Canada’s Top Employers for Young People Award highlights employers offering the best workplaces and programs for young people starting their careers. The employers being acknowledged are Canada's leaders in attracting and retaining younger employees to their organizations.

"We are extremely grateful to be recognized as a top employer for young people for the 12^th year,” says Julia Hanigsberg, president and CEO, Holland Bloorview. "Young learners and professionals are the future of health care. We believe strongly in investing in these young people, providing them with early opportunities to learn, grow, and contribute meaningfully to the lives of the children, youth and families with disabilities and developmental differences. This accolade highlights our commitment to creating an environment that empowers and nurtures the next generation of professionals that are representative of the communities we serve.”

Some of the key reasons why Holland Bloorview was selected as one of Canada's Top Employers for Young People (2024) include:

• Holland Bloorview manages the Ward Summer Student Research Program to provide undergraduate students with opportunities to conduct research within the childhood disability research field alongside leading children's rehabilitation scientists -- the program features a dedicated research day, allowing students to learn about different research projects conducted at the organization, as well as showcase their own research (and dedicated positions in the program are included for a student who self-identifies as Indigenous and a student living with a disability)
• Through the Leading the Way Youth Employment Initiative, Holland Bloorview provides dedicated co-op placements to students who are current or former clients of the organization that require an accessible workplace, including support from an occupational therapist and/or job coach, if needed -- Holland Bloorview also provides support in navigating employment with Youth Facilitators, who are young people with lived experience of disability
• Holland Bloorview also offers an 11-week summer medical student scholarship program, which provides second-year medical students with hands-on experience in academic developmental pediatrics and pediatric rehabilitation

"Holland Bloorview is committed to fostering an equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace culture and environment where young people can thrive,” says Tracey Millar, vice president, people and culture, Holland Bloorview. “We recognize that our people are our most valuable asset and have the greatest potential to impact success. This prestigious award reaffirms our dedication to nurturing talent, creating opportunities and empowering employees to grow to their full potential.”

Since 2019, Holland Bloorview has been a site host for Project SEARCH, a 10-month school-to-work transition program for youth with developmental disabilities in their final year of high school. The program helps students develop competitive, transferable skills required for entry-level employment.

"Overall, each year more than 60 high school and university students with disabilities gain critical early work experience through Holland Bloorview's employment pathways programs, and Project SEARCH,” says Carolyn McDougall, manager, employment pathways, Holland Bloorview. “Many hospital teams and staff participate as workplace mentors to offer skills development opportunities. With experience on their resumes and confidence in their abilities, our graduates go on to contribute to and benefit from being part of inclusive workforces with a growing network of community employers."

As a teaching hospital fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, Holland Bloorview provides an extraordinary learning environment and support for learners in medicine, nursing, health disciplines, research and across a wide variety of other fields. We are dedicated to training the next generation of innovative, diversely skilled and adaptive health care leaders to serve the system well into the future.

The official announcement of the award can be found on the Canada's Top 100 website.

This award closely follows Holland Bloorview’s 14^th consecutive award for Greater Toronto’s Top Employers, announced December 5, 2023.

Recent articles regarding Holland Bloorview’s youth employment programs:

• Employment Pathways is a winning program for youth with disabilities, employers and colleagues
• Bav is Ready for Work!

About Canada’s Top Employers for Young People

Canada’s Top Employers for Young People is an editorial competition organized by the Canada's Top 100 Employers project. This special designation recognizes the employers that offer the nation's best workplaces and programs for young people just starting their careers. The employers on this list are Canada's leaders in attracting and retaining younger employees to their organizations. Each employer is evaluated by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers in terms of the programs they have to attract and retain younger workers. These include benefits such as tuition assistance and the availability of co-op or work-study programs.