Best Places to Work: Ottawa Tourism knows how to celebrate its people – both inside and outside the office

Once a year, the Ottawa Tourism team meets at the home of President and CEO Michael Crockatt for a “Family BBQ”.

“Everybody brings their kids, their partners, their spouses,” says Roslyn Smith, director of Governance and People. Two employees are currently on parental leave, “both came with their three or four week old newborns”.

As one of the winners of Ottawa Best Places to Work 2022 Ottawa Tourism takes great care to support the professional and personal lives of its employees, says Smith.

As a tourism agency, it’s no surprise that Ottawa Tourism attracts creative workers. Smith shares that one employee is also a Pilates instructor, while another has a consulting firm that helps job seekers with their resumes and interview preparation. Another collaborator, Andy Akangh, is an artist whose work was recently featured in an exhibition at the Ottawa Art Gallery.

At one of Ottawa Tourism’s social events, Smith and the team visited the Akangh exhibit. “I think it showed him that he’s worked really hard at it outside of Ottawa Tourism, and we support him as his ‘corporate family,'” says Smith.

Of Ottawa Tourism’s current 44 employees, 34 are women. Smith shares that it is a parent-friendly, flexible workplace with a top-notch benefits package and generous learning and development opportunities.

As the company’s CEO, Crockatt takes great pride in making sure the team feels heard in all aspects of the job.

“We learned that we have to be flexible and that everything around us will change, which means the workplace has to change as well,” he says. “Every new person that comes to us brings a new perspective, and that helps us expand our own views as a company and create a workplace where we hope everyone feels a sense of belonging.”

Ottawa Tourism also recently formed its first Diversity and Inclusion Committee – and its work continues.

“We pursue diversity on our board of directors and hiring at all levels,” says Smith. “Our employees represent a rich diversity of cultural backgrounds with employees speaking Canada’s official languages, as well as many others relevant to our community and our target geographic markets. We recognize that we represent the entire community and we want all Ottawans to be reflected in our work.”

In 2021, Crockatt signed Destinations International’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Pledge along with 20 other Canadian CEOs, committing to foster a tourism industry that represents its employees and community at all levels.

But Ottawa Tourism doesn’t stop there – every quarter it conducts employee surveys to ensure its employees can provide anonymous feedback about the organization and management.

“If there’s anything I’m proud of, it’s being open, listening to colleagues, doing my best to understand why an issue is important to them, showing trust and not being afraid to try new things,” adds Crockatt. “A surprising number of our policies do not come from me or our HR team. They were either proposed by individuals with an idea and a certain passion, or fully developed.”

The agency also offers self-assessments, where employees meet with their managers to discuss what they need in their role, whether they feel supported, and to further explore how their roles fit into the organisation’s strategic plan.

Since moving to a hybrid working model, surveys like this have become more important than ever to Ottawa Tourism. “[The surveys’] The results often tell us that culture is one of the main reasons people stay with Ottawa Tourism,” says Smith. “It’s not like ‘here’s your cubicle, here’s your laptop, good luck’ — it’s a place that’s very welcoming, loving and exciting.”

For Smith, these qualities are one of the reasons Ottawa Tourism won the Best Place to Work award. “We want people to be excited and be themselves, have ideas, and go into our president’s office and share those ideas,” Smith says.

Looking ahead, Smith says her team looks forward to returning to in-person events. “Tourism was the first hit, hit hardest and will be the last sector of the economy to recover [from COVID-19]she says, adding that the agency went from a “really bubbly, exciting place” to wondering how it might survive.

However, Smith says Crockatt and the senior squad all stood together through the darker days: “We came out of this stronger and with great plans for 2023 and beyond.”