A new award honours the “Best Corporate Diversity Employers”. It recognizes employers that have workplace diversity and inclusiveness programs covering five major employee groups: women; members of visible minorities; persons with disabilities; Aboriginals; and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered/transsexual (LGBT) people.
Given the looming shortage of labour in a number of areas, this type of initiative highlights the importance for companies of broadening their recruiting. “It’s extremely important for employers in every industry and region of Canada to respond to the changing face of the country given the challenges that we face to remain competitive internationally and to sustain a vibrant and productive labour market,” said April Taggart, Senior Vice-President of Talent Management & Diversity at BMO Financial Group.
The competition is managed by Mediacorp Canada Inc., which publishes the annual guide to Canada’s Top 100 Employers, in partnership with BMO Financial Group and TWI Inc. Over 1,800 employers started the application process, of which 185 were short-listed and 25 recognized. “These employers represent the best face of Canada’s cultural and social mosaic,” said Richard Yerema, editor of the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project, which supervised the selection process.
- A few of the 2008 award winners:
Air Canada (St. Laurent, Quebec): For excellence in recruiting members of visible minorities.
Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. (Boyle, Alberta): For extensive work with Aboriginal communities, including developing partnerships with Aboriginal businesses.
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Toronto, Ontario): For advancing women into management positions and the firm’s work towards employment equity in the practice of law.
Boeing Canada Technology Ltd. (Winnipeg, Manitoba): For developing diversity awareness programs and for progressive initiatives to assist deaf and Aboriginal employees.
Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. (Mississauga, Ontario): For clearly communicating the importance of workplace diversity to new employees and a history of organizing support groups for disabled, Asian, LGBT and women employees, in some cases dating back more than 30 years.
Neill and Gunter, Stantec Division (Fredericton, New Brunswick): For its special efforts at recruiting Aboriginal students and having its engineers attend training seminars focusing on the special needs of disabled employees.
Saskatchewan Government Insurance (Regina, Saskatchewan): For its goal of becoming an “employer of choice” for Aboriginal peoples.
Suncor Energy Inc. (Calgary, Alberta): For its efforts to attract more women to management roles in the oil and gas industry, and for establishing a central Aboriginal Affairs Department.
University of British Columbia (Vancouver, British Columbia): For its exemplary “Positive Space” campaign to create an inclusive working environment for LGBT employees across the university campus.
For a list of all the winners and useful information about the competition, check out: www.canadastop100.com/diversity/