4 Engineering firm promotes flexible schedule.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: 5 Great Places To Work - J.L. Richards' human resource management - Company overview

Working 9 am to 5 p.m. is an all too common work schedule, but for employees of engineering firm J. L. Richards' Timmins office, that schedule is more of a suggestion than a rule.

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The office's 13 employees including engineers and support staff, are committed to a typical workday timetable, though they're generally free to tweak the rules as they see fit. This means if a worker needs to attend a family event or take their child to hockey practice they are free to do so, provided they make up the hours.

"We do have hours that we try to encourage, but the big thing is that our employees go and enjoy their families and their time," says Georges Quirion, branch manager.

Whether it means working a half-hour extra every day to take Friday afternoons off, or starting at 6 a.m. to finish at 2 p.m., flexibility is key to a harmonious working relationship, Quirion says.

J.L.Richards places a great deal of faith in intelligent, dependable employees, Quirion says, and the workers show their gratitude with a solid dedication to quality and a sense of ownership.

To further cement the relationship, the company offers a stock ownership package to its employees after two years of employment. This has resulted in a company that is fully owned by its workers, a fact which Quirion says imbues everyone with a true sense of investment.

"If they have a sense of ownership, they'll take pride in what they do," he says. "It's a pretty positive environment."

The company also sponsors each employee in an annual golf tournament held in Ottawa.

"We know they work hard, so we encourage them to play hard too."

The company began in Ottawa in 1955, and established a foothold in the North in 1974 with the establishment of a Sudbury office. Other offices have since followed, with additional locations in North Bay and Kingston. J.L.Richards demonstrated its faith in employees when Quirion was asked to open an office in his hometown of Timmins in 2001.

"When I approached them, I was thinking that I'd be working in one of their other offices," he says. "They said, 'Well, you're from Timmins and we've always wanted an office there, so would you want to start something up?"

The Timmins' office has provided engineering services to a variety of clients, including a $4.3 million local sports complex, a $10 million police...