WISE Trust CEO Christopher Brown explains how the strategy leads to stronger workplace culture
WISE Trust Pension Plan has been recognized as one of Benefits and Pensions Monitor's Top Employers for the second consecutive year.
For an organization that didn't have a single employee six years ago, the back-to-back wins reflect something more practical - a deliberate bet on remote-first work and a people strategy that’s baked into the business plan and not just bolted onto it, says Christopher Brown, the Plan’s CEO.
That conviction has shaped WISE Trust's organizational blueprint from the ground up. The plan serves six participating employers, with WISE Trust itself among them, and runs on a team of about 25 people. Brown is quick to point out that its people focus isn't an afterthought because it sits as one of five pillars in the organization's strategic plan.
'Pensions are about people'
"When you think about it, pensions are about people. It's about providing something to people,” said Brown. “It doesn't work if we don't have the right people who are happy and engaged in their work on behalf of the members of the pension plan. We believe quite strongly that when our employees thrive, so does our organization and our business and that drives performance, it drives employee retention, and it drives a very positive and engaged culture."
Brown emphasized the organization doesn't rely on external awards alone to gauge how things are going. Instead, it runs internal employee engagement surveys and maintains ongoing feedback loops that give leadership a real-time read on satisfaction and emerging concerns.
"We were able to be proactive by getting ahead and identifying trends that impact our people, which allows us to plan ahead and really look at it as a way to mitigate those organizational risks that stem from the people side of the business before it has any negative impact on our people or the performance of the organization," he added.
A remote first model that works
Every element of the organizational structure has been designed with intent over the past five to six years. Central to that design is a remote-first model, which Brown views as a competitive differentiator. While many employers adopted remote work during the pandemic and have since reversed course, WISE Trust has stayed the course, arguing the flexibility supports both work-life balance and productivity.
When asked how he maintains cultural cohesion in the workplace, despite being mostly remote, he pointed out how most organizations built their cultures around in-person interaction before the pandemic, while WISE Trust was formed in the middle of it and never had that foundation to fall back on. That forced the organization to be deliberate about how it maintains connection in a remote setting.
The result, he argues, is a culture built on regular cross-team contact and collaboration rather than physical proximity. Brown acknowledged that many staff are cross trained across teams, which strengthens working relationships organically and when in-person gatherings do happen, “we don’t do it just for the sake of doing it. We do it with a purpose,” said Brown.
“When we ask people to undertake that, we make sure that it has purpose and meaning and that it’s driven by specific objectives that we’re trying to accomplish,” he added.
Brown acknowledged that WISE Trust's remote-first model isn't for everyone but also noted the organization has focused on hiring and retaining people who thrive in that environment. Remote interactions are supplemented with in-person contact, though only when it serves a clear purpose.
Since WISE Trust is a small pension plan compared to its jointly sponsored pension peers in Ontario, its size rules out the kind of vertical career ladders larger organizations can offer, said Brown. Instead, as CEO, he focuses on broadening the employee experience, like giving people opportunities to take on more responsibility, develop new skills, and work across teams to widen their impact within the organization.
Return-to-office ‘not priority’
While Brown doesn't dismiss the possibility of a physical office eventually, he underscored that a full return-to-office mandate isn’t being considered anytime soon.
"Operating in the way we have for six years and being very successful, having grown our business, having strengthened our pension plan and our ability to deliver that long term retirement income security to our members, we've proven that it can be done quite effectively in the model that we're in," he added. "So that in-office mandate is not a top priority for us.”
To that end, Brown acknowledged the organization has to work harder to keep people informed. That’s why he personally reaches out on a weekly basis to employees outside his direct reports, making clear that access to leadership isn't gated by hierarchy.
Even when asked which single benefit offering resonates most with employees, Brown doesn't point to the health plan or the pension, as he emphasized the remote-first work environment consistently ranks highest because of the flexibility and work-life balance it provides. He notes that while it isn't a benefit in the traditional sense, employees treat it as one.
“We’re seeing the benefits of that in terms of what resonates with our people,” said Brown. “We are providing a respectful, transparent, inclusive, motivating culture and workplace for them to be in. And that is both gratifying that they see that effort, and it is also right on strategy with what we’re trying to accomplish.”
