Property and casualty insurer Gore Mutual has been recognised as having one of Canada’s “most admired” corporate cultures by executive search firm Waterstone Human Capital.

“We’re very proud to have our culture recognized this way,” said Catherine Leclair, vice president of human resources at Gore Mutual. “Over the past few years, we’ve empowered our employees to think and behave like innovators. The response has been remarkable, resulting in a number of industry benchmarks related to technology, products and marketing.”

Forty winners were chosen across four categories. Gore listed in the mid-market category. Firms were scored based on six criteria: vision and leadership, recruitment and hiring for fit, cultural alignment and measurement, retention, rewards and recognition, organizational performance and corporate social responsibility.

The insurer is based in the cities of Cambridge and Vancouver, and has over 350 employees. As of December 2016, it maintained over $410 million in premiums and over $1 billion in assets. Earlier this year, the insurer was designated as a “great workplace” and a “best workplace in financial services and insurance” by Great Place to Work Canada.

“At Gore Mutual, we continually strive to reinvent our business in unexpected ways,” said Heidi Sevcik, president and CEO. “We have made a lot of moves in recent years to respond to the rapid change that is happening in our industry. We have attracted top talent from diverse backgrounds to help us drive a culture of innovation and have firmly established Gore Mutual as a future-forward company.”