Personal Profile

Name

Chris O'Riley
Company

BC Hydro
Title

President & COO

Leadership Profile

Who We Are

BC Hydro is the largest provincial Crown Corporation in BC and generates and provides clean, reliable and affordable electricity safely to 95% of the population, or 4 million people.
Why We Are Involved

As a Crown corporation owned by the people of British Columbia, we want our workforce to reflect the diversity of our province. We do so many things incredibly well here at BC Hydro, but recognize there is always room for improvement. Ultimately, we want to learn from others in the hopes of making our workplace an even stronger, better place to come to work to every day.
Distinction and Awards
  • Top Employer in BC, Canada’s Top 100 Employers
  • Top Diversity Employer, Canada’s Top 100 Employers
  • Best 50 Corporate Citizen’s List, Corporate Knight’s
Number of employees

6,000
Number of employees who self – identify as having a disability

90 as of December 31, 2016
Accessibility Initiatives
  • Strong relationship with all local Universities and Technical Schools to support co-op programs.
  • Dedicated role in Human Resources to support the strategy and implementation of Diversity and Inclusion programs.
  • Initiated a diversity working group to work on diversity related issues and concerns.
  • Highly successful drug and alcohol treatment program which includes funding 75% of the cost of a residential treatment program and ensuring employees can safely return to work.
  • Robust accommodation practices including alteration of physical premises, job duties, work schedules, and a provision for adaptive technologies/equipment.
  • At the time of hire all employees are asked to self-identify with any of the protected groups in the Human Rights Code. The results enable us to assess the effectiveness of our programs.
  • Provide Respectful Workplace and Mental Health Awareness training to all managers, and make it available to all employees.
  • When employees sustain an injury or disability, we engage in an early intervention approach to ensure employees receive support for mental and physical disabilities, including: disability benefits, recovery and return to work coaching and support and accommodation as required.
Hightlights
  • Established a cross-functional working group to provide input into updating diversity and inclusion policies and programs.
  • Currently developing a corporate strategy for mental health.
  • Succession planning includes both diversity and engagement profiles of leaders.
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