THE BIGGEST ISSUE FOR
MOST EMPLOYERS IS
THAT THEY ARE HELD
ACCOUNTABLE TO DATA
THAT IS BOTH OUT-DATED
AND VOLUNTARY.
■■ Using a variety of voices – message
from “the top,” HR communication,
management speaking notes for
meetings, town halls
■■ Asking for help and involvement from
your communications team and diversity
champions throughout your organization
KNOW YOUR STAFF
To effectively communicate with staff, you
must know them. Conducting your employment
equity workforce analysis is an
arduous task, but it is the data you need
to identify gaps and create your program.
This is also the data that leaders need to
make decisions about how to allocate resources
for recruitment, training and
development and succession planning.
Reference the workforce analysis data frequently
when meeting with your leaders,
and make sure that they understand the
value of these numbers.
The biggest issue for most employers
is that they are held accountable to data
that is both out-dated (availability numbers
based on Canadian Census data) and
voluntary (representation numbers based
on their employee self-identification questionnaires
(SIQ)). One suggestion for
increasing voluntary disclosure as a member
of a designated group is to redesign
your SIQ.
For each self-identification question,
provide three options: yes, no and prefer
not to answer. Those who choose not to
answer certain questions are telling you
much more about your organization than
someone who answers a simple yes/no or
fails to complete the entire questionnaire.
They are telling you that they’re not comfortable.
Their lack of comfort indicates
that you have some more work to do
on communication.
Additionally, consider asking more demographic
questions beyond the four
employment equity categories. This will
demonstrate to your staff that you are
looking beyond legislative compliance to
broader D&I within the organization, and
you will give everyone a way to be counted
and included. Remember to inform
your staff that self-identification is voluntary.
Outline how the data will be used to
remove barriers, create more responsive
human resources and benefits programs to
support staff.
KNOW WHAT OTHERS ARE
DOING
The Global Diversity & Inclusion
Benchmarks: Standards for Organizations
Around the World (GDIB) is a free
tool available through the Diversity
Collegium website and is invaluable for
providing information about how organizations
around the world are implementing
D&I initiatives.
While the information provided in this
article and in the free resources may seem
overwhelming, they can assist you in prioritizing
the activities required for your
organization to move from employment
equity compliance to embracing D&I as a
strategic priority. n
Zakeana Reid is senior director, Western
Canada for the Canadian Centre for
Diversity and Inclusion.
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