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Success means more than your bottom line. When it comes to running our business, putting our people first has paid off in more ways than one. Going above and beyond when it comes to our staff’s career advancement, work-life balance, compensation, and culture has made a huge difference in our business growth and success.
We are thrilled to have been chosen as one of London’s best workplaces in the 2020 London Inc. Magazine’s Best Places To Work feature. As a growing London business, we couldn’t be happier to be recognized as a forward-thinking, fun, collaborative and flexible workplace.
Ontario SEO was selected as one of 15 winners of the Best Places to Work 2020 in the Small Business category. The award highlights local London businesses whose employees rated them exceptionally high for categories such as leadership, personal engagement, collaborative culture and employee satisfaction.
The winners for this year came out on top of more than 90 applicants – all from different industries such as manufacturing, technology, finance, healthcare, and non-profit sectors. Regardless of the industry, all the organizations that won are connected through one common goal – creating a supportive and empowering workplace where employees thrive.
As a team, we work collaboratively to deliver proven results to our clients. We’re genuinely invested in our clients’ successes and often have a personal connection with our clients, which keeps us motivated to achieve incredible results. We all play an integral role in our client’s success, and we celebrate these achievements together.
We think our team and workplace is pretty great – we work collaboratively like family in an office that feels like home. Here are a few reasons why we think our workplace is so fantastic.
Why Ontario SEO is a great place to work
Collaborative and Supportive Workplace and Team
Beyond all the great office activities and workplace programs we have in place, we work together as a collective, drawing on each other’s expertise to deliver data-driven results. Each member of our team plays an integral role in the success of our client’s projects, and we proudly celebrate client, company, and personal achievements together.
Working in cross functional teams has been part of my career as an Account Manager for years. When you have a highly talented and reliable team that delivers time and time again, bigger obstacles or challenges become steppingstones on our way to success. Working with a team of experts gives my client’s peace of mind, knowing they have a wealth of professionals working to grow their business. Karah Blandford – Account Strategist
Work-life Balance
Agency life often comes with the assumption that you will work well after 5 pm each day without stepping away from your computer. We know that burnt out employees look like and actively work to avoid this through our company structure and retainer model. We encourage employees to speak up when they are feeling the pressure and often hire new employees to lessen the load, so when 5pm comes, we can all go home and enjoy our evenings.
Online and In-Person Training and Conferences
Digital marketing is forever evolving, so it’s essential to keep up with industry trends. Our team takes part in ongoing training and learning, such as sharing relevant blogs, attending lunch and learns, seminars, conferences and webinars. We share new industry findings almost daily with each other so that we are all up to speed on the latest industry news and best-practices.
As employees, we aren’t locked into a specific role or regimen which gives us the freedom to change and grow. Our roles and responsibilities are fluid as we discover our strengths and weaknesses, and as the needs of our clients change. As a team, we’re always ready to take on new challenges and opportunities. It keeps things interesting and makes each workday different from the last.” Meaghan Butler – Advertising Specialist
The Happy Bell
As a team, we celebrate our success as well as the success of our clients. We do this with our in-office happy bell. The Ontario SEO happy bell is, quite literally, a beautiful brass bell that we ring in the office when great things happen. Anything from achieving a featured snippet for a client, seeing significant increases in conversions on a client website, or when we get great client feedback or reviews. It’s a great way to recognize our team’s hard work and achievements.
It’s great to be a part of a digital agency that is truly passionate about providing real results to our clients. We don’t just ‘do’ SEO and digital marketing – we work together as a team to help our clients succeed. We all play an integral role in our clients’ success and, we celebrate these accomplishments together. Cassandra Schooley – Content Manager
Flexible Roles
We know that one-size does not fit all when it comes to an individual’s expertise and interests. We value employees with varying experience and encourage staff to explore other areas of interest at our company. Just because you were hired as an SEO Specialist doesn’t mean there isn’t opportunity for you to learn more about Google Ads or Social Media. Giving team members the flexibility to try new things and grow their experience is one of the ways we are able to keep our staff happy and engaged in their roles.
Meaningful Projects
We work with clients across the map from a wide variety of verticals, meaning there’s something for everyone when it comes to personal interests and the scope of projects we work on. We happily take on pro-bono projects each year to make a difference in our community and to remember our roots.
Flexible Work Hours
Life isn’t always predictable. After-work commitments, appointments and unexpected events mean that sometimes working 9 to 5 isn’t always ideal. Ontario SEO offers flexible work hours to accommodate our staff’s differentiating schedules. Staff are also accommodated if they need to work from home on occasion, and we allow our out-of-town team members to work from home a few days a week to minimize commute time.
Keeping up the Creative
In a data-driven industry, it’s easy to dive into the numbers and forget to have some fun. We take the time for creative brainstorms and put a lot of effort into connecting data and creative to develop strategies that not only engage customers, but also convert them.
A Fun Place to Work
Celebrations with Cake
We eat a lot of cake here. When birthdays and important personal milestones come around, we take a moment away from our busy workdays to get together to celebrate and share some laughs – and some cake of course.
Birthdays Off
At Ontario SEO, staff are entitled to birthdays off. It’s a fun added perk that allows our team to celebrate their big day any which way they choose.
Seasonal Holiday Celebrations
We like to celebrate seasonal events and holiday’s whenever possible. Everything from ice cream outings on the first day of spring, summer kick-off barbecues, Thanksgiving potluck dinners, Christmas gingerbread house contests and afternoon treats to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
Food Challenges
One way that we keep things interesting in the office is with our weekly food challenge competitions. We take turns bringing in a home-cooked lunch for the team based on a pre-set theme and vote on a winner. From sandwiches, mac and cheese, soup, cultural, and vegan – we’ve done them all. It makes for a fun weekly team lunch that we all look forward to.
We would like to thank London Inc. for recognizing Ontario SEO as one of London’s Best Places to Work for 2020, and we are honoured to be named among some of London’s top workplaces.
Our Overall Score:
- Overall Engagement: 91%
- Dedication: 4.75
- Effort: 4.50
- Interest: 4.33
- Net Promoter: 100
Here’s a look at what those individual scores really mean:
Overall Engagement: Overall-engagement measures and assess how employees view the organization as a fulfilling place to work in the long-run.
Dedication: Dedication is used to measure the way in which employees feel engaged. Are their skills being used to the best of their abilities and leaving them feeling fulfilled, challenged, and inspired?
Effort: Are staff and employees willing to dedicate their time and energy to their work, particularly when it comes to complicated projects and tasks?
Interest: How happy and focused employees are while they are working. This is gauged based on time passing quickly and the ability to separate oneself from work.
Net Promoter: Net Promoter measures employee willingness to recommend their organization as a place to work for others.
We would like to thank London Inc. for recognizing Ontario SEO as one of London’s Best Places to Work for 2020 – we are honoured to be named among some of London’s top workplaces.
Interested in joining our team? Send us your resume.
