"Best Employers' 'people practices' support their business goals and are communicated and executed effectively."

Study Guidelines

Eligibility

  • Your organization must have operated in Canada for at least three years, and have 400 or more permanent employees (full-time + part-time).

Study Requirements

  • Participating organizations are required to administer the following three survey instruments in their organization:
    • Leadership Team Survey
    • Employee Opinion Survey
    • HR Survey

However, you now have a choice between the Research and Benchmark survey options.
The Research option is for those who use the Best Employers in Canada study as their primary employee survey and want to take action to maintain and improve engagement. It takes a little longer to complete each survey, but the level of reporting capabilities is much deeper. Participants who choose to survey this way have the ability to dig deeper into the drivers that impact employee engagement. (If you have participated in the study before, this is the version of the study from previous years.)

If your primary focus is to benchmark your organization against the Best Employers in Canada, choose the Benchmark option.

No matter which option you select, participation is free.The surveys are available for completion starting May 1 and must be submitted to Hewitt Associates no later
than June 30.

Leadership Team Survey

  • The Leadership Team Survey must be completed using Hewitt's online Web survey.
  • The Research survey option Leadership Team Survey takes approximately 45 minutes to complete online.
  • The Benchmark survey option Leadership Team Survey takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete online.
  • The Leadership Team Survey must be completed by all members of the Senior Leadership Team in Canada. An organization's Leadership Team consists of:
    • The CEO or, if your organization does not have a CEO in Canada, the most senior executive in Canada;
    • The direct reports of the CEO (or the most senior executive in Canada ); and
    • If HR is not already included above, the most senior HR Leader in Canada.

Employee Opinion Survey

  • The Employee Opinion Survey may be completed using Hewitt's online Web survey or paper survey.
  • The Research survey option Employee Opinion Survey takes approximately 35 minutes to complete.
  • The Benchmark survey option Employee Opinion Survey takes approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.
  • If your organization has unionized employees, they must be included in the survey.
    • If you have both union and non-union employees and wish to survey a random sample instead of the total population, you must randomly select a proportion of employees from each group that is consistent with the population proportions.
  • If your organization has permanent full-time and permanent part-time employees, both must be included in the survey.
    • If you choose to survey a random sample instead of the total population, you must select a proportion of employees from each group that is consistent with the population proportions.
  • If your organization has franchises or independent dealerships, please do not survey the employees at these locations (but do survey employees at any organization-owned outlets).
  • Hewitt requires a minimum number of completed Employee Opinion Surveys based on your total employee population. The minimum response required is:
    • 1,000 completed surveys for organizations with more than 5,000 employees
    • 600 completed surveys for organizations with 2,001-5,000 employees
    • The lesser of 500 completed surveys or an amount equal to 60% of your total population for organizations with less than 2,000 employees
  • If your organization has between 400 and 1,000 employees, you will need to distribute surveys to all employees to ensure that you achieve the minimum response rate.
  • If your organization has more than 1,000 employees, you have the option to distribute surveys to all or a random sample of employees. Your organization must agree to abide by the random sampling guidelines we provide if you choose to sample just a portion of your population.

Human Resources Survey

  • The Human Resources Survey must be completed using Hewitt's online Web survey.
  • The Human Resources Survey takes approximately 2 hours to complete (may vary depending on the number of people helping to complete it, and the availability of data in your organization).
  • The most Senior HR Leader in your organization in Canada is responsible for ensuring that one complete Human Resources survey is submitted by your organization.

Unique Opportunities for Your Organization

  • You may survey all your employees, if you wish. There may be a fee to cover the costs for paper survey administration. There is no fee for surveying any number of employees online.
  • You may request your results by department/subgroup (location, line of business, etc.). If so, we will need to know in advance so the appropriate data can be captured. There is no cost for collecting data in this manner, though there is a fee for receiving subgroup results in addition to the overall report. Please contact us at bestemployerscanada@hewitt.com for more information.