BC Ferries makes it easy to fit in as a casual
Credit to Author: Joshua Walters| Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2020 20:33:55 +0000
Like many people who start out at BC Ferries, Melanie Lucia was a casual employee, working part-time while at university studying for a teaching degree. That was almost 30 years ago. Because, like many people who begin as casual employees at BC Ferries, she never left.
“I really saw a lot of opportunities here, to move around the company,” says Lucia, now full-time executive director of catering and terminal operations. “And we were paid well. While my friends were working three jobs to pay for their books, I had one.”
Casual employees typically start in frontline positions —– Lucia was a ticket agent —– and can choose how they want to work, whether it’s a certain number of days a week or the time of day.
This casual availability model is a relatively new development introduced by the company to allow for more predictability, and therefore more work/life balance. “The reality of being a casual worker before was that you were basically on call 24/7,” says Iris Klein, a casual terminal attendant at Horseshoe Bay. “And that’s a challenge for many reasons —– people have families, they have to commute, they need a second job. This is a big improvement.”
A casual position can lead to a fulfilling career almost anywhere in the organization. “There’s every department you can think of: accounting, engineering, working on a vessel, training,” says Klein. “If you show that you want to work, and if you have initiative, the sky is really the limit.” Lucia took over her current position from a man who was retiring after 42 years with the company. He’d started as a busboy.
Along the way, there are extensive training opportunities, not just within the job functions but in other areas of interest as well, and much of it paid for by the company. “You’re never left feeling like you’re not going to be set up for success,” says Lucia.
When she was a regional manager, she decided to get a master’s degree in business. “The company said, ‘sure, no problem’ and supported me through that as well,” she says. “The beauty of it is you can just try so many things.”
And that, combined with some pretty amazing views, at least partly explains BC Ferries’ remarkable employee retention rate. “Where else would you go?” she adds. “You never feel like it’s stale and you’re not being challenged.”
This story was produced by Mediacorp in partnership with Postmedia, on behalf of BC Ferries.