Employee Wellness

Work-life balance allows people to effectively manage multiple responsibilities at work, at home and in their community.

The City of Maple Ridge recognizes the many challenges that individuals face in trying to achieve balance between work and life. We encourage our managers, supervisors and staff to be responsive to work-life issues and to work together to attain this goal.

The City provides further encouragement and support by offering the following programs:

• Telecommuting

  - with approval from an employee's manager, the employee can work from home to make progress on specific projects or should they need to stay home to care for a sick child. The City has the technology to provide employees access to their work desktop from home.

• Healthy Business Pass

  - promotes healthy living through fitness and exercise. Pass allows access to leisure facilities, gym, pool and drop-in classes. Available via payroll deduction.

• Employee Driven Wellness Program

  - staff can submit suggestions for an active event or wellness program.

• Extended Hours

  - the CUPE collective agreement allows an inside employee and their supervisor to, on an individual basis, agree that an employee can work beyond the regular work day and bank the extended hours at straight time for use at a later date. Extended hours were negotiated to allow employees to bank some time so that they could attend to specific personal appointments/events; the provision is not intended to create an ongoing compressed work-week arrangement.

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

  - most of us at some point in our lives may have difficulty solving a personal problem. EAP is available to all City employees and their immediate family members to assist during these times. This is a free and confidential service.

• Car Pooling

  - sharing your commute means sharing the costs, getting to use HOV lanes and being eligible for subsidized parking. The City will register you for free with our automated ride matching service so you can share your commute with a co-worker or with someone else who lives and works close by.

• Health & Safety

  - the City offers a variety of programs to create and maintain a safe and healthy working environment.

• Cycle to Work

  - the City offers free shower facilities and bike storage to those who cycle to work.

• Job Sharing

  - the City may offer a working arrangement that splits responsibilities and pay of a position between two people (job sharing may not be possible in all positions).

• Leave of Absence

  - the City may offer leave to assist staff with family obligations, educational pursuits and other issues (leaves of absence may not be available for all positions).