Fraser Culture

As Fraser employees, our actions are guided by a core set of values as we serve children, adults, and families with special needs.  Our core values are Partnership, Innovation, Respect, and Quality.  We find opportunities each day to apply these values to our service to clients and to each other.  Here are some ways you can see these values in action at Fraser:

Partnership

• We have strong partnership within work teams. Our employees enjoy working as a team to provide quality service. They jump in and help others, share ideas and offer encouragement.
• Current Focus: We are working to build that sense of team throughout Fraser, to help employees in remote locations feel connected, as well as to connect different divisions at Fraser.

Innovation

• Our employees appreciate that they can be innovative to tailor services to individual clients. Our employees have also created new products and services that benefit a wide range of clients.
• Current Focus: We are working to build in ways to share ideas across sites, and to foster more communication with the entire Fraser community about new innovations.

Respect

• Our employees show great respect for our clients and their families. They respect differences and work to meet individual expectations.
• Current Focus: We are creating and providing trainings to teach staff new ways to communicate with others who may have a different communication style.

Quality

• Quality service has always been a source of pride for our employees. Our employees tell us that our clients are their priority, and they love seeing the difference they can make for them.
• Current Focus: We are currently working on new systems to make our work more efficient, so more time can be spent ensuring we provide quality services.

In the summer of 2011, we conducted a comprehensive study of the Fraser culture, and completed focus groups with employees from each area of the company.

Here’s what our employees told us they like about Fraser:

• Employees enjoy having the freedom to be innovative for individual clients.
• There is a high level of respect in our culture.
• Quality is a top priority at Fraser.
• Employees feel they partner well with co-workers.

We can always improve. Based on this culture study, here are some things we are working on to make Fraser an even better place to work:

• Development of improved internal communications, especially with remote locations.
• Improve training for new managers within Fraser.
• Create more opportunities for cross-divisional teams to partner together.

Fraser developed the Bright Ideas system as a way to further engage our employees in our company. This program gives employees the opportunity to share ideas on how to make improvements on everything from organizational processes to ways to make the workplace more comfortable. This program was built based on our philosophy that those closest to the work have the best perspective to make improvements.

When an employee submits an idea, they can also be a part of the team assembled to explore the idea and determine if it can be implemented. This means that our employees can have a real impact on how our company works, including meeting with executives and other leaders. 

Some ideas we have implemented from our employees are:

• Create a picture directory of Fraser staff to foster community across sites
• Add a new autism training: Autism 101
• Add new processes to help Fraser financially, including changing how we order supplies
• Add safety alarms on outside doors at the Fraser School
• Create a process to make the internal job postings more accessible to current employees

At Fraser, we have many employees who excel and go above and beyond what is asked of them. We have several ways we recognize our great employees:

Caught Caring

In this program, a staff member can be recognized by a peer, supervisor or client. All staff nominated for the weekly Caught Caring award are given a copy of their nomination form, which details how they went above and beyond in showing passion for clients, commitment to success and or value for relationships. All nominations are posted on our intranet site, FraserNet, and a winner is chosen each week. The winner receives a $25 gift card.

Annual Gifts

This is a program for all current employees to show general appreciation. Each year, a selection of gifts is presented to employees, and each employee may choose one gift.

Tenure Awards

Fraser also recognizes the longevity of our employees. We have a basic recognition for all employees who reach the one-year milestone with Fraser. From there, we recognize employees who reach milestones every five years with gifts of recognition and appreciation.

Other Recognition Tools

In addition to the above, Fraser also recognizes birthdays and other personal milestones. Much of those celebrations take place at the divisional level. Further, our managers are asked to find creative ways to recognize our employees on a day to day basis.