topics such as sustainability, wellness and hybrid work. The 2023 engagement survey revealed an overall engagement index of 78%, compared to 75% for the global benchmark index. Regular updates are given to employees from their CEOs and other senior executives via email communications, webcasts, employee forums and divisional townhall meetings. Leaders are given access to their business area’s anonymized engagement survey results to facilitate post-survey conversations and take relevant action.

IGM Financial’s subsidiary, Mackenzie Investments, measures advisor satisfaction through an annual Environics Advisor Perception Study and other proprietary surveys, and IG Wealth Management gathers feedback from financial advisors through quarterly satisfaction surveys. Advisors also participate in external surveys in which they are asked to rate their firms. 

For its part, GBL conducted 12 employee surveys during the first half of 2023, ensuring that each employee’s satisfaction is measured at least monthly.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING

Employee learning and development remains a priority for Great-West Lifeco, as it continues to offer career path-specific supports and opportunities for several disciplines. Its subsidiary Canada Life’s learning and development program offers a variety of solutions so its employees are empowered to learn what they want, when they want to best serve the millions of clients who rely on them. In Canada alone, in 2023, 4,587 Canada Life employees attended workshops, and 261,889 eLearning training sessions were completed by employees. In addition, Canada Life continued to offer Percipio, a virtual classroom that includes nearly 700 pre-curated topics mapped to and based on core skills that are in demand at leading global companies. Whether learning for their current role or thinking about next steps, employees can access thousands of videos, audiobooks and courses. 

Canada Life’s internship and co-op programs help students accelerate their careers and, in 2023, more than 200 students joined the company on work placements for internships and co-op programs. Programs are offered in areas like actuarial sciences, accounting, audit, investments, human resources, technology and digital strategy. Moreover, as part of Canada Life’s Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) training programs, candidates in Manitoba and Ontario work with a team of CPAs to receive valuable coaching, mentorship and study resources. In 2023, 46 employees participated in this program. 

IGM Financial facilitates professional development opportunities for its employees through formal training, feedback, coaching and on-the job experience – all supported by individual development plans that employees create annually with support from their leaders. Leaders set clear expectations on performance objectives and competencies and provide ongoing coaching and feedback. Annual objectives are aligned with company strategy and leaders hold quarterly meetings to review progress. The competency framework gives employees clear indicators of what’s expected of them at each career level and helps create their development plans. All tasks are completed through a digital talent management system that integrates performance management and compensation tools. 

In 2023, IGM Financial hosted programs, including: Leading Remotely, where participants learned the essential principles and best practices of remote leadership and explored the potential pitfalls and opportunities that come from leading remotely; Having Difficult Conversations, where participants explored key elements of preparing for, conducting and concluding difficult conversations; and Talent and Strengths Discovery, which helped participants understand their unique talents and develop workplace strategies for increasing their strengths. 

IGM Financial also provides professional development opportunities to advisors in its network. IG University provides advisors with programming focusing on financial planning, professional responsibility, products and services, practice management and leadership development. In 2023, the IG Wealth Management Advisor network completed more than 145,000 courses and webinars cumulatively. Highlights for 2023 include more than 35 new course hours, CE accredited with 12 regulatory bodies across Canada. Additionally, IG University won Gold in Brandon Hall’s Excellence awards for Best Program for Sales Training and Performance, as well as Best Learning Program Supporting a Change Transformation Business Strategy, with Bronze awarded for Best Advance in Compliance Training. For its part, Mackenzie offers advisors educational resources, easily digestible content and multimedia learning, designed to help them build their business and grow their personal knowledge on a variety of topics. This includes accredited courses, available through the Mackenzie CE Centre, to help advisors stay current with ever-changing regulatory requirements, market conditions and investor needs.

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