Professional Development:

C-FER recognizes the importance of professional development and we encourage continuing education for our employees. 

We offer continuous learning opportunities through:  

1. C‑FER’s Mentorship Program that is called the C-MENT program. 
2. Educational Assistance Program - provides financial support and paid work time to complete a program of studies which falls not only within the person’s career development plans, but C-FER’s long term strategy. Studies can include job-related university degrees, apprenticeship programs, extension programs and office, trade and technical school studies.
3. External Training and Competency Building – this is an important part of the employee’s yearly performance review and each year the Manager will map out a plan for the employee’s training and development to align with core competencies of C‑FER. 
4. In-House Training – typically offered to all new employees on “Becoming an Effective Team Member at C-FER”. 
5. Memberships and Professional Designations – C-FER provides financial support and encourages membership in societies that provide both personal and professional growth for the employee.
6. Lunch and Learns - informal staff gatherings usually with a guest speaker, sometimes external or internal. Topics may be technical or related to benefits/pension. C‑FER provides lunch.  Attendance is not mandatory but is encouraged.

Social Committee:

At C-FER, we not only work hard, but we play hard too. We have a very active social committee consisting of 10-12 employees who organize various paid social gatherings/events through the year. Some of these events include the Stress Management Seminars (SMS) – usually held on the last Friday of each month. This is a social gathering for all staff to enjoy a little cheer and make any acknowledgements or announcements. It is a C‑FER paid event and includes munchies and limited alcoholic refreshments. The event is held in the employee lounge and on hot days on the patio. Employees are allowed to charge a half hour as paid leave if they attend. Attendance is not mandatory but highly recommended and is usually enjoyed by all!

Other events include: semi-formal Christmas party, the internal Christmas party and gift exchange with a visit from Santa, the children’s Christmas party, the annual golf and BBQ event and a Family Day event (skating and tobogganing). Other impromptu events are K-Days Breakfast, Hamburger Day, Building Your Own Sundae Day, Chili Cook Off, Indoor Mini Golf Tournament, ugly shirt day etc.

Health & Wellness:

The health and wellness of our employees is very important at C-FER. We encourage an active workplace and promote an active lifestyle for our employees. C-FER’s past participation with Active Edmonton’s Active Workplace has been able to provide C-FER assistance in establishing a resource centre featuring monthly health and wellness publications, and an activity cabinet, which includes basketballs, soccer balls, Frisbees and a Bocce Ball game. C-FER encourages riding your bike to work, walking/running during the lunch hour or shooting hoops during a break (a basketball hoop is located outside of the employee lounge).

C-FER participates in Corporate Challenge annually and encourages participation throughout the organization with a kick off barbeque and free t-shirts for participants

Community Involvement:

Supporting our community is an important part of the C-FER culture. We strongly support the United Way and each year we hold an annual fund raising campaign. Part of the campaign is participation in the Engineering Challenge Day of Caring where 2 of 3 C-FER employees will go off-site to assist in a building project organized through the United Way. C-FER provides a donation of the employees’ paid time as well as materials used in the construction as part of its annual corporate donation.

Other community involvement includes:  

• Annual sponsorship of the University of Alberta Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Team, which has been ongoing since 2011.
• HR encourages department team building events at C‑FER to promote and give back to the community. Some examples are: building houses for Habitat for Humanity, and wrapping presents for Santa’s Anonymous. 
• C‑FER supports the Canadian Blood Services Partners for Life Program by encouraging our employees to pledge a certain amount of units of blood in the 2013 calendar year.

Green Team:

C‑FER’s Green Team encourages and promotes environmentally-friendly initiatives such as incorporating more environmentally sustainable practices into C‑FER’s operations. Some examples of these initiatives are arranging and promoting a recycling program (paper, toners, food containers, metal, plastics, etc.), and using a corporate electronic Christmas card.