How inclusive human resources practices can attract and retain talent

On May 22, 2024, dozens of professionals gathered at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre for the annual Canadian Equity Diversity and Inclusion Summit and Awards hosted by the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) (external link) . The awards celebrate champions of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in their organizations and beyond. The event also consisted of panel discussions, which served as a platform to share knowledge and collaborate on ideas to improve EDI in the workplace. 

Wendy Cukier, founder and academic director of the Diversity Institute (DI) and academic research director of the Future Skills Centre (external link) , gave the Chair of the Board Award, presented by Diversity Institute, 50 – 30 Challenge (external link) , to Suromitra Sanatani. Sanatani received the award for her work steering change at the top level. “This morning, we explored the impact of culture,” Cukier said. “We know that chairs and leaders of organizations set the tone at the top. They provide examples and role models that people can aspire to. This year's winner embodies the focus on strategies, policies and programs that enhance opportunities for women and members of other equity-deserving groups.” Sanatani is the chair of multiple boards, including at Canada Post, RBC Global Asset Management Independent Review Committee and RBC Indigo Independent Review Committee. 

Nancy Mitchell, director of research, special projects, at DI, presented the Inclusion Vanguard Award to Deepy Sur. Recently, Sur was appointed as CEO at the Ontario College of Family Physicians (external link)  and continues to drive change on issues facing family medicine. She has 15 years of experience, including a 12-year tenure at Trillium Health Partners (external link) .

Mitchell said that inclusion is bigger than bottom-line results—it can profoundly change people's lives, particularly for women and underrepresented groups. “Today's winner is more than just a champion,” Mitchell said. “She's the most outstanding champion in Canada as an advocate and a change-maker on a national level. She makes a measurable impact as she strives to better the experiences of her colleagues, community, clients and contacts. More than that, she sets a bold example of what we can all accomplish.”

Then, Cukier presented on inclusive human resources (HR) practices. She opened by highlighting that embedding EDI practices in HR is crucial to helping organizations attract and retain valuable talent. “The talent pool is changing,” she said, adding that, in Toronto, for example, one-half the population identifies as visible minorities and one-half are women. “So if you’re not paying attention, you’re missing out on opportunities,” she said. 

Cukier said one of the biggest pitfalls in the hiring process is that people hire in their image. “That’s where we’re missing massive opportunities around talent,” she said. She outlined three areas of improvement within hiring practices: 

• Design of job postings: Shift the focus from credentials to competencies to open up pathways for people who have been historically excluded in the educational system.
• Recruitment: Take a broad outreach approach and use diverse recruitment channels, including seeking candidates to reach new networks. 
• Skills assessment: Use a variety of assessment tools like self-assessment, examinations and portfolios to improve the outcomes for applicants trained in other countries.

“It’s not the pool; it’s the policies and practices,” Cukier said. “If you cannot find qualified diverse candidates, you are not looking hard enough.” 

Cukier said retention is another important step. She pointed to the Tall Poppies study that looked at survey data from working women across all demographics and professions. It found that the more accomplished a woman is, the more likely she’ll face aggression, not only from those in positions of seniority but also from her peers. “There are some really horrific examples of women who have risen to great heights—in spite of all the barriers—only to find that they're held to higher standards and pushed over the cliff,” Cukier said. She emphasized it’s not only important to get people in the door but also to be attentive on how to keep them. 

Then Cukier outlined DI research that shows diversity improves creativity in the workplace, adding, “If you want to drive creativity and innovation, you want to have more people with different views.” She emphasized that when there’s diversity at the top of the organization, on boards and leadership teams it has an impact on strategy and culture. It also shapes the aspirations of others in the organization by signalling what is possible and who belongs. Still, there is a long way to go in both the private sector and non-profit sector. She pointed to the 50 – 30 Challenge as a tool to improve diversity in leadership. The challenge, in which DI is an ecosystem partner, is a voluntary code that aims to advance gender parity (50% women and/or non-binary people) and representation of other equity-deserving groups (30%) on Canadian boards and/or in senior management. She added that organizations that create inclusive environments often have higher levels of staff satisfaction, adding, “Happy, engaged people perform better and are more likely to stay.”

Cukier highlighted that while HR is responsible for recruitment, job design, promotion, advancement and more, there’s another key function of the department. “Even more fundamentally, the HR department can shape culture,” she said. It can do so through the design of performance systems, training and awareness, and through how the department communicates to people coming into the organization on what the values are. Cukier said inclusive organizational culture can include developing a code of conduct, harassment policy, diversity and inclusion policy, and a code of ethics. She added that diversity and inclusion training programs for employees can help create an inclusive organizational culture and pointed to the Micropedia of Microaggressions (external link)  as a tool for unlearning unintentional biases or microaggressions.

To close, Cukier noted that many organizations revert to education but while necessary, it is one of the least effective ways to drive change. Legislative and compliance mechanisms can help shape behaviour, as can economic incentives, she said, but the most effective strategies are those that are embedded into systems. She shared examples of strategies that are effective for preventing speeding. “Speed kills,” she said. “The education approach might have some impact. Laws and fines might also shape behaviour. But the most important way of preventing speeding is to engineer the system. Speed bumps are far more effective than the other approaches. 

“It's important to recognize that focusing on training to change individual behaviour is not going to be effective,” she added. “You have to think about those systems. The structures, policies, processes, incentives and culture that surround people in the organizations will reinforce the behaviours you want to see.”