Building A Foundation Of Respect - Part 18

Welcome to the BuildForce blog on Respectful Workplaces! Here we explore issues and provide advice, research, tools, and checklists – everything our industry needs to create respectful and inclusive workplaces where everyone can succeed. Who will benefit? Leaders, managers, HR staff, and anyone who wants to understand how to create and support a Respectful and Inclusive Workplace. To meet the challenges of the 21st century, the Canadian construction and maintenance industry must be able to recruit and retain workers with a diversity of backgrounds such as Indigenous people, women, immigrants, and young workers. This means building respectful, safe and inclusive workplaces where all workers can succeed. Some of these challenges are: A quarter of a million skilled workers retiring over the next decade. Increased globalization demands more awareness of different cultures. The changing needs of a changing workforce. Increased demands for corporate social responsibility such as fairness and equity.

ASSESSMENT QUESTION OF THE MONTH:

Does your organization review recruitment, retention and advancement policies to identify and eliminate barriers to inclusion?

Research has shown that we are often unaware of barriers that exist. For example, studies have shown that when evaluating identical job applications, both men and women prefer to hire an applicant with a male name rather than a female name by a ratio of two to one.

What can your organization do to help eliminate barriers?

Establish standardized questions and evaluation processes and procedures.
Train all managers and anyone involved in recruitment, retention and advancement on how to recognize and eliminate barriers.
Ensure that more than one person is involved in any interview and hiring decision.
Whenever possible have representation of people with different genders, backgrounds and circumstances involved in any interview and hiring decision.

International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples ; August 9, 2018; The Indigenous population is the fastest growing population in Canada. Although it has been trending down recently, it is still about 2 percentage points above total population growth in Canada. This represents potential for replenishing a retiring workforce. --- BEST PRACTICES for recruiting and training an Indigenous workforce include: Industry leaders who drive cultural and behavioural change within the workplace while creating inclusive, welcoming, respectful work environments for all new entrants; Engaging with and finding prospective workers through local Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy offices, other Indigenous career and training centres, and where appropriate, other local Indigenous organizations and communities; Using industry champions and Indigenous tradespeople as spokespersons; Interviewing with an awareness of cultural differences in mind; Using Indigenous job coaches and/or on-the-job-mentors if possible, as they make an enormous difference to apprentices.

OUR NEXT INSTALLMENT: Eliminating barriers to advancement and leadership

PREVIOUS INSTALLMENT: Tying pay to performance is important for the success of a respectful and inclusive workplace initiative.

Read from the beginning. Click here to start at Part 1.

Resources:

Advancing Women in the Skilled Trades. Inclusive Job Advertisement Checklist. See www.advancewomenintrades.com. Accessed May 1, 2018.
BuildForce Canada. Online Respect & Inclusion Toolkit. Release Date: late 2018.
BuildForce Canada. Representation of Aboriginal People and Women in Canada’s Construction and Maintenance Workforce. May 2016. See www.dev-bf-hub.pantheonsite.io/en/products/representation-indigenous-canadians-and-women-canadas-construction-and-maintenance-0.
Build Together. Build Together-IndigAlly Booklet. See www.buildtogether.ca/our-focus/indigenous. Accessed May 1 2018.
Kaplan, Sarah. Meritocracy: From Myth to Reality. Rotman Magazine. 2015. Spring. Pg. 49-52.

What can an effective Respectful and Inclusive Workplace Program deliver? The BuildForce Canada Respectful Workplace Online Self-Assessment Tool ~ Release date - late 2018 ~ The Respectful Workplace Self-Assessment Tool allows organization leadership to assess their progress toward a Respectful and Inclusive Workplace and benchmark their progress confidentially against other construction organizations.Each month we will feature an "Assessment question of the month." So make sure to be a regular visitor! Watch for the release of the BuildForce Canada Online Respectful and Inclusive Workplace Toolkit, including The Respectful Workplace Online Self-Assessment Tool: to assist organization leadership in assessing their current situation and identifying where they may need to make changes; The Respectful and Inclusive Workplace Online Training Course: to train workers on how to create and support a respectful and inclusive workplace; and The Respectful Workplace Policy Framework and Implementation Guide: to assist organizations in creating and implementing a policy that supports a respectful and inclusive workplace.

Join the conversation: Does your organization review recruitment, retention and advancement policies to identify and eliminate barriers to inclusion?

Status of Women Canada logo
This project has been funded by Status of Women Canada.

Building A Foundation Of Respect – Part 18

ASSESSMENT QUESTION OF THE MONTH:

Does your organization review recruitment, retention and advancement policies to identify and eliminate barriers to inclusion?

Resources:

Respectful and Inclusive Workplaces

Respectful and Inclusive Workplaces Blog