DCC Human Resources: helping meet client needs

DCC’s Manager of Human Resources, Elaine Warren, has a big vision for the role her group plays in providing top-quality service to DND.

“How do we put the practices, processes and procedures in place to ensure that we have a skilled, motivated and engaged workforce, all leading to quality of service delivery to the client?”

To answer to that question, Warren and her staff of 10 work in professional practice streams, ranging from recruitment, to learning and development, to compensation and benefits, all of which are intended to help ensure that DCC has the best team on the job. This is important when you consider the rapid growth that DCC has experienced over the past six years – the number of employees has more than doubled from 400 to 850.

Recruitment, for example, is tailored and specialized across the country to ensure a high level of service to the client. DCC’s mixed workforce which includes engineers, engineering technologists, environmental engineers and experienced tradespeople is flexible and can change quickly on a project-by-project basis to support operational demands.

DCC’s approach to training and development is similarly targeted—to ensure that employees get the knowledge they need to function effectively in their particular environment. For example, DCC employees can take the DND course, Canadian Forces 101 for Civilians, to gain basic knowledge of military culture and get a glimpse of the organization that they support.

“This is one of the many ways we support our client as well as our employees,” Warren explains. Another is through the comprehensive health and safety training provided to all employees. A mandatory program at DCC, the focus is on safe practices and the prevention of workplace accidents – all employees are required to complete a refresher once a year. Warren says that DND can be confident that DCC employees understand the importance of safe practices on a job site.

Sound employee relations is also a key focus for Warren and her team. They develop and implement policies, practices and programs that increase employee knowledge and awareness to support professional behaviour. "We're very proactive about this," says Warren, "to ensure we have leading-edge programs in place to meet today’s human resources requirements.”

This multi-faceted approach to human resources is a far cry from when Warren joined DCC in 1998, following a career in the infrastructure sector. At that time, she says, there were just two employees in the group whose primary focus was on the company’s payroll. In the intervening years, the function has grown in sophistication and breadth.

“Ultimately, everything falls under the umbrella of employee retention with a focus on the value we bring to our client,” she says, since it is crucial that DCC keep the people and knowledge within the organization so it can continue to meet DND’s needs.