Job and recruiting website Glassdoor recently awarded its annual Employees’ Choice Awards to the 25 best CEOs in Canada. Executives are given the awards based on anonymous employee feedback and reviews over the past year. CEOs are evaluated for qualities such as leadership and work environment.
CEOs who win an Employee Choice Award demonstrate exceptional leadership, according to Robert Hohman, Glassdoor co-founder and CEO. “The best CEOs are inspiring, trustworthy, innovative and can be great motivators for people to bring their best selves to work,” he noted.
Hohman added that companies benefit from having strong CEOs in charge. “It can be a real recruiting advantage to have a top-rated CEO at the helm of a company who has strong support from his or her employees,” he said.
The top CEOs work in all types of industries but largely in technology, insurance, and finance.
The 2018 top 10 CEOs in Canada with their approval ratings are:
- Marc Benioff, Salesforce (99 percent)
- Sachin Shah, Brookfield Renewable (99 percent)
- Marc-Étienne Julien, Randstad (99 percent)
- Bill McDermott, SAP (99 percent)
- Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft (98 percent)
- Lynne Doughtie, KPMG (98 percent)
- Satya Nadella, Microsoft (98 percent)
- Mike Wessinger, PointClickCare (98 percent)
- Mark Machin, CPP Investment Board (98 percent)
- George Goldhoff, PURE Canadian Gaming (97 percent)
Salesforce’s Benioff, who snagged the top spot for 2018, first appeared on the list in 2017 at number four. Employees have a lot of positive things to say about the company on Glassdoor. One noted it’s “the best place to work in Canada,” while another added: “Great culture, great atmosphere, great money.” A third commented: “Just plain awesome. Dream job.”
Newcomers to the list include Shah, Machin, Allen C. Eaves of STEMCELL Technologies (No. 13, 97 percent approval), and Jeff Bender of Harris Computer (No. 15, 95 percent approval). Doughtie is the only woman on the list.
Fifteen of this year’s top CEOs were recognized by their employees in more than one country. Nadella was recognized for his leadership abilities in five lists, while McDermott was featured in four lists.
Glassdoor asks employees to review the performances of their CEOs based on factors such as leadership and other aspects of the workplace. The average CEO approval rating on Glassdoor, comprised of more than 770,000 employers reviewed, is 69 percent.
Glassdoor examined company reviews from May 2, 2017, to May 1, 2018.
