Canada's best employers were ranked and so many of the top companies are in Ontario
Home Hardware, CIBC, University of Toronto, Indigo, and more.
University of Toronto building. Right: The Co-operators employees.
This best employers in Canada ranking has revealed the top places to work when it comes to company culture.
Many of those companies, organizations and institutions are based in Ontario.
Recently, Forbes released the 2026 Canada's Best Employers For Company Culture ranking of the "workplaces that have created thriving environments" for employees.
Statista anonymously surveyed more than 37,000 Canadian-based employees at companies with at least 500 people in the country who were asked if they would recommend their employer and to rate it on aspects of company culture like fairness, inclusivity, work-life balance, and career advancement.
The results were combined with Forbes-Statista employee surveys from the past three years, and scores were calculated for each company.
Of the 200 employers with the highest scores that made the Forbes ranking, 90 are headquartered in Ontario.
Some common industries for these top companies are healthcare, education, retail, insurance, financial services, and IT software.
The highest-ranking Ontario-based employers are Oak Valley Health in third, George Brown College in sixth, Canadian Blood Services in eighth, Niagara Health System in ninth, Home Hardware in 10th, Humber Polytechnic in 11th, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in 12th, Intact Financial in 20th, VHA Home HealthCare in 21st, and CIBC in 22nd.
Many well-known companies that operate in the province are on this new Forbes list, including Sun Life Financial (29th), McMaster University (32nd), University of Toronto (40th), The Co-operators (41st), Ontario Power Generation (42nd), The Hershey Company (54th), Indigo Books & Music (59th), Toronto Metropolitan University (73rd), Scotiabank (74th), Brock University (81st), Hallmark Canada (96th), and Johnson & Johnson (99th).
These Ontario-based companies, organizations and institutions are further down the Best Employers For Company Culture ranking:
- TJX Canada — 105th
- 3M — 106th
- NAV Canada — 108th
- University Health Network — 109th
- Queen's University — 199th
- Hydro One — 120th
- Amazon Canada — 127th
- Workplace Safety and Insurance Board — 131st
- University of Waterloo — 135th
- Shopify — 142nd
- Royal Bank of Canada — 153rd
- Toronto Hydro — 160th
- TD Bank Group — 161st
- Dell Canada — 167th
- CBC/Radio-Canada — 169th
- YMCA Canada — 178th
- LifeLabs — 189th
- Gap — 193rd
- Farm Boy — 199th
Ontario has more employers ranked on this Forbes list than any other province in Canada!
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