A great many workplaces describe themselves as a family. From the big to the small, the service industry to the corporate world – it’s become a somewhat overused cliché to say, “we’re like a family here.”

We say it at Ranch Ehrlo, too. With an employee base of over 800, hearing that might cause you to raise an eyebrow. We have SO MANY employees, spread across locations that span most of our province. There are so many programs, all doing different things and helping different subsects of people. How family-like can we be?

Well, whether we’re working in the residential or community service side of the agency or behind the scenes in administration, finance, or HR, we all work together for a common cause – helping children, adults, and families reach their full potential. Being unified under a common goal, that’s pretty family-like. We all, regardless of our role descriptions, follow the CARE, Children And Residential Experiences: Creating Conditions for Change, principals in everything we do. That’s kind of like a family, too.

But that’s not all. You might be surprised to learn that Ranch Ehrlo’s 800+ employee roster includes siblings. You might be even more surprised to hear it includes married folks – some of whom met at work and both stayed here, building their careers in our family-like atmosphere. And now, as we enter 50+ years of being around, the second and third generation has begun working here – our employee’s sons and daughters have gravitated toward the agency that created their parents’ career. There are plenty of family units within our employee roster.

So when we say “we’re a family here” – we might mean it figuratively, but we might also mean it in the most literal sense of the word.

Either way, it’s a pretty great place to work.