Debbie is one of five partners who established BiM in 1993. The company now has about 80 employees in their Richmond, Surrey, Victoria, and Coquitlam clinics.

 

There is no short answer, or single thing. We start by focusing on our people. As an employer, they are our customer

 

The key to maintaining this relationship is respect, and lots of two-way communication. We know people have lives outside work, so we make jobs flexible. Communication allows the team environment to be constantly reinforced. We hire very carefully…job candidates have to have these qualities, and we also look for evidence of our core values. We are currently pursuing an occupational therapist from the UK. That's the distance we'll go to get the right people.

 

We've learned we can never communicate enough with our staff. We have come to appreciate their need for big-picture information – the company direction and priorities – so they know why we picked them and where they fit in.

 

We have a community within BiM, but also a focus on the community outside, whether local, provincial, or global. Team activities and lots of FUN are the way we build the BiM community. Each year, we have a team-building day that involves activities such as very "non-serious" golf tournaments, games with a "Survivor" theme, cooking events…these things are all suggested by our staff and organized by a social committee who makes proposals to the clinic directors. During our team-building day, the clinics are closed to encourage everyone to attend.

 

One of our staff was diagnosed with breast cancer, so for the past three years, we have had a corporate team in the Run for the Cure. BiM paid all the registration fees, and then gave each runner a $30 donation. We each need to come out of ourselves to think about what's important in the broader scheme of life.

 

We weren't sure we could afford a benefits program. We're quite a conservative group, and still a small company. But as growth occurred, most of our staff identified this as something they wanted. I think it has helped us attract employees; we most often hire health care professionals, who have had very good benefit plans with their former employers.

 

We actually started our benefits plan right after our staffer developed cancer. That made it clear to us that the protection and security needs are huge at times like that. We don't want our staff to have this uncertainty. BiM supported that employee financially because she had no LTD at that time. The benefits 'lesson' is one we learned the hard way.

 

I think people arrive and then stay because we have created a great place to work, but I also think we can do better. I wonder if we can continue to retain great people, stay competitive with salaries and benefits, pursue growth opportunities, and still make a profit.

 

We're keen to grow, and geography is beginning to challenge that small company feel as we expand to different communities.

 

 

I don't know what I do! OK, I have a true open door policy, which can distract me from my to-do list, but this is invaluable. I sit in the lunchroom most days. I step in to client work on a relief basis. This keeps me connected to what we do as a company and I see things from the perspective of employees and clients.

 

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