REGINA — Regina Public Schools (RPS) has been named the top employer for company culture in Saskatchewan.
A report published by Forbes named the top 400 of Canada’s best employers for company culture, which includes companies from Canada, U.S., Germany, the U.K., and more.
“We were pleasantly surprised,” said Mark Haarmann, director of education/CEO of Regina Public Schools.
Forbes ranked organizations with at least 500 employees in the country from over 20 different industries based on 40,000 Canadians who were surveyed anonymously.
Respondents were asked whether they recommend their employer to others and rank their workplace based on opportunity, inclusivity and fairness.
Overall, RPS landed 96 on the list, beating out other Sask. companies, including Federated Co-op and Sask. Polytechnic.
Haarmann mentioned wanting to bring a new direction and focus to RPS after he became the CEO last August.
This included changes from focusing more on one or two goals as opposed to 10 for one school, celebrating the success of teachers/schools in videos, and centring the student experience.
“I think we're beginning to see some of the truth of that coming out of those.”
Haarmann emphasized the importance of teachers and staff having a positive work environment.
“[When] everyone is behind you from the division office, to the people in the school office, to the custodian, I think it empowers that teacher to really focus on the student, and I think it actually improves student success.”
Haarmann referenced how RPS is seeing encouraging signs related to literacy scores for Kindergarten to Grade 3 students.
He also mentioned how teachers are showing more interest in being involved with extracurricular activities.
“That includes band concerts, sports events, even simple things like teaching your information.”
Heading into his second year as CEO, Haarmann said schools will start looking at new ways of setting goals in October to continue building positivity and growth.
