The Integrated Health Centre in Pembroke is the first and currently the only employer in the Ottawa Valley that is recognized by the Ontario Living Wage Network.
Vice President of Operations Dez Bair-Patel says he is proud to offer employees above the living wage with benefits, an RRSP and a bonus program.
Bair-Patel encourages other employers to join the Ontario Living Wage Network and says employees are more likely to go to bat for your company if they are paid and treated well.
He says it seems like a high expense in the beginning, but adds you will reap rewards in the long-run.
Bair-Patel says before joining the Ontario Living Wage Network there was more staff turn over, but now he feels the Integrated Health Centre is a place people want to come work for.
The VP of Operations at the Integrated Health centre says he was thankful that employees wanted to come back to work after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recently updated numbers from the Ontario Living Wage Network for the month of November (2021) shows the living wage in Renfrew County at $17.40 an hour.
That’s $2.40 above what the minimum wage will be raised to when it goes up to $15 an hour for workers in Ontario in January of 2022.
