Focus on People Updates

UBC is proud to be recognized as one of BC’s Top Employers in 2026

By cinchoo on February 10, 2026

We’re proud to share that UBC is recognized as one of BC’s Top Employers in 2026! 

This award reflects the excellence in teaching, research, and work of our outstanding faculty and staff across our Vancouver and Okanagan campuses. 

BC’s Top Employers is an annual competition organized by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers. This special designation recognizes employers in British Columbia that lead as exceptional places to work and offer employees the most progressive and forward-thinking human resource programs and resources. Organizations are evaluated based on the following eight criteria: 

The annual UBC Staff and Faculty BBQ is a great opportunity to enjoy a complimentary lunch, live entertainment, information booths, and the camaraderie of fellow UBC staff and faculty.

  • Workplace 
  • Work Atmosphere & Social 
  • Health, Financial & Family Benefits 
  • Vacation & Time Off 
  • Employee Communications 
  • Performance Management 
  • Training & Skills Development 
  • Community Involvement. 

 

2026 marks the 19th year that UBC has been selected as a Top Employer in BC. UBC is also featured in a full-page employer profile in a special online magazine co-published with The Vancouver Sun. 

Three reasons why UBC is one of BC’s Top Employers this year: 

85% of faculty and staff are proud to say that they work at UBC.

In UBC’s Strategic Directions 2025-2030, one of the key priorities is nurturing a strong and vibrant community so that students, faculty and staff feel a strong sense of belonging, wellbeing, and pride in being fully part of UBC.  

As a reflection of this priority, our 2024 Workplace Experiences Survey (WES) results indicate that 85% of faculty and staff are proud to tell others they work at UBC and 86% felt they can make a positive impact at work. 

To continue to foster a sense of pride, belonging, and wellbeing among our faculty and staff, UBC provides comprehensive benefits plans, people programs, and workplace experiences that engage and support employees throughout their employment. This includes onboarding and orientations, fostering health and wellbeing through various stages of personal and professional development, all the way to retirement and beyond.

 

Some highlights include:  

  • 24/7 access to mental health crisis support, unlimited hours of counselling, substance use and addiction support services via Greenshield Health, UBC’s EFAP provider 
  • Family-building benefits that support all pathways to parenthood, including fertility drugs and treatments, surrogacy and adoption, as well as gender-affirming care  
  • Recognition and awards for demonstrating excellence and doing meaningful work that aligns with UBC’s values 
  • Strong financial support for professional development, including tuition waivers  

 

We’re honoured to be recognized as a leading employer in British Columbia and we are thankful to our faculty and staff for their incredible contributions to our community. We strive to continue inspiring and engaging our faculty, staff, students, and partners to make UBC a vibrant place to work, research, and teach.  

 

UBC faculty and staff can celebrate and help share the news with their network and the wider UBC community! Add this recognition to your email signature by copying and pasting the message in this document. 

 

See also:  

  • Sign up for our monthly newsletter Healthy UBC or read the quarterly issue of Benefits FYI to get the latest updates on health, wellbeing, and benefits for UBC faculty and staff.  
  • Visit UBC Today for the latest news, events, and useful dates from across UBC, curated for faculty and staff by Internal Communications.  

Posted in Awards, Catalyst #2: I can grow my career, Catalyst #3: I am shaping the future of research, teaching and work | Link | No Comments

UBC is recognized as one of Canada’s Best Places to Work in 2025

By cinchoo on November 20, 2025

UBC | HR Director Canada 2025 Best Places to Work in Canada award medal | background: three professionals gathered around a laptop

 

UBC is proud to be recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in Canada by Human Resources Director Canada (HRDC).  

This marks our first year receiving this award from HRDC, which identifies organizations from various industries and sectors based on their workplace policies and programs, including:  

  • employee engagement 
  • turnover rates and average staff tenure  
  • compensation and benefits 
  • health and wellness programs 
  • diversity initiatives  
  • professional development 
  • flexible work options 
  • reward and recognition programs 

UBC is one of 12 Canadian organizations with more than 500 employees that have been recognized this year for standout scores across compensation, benefits, flexibility, and culture. A brief snapshot of all 51 employers celebrated this year demonstrates key themes across top workplaces, such as the importance of building talent from within, flexibility, comprehensive wellbeing support, inclusion in action, and purpose and recognition that reflect organizational culture.  

The data and insights from this year’s winning workplaces can be found on HRDC’s full report.

 

Want to learn more about what makes UBC a great place to work? Visit our Careers page.  

Posted in Awards, Catalyst #3: I am shaping the future of research, teaching and work | Link | No Comments

UBC leads as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers in 2025

By cinchoo on April 22, 2025

Canada's Greenest Employers 2025 | University of British Columbia - smiling person on a bike wearing a helmet and blue UBC shirt

We’re pleased to announce that for the 14th consecutive year, UBC is recognized as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers in 2025!  

Canada’s Greenest Employers is an annual competition that recognizes Canadian employers leading the nation in creating a culture of environmental awareness, developing exceptional sustainability initiatives, and attracting employees because of their environmental leadership.  

The competition evaluates organizations based on (1) their unique environmental initiatives and programs; (2) their success in reducing their environmental footprint; (3) the degree to which employees are involved in and contribute their skills to environmental programs; and (4) the extent to which their initiatives are linked to their public identity and attraction of new employees.  

Three reasons why UBC is selected as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers this year:

  • UBC offers a wide range of focused environmental initiatives across campus to foster a culture of sustainability among staff, students and the community — programs include sustainability tours, the Green Labs program promoting sustainable behaviours, and a 24-hectare certified organic farm featuring over 200 varieties of crops
  • UBC is accelerating green building performance and regenerative design across its campus through the Green Building Action Plan, aiming to achieve a net-positive contribution to human and natural systems by 2035 — as part of the plan, all new construction and major renovations for institutional buildings must be LEED Gold certified, with some projects also targeting additional certifications such as Passive House and WELL Building Standard
  • UBC’s formal employee-led Sustainability Coordinator Program works to implement sustainable practices across the university — participants commit to dedicating two to four hours of paid work each month to advancing climate action within their departments

 

A mixed group of professionals walk on a path through greenery

UBC’s Okanagan campus offers guided or self-led campus Sustainability Tours, which takes visitors to a series of sustainable stations around campus.

At UBC, we are committed to leadership in climate action and embedding sustainability in our teaching, research and work, as well as through our operations and infrastructure. Our sustainability efforts, programs, and initiatives are collaboratively delivered by key partners, faculty, staff, students and residents:  

  • Campus and Community Planning and UBCO‘s Sustainability Office are dedicated to building a vibrant and sustainable community for everyone who studies, works, lives and creates at UBC. They are responsible for operational sustainability and develop action plans and initiatives for managing land use, energy, water, carbon emissions, waste reduction, transportation, etc.  
  • The Sustainability Hub builds on UBC’s academic and operational sustainability leadership and works to reinforce the university’s goals to inspire action for a better world. This unit focuses on catalyzing change and supports faculty and staff with programs, reports, resources, and events for learning, knowledge sharing, and engagement for the UBC community and beyond. 
  • Campus as a Living Lab is an approach that integrates operational and academic sustainability by providing a collaborative framework for faculty, staff, students and partners to address urgent global sustainability challenges in our local campuses. 

In addition to being recognized as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers this year, UBC is also recognized as one of BC’s Top Employers and one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers. 

See also:  

Posted in Awards, Catalyst #1: I am part of a diverse, inclusive, safe and vibrant workplace, Catalyst #3: I am shaping the future of research, teaching and work | Link | No Comments

UBC is recognized as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers in 2025

By cinchoo on February 25, 2025

Canada's Best Diversity Employers 2025 | UBC | A smiling woman claps in a room full of clapping professionals

UBC is proud to be recognized as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers in 2025!  

Canada’s Best Diversity Employers is an annual competition that recognizes employers across Canada with exceptional workplace diversity and inclusiveness programs. This competition recognizes successful diversity initiatives and programs in a variety of areas, including for employees from five groups: (a) women; (b) members of visible minorities; (c) persons with disabilities; (d) Indigenous peoples; and (e) lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) peoples. 

This is the 16th year that UBC has been selected as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers.  

Three reasons why UBC is one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers this year: 

  • UBC applies an inclusive lens to its benefits, recently introducing new family-friendly benefits that support all pathways to parenthood (generous coverage for fertility drugs and treatments, subsidies for surrogacy and adoption) as well as Indigenous leave for ceremonial, cultural and spiritual events (employees who self-identify as Indigenous can request up to two paid days of leave)
  • UBC created a six-month Maximizing Impact program that provides mentorship and coaching for early career researchers (where 50 per cent of the spots are reserved for women in order to create a gender diverse workforce)
  • Since 2019, UBC has hosted IBPOC (Indigenous, Black and/or People of Colour) Connections to provide a space for self-identifying faculty and staff to have candid conversations, collaborate, and coordinate when appropriate

 

UBC faculty, staff, and students celebrates Pride 

UBC provides resources and supports to contribute to making the university a respectful environment and an inclusive and safe place to work. Faculty and staff have access to various training programs and learning opportunities to deepen their understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) topics and integrate them into their teaching and work. Newly launched in the past year are the Indigenous Learning Pathways program and the Disability at Work 101 course.  

The Equity & Inclusion Office is also a key partner at UBC that provides a full range of services—such as human rights advising, consultation services, and training and education—to build and support a community in which human rights are respected and equity is embedded in all areas of academic, work and campus life.  

See also:  

  • Visit Focus on People 2025 to learn how we’re making UBC a first-choice place to learn and work.    

Posted in Awards, Catalyst #1: I am part of a diverse, inclusive, safe and vibrant workplace | Link | No Comments

UBC is proud to be recognized as one of BC’s Top Employers in 2025

By cinchoo on February 11, 2025


 
We’re proud to share that UBC is recognized as one of BC’s Top Employers in 2025! 

Being named one of BC’s Top Employers is a great honour, which reflects the excellence in teaching, research, and work of our outstanding faculty and staff across our Vancouver and Okanagan campuses.

BC’s Top Employers is an annual competition organized by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers. This special designation recognizes employers in British Columbia that lead as exceptional places to work and offer employees the most progressive and forward-thinking human resource programs and resources.

A group of five adults walk through a sunny forest

UBC employees can take advantage of beautiful hiking trails at either of the Vancouver or Kelowna campuses.

This award recognizes organizations that have been evaluated based on the following eight criteria:

  • Workplace
  • Work Atmosphere & Social
  • Health, Financial & Family Benefits
  • Vacation & Time Off
  • Employee Communications
  • Performance Management
  • Training & Skills Development
  • Community Involvement.

2025 marks the 18th year that UBC has been selected as a Top Employer in BC. This year, UBC is also featured in a full-page employer profile in a special online magazine co-published with The Vancouver Sun.

Three reasons why UBC is one of BC’s Top Employers this year: 

  • UBC offers inclusive family-friendly benefits, providing coverage for fertility drugs and treatments, surrogacy, and adoption (to a lifetime maximum of $50,000)—the university also offers maternity and parental leave top-up for parents-to-be, varying by employee group.
  • UBC helps employees plan for the future with retirement planning assistance services and contributions to a unique Target Benefit Pension Plan that features elements of both a defined benefit and defined contribution pension plan.
  • UBC helps employees foster connections across our two campuses through the longstanding Hot Lunch networking initiative (monthly events with senior leaders sharing their personal and professional journey while attendees connect over lunch)— additionally, the university organizes Faculty and Staff Sports Day in May at both Vancouver and Okanagan campuses, with teams competing in a number of games and activities.

 

UBC provides faculty and staff with comprehensive benefits plans and people programs that support employees throughout their employment, starting from onboarding, fostering health and wellbeing through various stages of personal and professional development, all the way to retirement and beyond.

UBC staff enjoy on-site attractions such as the Beaty Biodiversity Museum.

Some highlights include: 

  • $3000 mental health practitioner benefit per year
  • $2,384 of tuition fee waivers for undergraduate courses (12 credits) for faculty, staff, and their eligible spouse/children
  • 24/7 access to unlimited hours of counselling via Greenshield Health, UBC’s new EFAP provider
  • 1,102 below-market rental units for faculty and staff and a total of 17 buildings that support on-campus housing 

 

We’re honoured to be recognized as a leading employer in British Columbia and we are thankful to our faculty and staff for their tireless contributions to our community. We look forward to continue inspiring and engaging our faculty, staff, students, and partners to make UBC a vibrant place to work, research, and teach.

 

UBC faculty and staff can celebrate and help share the news with their network and the wider UBC community! Add this recognition to your email signature by copying and pasting the message in this document.

 

See also: 

  • Sign up for our monthly newsletter Healthy UBC or read the quarterly issue of Benefits FYI to get the latest updates on health, wellbeing, and benefits for UBC faculty and staff. 
  • Visit UBC Today for the latest news, events, and useful dates from across UBC, curated for faculty and staff by Internal Communications. 
  • Visit Focus on People 2025 to learn how we’re making UBC a first-choice place to learn and work.   

Posted in Awards, Catalyst #3: I am shaping the future of research, teaching and work | Link | No Comments

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