Need for diversity, equity, inclusion highlighted at conference

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/05/2023 (897 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ANNE-MARIE Pham asked a crowd to do the math.

Diversity (a fact) plus inclusion (a choice) equals belonging, Pham stated. And for the numbers folks in the crowd, Pham provided statistics.

Between 2016 and 2036, the proportion of workers in Canada who are immigrants is projected to jump from one in four to one in three, Pham relayed.

Manitoba’s Indigenous population is growing faster than non-Indigenous groups; workers are retiring later, and women represent 47 per cent of the workforce.

“What we need to do is bring people together,” Pham, the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion’s CEO, said after her speech Wednesday morning.

Businesses should have diversity, equity and inclusion strategies, Pham told roughly 280 people. All had gathered for the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s second Commitment to Opportunity, Diversity and Equity (CODE) Conference.

“The cost of doing nothing is huge,” said Bradley West, an attendee Wednesday.

How big, West can’t quantify — but he’s worked in various sectors for 30 years, the most recent being the public sector, and to not implement a diversity plan now is to fall behind, he said.

“In five years’ time, we won’t have people in the door,” he worried, adding employers already have difficulties finding staff.

Pham acknowledged West had “identified a gap” — there isn’t a tool to highlight what employers lose by not hiring diverse groups.

“Many people look to EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion) as a ‘nice to have’ and not a ‘need to have.’ When the budget crunch comes in, it’s the first thing to go,” West said. “When the money starts coming back up, it’s the last thing to be braided in.”

Employers don’t necessarily need to devote funding to diversity strategies to take action, Pham later noted.

Change happens by connecting with co-workers, attending diverse communities’ events, nudging human resources managers to create inclusive hiring policies.

“(Inclusivity) changes the bottom line,” Pham said. “You’re going to get new customers coming in, you’re going to get new clients, new students, new patients… and that’s the winning ticket.”

Employee engagement improves when diverse groups feel accepted in the workplace, Pham added.

“They will be your ambassadors, they will be the voice of your company,” she said. “(This will) increase word of mouth, positive reputation and connection to various communities.”

In 2021, the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce launched its CODE coalition, which asks participants to develop a diversity strategy and report on it annually.

Just 100 of the more than 2,000 members have signed. However, many more have their own systems, said Loren Remillard, the chamber’s president.

Reaching workers from various backgrounds is one of the major challenges businesses face, Remillard added.

“It’s important that we’re engaging the community to understand where to meet them at,” Oyindamola Alaka, co-founder of Noir Professionals, said during a CODE panel Wednesday.

LinkedIn and Indeed aren’t the only places for job postings, Alaka added — sending such postings to community groups can expand the applicant pool.

“I think it’s identifying the barriers first,” noted Peter Nunoda, Manitoba Building Trades’ executive director, during the panel.

Child care is one barrier in the construction sector, Nunoda said. Zero-tolerance policies on harassment and discrimination are necessary when creating more diverse workforces, he added.

Discrimination is still a problem in business, noted Jason Gill, vice-president of Staffmax, a recruiting company.

“(We get) calls… asking for, ‘I don’t want a woman, I don’t want a man, I don’t want somebody who doesn’t speak English,’” Gill said. “Those are businesses that we just turn down.”

Last year, the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce launched its Newcomer Employment Hub, an online tool connecting new Manitobans to job openings.

Two hundred employers and 2,300 workers have used the website. To date, the hub has seen 1,196 job postings and 1,456 applications, according to Remillard.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com