{"id":52876,"date":"2014-01-15T08:01:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-15T04:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=52876"},"modified":"2014-01-16T08:01:38","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T04:01:38","slug":"canadian-startup-finalist-shopify","status":"publish","type":"magazine","link":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/magazine\/canadian-startup-finalist-shopify","title":{"rendered":"Canada’s Unemployment Rate and Shopify’s Employee Benefits Reach Record Highs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Shopify has been nominated for a 2013 Canadian Startup Award<\/a> in the Employer of the Year category, and i have to admit, they make a pretty compelling case.<\/p>\n

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Stats on Canada’s unemployment rate are in, and they’re not good<\/a>. The rate was recently pegged at 7.2%, up three points from as many months ago. Some analysts, like Unifor’s Jim Stanford, have the rate as high as 13%<\/a> when you factor in unemployed people who have given up hope of finding a job (those types aren’t counted as part of Canada’s “labour force”).<\/p>\n

It’s definitely a buyer’s job market. This state of affairs is reflected in increasingly demanding job postings that stridently list dozens of bullet points outlining what prospective employees can do for a company, but conveniently omit the other side of the equation, making no mention of salary ranges or employee benefits. It’s a wonder that our Employer of the Year category had any nominees at all!<\/p>\n

It seems downright bizarre, then, to read through the list of employee perks and benefits on the Careers page at Shopify.  In addition to share options, catered lunch and breakfast, full medical coverage including health and dental, and conference allowances, Shopify goes full Santa Claus with a list of other bennies that seem too good to be true:<\/p>\n