Latest news with #companyculture
CTV News
a day ago
- Business
- CTV News
5 Edmonton-area companies make Forbes list of best Canadian employers
A sign of the University of Alberta north campus. (CTV Edmonton/Evan Klippenstein) Five Edmonton-area companies are being recognized by Forbes for being Canada's 'best employers for company culture.' Forbes surveyed more than 40,000 Canadian-based workers employed at companies with at least 500 people. They were asked if they would recommend their employer to others and to rate it based on company-culture related topics such as fairness, inclusivity, and opportunity. 'For instance, participants were asked whether their employer recognizes good performance, encourages a healthy work-life balance, values input and ideas from employees across the organization, prioritizes collaboration among coworkers and provides avenues to advance,' the article read. Out of 200 Canadian companies listed, the University of Alberta came in at 28, ATB at 49, Stantec at 64, Edmonton Public Schools at 69 and Freson Bros. at 143. Université Laval in Montreal made the top of the list. Some other notable employers on the list include The Hershey Company, Enbridge, Nav Canada, Humber College and Desjardins. You can read the full list here.
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
4 Questions To Ask Before Accepting A Temp Job This Summer
Summer jobs aren't just for extra cash—they can open doors. Ask the right questions to find a temp ... More role that fits your goals, schedule, and future opportunities. We often associate summer with beaches, vacations, and relaxation. But what makes summer even better is that you can earn extra cash while still having fun outside. Whether you have experience or not, there are plenty of temp jobs to choose from, helping you maximize the slowdown. In fact, youth labor force participation hit 60.4% in July 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But before you say yes to a temp job this summer, you should first consider a few factors. Here are four questions to ask and see if it's the right opportunity for you. What Are The Opportunities Here? You might think of a temp job as just for the summer. But asking about the company's future goals or opportunities can make a huge difference. For instance, you might have a chance to go back for a different project that they will launch in the coming months. If the company is planning to expand, they may consider you for a higher or more permanent role. By the time your summer job is over, you've already proven your work ethic and adapted to their workflow and company culture, making you a strong candidate. Asking also shows initiative, genuine interest in the company, and commitment to growth. Who knows? They might create a new role for you or even refer you to another company that's a better match for your strengths. When Can I Start? According to Recruitics, over 65% of summer job seekers prefer schedules with under 30 hours per week. Of course, we all have different summer plans, from traveling and trying new hobbies to just trying to achieve work-life balance. Depending on the role and demand, temp job schedules could be flexible or fixed. If you're in food service, recreation, or hospitality, you may have morning, afternoon, or even night shifts. That's why you should know when you and your workmates are set to start. This helps you prepare and set your expectations right. For example, if others have already started working, this means you should adjust faster. If it's the opposite, you may have to help them learn the ropes. Understanding everybody's schedule also prevents miscommunication, strengthens teamwork, and makes sure there's enough support for everyone. How Can I Go Above And Beyond In My Role? Summer jobs may be the perfect training ground for some, but you can also push yourself further to unlock better opportunities. By asking what you can do to go above and beyond in your role, you're showing how dependable and eager you are to learn and improve. Perhaps you're open to working a few extra hours during peak times. You may be willing to get trained by a superior from another department. Or you might want to join the company's events and volunteer initiatives. By being more visible and engaged, you can grow your network, increasing your chances for better roles. Also, take advantage of all the soft and hard skills you can gain from the job. Whether it's time management, leadership, or learning new platforms, you can use them to build your portfolio and resume. What Perks And Kinds Of Support Are Available? Although temporary, summer jobs usually include exciting perks and privileges. These include flat bonuses, employee discounts, free meals or admissions, and flexible schedules. According to the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), the most popular incentives given to summer workers are pre-determined flat bonuses, and 46% of agencies that offer incentives use this approach. Other perks include referral bonuses, rewards based on the total number of hours rendered, and even end-of-summer parties. Besides the fun part, you can also ask about training opportunities. For example, the NRPA noted that 64% of park and recreation agencies provide training and certification to help keep their lifeguards. You can also ask about the onboarding process. Some companies use a buddy system where they pair you with a more experienced member to help you settle in more quickly. There may be resources available, too, like manuals and checklists. Maximize everything not only to do well in your temp job but also to develop relevant, transferable skills for future opportunities. Temp jobs during summer allow you to strike the right balance between work and having fun. You'll gain valuable skills, boost your income, and even enjoy special perks. To make the most out of your experience, ask the right questions, including what future opportunities are available and how you can go the extra mile in your role. May your career shine this summer and beyond. Rooting for you!
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
How Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol Leads
Analyzing trends in leadership, company culture and the art of career building. Brian Niccol walked into his new job as chief executive officer at Starbucks Corp. last September with a simple directive for his new team: Let customers add cream and sugar to their coffee themselves.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Hitting Rock Bottom: The CEO Who Rebuilt His Life, and Then His Company Culture
HOUSTON, July 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Company culture is no longer jargon; it's a business imperative. One Houston CEO is proving that the most meaningful change starts at the top, and that the hardest rebrands don't happen online. They happen within. After experiencing a personal low that forced him to reassess both his identity and leadership style, Jeremy Jenson, CEO of Encore Search Partners, began a professional and personal reset. The result: a culture-first company that climbed to the top of its industry. Encore Search's new approach heavily integrates its core values to drive performance, communication, and internal alignment. This transformation reflects a growing trend among leadership wellness and workplace culture as retention, burnout, and disengagement continue to challenge companies nationwide. Jenson's story offers a different blueprint, which is to lead yourself first. Encore Search Partners, recently named one of the top Largest Executive Recruiting Firms in Houston by the Houston Business Journal, credits its performance-driven, clarity-focused culture to a crucial move—Jeremy's decision to hire an executive life coach for himself, and later, a dedicated on-site performance & mindset coach for the entire team. In 2021, Jenson hit personal rock bottom. Though his business was thriving and breaking revenue records, his personal life was unraveling. He was sleeping on an air mattress in his younger brother's home, relying on alcohol, social media, and external validation to mask a growing sense of emptiness. He admits that instead of facing the root of the problem, he camouflaged his life with distractions. "Rather than focusing on becoming a better version of myself, I took the easy way out, focusing on buying access to what I thought being happy was all about." The constant praise from clients, colleagues, and even competitors became a shield that covered just how lost he felt outside the spotlight. "My self-image was that I was happy and winning in life, and my professional image only reinforced that. But professional respect and admiration only masked the reality of my personal life. It was functioning as a crutch and enabling my gluttonous behavior." That realization led him to hire an executive life coach and begin repairing the eight most important relationships in his life including his executive team, his family, and himself. He restructured his life with discipline, then brought that same mindset to the company he built. Jenson's transformation wasn't just personal, but it also became organizational. Recognizing the power of personal responsibility, he introduced a performance & mindset coach for Encore Search's employees. Combined with the firm's EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) model, the move shifted the firm's culture to high-performance clarity. His top-down leadership philosophy led to better alignment and stronger accountability within his team that balances high expectations with high support. It's obvious that it's working. Encore Search Partners competes with much larger firms even with a lean, 40-person team that shares clear goals and values. As the conversation around workplace culture intensifies, Jeremy Jenson is leading by example. His story resonates with entrepreneurs, executives, and employees, especially those navigating growth or reinvention. Through his vulnerability and ambition, he has earned respect throughout the Houston community and beyond. Today, Encore Search's success is built on developing top performers from within. Jeremy Jenson is living proof that the most meaningful sign of an authentic transformation is the peaceful confidence that comes when people no longer feel the need to post every achievement online. And if he could speak to the old version of himself? "I am proud of you." It's something we don't say enough, and it's something many people have never heard at all. But if transformation teaches us anything, it's this: Everyone deserves to hear that they are worthy of love, especially from themselves. About Jeremy Jenson and Encore Search PartnersJeremy Jenson is the Founder and CEO of Encore Search Partners, a 40 person Houston-based executive search firm known for headhunting top-tier talent across the nation. With over a decade of success in placing high-impact professionals, he's now added one more role to his resume: fiancé to the love of his life. Under Jeremy's leadership, Encore has earned a reputation for delivering elite talent through a precision headhunting process that blends data, strategy, and human insight. To learn more, visit For media inquiries, please contact: View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Encore Search Partners
Forbes
20-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Go Back To The Office, But Bring Your Own Snacks. Blame Congress.
I ncreasingly, companies have been asking (or demanding) that employees return to the office, claiming that it fosters a stronger company culture and enhances productivity. To woo employees back, or to make sure they're not angry/hangry when ordered back, companies have been expanding perks such as on-site gyms, childcare facilities, and, of course, free food and beverages. Beginning January 1, the food part will be more expensive for employers, meaning more of them could revert to B.Y.O.S (Bring Your Own Snacks). Congressional Republicans, who extended so many other tax breaks (and added some new ones) in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) President Donald Trump signed on July 4th, decided they would allow a current deduction for employers who provide meals and snacks to expire—except that is, for certain employees, such as those working in restaurants and in Alaskan fishing vessels and fish processing facilities. (No, we're not making it up. The fishy part was one of the concessions Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski extracted from her Republican colleagues for her crucial support.) Before Trump's first term tax cuts—the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)—employers who provided meals for their employees—and the employees who benefited from them—were entitled to tax breaks under one of two sections of the tax code. Under section 119 of the tax code, employees are not taxed on on-site meals provided by employers for the employer's convenience. For tax purposes, whether meals are for the convenience of the employer depends on all the facts and circumstances, but typically means that there's a substantial business reason other than to provide the employee with additional pay (the exclusion doesn't apply to cash allowances instead of meals). So feeding employees who would otherwise be gone too long at distant lunch spots would be deductible for the employer and not taxed to the worker. Even if the meals couldn't be considered for the employer's convenience, they might still be tax-favored under Section 132(e) of the tax code as a de minimis fringe benefit—something so small or inconsequential as to not be worthy of attention. For tax purposes, it means something that has so little value that accounting for it would be unreasonable or administratively impracticable. Typically, this includes items such as coffee, doughnuts, or soft drinks, as well as occasional meals provided to allow employees to work overtime (although how coffee could be considered so inconsequential as not to be worthy of attention is a mystery to me). The de minimis exclusion also applied in most cases to restaurants' staff meals—the kind you see in The Bear . (Technically, it's deductible if the facility's annual revenue equals or exceeds its direct operating costs. Direct operating costs include the cost of food, beverages, and labor costs for cooks and waitstaff, and others who provide services primarily on the premises.) Note that the meals that qualified for the convenience of the employer and the food provided under the de minimis fringe benefit weren't (and still won't be) taxable to the employees. That was a win-win, since employees were not taxed on the perk and employers got a deduction. Trump 1.0: TCJA The TCJA made several changes to the tax treatment of meals and entertainment expenses. Entertainment expenses were disallowed. Plus, that 2017 law created section 274(o), which, beginning in 2026, disallows 100% of the deduction for expenses for food or beverages provided to employees, as well as expenses for the operation of certain eating facilities for employees. As part of the Congressional pattern of frontloading tax goodies and backloading tax pain, the TCJA provided that through 2025, 50% of the cost of on-site employee meals would be deductible (provided it was for the employer's convenience). And, although de minimis snacks aren't considered meals, they were also 50% deductible under the TCJA rules. Trump 2.0: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act The new tax law extended many expiring tax provision in TCJA, but did not extend the rules that had temporarily allowed deductions for snacks and employer convenience perks. Both are now set to expire at the end of the year, which means that U.S. companies that provide snacks, coffee, or on-site meals at the office will no longer receive a tax deduction for doing so. You might think that it was just an oops—that Congress forgot that the provision might expire. But that's not the case. OBBBA didn't roll back the provision for all industries—two notable exceptions have been carved out. One exception applies to very specific businesses—those on a fishing vessel, fish processing vessel, or fish tender vessel, or at a facility for the processing of fish for commercial use or consumption located in the U.S. north of 50 degrees north latitude, and is not located in a metropolitan statistical area. It might not surprise you to learn that the only state north of 50 degrees north latitude is Alaska. Notably, the lobster industry wasn't similarly spared; Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was a no vote on OBBBA. A second exception applies to establishments that sell food and beverages to customers and also provide meals to their employees—in other words, restaurants. The restaurant industry can continue deducting employee meal expenses for kitchen and waitstaff. As for everybody else? Businesses outside of the Alaskan fishing industry and restaurants may be out of luck now, but Congress apparently thinks it's worth it. The Joint Committee on Taxation found that eliminating the deduction will raise $32.5 billion over the next decade. That might not seem like a lot of money in a law that includes tax cuts that will reduce federal revenues by $4.475 trillion between 2025 and 2034. But consider this: The $25,000 tax deduction for tips, which lasts only through 2028, costs just $32 billion. And here's the weird part, the cost of throwing holiday parties for employees will still be 100% deductible. As for business meals—if say, an employee is taking a potential client to dinner—that is now, and will still be, 50% deductible. Will Employers Care About A Deduction Lost? Food at the office can be a big draw for employees. A 2023 survey found that 80% of workers say catered meals encourage them to come into the office. And anyone who is a regular reader knows that the pull of free coffee and a snack can get me in the door. Plus, let's face it: Sometimes the little, consumable things make a big difference, with 98% of employees saying free meals at work made them feel appreciated. Nearly two-thirds of those who receive free meals say it helps them eat healthier food, and over half (55%) of those who don't receive free meals say they would feel less stressed if they did. For employers, the small act of providing food to busy employees goes a long way towards retention. The survey—which we should point out was sponsored by EZCater, which delivers food to workplaces—found that seven out of ten tax professionals said they'd be more likely to stay at their company if they received free meals during the busy season. On the employer side, investing in employees' meals benefits overall well-being, work performance, and, importantly, employee retention. How much difference will the loss of the tax deduction make? That remains to be seen, but no doubt some employers will be putting out the B.Y.O.S. sign. More from Forbes Forbes IRS Issues Guidance On New Deductions For Seniors, Tips, Overtime And Car Interest By Kelly Phillips Erb Forbes What The One Big Beautiful Bill Act Will Mean For You And Your Business By Kelly Phillips Erb Forbes Questions About The New Tax Bill? Taxgirl Has Answers By Kelly Phillips Erb Forbes This Barely Used Child Care Tax Break For Employers Just Got An Overhaul By Danielle Chemtob
