TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - November 10, 2016) - Aon Hewitt, the global talent, retirement and health solutions business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), today released the results of its 2017 Aon Best Employers in Canada Study, which found that 79 companies across the country set the mark for engaging employees, demonstrating effective leadership, building a performance culture and leveraging the strength of their employer brand. The results are based on the opinions of almost 680,000 employees across approximately 200 Canadian organizations. Now in its 18^th year, the study found 30 organizations in Western Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) that achieved Best Employer status this year, including 14 large organizations (more than 400 employees) and 16 small and medium-sized enterprises (organizations with between 50 and 399 employees).

The business benefits of being an Aon Best Employer are compelling
Globally, Aon Best Employers drive four percentage points higher operating profit than the average organization and six percentage points higher sales growth. They also have a third less staff turnover and more internal promotions than their counterparts.

"We've found that disengaged employees are nearly twice as likely to leave an organization as their engaged counterparts," says Dana Mitchell, Associate Partner, Talent, Rewards and Performance at Aon Hewitt in Vancouver. "Aon Best Employers engage and retain top performers by telling them they are important to the business, clarifying how they fit into the company long-term, and fostering positive affect. This means that managers understand the long-term goals of top performers and make sure they enjoy their work now and in the future."

From Vancouver, Colliers International, a first-year Aon Best Employer Gold award recipient, provides an example of how listening to employees can increase employee engagement. "The focus groups we formed to discover employees' insights beyond their engagement survey responses were critical," says David Bowden, CEO, Colliers International Canada. "They helped us determine where our organization stood from an employee satisfaction standpoint, and where we needed to focus to make strides in our journey to becoming a Best Employer. We chose to focus on just one or two initiatives a year and put 110% towards getting them absolutely right. Becoming a Best Employer in Canada is really the culmination of a collaborative effort within our entire organization to create a positive, productive work environment that attracts and retains top talent. No one individual, leader or team made this happen -- our entire workforce came together to make Colliers one of the top companies to work for in Canada."

Aon Best Employers invest in their top talent
Aon's research on engaging and retaining top performers found that high performers score seven percentage points higher on "Intentions to Stay" than employees who are not high performers. Among Platinum-level Aon Best Employers in Canada, only seven percent of employees describe themselves as disengaged, versus the Canadian average of 15%, and 70% say their organizations have the right people strategies, compared with the average of just 50%. Aon research indicates organizations that are high-growth firms are more likely than average (+16%) to focus on organizational and HR effectiveness programs, and two times more likely to focus on culture, than average firms (56% versus 28%) -- similar characteristics to Aon Best Employers.

Solvera Solutions, an IT and business consulting firm based in Regina, has been an Aon Best Small and Medium-sized Employer award recipient for six years. "It's all about shared values and beliefs," says Managing Principal Reg Robinson. When the company was formed 11 years ago, Robinson and managing partner Jim Ostertag set out to create a company they themselves wanted to work for. Solvera's core values -- learning, sharing, caring and leading -- are the foundation for everything the organization does, from how it interacts with clients and employees to determining business strategy. "Over the years, we've built a great team of professionals who want to do good work, make their own decisions, and have a sense of purpose beyond the business of the company," says Robinson. "Being an Aon Best Small and Medium-sized Employer is a big deal to us. Not only do we rely on the detailed employee survey data to improve our organization, but we also take pride in knowing our philosophy and practices may assist other organizations in reaching their full potential."

Western Canada's 2017 Aon Best Employers in Canada

For more information on our Canadian award recipients, read the media releases for Aon Best Employers in Canada (organizations with more than 400 employees) and Aon Best Small and Medium-sized Employers in Canada (organizations with between 50 and 399 employees). Or check out the Aon Best Employers in Canada list that appears in the December issue of Canadian Business magazine, PROFITguide.com, and in the upcoming December 7 edition of La Presse.

About the Aon Best Employers in Canada Study
The methodology behind the Aon Best Employers in Canada Study reflects more than 20 years of learnings and best practices from Aon Best Employer and employee engagement studies conducted all over the world, relying on data collected in more than 150 markets from over 5,000 organizations in 68 industries, including over 735,000 employees and more than 600 companies of all sizes in Canada. Using the stringent global standards developed for Aon's Global Best Employer Program, each participant's employee survey scores on engagement, leadership, performance culture and employment brand were assessed against Aon Hewitt's Canadian Survey Database and the opinions of Canadian employees. Organizations who score in the top 25% of the Canadian database achieved the Platinum level, while those who score in the top third achieved Gold level. On average, 80% of employees were engaged at Platinum-level Aon Best Employers this year and 72% of Gold-level employees were engaged.

About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is a leading global provider of risk management, insurance brokerage and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Through its more than 72,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovative risk and people solutions. For further information on our capabilities and to learn how we empower results for clients, please visit: http://aon.mediaroom.com/

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