helping employees balance their day-to-day responsibilities through alternative working options, including flexible hours, shortened work weeks, and tele-commuting. They were also praised for starting new employees with three weeks of paid vacation and considering previous work experience when setting vacation entitlement for experienced candidates. Of course, the 2021 award also considered the company’s pandemic response. Keystone Environmental was applauded for quickly moving employees to workfrom-home arrangements, cancelling in-person meetings and transitioning to online meetings, implementing enhanced cleaning protocols, and providing onsite employees with needed personal protective equipment. During that tumultuous time, Raminder admits it was challenging to reconcile their two biggest priorities – keep everyone safe and healthy, and preserve their carefullycultivated team culture. Migrating in-person activities online was only part of the solution. Prior to the pandemic, he personally had an opendoor policy, and the company worked very collaboratively between departments. To replicate that atmosphere, they utilized several solutions. One of the more amusing-but-effective solutions was roving iPads – employees at home could log in via their devices to drive the wheeled apparatus around the office, which remained open throughout the pandemic, to find and talk to the person they were looking for. “We wanted people to still feel connected,” Raminder says. “We wanted to do everything we could to make sure people still felt engaged.” KEYSTONE ENIVORNMENTAL Keystone Environmental works with various Indigenous communities across Canada, and is committed to further building relationships and working with Indigenous Peoples, governments, and organizations.
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