Wave wins big at 2020 Canadian HR Awards

The team at Wave is proud to announce more nominations and podium finishes at the 2020 Canadian HR Awards than any other company! This recognition is the result of our People & Culture (P&C) team’s dedication, hard work, and passionate pursuit of creating the best possible place to work. To them, Wave is all about people—and it shows.

“This team deserves our congratulations. I'm incredibly appreciative to all of them and everything they do for Wave. It makes my heart melt to think of how much they care for Wave and for all of us as people. They epitomize what we stand for,” said Kirk Simpson, our CEO at Wave.

Gold: Diversity & Inclusion Strategy

At Wave, we embrace difficult conversations and challenge ourselves to always do more. In response to the BLM movement, our CEO sought feedback from the entire organization in an effort to enhance our corporate strategy and open the doors for a broader discussion about diversity and inclusion. We’ve also enlisted external partners for expert training on this subject, allowing us to take action and commit to continuous listening and learning.

Plus, our Women at Wave initiative allows all individuals who identify as female to connect through regular breakfast talks featuring incredible female guests offering insights on their experiences, and the challenges they’ve overcome.

A recent employee survey showed 90% of Wavers feel people from all backgrounds have equal opportunities to succeed at Wave. We have a 60:40 male to female split, speak 26 languages beyond English, and 44% of us immigrated to Canada at age 19 or younger. This is a huge improvement from our 90:10 male to female split just five years ago!

Gold: HR Team of the Year (Finance/Insurance)

Over the past 12 months, our P&C team has navigated two incredibly complex challenges. In 2019, they guided us through the eighth-largest Canadian exit ever.

Then in 2020, the team led a seamless transition to remote work in response to COVID-19. They worked tirelessly to recreate our cultural initiatives for an online world, and continue to find new, creative ways to connect and support our now decentralized workforce.

Silver: HR Champion (CEO)–Kirk Simpson

Kirk’s view on culture is evident in his unwavering commitment to providing the best possible work experience to Wavers. As a leader, Kirk believes in the ability of our team to deliver on our mission. Trust and transparency are important at Wave, so we share information openly to understand problems and work to solve them. This is best demonstrated at our monthly Town Hall meetings where leaders share their plans, and what keeps them up at night.

Finalist: Woman of Distinction–Ashira Gobrin

Of course, none of our P&C success, or these accolades, would’ve been possible without our fearless Chief People Officer, Ashira Gobrin. Her expertise, creativity, empathy, and decisiveness sets us all up for this level of continued success, and we’re proud to benefit from her leadership.