Durham College (DC) has won the Greater Toronto Top Employer award (GTTEA) for the sixth year in a row. The supportive environment that DC has created for its employees is one of the leading reasons for the award, according to DC president Don Lovisa. DC currently has about 700 full and part-time employees.
DC supports not just the staff and students but has a large presence in the community; employees of DC spent 19,000 hours volunteering last year, according to Lovisa.
“We tracked last year the amount of charities that we support as an institution by all of our employees…we were supporting 150 charities, which is pretty amazing when you think about it,” says Lovisa.
Other reasons why DC is considered an excellent workplace are things like the FLEX centre that gives staff a place to work out and medical help through the Campus Health Centre, Lovisa says. The Centre for Academic and Faculty Enrichment also helps employees expand their knowledge.
“This is all about the things we do as an institution ….how Durham College contributes to the community not only our external community but our internal community,” says Lovisa.
The successes are thanks to the people who work at DC and how much they love what they do and are proud to do it, says Lovisa.
Stephen Forbes and Andrew Maine are professors in the I.T. school that have both gone from part-time work to full-time at DC.
“I consider Durham to be one of if not the leading college in Ontario in terms of the facilities and services available to staff, you just can’t beat it,” says Forbes.
Forbes and Maine are always looking for ways to help students, fellow staff, and the community.
“It’s been an absolutely awesome ride, I couldn’t think of a better employer just off the top of my head,” says Maine.
Lovisa is pleased that DC is doing well. He looks to the future to see how the college experience can grow and what DC will look like in 20 years.
“There’s always room for improvement, you’re always growing, you’re always looking for ways to improve as an organization, improve as individuals,” says Lovisa.
Medicorp Canada Inc. and the Globe and Mail issue the GTA’s Top Employer award. Companies are not ranked, just included in the top 100 employers. The other three schools that were also given the award are Seneca College, Ryerson University, and University of Toronto.
