In the past two and a half years, the Advancing Equity for Women and Girls team has developed several resources and initiatives aimed at addressing barriers to employment for immigrant and racialized women. After conducting a consultation phase with immigrant and racialized women, employers and key stakeholders, the AEWG team, in partnership with SEASONOVA, a BIPOC-led social enterprise, developed a DEIA toolkit for employers, “Paving the Way: A Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Guide to Support Immigrant and Racialized Women in the Canadian Labour Force.”
The “Paving the Way” toolkit offers a guide on implantable strategies to recruit, hire and retain immigrant and racialized women in the Canadian labour force by applying DEIA principles and practices. In this blog, we will explore two of the ten strategies presented in the toolkit.
Strategy 1: Cultivate Senior Management Buy-In for DEIA
Suppose your organization is in the early stages of its DEIA journey. It is crucial to engage with its leadership to cultivate their buy-in and commitment toward DEIA efforts. This can include having a Lunch & Learn session to create awareness and understanding of what DEIA means, its benefits to the organization and its employees, and the risks of not cultivating a diverse and inclusive workforce.
It’s highly encouraged that before engaging with senior leadership, one should develop a business case for DEIA in one’s organization. One approach is to present DEIA not just as an HR strategy but as an ongoing business tool that can improve the attraction and retention of diverse talent and maximize workforce potential (The Building Industry and Land Development Association, 2021).
Another approach to present the significance of DEIA for your organization or company is “competitive advantage” or “organizational benefits.” The following section outlines some of the key contributors to understanding and developing your business case. Remember that as each organization is unique, there is no one correct business case, and it’s okay if the business case evolves over time:
- War for talent: inclusive employers are more attractive employers.
- Employee engagement: inclusion has been linked to engagement. Disengaged employees cost money. Engaged employees provide better service, speak more favorably about your organization, go above and beyond more, and have less absenteeism and lower voluntary turnover.
- Succession planning: invest now in your pipeline of future leaders.
- Think global: better global picture/context for international or cross-cultural business.
- Market opportunity: better business development opportunities in a changing marketplace.
- Mirror the marketplace: reflect your customer and your customer’s customer.
- Foster innovation: diversity in teams leads to increased creativity and improved products and services.
- Your brand: set yourself apart, creating employee and customer loyalty.
- Resiliency: increased ability to respond to change over time.
After you engage with the leadership, with a clear perspective of the benefits of DE&I initiatives for the organization, the next step is to have your company’s leadership state their reasons for improving diversity and belonging to garner greater buy-in.
Having a senior leadership champion the initiative is a critical success factor. Without at least one executive sponsor, the initiative will likely end before it starts. To learn how to successfully acquire leadership buy-in, from having an executive sponsor to establishing a permanent and working DEIA committee, you can read our toolkit.
Strategy 9: Introduce the Use of a DEIA Lens
DEIA lens is a tool that supports leaders in their decision-making process when developing programs and policies. It can be used to identify positive and negative impacts for diverse groups of employees. DEIA lens can be applied in several different ways within the workplace, such as communications, training, service delivery, policy development and human resources, amongst others.
A prime example of a DEIA lens is the Government of Canada’s Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus). GBA Plus is an analytical tool that aims to ensure equitable benefits and opportunities for everyone. This tool supports leaders in assessing “how the needs and experiences of different groups of people are influenced by intersecting parts of their identity, the context they are in and their lived experiences.” GBA Plus can support you in identifying problems, challenging your assumptions, and identifying the potential impacts of your initiatives. To learn more about GBA Plus, explore our toolkit and access Women and Gender Equality Canada’s course “Introduction to GBA Plus.”
Learn More with the “Paving the Way” Toolkit
For a deeper dive into strategies supporting immigrant and racialized women in the Canadian labour force, access our toolkit for employers, “Paving the Way: A Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Guide.”
About Advancing Equity for Women and Girls
Funded by Women and Gender Equality (WAGE), Advancing Equity for Women and Girls supports a feminist response and recovery from the impact of COVID-19 on the employment of immigrant and racialized women in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) by contributing to systemic change to promote women’s economic prosperity and equality.
Contact Us
For any questions regarding the project, contact us:
- Hodan Mohamed, Project Coordinator: hmohamed@achev.ca
- Mayela Lozano, Community Liaison: mlozano@achev.ca
Read more about our program here: Advancing Equity for Women and Girls – Employment Services
