Understand concept of culture, engagement and the health and wellness of an organization. Promoting Employee Health and Safety Through Organizational Culture

As mayor of G Adventures, Kristopher Martinez knows success begins with a strong sense of purpose. As such, $G$ Adventures is very clear about its vision of changing the world through travel. As Martinez says, We place as much focus on the lifechanging employee experience as we do the life$-$changing traveler experience. We need a highly engaged workforce to fulfill our vision."

G Adventures is the largest small$-$group adventure travel company in the world. From humble beginnings over $28$ years ago, the Toronto$-$based company now has $2200$ employees in $28$ offices across the world. With more than $200,000$ travellers a year and revenues of over $$500$ million, the company is driven by the following core values: We Love Changing People's Lrves, Lead with Service, Embrace the Bizarre, Create Happiness and Community, and Do the Right Thing. Martinez and his team, known as $G$ Force, are responsible for enhancing employee engagement and the culture at $G$ Adventures. $G$ Force needs to ensure that all employees feel aligned and connected to the core values, and Martinez notes that this is accomplished by Tistening to our people."

$6$ Adventures recognizes that happy employees are more satisfied with their work. This results in satisfied customers $($travelers$)$ and benefits the communities where customers visit, which, in turn, encourages more people to travel to these locations, Martinez says, "This is known as the loop tail effect, and it all begins with our employees."

As further acknowledgment of the importance of satisfied employees, in $2009,$ the company introduced a happiness business model, Based upon $4$ pillars $($freedom$,$ ability to grow, being connected, and being part of something greater than yourself$),$ a community of employees is created with a higher shared purpose to use travel as a force for good.

The company also understands that people are continuously looking for opportunities to grow and develop. Martinez appreciates that "employees want to be the best version of themselves$-$personally and professionally. $"$To support this, $G$ Adventures offers leadership development camps throughout the year. As well, the company provides opportunities for CEOs $($chief experience offictr$)$ from different regions to meet in arder to exchange ideas and share best practices. This program, known as CEO Excharlge, allows these employees to learn from one another and form meaningful connections to each other and to the work that they do$.$

We have great people, and we want to retain them. We want them to grow in the company and be ready to be leaders," Martinez explains.

Familiarization trips are also important. $G$ Adventures sponsors $1$ trip a year for each employee, thereby allowing people to experience a travel adventure themselves. The company also holds an annual $G$ Stock conference. During this $5-$day event, employees, who are chosen to attend based upon their contributions and being visible champions of company culture, participate in team$-$building activities. The conference ends with a State of $G$ Nation keynote speech from founder Bruce Poon Tip, which celebrates what has been accomplished during the past year and outines the company's future goals.

Connection Camps are another way that $G$ Adventures supports employee engagement. Employees from different offices or departments form teams of $3$ to $8$ people and work on completing challenges designed to create stronger connections between group members. This can be as basic as making a meal from a recipe provided by one of the group members. The team then posts about the experience on $G$ Nation, an internal social media platform that is sivoilar to Facebook.

Teams are awarded points based upon what they post, and each year the top$-5$coring $120$ employees are invited to attend a Connection Camp, which is a week of team building at one of the company's destinations.

$6$ Adventures also recognizes that a safe work environment is important to employees. Martinez is proud that the company thas monthly joint health and safety committee meetings and offers CPR and first$-$aid training to all employees. As well, during the recent renovation of the Toronto office, ergonomic principles were considered to ensure that appropriate workspaces are provided to all employees."

Martinez shares great advice he was given from Leah Shelly, the director of global engagement at G Adventures, which is to "always put people first. When you prioritize people and people issues, you build effective teams and support individuals to do their