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May '07 - In this Issue
Opération Découverte
You’ve come a long way, maybe...
The quicker fixer-upper
The sustainable aboriginal workforce: Part 2
The face of learning disabilities
Foreign skills: a hire force
10:1 Barbara Jaworski
FYI: LEAD
ETC: global news briefs
VIP: TELUS
Assessing the hidden assets of older workers
Building diversity into your genetic code
 
May '07
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Enjoy the latest edition of Diversity in the workplace online business and human resources newsletter. Diversity in the workplace by any other name is Canada at work. Diversity matters. Just read these pages.

Diversity! delivers Canadian news and news from around the globe. Plus practical and timely articles and ideas to help you manage workplace diversity successfully. Every month. The bottom line for those who want to know is this: diversity works. And diversity at the workplace matters. We are THE only Canadian human resources and online business publication dealing with diversity in the workplace.
Opération Découverte

A 30-month research and training project has been launched by Canada’s leading Quebec-based financial institution to help develop skills among managers from across the country in diversifying their company workplaces.

The program is intended to create a development model for management of a diverse workforce, skills many Canadian employers acknowledge they lack. It involves intense immersion of managers through an exchange program between the Desjardins Group and other employers from as far away as Vancouver...[ read more ]
You've come a long way, maybe...

Employers are gradually beginning to recognize the influential role women play in the national economy. Still, numbers of women employed in senior executive positions among FP500 companies in Canada represent only ‘marginal progress’ over five years, a report released by Catalyst Canada says.

“While the proportion of women corporate officers continues to increase, the overall numbers of women in senior leadership roles has risen less than two sluggish percentage points across all Catalyst benchmarks since 2002,” the report says...[ read more ]
The quicker fixer-upper

The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) in the past year has streamlined its handling of complaints filed under the Human Rights Act, according to its recently-released annual report. 

During 2006, the CHRC strengthened its focus on delivery of services involving dispute resolution, prevention of discrimination and knowledge development in the human rights field. The approach, Commissioner David Langtry says, will allow the commission to more quickly resolve disputes, aim for “a healthier future marked by fewer disputes,” as well as improved representation of the four designated groups covered by the Employment Equity Act...[ read more ]
The sustainable aboriginal workforce: Part 2

It’s hardly news that the biggest challenge facing young working-age male aboriginals in launching careers is lack of education.

But more complex factors than school drop-out rates must be faced if real success in creating an solid aboriginal workforce is to be achieved, says Doug Dokis, manager of Chinook Lodge Aboriginal Resource Centre at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT)... read more ]
The face of learning disabilities

Finding the right employer who understands learning disabilities is one of the greatest challenges faced by almost 10 percent of the Canadian population.

A groundbreaking three-year study on learning disabilities (LD) reveals both a troubling and encouraging picture. The study set discovered remarkable resiliency of Canadians, both young and old, who live with the condition every day...[ read more ]
Foreign skills: a hire force

The federal government has recently announced changes in its temporary Foreign Worker Program to cope with the demand from employers to meet labour shortages.

Monte Solberg, minister of human resources and social development, said the Advantage Canada strategy will “make it faster and easier for Canadian employers to meet their labour force needs. Employers who have exhausted their search for Canadian workers often need to hire temporary foreign workers to work for a period of longer than a year.”...[ read more ]
10:1 - Barbara Jaworski
President, Workplace Institute.... [ read more ]
FYI: LEAD
LEAD is Law Enforcement Aboriginal and Diversity Network: A network of police officers at the national, provincial, regional, municipal and aboriginal community levels....[ read more ]
ETC: global news briefs
Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre is appealing to the federal government to build a Canadian Forces base for aboriginal soldiers that would be a first in Canada. Although Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor has already rejected the idea, Coderre said the issue could resurface during the next election campaign. If it eventually meets with approval, the First Nations base would be built in the Restigouche area of northern New Brunswick...[ read more ]
VIP: TELUS

If its workplace is half as much fun or even half as diverse as its ads—where rabbits, monkeys, lizards, parrots and frogs abound—then TELUS must have no problem living up to its claim as a “great place to work”.

Shannon Taylor, an HR director in Vancouver, says that what really lends to “the spirit of making TELUS a great place to work” is its “very robust and longstanding sustainable employee and family assistance program.”...[ read more ]
 
Assessing the hidden assets of older workers
Every great journey begins with a single step. Before that first step, however, comes something else…the idea, the resolve, the vision of the journey. The vision may be instant, the result of a moment of truth; or, more likely, it may be a slow realization born out of a coming together of events, business demands, public complaints, or the competition's success at a certain challenge. While anyone in an organization can catch the vision of diversity as an asset or as an operating reality, in the hands of a leader, vision grows wings, takes flight and comes to rest at the feet of those equipped and empowered to make it reality...[ read more ]
Building diversity into your genetic code

People with disabilities have skills, abilities and experience that can add value in your workplace. By opening up your search for talented employees and making your workplace accessible, you create a win-win situation. You find the right person for the job. You create a place where anyone can work and be productive—and you allow employees of all abilities to compete in the marketplace.

You may have to provide workplace accommodation for some employees. Many options available to you as an employer can be low-cost or no-cost. You may have to make some changes to workstations or provide an assistive device or assistive technology, but many changes are simple...[ read more ]
In Quotes
“The bottom line is that...women are still vastly under-represented at the highest levels of business in Canada.”
~Deborah Gillis
Executive Director, Catalyst Canada
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