Helping students develop skills to tackle the global workforce

In 2021, co-operative education employers provided meaningful opportunities to help University of Waterloo students advance their careers — even as the impacts of the global pandemic continued. Whether they worked remotely, in-person or in a hybrid setting, students made an impact across multiple industries.

The 2021 Employer Impact Award recipients showcased an incredible ability to adapt and allowed students to work remotely around the world, to better understand the scope of a global business market and lead interesting new projects. On October 4, 2022, during the third annual Employer Impact Award virtual ceremony, Co-operative and Experiential Education (CEE) recognized the following stand-out employers:

Award	Recipient	Honourable mention
Impact in Innovation	Martinrea International	TribalScale
Impact in Sustainability	York Region	NVIDIA
Impact in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion	Lumentum	American Express Canada
Impact in International Experience	The Argus Group
Impact on Student Experience	Hypotenuse Labs	Manulife
Impact in Research	Fabrik Architects	NERv Technology Inc.

Hypotenuse Labs, a startup founded by Waterloo grads, prioritizes company culture and ensures students are welcomed and supported.

Fabrik Architects, a startup founded by a Waterloo grad, provides students with opportunities to develop essential designs.

Students at York Region help to advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Martinrea International invites students to lead and develop innovative projects through both their own technical roles and larger company project management roles.

The Argus Group offers all co-op terms remotely and provides students with the opportunity to understand the Bermuda financial landscape.

Lumentum offers EDI scholarships to underrepresented students and prioritizes diversity, inclusion and belonging.

“Despite a dynamic and evolving work and political landscape, this year’s award recipients have exhibited industry excellence in providing students with quality work-integrated learning experiences,” says Norah McRae, associate provost of CEE. “As a result of these experiences, Waterloo students are better prepared for a complex future workforce.”

CEE employers provide work-integrated learning opportunities for more than 25,000 co-op students. More than 7,500 employers from more than 60 countries work with Waterloo to access student talent from the world’s largest co-op talent pool. Waterloo’s co-op and work-integrated learning programs continue to help students develop skills that make them ready to tackle the workforce.

“Waterloo co-op employers recognize the value of harnessing student talent and see many organizational benefits from the enthusiasm, innovative creativity, academic knowledge and interest in learning that students bring to the workplace,” says Ross Johnston, executive director of Co-operative Education. “Providing supportive and inclusive co-op work-related learning experiences also helps our students to find purpose, meaning and become future-ready.”

Learn more about our winners

Impact in International Excellence: The Argus Group Holdings

The Bermuda-headquartered company provides financial services for health insurance, life insurance, property and casualty insurance and wealth management products.
Led by David Simons, the Center of Excellence department provides opportunities for students to work in an innovative setting and create products and services for stakeholder groups.
The Argus Group hires students with diverse backgrounds and skills to work with customers in Bermuda, Malta, Gibraltar and across the Caribbean.
Students are encouraged to draw on their experiences when conducting customer interviews and researching financial wellness.

Impact in Research: Fabrik Architects Inc.

Founded by University of Waterloo graduate Elisia Neves (MArch’12) Fabrik is an architecture organization located in Cambridge that strives to create meaningful and sustainable design solutions.
The company provides opportunities for students to work closely on design, building code analysis, permit documentation, construction documentation, construction administration and project management.
Fabrik enables students to collaborate with professional architects and engineers to provide clients with quality work.

Impact on Student Experience: Hypotenuse Labs

From work in blockchain, NFTs, Web3, musictech, luxury ecommerce and mental health, Hypotenuse, a software consultancy company, specializes in creating high-impact products for early-stage startup companies.
Hypotenuse Labs enable students to work independently on multiple projects involving a range of clients, companies, founders, entrepreneurs and industry experts.
They assign mentors to students to assist them in goal planning and career development.
The company offers students new learning opportunities through internal training programs.

Impact in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Lumentum Ottawa

Lumentum’s innovative photonics improves the speed and scale of cloud networking, advanced manufacturing and 3D sensing application.
The company’s Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Council established several initiatives – including pay equity, employee resource groups, gender transitions at Lumentum, cultural inclusion and more.
They hire students to complete meaningful tasks in an environment that fosters learning, development, networking and community.
Lumentum offers students the opportunity to participate in Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging roundtables and training sessions.

Impact in Sustainability: Regional Municipality of York

York Region provides water, wastewater and waste management services that meet the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety.
They hire students to help mitigate, comply, monitor and improve public and environmental health standards.
York Region tasks students with article writing, environmental auditing, reviewing changes to Canadian environmental regulations and presenting findings.
They offer students opportunities to lead and contribute to initiatives that positively impact society.

Impact in Innovation: Martinrea International

The automotive manufacturing company is a global leader in the designing, developing and producinglightweight and propulsion systems that focus on a more sustainable automotive future.
Martinrea invites students to lead and develop innovative projects through both their own technical roles and larger company project management roles.
They meet customer needs by trusting students to balance demanding tasks, build relationships with staff and take the initiative on cutting-edge projects.
The company enables students to learn about the engineering and manufacturing industry from experienced mentors.