Medtronic is named among the top employers in Canada

November 22, 2022

Medtronic Canada ULC is selected as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers and Greater Toronto's Top Employers.

The Canada's Top 100 Employers project is a national competition to determine which employers lead their industries in offering exceptional workplaces for their employees.

Employers are evaluated by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers using eight criteria: Workplace; Work Atmosphere & Social; Health, Financial & Family Benefits; Vacation & Time Off; Employee Communications; Performance Management; Training & Skills Development; and Community Involvement.

Creating an exceptional workplace

Here are some of the reasons why Medtronic Canada ULC was selected as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers and Greater Toronto's Top Employers:

Medtronic offers a number of flexible work arrangements and introduced a formal hybrid work policy designed around three workplace categories - the company provides an internet subsidy of $50 per month for employees who work from home as well as computer monitors, keyboards and even ergonomic chairs from the office.
Medtronic offers a summer work hours program between the months of May and September, letting employees work extra hours in order to accrue that time for additional time off during the summer.
Medtronic invests in the education of current and future generations with generous tuition subsidies for existing employees (to $6,000) and academic scholarships for children of employees (to $1,500 per child).

Hear from Medtronic employees about what they enjoy most working at the company.

Launching a healthcare career

As a university graduate with degrees in mechanical and biomechanical engineering, Shona Kamps was looking to launch her career in the health-care sector. When she read about how Medtronic Canada ULC is committed to combating climate change, it ticked another box.

“I am aware that the health-care industry is responsible for nearly five per cent of global carbon emissions," says Shona. “I was really attracted to Medtronic because it’s a leader in greening health care.”

Shona, who started working on contract, landed a full-time position in October 2021 as a business analyst in Medtronic’s Integrated Health Solutions team. Shona's responsibilities include working with hospitals to evaluate and help optimize their systems and patient pathways.

Making a personal, hands-on impact

Medtronic, the largest medical-device employer in Canada, has a spectrum of initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint. This includes measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with the goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. The company also works to minimize its environmental impact through product stewardship initiatives such as recycling medical devices where practicable and reducing packaging waste.

Shona applauds all these undertakings, but she was also keen to make a personal, hands-on contribution toward sustainability issues and efforts at Medtronic. A little networking, Shona says, soon connected her to a large community of employees also eager to do their share.

Creating systemic change

By November 2021, Shona and two colleagues had co-founded the Medtronic Environmental Action Group, a volunteer alliance dedicated to changing individual behavior and to creating systemic change through employee education, engagement and empowerment.

In just four months, the group grew to nearly 700 members in North America, Europe and the Middle East, encompassing a broad range of ages and Medtronic business units. Now organized into teams, they’re planning projects, organizing events and hosting digital talks on topics ranging from sustainable design to composting.

The action group also has its own internal communications channel where employees can post questions, listen to podcasts and access a knowledge center, among other things. Shona describes the group’s initial accomplishments as bare-bones, but in light of members’ zeal and the goals they’ve set, Shona expects that to change.

“Everyone’s passion is so clearly evident,” explains Shona. “Medtronic has the opportunity to drive the green transition in the healthcare industry and contribute to human health in conjunction with our mission to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life.”

Pursuing a passion project

Medtronic has a long-standing culture of empowering employees to drive change in the workplace. Donna Wong, Medtronic Canada’s Montréal-based commercial leader of interventional neuroradiology & stroke neurology, knows what it’s like to pursue a passion project.

Donna says that when she saw how much waste was being generated, Donna looked at ways to incorporate sustainability in programs within her sector. In decades past no one recycled medical devices. In 2021, Medtronic Canada recycled over 10,000 used medical devices, says Donna, who’s most familiar with the process for pacemakers and defibrillators.

Other divisions have the flexibility to devise methods that suit their particular needs, Donna adds, but the goal is the same. “From design and manufacturing to packaging, distribution and disposal, we take ownership and do what’s right,” she says.

That’s in keeping with Medtronic’s overall approach to being a good environmental steward. “Twenty years ago, we never thought about sustainability,” says Donna. “Now it’s just automatically part of our calculations.”

Working with a sense of purpose

As Daniel Giacinti sees it, Medtronic Canada ULC makes it easy to be proud of the work he does. The company’s mission to “alleviate pain, restore health and extend life” is both inspirational and a call to practical action, he says.

“Knowing my work has a positive impact on Canadians’ health and well-being has always given me a sense of purpose,” says Daniel. “It’s a very good reason to get up every day!”

Since he joined the Brampton-based medical technology company in 2010, Daniel has risen through the ranks in the cranial and spinal technologies division. As senior marketing manager his responsibilities have included heading a project he describes as a “once in a lifetime opportunity.”

A professional gift to change lives

In October 2021, Medtronic launched MazorTM in Canada, a significant advance in minimally invasive, robot-assisted lumbar and thoracic spinal surgery and the first of its kind in Canada. It integrates 3D and other technologies for comprehensive pre-operative planning, robotic guidance and surgical navigation. Using MazorTM, spinal specialists like orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons can perform operations with greater predictability, precision and accuracy than previously possible, Daniel says. He adds that studies show that the resulting smaller incisions and shorter hospital stays lead to better patient outcomes.

“This technology is going to help a lot of people and it’s a privilege to be able to contribute to that,” says Daniel. “It’s a professional gift.”

Pioneering impactful innovations

Melicent Lavers-Sailly, Director of strategy and stakeholder engagement, says MazorTM is emblematic of what’s so special about working at Medtronic. “We’re often the first with new and impactful innovations,” she says. “It’s a huge source of pride to be able to treat patients or help them manage chronic conditions when nothing previously existed for them.”

Medtronic is the largest medical-device employer in Canada. Many employees worked at the Brampton headquarters in sales, marketing and administrative functions before the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, however, over 90 per cent of the staff began working from home.

Melicent says the company makes extensive use of internal communications to ensure everyone sees how they’re making a meaningful difference in people’s lives. For instance, the company invites patients to tell their stories as part of the annual holiday program.

In one particularly compelling narrative, she says, a little girl had had a medical device implanted. Tracing its serial number revealed her mother had made that very device. “There were a lot of tears,” recalls Melicent.