Flexible hours and a supportive work environment are two of the key aspects that placed an Ottawa-based real estate firm at the top spot in a ranking of Canada’s best workplaces for women.

Royal LePage Performance Realty captured the number one spot in the annual rankings by the Great Place to Work Institute.

Executive Assistant Lise Snelson said the company was built on five core values – professionalism, honesty, integrity, respect for the individual and caring for others – that have shaped it into a supportive workplace.

“It’s the people who say ‘thank you’ at the end of every day for a job well done,” Snelson told CTV’s Canada AM on Monday. “It’s the flexibility that we have in our work hours.”

Snelson said while taking an extended leave from work to deal with an illness in the family, she didn’t have to worry about her job security or making up for lost hours.

Women’s life coach Eric Diamond says simple employee perks play a major role in boosting morale in the workplace. However, she said a mere 20 per cent of Canadians report being engaged in their workplace.

“Something to point out is the best companies and the most engaged employees are when employees are given an open door policy, benefits paid for, maternity leave topped up. There’s a list employers can do to make sure their employees are engaged, that is the key.”

She continued: “You would think employers would offer employees things that would make them happy because, let’s be honest, a happy employee is a good employee, but most are not.”

Canadian cities have fewer women in management roles

Meanwhile, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade’s 2013 Scorecard on Prosperity, Toronto and other major Canadian cities are falling behind their U.S. counterparts when it comes to women in management positions.

The newly-released study states that management roles held by women signals a “more diverse, equitable and balanced workforce.”

However, a comparison of women in management roles in 12 major North American cities shows Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary ranking below large cities south of the border.

Boston tops the survey with 42.8 per cent of management roles in the city held by women, compared to eighth-place Toronto at 39.3 per cent and last place Calgary at 32.9 per cent.  

Toronto was ranked second in the female-male income category, but females in the city continue to earn only 72.7 per cent of what males earn. 

“Toronto should be disappointed rather than buoyed by this result,” the study reads.

In Montreal, the female-male income ratio is 72.1 per cent and 63.1 per cent in Calgary.