Companies in Waterloo Region and Guelph make Forbes Canada’s Best Employers list

A candidate interviews for a job. (Tima Miroshnichenko/Pexels)

Several companies from Waterloo Region and Guelph are being recognized as some of the best employers in the country.

Forbes Canada released its Best Employers 2026 list on Tuesday.

The list includes feedback from more than 37,000 survey participants. They were asked if they would recommend their employer to others and to rate it on a range of criteria such as compensation packages, work flexibility, training opportunities and leadership programs.

Université Laval from Quebec is listed as Forbes Canada’s best employer, followed by McMillan, a corporate law firm in Ottawa at number two, and Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec at number three.

Locally, the first company to make the list was data management company OpenText from Waterloo in 15th place followed by insurance company, The Co-operators, at 24th. The Co-operators head office is in Guelph.

Cambridge Memorial Hospital barely missed out on cracking the top 50, coming in at 51, while Waterloo-based insurance company Equitable Life of Canada was listed at 87.

Several other businesses did not make the top 100, but are included later on the list, including University of Guelph (136), the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (144), Skyline (148), Flanagan Foodservice (151), University of Waterloo (212), Challenger Motor Freight (215), Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance (240), ATS Corporation (275), and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (282).

Some businesses that have facilities in Waterloo Region and Guelph, but are not headquartered in the area, were also recognized.