Our People

With more than 5,000 dedicated staff at Encana, our people are our strength.

Our people provide the knowledge, passion and enthusiasm that delivers value. We seek only the best and brightest and foster their learning and development through a collaborative and open work environment where leaders share knowledge, encourage learning and education and reward exceptional performance.

What we’ve done

  • improved on-boarding processes and evaluated employment branding and market pay practices for competitiveness
  • created and implemented succession planning and support for employees who took on new roles with Encana
  • improved employee leadership development programs, such as PEAK Leadership
  • created a robust disability management practice to return employees to work in a timely and safe manner
  • completed our employee policy review and commitment process. All employees committed to 10 key policies and practices
  • developed a new third-party feedback tool to evaluate employee performance
  • continued and expanded Respectful Workplace Training

Where we’re headed

  • continue to recruit those whose passion drives them to succeed and whose skills complement our business needs
  • reward employee achievements that identify and reduce risk
  • focus on accountability and merit-based rewards for our employees
  • continue to evolve benefits and rewards to meet employee needs
  • support education and develop leadership to help employees meet personal and corporate objectives
  • maintain a collaborative and cooperative work environment that encourages innovation and maximizes efficiency

Unique individuals require flexible benefits

To attract and retain an industry-leading workforce with diverse skills and abilities, you must be an industry-leading employer. Recognizing that everyone has unique needs, we offer flexible benefits that enable employees to customize their benefits to support their home life. We offer:

  • vacation time ranging from three to eight weeks depending on life experience – not just length of employment
  • flexible benefits
  • annual allowances provide the flexibility for employees to use company allowances in a way that is most meaningful to them, such as, but not limited to, transportation/parking, fitness club memberships and financial consulting
  • company pension contributions and investment plan matching

What matters to our employees matters to us

Through the Encana Cares Program we support the charities and not-for-profit organizations that our employees give their time and money to. The program matches each employee’s donations dollar for dollar, up to $25,000 per year. We also have an employee volunteer program that provides cash grants to organizations where employees and their families volunteer their time. Thanks to our employees, Encana donated more than $2.7 million in 2010 through the Encana Cares Program.

Developing leaders of today and tomorrow

In 2010, 59 of our leaders participated in PEAK Leadership – our internal leadership program in the USA Division. PEAK Leadership is a unique, intense 12-month program where leaders enhance their skills in planning, risk mitigation, coaching and change management. Since the program began in 2007, 136 leaders have completed the program and 60 are slated to attend in 2011.

What do our leaders think of the program?

  • more than 98 percent state the program is a “worthwhile investment for Encana”
  • more than 89 percent have seen improvement in specific skills and behaviours
  • more than 94 percent agree they are more effective leaders because of the program
  • 40 percent of graduates have been promoted since the program’s inception in 2007, and 25 percent have been moved into other positions to continue their career development

“Encana’s continuing success depends on good leadership. As leaders, we are fully accountable for our results; we must foster strong teams, share our skills and experience, learn from our challenges... Leadership means the ability to inspire superior efforts and to provide the right conditions for success.”

Bill Oliver Executive Vice-President & Chief Corporate Officer

Sustainable Growth Driven By a Sustainable Workforce

A sustainable workforce doesn’t just focus on current skill requirements. It must preserve and pass on knowledge and experience matched to long-term business needs. By offering fulfilling and rewarding career opportunities at every stage of an employee’s career, we help to ensure the long-term benefits of a sustainable, diverse, highly skilled and highly motivated workforce.

Fostering respect

Our goal is to foster a harassment-free workplace where everyone respects one another. To help our employees meet this goal we designed our comprehensive Respectful Workplace Training program. This program was launched in our Canadian Division in 2009 and in 2010 we expanded it to our Canadian corporate groups and field locations. In 2010, 428 employees completed the training.

Equal Opportunity

As a principle, we are committed to equal opportunity employment. When considering hiring, compensation, training and promotions, we provide consistent treatment for all employees.

Voluntary Attrition by Age Group (1) (2)

  • (1) Attrition numbers do not include retirements.
  • (2) There were 155 voluntary terminations in 2010.

Employee Breakdown by Age Group and Gender (percentage) (1)

  • (1) Encana ranks in the top 90th percentile for percentage of female employees in the oil and gas sector in Canada according to Saratoga Canadian HR Benchmarking Survey - 2009.