Vancity On Top Of Its Game Case Study

Vancity: On Top of its Game
Vancity began its operations in 1946 in Vancouver, British Columbia as a financial service co-operative. Vancity differs from banks and other businesses, in such a way that it provides a complete range of financial services to its members, in order to meet their economic, social, and cultural needs and build a healthy community. As a co-operative, they are owned and controlled by their members; they are a non-profit organization that puts the people first; they are values-driven and committed to helping the community, and they create jobs and wealth in the community. Vancity is dedicated to its purpose and values which were created to represent the set of standards of doing business and guide their business decisions
and strategies. Their original purpose and values never change; it will always be about “working with people and communities to help them thrive and prosper, all the while operating with integrity, innovation, and responsibility” (Vancity 30).

Vancity acknowledges that a healthy and committed workforce allows them to meet the needs of their members and their community, which is vital to the company’s success.
Vancity’s approach to a healthy workforce is to create a positive environment and lifestyle, by allowing more flexibility for their employees in order to balance their work and personal commitments. There are several work alternatives for employees to choose from including telecommuting, flexible hours, shortened work weeks, and compressed work weeks. They have also included programs to help their employees manage a healthier lifestyle, such as opportunities in working with employee assistance providers (EAP) to develop success both within and beyond the workplace. Vancity offers a rewards and benefits program designed to provide employees and their families with the financial protection they need, so they are able to feel a sense of pride and satisfaction. Permanent employees are eligible for “dental and life insurance, three to six weeks of annual life insurance, maternity and paternity leave top-ups, and care days that can be used for personal and family illness or injury. Other benefits include profit-sharing, tuition reimbursement, retirement planning, and reduced rates on personal financial services such as mortgages and loans” (31). Vancity values its people and diversity in the workplace: they believe in equality and that everyone should be treated with fairness and respect in regards to race, colour,
religion, age, sex, etc. Vancity proves they are ethical in the sense that age does not define

Vancity “has a young corporate culture—the average age of its employees is 39, and 94 percent of its new recruits are under 40. Even its CEO, Tamara Vrooman, was only 39 when she took the helm” (31). Vancity also believes that environmental and social sustainability is an important part of their operations

4. Vancity partly blamed the workforce and budgetary reductions for not meeting its targets for employee engagement in its survey. To manage their employee survey, they held focus groups with 120 employees to respond to and give feedback on why the company’s employee engagement has not reached its goal, in order to figure out where they went wrong. Based on the responses, they’ve taken note that: individual’s goals do not meet with those of the company’s; work processes, tools, and resources were not able to improve the efficiency of the business; and managers did not perform their role effectively. To fulfill their expectations based on the employee survey, Vancity uses conceptual skills to think about its situation, analyze it, and solve the problem. In this case, they “…would increase investment in training,