News Releases

High Scores for:

• Company's Financial Benefits and Compensation, Training and Skills Development, and Community Involvement
• Employee Engagement and Physical Workplace
• Work Atmosphere and Communications, Vacation and Personal Time Off deemed

TORONTO, November 22, 2010 – BMO Financial Group has been named a top employer in the fifth annual Greater Toronto's Top Employer competition, organized by the editors of the Canada's Top 100 Employers project. This special designation recognizes the employers in the GTA that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work. 

Employers are evaluated by the editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers using the same eight criteria as the national competition: (1) Physical Workplace; (2) Work Atmosphere & Social; (3) Health, Financial & Family Benefits; (4) Vacation & Time Off; (5) Employee Communications; (6) Performance Management; (7) Training & Skills Development; and (8) Community Involvement.  Employers are compared to other organizations in their field to determine which offers the most progressive and forward-thinking programs.

BMO was ranked highly in each area, most notably for Financial Benefits and Compensation; Training and Skills Development; and Community Involvement and Employee Engagement and Physical Workplace. 

Judges took particular note of the BMO's strong commitment to employee training and mentoring, saying the bank:

• supports employees' ongoing skills development by covering the full cost of tuition fees for courses at outside institutions (with no annual maximum) and through hundreds of courses through its impressive Institute for Learning in Toronto;
• helps employees advance their careers at BMO with a formal mentoring program, career planning workshops, and other in-house/online training options;
• offers parental leave top-up benefits to employees who are new mothers, fathers, or adoptive parents (to 100% of salary for 6 weeks);
• manages a flexible health benefits plan that includes fully-paid health coverage for retired employees (with no age limit);
• offers an enlightened sick-day policy through which employees can apply for personal days off (called People Care Days) that may be used for everything from moving to extended family responsibilities

In a special report about the awards, the Globe and Mail featured BMO among five organizations that have “carved special niches to attract and keep top talent.”  The Globe highlighted BMO's training and leadership development, noting that that the bank invested nearly $69 million in employee training and development last year and provides hundreds of courses at its Corporate University, the Institute for Learning, in Toronto.

Lynn Roger, Senior Vice-President, Talent Strategies and Executive Resourcing, BMO Financial Group said the high rankings serve as testament to the bank's promise to new and existing employees to turn their potential into performance. 

“Our programs represent an important component of our employee value proposition.  We know that employees want to be supported in their career through robust learning opportunities.  The unique learning experiences that BMO provides to its employees at all levels, have been uniquely effective in our ability to attract top talent to BMO and just as importantly, retain and develop our future leaders.”   

Earlier in the year BMO was selected as a Top Employer in Mediacorp's National competition as well. Judges' comments and ratings can be found online at: http://www.eluta.ca/top-employer-bank-of-montreal

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For Media Enquiries:

Ralph Marranca, Toronto, 416-867-3996, ralph.marranca@bmo.com