Staff Recommendations

Goal 

Within three years:

• complete a review of compensation data, policies and practices to identify barriers that impact compensation of self-identified Black staff, and
• create and implement a comprehensive compensation framework, including guiding principles and related policies and practices, to address barriers to fair and equitable compensation for Black staff.

Implementation steps and actions

• Work with an external expert to conduct an independent review of Black staff compensation to identify any internal compensation inequities.
• Review policies and practices impacting an equitable approach to compensation.
• Develop a plan to respond to recommendations.

Progress to date

• Phase 1 of the review has been completed and findings and recommendations were presented.  
• To prepare for the second phase, TMU conducted a request for proposal (RFP) process to select a compensation consultant who can help with the detailed wage gap analysis, identify the root causes of the compensation inequity and provide salary adjustment recommendations.
• The RFP process started in November 2022, and, after a robust selection process, AJ Gallagher was selected as the compensation consultant to assist with Phase II of the review. 
• The contract with the compensation consultant was signed at the end of February 2023. The project kicked off on March 8, 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of June 2023.

Goal

Within three years:

• develop foundational competency and knowledge in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and ABR for all leaders and employees;
• introduce clearly defined equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) performance objectives for leaders; and,
• revamp key aspects of the recruitment process to increase fairness and transparency by building EDI into the recruitment life cycle. 

Implementation steps and actions

• Develop EDI competencies and a multi-year plan to ensure leaders and employees gain foundational knowledge in EDI and anti-Black racism, in addition to developing the necessary skills that enable them to put the knowledge obtained into practice. 
• Hire a director for talent acquisition to embed EDI in all aspects of recruitment, design inclusive hiring practices that support leaders and develop transparent recruitment policies and other innovative human resource practices.
• Incorporate clearly defined EDI performance objectives for leaders.
• Implement a Staff Applicant Diversity Self-ID at point of application.

Progress to date

• Progress on the EDI competencies has steadily continued. After further consultations, the competencies have been named the TMU EDI Knowledge and Action Framework to reflect our community. The Framework received support from the executive group and collaboration between Human Resources, the Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion and key stakeholders from Vice-Provost, Faculty Affairs, Vice-Provost, Academic and Vice-Provost, Students continues, enabling a university-wide approach to implementation. Implementation includes a multi-year plan with a strong focus on anti-Black racism. The next phase is underway and includes developing a learning strategy, program topics, objectives and delivery channels. 
• In January 2023, a five year roadmap was developed to guide the vision and mission for the Talent Acquisition Centre of Expertise. This team leads and governs a fair and transparent recruitment process that embeds EDI into the recruitment life cycle. With the talent acquisition team now fully operational, processes have been implemented for TA specialists to guide the end-to-end recruitment process, complete with diversity data sharing and planning with hiring leaders, training and support provided for more inclusive hiring procedures and prioritization in sourcing and screening of Black candidates to create robust pipelines of talent. The OVPECI is working with the Talent Acquisition team on this strategy.
• To create a process of building trust among Black staff that involves both unions and senior management at the university, the university’s revised performance and development program for MAC and senior administration employees has an emphasis on equity, diversity and inclusion. The program introduced a common EDI objective for all leaders to measure three core areas: working collaboratively with HR and VPFA to develop effective recruitment strategies to ensure diverse hiring panels and talent pools and also demonstrating an increase in diverse hires, building an inclusive environment and committing to personal and team EDI development. This ensures every leader has a consistent objective that measures progress and establishes EDI as a core competency and expectation of all leaders at TMU.

Goal

Within three years, develop and provide programs to assist the career progression and advancement of self-identified Black staff. 

Implementation steps and actions

• Develop a new performance management program.
• Develop leadership competencies.
• Lead best practice research on the development for a program for Black-identified staff across the university.
• Lead and launch a new and innovative program for Black staff career progression.

Progress to date

• To support the recommendation to establish programs designed for staff advancement, leadership competencies are being developed. These will assist in identifying and developing future leaders, in particular, those from equity-deserving groups. 
• The development and implementation of these competencies will help in reducing bias and creating common language around leadership. 
• Best practice research as well as internal and external consultations and an interactive workshop with senior leaders on the top leadership competencies, has been completed.