Canada Post takes a broad approach to stakeholder relations, according to Robert Waite, senior vice-president, communications and stakeholder relations.

Along with employees and customers, all Canadians are stakeholders in the Crown Corporation, Waite says.

That’s why all Canadians, including Canada’s Post employees, will have the opportunity to participate in Canada Post’s first annual general meeting June 13, he says

As a Crown Corporation for the past 25 years, Canada Post’s shareholder is the government of Canada which ultimately means the people of Canada, he says.

While there is no legislative requirement for an annual meeting, the corporation decided holding such a meeting would be a good opportunity to “reach out to our customers and employees,” Waite says. “This will be a live meeting at which Canadians can ask questions, with access at the meeting and through the Internet.”

The open meeting, in Winnipeg, will include presentations from Gordon Feeney, chairman of the board of directors and Moya Greene, president of Canada Post, focusing on financials and future performance, he says.

That future is aimed at stronger employee engagement and a customer-focused approach. Waite says. “We want to go beyond the traditional dialogue between Canada Post and the customer and bring the customer onto the shop floor.”

For a cross-country tour by senior management earlier this year, 16,000 front-line supervisors were shown a videotape of customers expressing their views on Canada Post.
“This was not sugar-coated,” Waite says. “Customers talked about the good, the bad and the ugly and were very candid as to where we could do better.”

According to a survey of employees, the response to the video was overwhelmingly positive, Waite says. Canada Post has decided to share the messages from customers with all employees and is sending out close to 70,000 DVD copies.

Canada Post has traditionally seen the customer as the person opening the door to get the mail. While those customers remain very important, the people who pay for the stamp are also customers.

“We have concentrated on the operational side, on moving the mail, but we are now also reaching out more to all our customers.”

Canada Post’s annual report due to be released within the next two weeks, will focus on the customer, he says. “We are trying to bring attention to our customers as the focal point of the business.”