Whitepaper includes recommendations for HR professionals, employers and government
Recommendations for HR Professionals
1. Make the business case for enhancing diversity
2. Optimize selection and hiring
• Focus on competencies and capabilities, not credentials
• Ensure that the orientation is toward success and not defensibility of status quo
3. Enhance organizational effectiveness
• Issue explicit value commitment to diversity
• Communicate, support and embed values of diversity – requires leadership, support and reinforcement at all levels (culture, leadership, polices and practices) – build awareness and leadership
• Remove cultural barriers in workplace
• Create climate of inclusion at all levels of organization
• Provide diversity training in workplace
• Identify and promote employer role models and champions – create inventory of best practices
• Solicit employee feedback and develop action strategies
4. Evaluate performance accurately and fairly
• Make retention concerns real and evidence-based.
• Focus on performance, not credentials
• Ensure leadership, support and reinforcement at all levels (culture, policies and practices) – HR professionals should make program recommendations
• Solicit employee feedback and develop action strategies
5. Beyond the organization – networking
• Build relationships with professional and trade associations
• Work closely with settlement and immigrant-service organizations
• Share best practices of employers and communities
• Access government funding to provide services and training
• Join provincial HR associations to assist with their professional development and seek contact with other HR professionals facing the same or similar challenges in the workplace
• Promote your workplace as a desirable place to work
• Emphasize government’s public policy role
6. HR profession
• Make diversity competency a requirement for CHRP designation and include as part of the Code of Ethics
Recommendations for Employers
1. Accept corporate accountability
• Focus on competencies and capabilities, not credentials
• Ensure that the orientation is toward success and not defensibility of status quo
• Develop and implement internal communication practices to ensure that all diversity policies and plans are communicated to management and staff
• Ensure that all employees, both management and staff, agree to adhere to diversity policies and practices.
• Appoint or designate a senior executive to be responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of diversity practices and initiatives within organization
• Incorporate diversity objectives within its business plans, at the departmental, divisional and/or corporate level
2. Enhance recruitment, hiring and retention planning
• Ensure that all human resource policies clearly articulate a commitment to diversity, reviewing and eliminating on an ongoing basis all human resource policies and practices relating to recruitment, hiring and retention that act as systemic barriers
• Develop and implement mechanisms that foster an inclusive and accepting work environment aimed at increasing workforce retention
• Place advertisements for employment opportunities beyond mainstream media by placing advertisements in media targeted to diverse communities.
• Ensure that employees responsible for hiring and managing staff are provided with training on systemic barriers.
• Monitor progress and assess the effectiveness of policies and initiatives in furthering diversity objectives
• Make retention concerns real and evidence-based. Leadership, support and reinforcement at all levels (culture, policies and practices)
• Take ownership of retention efforts – business is the main beneficiary
3. Outreach
• Work in partnership with other organizations, agencies and government to identify programs for training and recruitment to meet diversity objectives, and to support capacity-building
• Promote themselves as a desirable place to work
• Think more holistically, work closely with Chambers of Commerce to engage at a variety of levels
4. Establish ongoing training
• Educate unions on advantages of inserting enabling language into collective agreements
• Work to include broader community in newcomer orientation – ensure long-term support, not just welcoming newcomers. Need multi-stakeholder initiatives
• Use TOWES (Test of Workplace Essential Skills) nationally
• Promote mentoring and coaching programs for new employees, but also for old time staff that might need an update in diversity appreciation
Recommendations for Government
Government as Employer
1. Promote a culture of diversity and inclusion
• Remove cultural barriers in government workplaces
• Provide diversity training in government workplaces
• Create climate of inclusion, at all levels of organization
2. Develop clear business case for enhancing diversity
• Communicate, support and embed values of diversity – requires leadership, support and reinforcement at all levels (culture, leadership, polices and practices) – build awareness and leadership
• Identify and promote employer role models and champions – create inventory of best practices
• Issue explicit value commitment to diversity
• Engage actors from different backgrounds to provide feedback and suggest recommendations in terms of diversity at the workplace
3. Commit to lifelong learning
• Encourage continuing education in the workplace and a culture of constant learning and adaptation to change
• Provide guidelines for diversity training in the workplace
• Support informed decision making in terms of employing highly skilled immigrants
4. Communicate core and strategic goals
• Governments should be leaders in their role as major employers
Government as Policy & Program Leader
1. Promote a culture of diversity and inclusion
• Encourage employers to remove cultural barriers in workplaces
• Promote diversity training in communities, educational institutions and workplaces
• Create climate of inclusion, at all levels of society
• Share best practices of employers and communities
2. Review and develop policy
• Analyze, develop and improve employment programming to ensure that it remains well suited in terms of diversity to the needs of the local/provincial/federal workforce and labour market
• Engage key population sectors from diverse backgrounds in public consultancies about expectations and issues to be addressed
• Identify strengths and needs in terms of workforce diversity and productivity and implement a balance to reconcile both
• Promote public policy role in supporting effective integration – municipal involvement is very important
3. Create programs and support initiatives
• Build partnerships with different organizations and programs that will support diverse working environments and link them to others that have not done so yet
• Fund research that will address issues about cultural diversity and the workplace
• Be accountable for implications and results in terms of efforts for improving the diverse workplace environment
• Develop a profile of leadership in terms of embracing diversity in the workplace, and promote it across the different sectors of employers
• Evaluate, revise and improve these programs and initiatives constantly
• Work to include broader community in newcomer orientation – ensure long-term support, not just welcoming newcomers. Need multi-stakeholder initiatives
• Improve predictability and reliability of immigration system
• Provide access to skills for the whole family, not just the new hire
• Promote tax incentives & educational supports for immigrants to settle in remote areas
4. Commit to lifelong learning
• Encourage continuing education in the workplace and a culture of constant learning and adaptation to change
• Provide guidelines for diversity training in the workplace
• Support informed decision making in terms of employing highly skilled immigrants
• Create prior learning and experience assessment programs – centralized and standardized across provinces
• Assess credentials at the point of immigration and make this service available to previous immigrants who have not gone through this process
• Work with employers to educate unions on the advantages of inserting enabling language into collective agreements
• Modify educational programs – modularize requirements to allow faster accreditation
• Re-evaluate requirements for licensing and professional accreditation
• Create exams in mother languages of immigrants in selected skills areas
• Create international reciprocal agreements among educational institutions
5. Communicate core and strategic goals
• Promote Canada as a desirable place to work
• Speed up immigration process – improve information to potential immigrants
1. Make the business case for enhancing diversity
2. Optimize selection and hiring
• Focus on competencies and capabilities, not credentials
• Ensure that the orientation is toward success and not defensibility of status quo
3. Enhance organizational effectiveness
• Issue explicit value commitment to diversity
• Communicate, support and embed values of diversity – requires leadership, support and reinforcement at all levels (culture, leadership, polices and practices) – build awareness and leadership
• Remove cultural barriers in workplace
• Create climate of inclusion at all levels of organization
• Provide diversity training in workplace
• Identify and promote employer role models and champions – create inventory of best practices
• Solicit employee feedback and develop action strategies
4. Evaluate performance accurately and fairly
• Make retention concerns real and evidence-based.
• Focus on performance, not credentials
• Ensure leadership, support and reinforcement at all levels (culture, policies and practices) – HR professionals should make program recommendations
• Solicit employee feedback and develop action strategies
5. Beyond the organization – networking
• Build relationships with professional and trade associations
• Work closely with settlement and immigrant-service organizations
• Share best practices of employers and communities
• Access government funding to provide services and training
• Join provincial HR associations to assist with their professional development and seek contact with other HR professionals facing the same or similar challenges in the workplace
• Promote your workplace as a desirable place to work
• Emphasize government’s public policy role
6. HR profession
• Make diversity competency a requirement for CHRP designation and include as part of the Code of Ethics
Recommendations for Employers
1. Accept corporate accountability
• Focus on competencies and capabilities, not credentials
• Ensure that the orientation is toward success and not defensibility of status quo
• Develop and implement internal communication practices to ensure that all diversity policies and plans are communicated to management and staff
• Ensure that all employees, both management and staff, agree to adhere to diversity policies and practices.
• Appoint or designate a senior executive to be responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of diversity practices and initiatives within organization
• Incorporate diversity objectives within its business plans, at the departmental, divisional and/or corporate level
2. Enhance recruitment, hiring and retention planning
• Ensure that all human resource policies clearly articulate a commitment to diversity, reviewing and eliminating on an ongoing basis all human resource policies and practices relating to recruitment, hiring and retention that act as systemic barriers
• Develop and implement mechanisms that foster an inclusive and accepting work environment aimed at increasing workforce retention
• Place advertisements for employment opportunities beyond mainstream media by placing advertisements in media targeted to diverse communities.
• Ensure that employees responsible for hiring and managing staff are provided with training on systemic barriers.
• Monitor progress and assess the effectiveness of policies and initiatives in furthering diversity objectives
• Make retention concerns real and evidence-based. Leadership, support and reinforcement at all levels (culture, policies and practices)
• Take ownership of retention efforts – business is the main beneficiary
3. Outreach
• Work in partnership with other organizations, agencies and government to identify programs for training and recruitment to meet diversity objectives, and to support capacity-building
• Promote themselves as a desirable place to work
• Think more holistically, work closely with Chambers of Commerce to engage at a variety of levels
4. Establish ongoing training
• Educate unions on advantages of inserting enabling language into collective agreements
• Work to include broader community in newcomer orientation – ensure long-term support, not just welcoming newcomers. Need multi-stakeholder initiatives
• Use TOWES (Test of Workplace Essential Skills) nationally
• Promote mentoring and coaching programs for new employees, but also for old time staff that might need an update in diversity appreciation
Recommendations for Government
Government as Employer
1. Promote a culture of diversity and inclusion
• Remove cultural barriers in government workplaces
• Provide diversity training in government workplaces
• Create climate of inclusion, at all levels of organization
2. Develop clear business case for enhancing diversity
• Communicate, support and embed values of diversity – requires leadership, support and reinforcement at all levels (culture, leadership, polices and practices) – build awareness and leadership
• Identify and promote employer role models and champions – create inventory of best practices
• Issue explicit value commitment to diversity
• Engage actors from different backgrounds to provide feedback and suggest recommendations in terms of diversity at the workplace
3. Commit to lifelong learning
• Encourage continuing education in the workplace and a culture of constant learning and adaptation to change
• Provide guidelines for diversity training in the workplace
• Support informed decision making in terms of employing highly skilled immigrants
4. Communicate core and strategic goals
• Governments should be leaders in their role as major employers
Government as Policy & Program Leader
1. Promote a culture of diversity and inclusion
• Encourage employers to remove cultural barriers in workplaces
• Promote diversity training in communities, educational institutions and workplaces
• Create climate of inclusion, at all levels of society
• Share best practices of employers and communities
2. Review and develop policy
• Analyze, develop and improve employment programming to ensure that it remains well suited in terms of diversity to the needs of the local/provincial/federal workforce and labour market
• Engage key population sectors from diverse backgrounds in public consultancies about expectations and issues to be addressed
• Identify strengths and needs in terms of workforce diversity and productivity and implement a balance to reconcile both
• Promote public policy role in supporting effective integration – municipal involvement is very important
3. Create programs and support initiatives
• Build partnerships with different organizations and programs that will support diverse working environments and link them to others that have not done so yet
• Fund research that will address issues about cultural diversity and the workplace
• Be accountable for implications and results in terms of efforts for improving the diverse workplace environment
• Develop a profile of leadership in terms of embracing diversity in the workplace, and promote it across the different sectors of employers
• Evaluate, revise and improve these programs and initiatives constantly
• Work to include broader community in newcomer orientation – ensure long-term support, not just welcoming newcomers. Need multi-stakeholder initiatives
• Improve predictability and reliability of immigration system
• Provide access to skills for the whole family, not just the new hire
• Promote tax incentives & educational supports for immigrants to settle in remote areas
4. Commit to lifelong learning
• Encourage continuing education in the workplace and a culture of constant learning and adaptation to change
• Provide guidelines for diversity training in the workplace
• Support informed decision making in terms of employing highly skilled immigrants
• Create prior learning and experience assessment programs – centralized and standardized across provinces
• Assess credentials at the point of immigration and make this service available to previous immigrants who have not gone through this process
• Work with employers to educate unions on the advantages of inserting enabling language into collective agreements
• Modify educational programs – modularize requirements to allow faster accreditation
• Re-evaluate requirements for licensing and professional accreditation
• Create exams in mother languages of immigrants in selected skills areas
• Create international reciprocal agreements among educational institutions
5. Communicate core and strategic goals
• Promote Canada as a desirable place to work
• Speed up immigration process – improve information to potential immigrants
