How UPP Focused on Building an Intentional Culture
Most veteran employees have clocked decades with their company. For Nirupa Muthurajah, it’s only taken three years to earn that title at the University Pension Plan Ontario (UPP), Canada’s newest defined benefit pension.
When the fund offered her a job in 2022, Muthurajah says it was an easy yes. After a decade in institutional investing at two large Canadian “Maple Eight” pensions and a local family office, she found that UPP’s mission to provide retirement security for university-sector employees resonated with her. Plus, she was getting in on the ground floor.
“What excited me most was the chance to make an impact at the ground level and shape the foundational framework from the very beginning,” said Muthurajah, UPP’s director and equity strategies lead for active public markets.
Part of laying the foundation is building an “intentional” culture, says Omo Akintan, chief people officer. “No organization sets out to be a toxic work environment; they fall into it. UPP realized that you have to define your North Star from a culture perspective and intentionally build programs and develop leaders that can help produce that culture,” she says.
The organization fosters a “learning mindset,” with an up to $5,000 education assistance fund, and is rolling out formalized development plans for each employee. “We encourage dialogue between people and their leaders about what they need to be successful in their roles and where they aspire to take their careers,” Akintan says.
It also sees equity, diversity, inclusion and reconciliation (EDIR) as critical components of its culture. “At UPP, we call out reconciliation intentionally and are being particularly attentive to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission call to action that asks organizations to educate their employees about the rights and history of Indigenous People.”
One way UPP is bringing that to life is through UPP Reads. In 2023, all employees read “21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act” by author Bob Joseph and discussed it in peer-facilitated groups. Now, it’s a part of onboarding: once there’s a big enough cohort of new hires, they’re all given a copy and participate in a discussion group afterward.
It has also hosted organization-wide learning around inclusive workplaces and now has an online curriculum of EDIR learning opportunities that employees can choose from on topics such as psychological safety, trans identities, ability rights and other equity-deserving populations.
“This unique education is really supporting us to broaden our perspective and helping us become more aware of marginalized communities and the importance of diversity,” Muthurajah says. “From an investment perspective, it’s valuable for us to be aware of since it’s a priority both in our decision-making and in our hiring practices.”
Muthurajah says she’s benefited from UPP’s support for professional development. Since starting at the pension, focused on active long-only strategies — the active selection of stocks to buy and hold — her role has broadened out to include all equity strategies, including co-managing the pension’s hedge fund portfolio.
She credits the organization for its strong focus on work-life balance. UPP only requires two days per week in-office and offers employees a bank of personal and mental-health days. It even shows up in small gestures, such as a general effort not to ping people after hours or on the weekends, and starting all internal meetings at five minutes past the hour to give people a moment between calls.
“We’re recognizing that people might feel overloaded when a lot of investments are going through, so it’s great to have a recharge day to slow down,” she says. “UPP makes thoughtful effort to support a growing organization, and they’re appreciated as a member of the team.”
I'll give you my quick thoughts but first a little background:
Now in its 20th year, Greater Toronto's Top Employers is an editorial competition that recognizes the employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work. Each year, the project’s editors release detailed reasons for selection explaining why each of the winners is chosen. This provides transparency in the selection of winners and lets readers discover best practices among the region's top employers. Winners are announced annually in a special magazine, distributed online in The Globe and Mail. Any employer, private or public sector, with its head office or principal place of business in Canada may apply to the competition. For more background on this year's competition, read the press release issued on Dec. 2, 2025.
Alright, now my thoughts and I am going to be honest here even if some people disagree with me (after almost 20 years of blogging on Canada's pensions, I've earned the right to tell it like it is, or like I see it and don't need people's approval).
First, on UPP. It commenced operations in the midst of the pandemic and I truly believe that helped shape the culture there as it wasn't an easy time.
From the get-go, CEO Barb Zvan stressed the importance of respect and she set the tone at the top and it has permeated all the way down the chain of command.
And when I say respect, I mean respect in all its forms, respect for differences of opinion, respect for difference of thought, respect for all diversity and respect for work-life balance.
Barb has enough experience to know that any organization is only as good as its employees and UPP has done a great job attracting top talent because of Barb, senior staff and the culture they have implemented there.
It doesn't surprise me she was recently named the 2025 CEO of the Year by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) as part of its annual Ontario Business Achievement Awards (OBAAs), which celebrate leadership, innovation, and impact across Ontario’s business community.
To be truthful, however, UPP can't compete with Canada's Maple 8 in terms of compensation because they are too small on a relative basis, so they compete in terms of having the right culture which typically attracts the right employees who value the same things.
Not that UPP's compensation isn't competitive, it definitely is at all levels, it's just not as competitive as much larger organizations but it's still excellent and money isn't everything when employees feel respected and valued and see a clear career path forward.
The biggest mistake some of the bigger pension funds do is remind everyone how well paid they are and then put the pressure on them to perform without creating the right culture to bring out the very best from all their employees.
I can't stress this enough, big compensation with the wrong culture is a formula for organizational failure. I've personally seen it many times at various places I've worked and others have worked.
And building the right culture is really hard, it's a lot more than claiming you follow equity, diversity, inclusion and reconciliation (EDIR) and read about indigenous history and other marginalized groups, it's about confronting your own personal biases and really taking a critical look at your organization and seeing who is in charge and whether they have the right leadership skills including empathy to build the right culture in their department.
Importantly, too many organizations fall into the trap of window dressing, bean counting, we have this many women at this level, this many from this minority group or that minority group, but do we really have the right leaders in place in all departments and how do we measure their success at building the right culture?
Admittedly, it's not easy, it involves asking employees at all levels to evaluate their bosses and give truthful feedback, good and bad.
Moreover, I'll be the first to say in this hyper-sensitive, hyper-woke world, it's easy to get lost in the weeds and feel overwhelmed if you are managing a diverse team and need to strike the right balance to get the most out of your employees.
Communication, empathy and honesty are critical leadership skills and that involves being honest with yourself and your own biases.
In terms of honestly, I cannot stress enough the most marginalized group in Canada's labour force remains people with disabilities and not much is being done at public or private organizations to address this in a meaningful way.
Ask yourself when is the last time you saw someone in a wheelchair at your organization, a blind or deaf person, a schizophrenic or someone with a chronic disease struggling to make ends meet?
These are uncomfortable questions but the test of a fair and just society is how it treats it's most vulnerable citizens: children, elderly and people with physical and mental disabilities.
I once had a CEO of a major Canadian pension fund ask me how to attract more people with disabilities.
I asked him straight out: what are you guys doing to attract them, is your organization ready to assume this responsibility? He admitted me to me that he honestly doesn't know but it nagged at him and wanted to do something about it (he never did as far as I can tell but at least he was concerned).
Alright, let me wrap it up there, just remember culture is like governance, it constantly needs to be evaluated and improved every year. And that takes a lot of work, hard but essential work (board of directors need to be engaged with management here).
Below, a well-known older clip where Simon Sinek explores empathy and perspective in leadership. If you've never seen it, take the time to watch it, he offers great perspective to all leaders.
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