Compassion Canada is chosen Best Christian Workplace
LONDON, ON—Every other year, for the past eight, Compassion Canada employees have graded their employer. And for the fourth time in a row, Compassion ranked as a Best Christian Workplace.
"I have an insatiable thirst for excellence," says president and CEO Barry Slauenwhite who heard about the Best Christian Workplaces Institute (BCWI) at a Canadian Council of Christian Charities conference. "I thought 'Wow, this is a fantastic tool to help me manage better.'"
BCWI conducted its first survey in the fall of 2002, announcing the results in the April 2003 issue of Christianity Today. Employees take part in a confidential, online survey and the results and analysis are sent to the employer. Compassion has a 95 per cent response rate and Slauenwhite says it's impossible to match responses and comments to any employee.
He says the areas Compassion scored well in were the same as in past surveys. But one result even surprised the BCWI.
"It drew so much attention BCWI came back and asked to re-take some part. They'd never seen a score that high."
The high score came in the area of "trust" which Slauenwhite says "is a valuable commodity in the workplace.
"Our score was so high they thought something was wrong. It generated interaction between us and BCW with them asking 'How does an organization score that high in the most difficult area they question?'"
He also says Compassion scored high in purpose with each staff member feeling they really do make a difference.
That purpose isn't lost on Stephanie Hoefnagels, who's been working at Compassion for nearly three years as one of five advocate representatives. Advocates are Compassion sponsors who want to encourage others to become a sponsor or even become advocates. Hoefnagels role is to recruit, resource and train advocates.
"Most of the staff have an opportunity to go into the field even if their role doesn't directly deal with field work. They see firsthand the impact their role has," says Hoefnagels.
"I enjoy my work with sponsors and advocates who do this on top of families and jobs. I'm working with people who I'm inspired by."
For Slauenwhite, the whole process "really enforces employee engagement.
"Productivity in ministry is different than productivity in business. The bottom line can't be money. It must be impact."
Still for all the positives, there is one area Compassion where still scores lower than the others: interdepartmental communication.
"When we unpacked this—it's been a low score last couple times and we've done quite a few things to address it—BCWI said we're doing such a good job with communication that we've created an appetite for communication," says Slauenwhite. "And we may never fill that appetite."
Compassion will find that out in two years, which Slauenwhite says is a good cycle.
"If we do it too often it becomes meaningless. If we're asking the same questions every year, people might not think and just answer the same as last year. If it's spaced out, they engage more and think about the questions," he says.
For more check www.bcwinstitute.com and www.compassion.ca.
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