Adrienne Pind was thrilled to have the opportunity to build something new when she signed on to join the then brand-new labs team at Payworks four and a half years ago. The Winnipeg-based workforce management software company was creating a department specifically to test out new technologies and ideas, and create prototype products.

“What I like is the creativity in trying new ideas and learning. That really drives my interest in this team,” she says. “We’re always starting something brand new.”

It also didn’t hurt that Payworks’ reputation as a workplace with a caring culture preceded it. “I’d only heard really positive things about the environment,” says Pind, the labs team lead.

Over the course of her time at the company, the hype has proved to be justified. “It’s important to have an employer that respects employees and focuses on work-life balance,” she says. “The emphasis from every level of management is that your personal life and health is important.”

Jennifer Johnston, vice-president of human resources, says the company aims to create a “sense of family and community” for employees, a goal that has taken on further importance as Payworks prepares to move into a large new head office in 2024 and grow significantly over the next five years.

Even prior to the pandemic, the company encouraged managers to have one-on-one check-ins with employees. Now that Payworks has adopted a hybrid work model, it hosts regular social events like food truck days and day-long events for people leaders. It’s also building communal spaces for socializing into the design of its new office.

After the challenge of staying connected with colleagues during the pandemic, Pind says the in-person events and even virtual challenges – like an anything-but-gingerbread house contest and a cake-making competition – have been all the more welcome. The development department has its own annual team-building event, the ‘Dev Olympics,’ where the department splits into teams of colleagues who don’t normally work together and competes for a grand prize of a magnet and bragging rights.

Johnston also points to the company’s recently formalized diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, which commits the company to establishing a committee and a specific role, and has a fourth pillar on ensuring employees of all walks of life feel a sense of belonging within the organization.

Payworks’ caring ethos extends out to the community, Johnston says – something that initially attracted her to the company. The company supports more than 200 organizations across the country and gives employees two “pay it forward” days per year to volunteer during work hours. Staff logged more than 850 community volunteering hours in 2022.

Johnston, who’s been with the company for just over half a year, took her first volunteering day with her team in the summer, volunteering at the Winnipeg Humane Society. Team members planted flowers, cleaned up around the society’s building, shovelled rocks to even out a section of its parking lot – and ended the day cuddling with four-legged friends.

“It was such a great time to get to know my team more and do some very manual labour,” she says. “Everyone’s really nice and friendly and community-minded. They’re just wonderful humans dedicated to their people and the community.”