BMO Financial Group is introducing a new diversity strategy that sets goals to address gaps affecting Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, Latino and LGBTQ2+ employees, customers and communities. The new benchmarks and plans, which expand the bank’s multi-year diversity strategy set in 2017, includes doubling company-wide representation of Black senior leaders, accelerating Indigenous talent strategies, […]
With almost 100,000 employees in 30 countries, Scotiabank’s approach to global benefits provision is more about aligning philosophy or guiding principles than it is around aligning specific tactics of the benefits plan. “No surprise, every country, every region has its own set of legislation, social norms, priorities, different health-care infrastructure and different maturity in terms […]
Canadian businesses are grappling with how to move forward with conversations around race. “In order to affect the systemic changes needed to foster inclusivity, we will need collective learning and unlearning, challenging ourselves to embrace innovative, equitable and inclusive practices going forward,” said Jon Love, chief executive officer of KingSett Capital, in a webinar hosted by […]
Several prominent players in Canada’s pensions and benefits industries have signed onto the BlackNorth Initiative, pledging to take specific actions within their organizations to tackle anti-Black racism. “The persistent inequities across our country underscore our urgent, national need to address and alleviate racial, ethnic and other tensions and to promote the elimination of anti-Black systemic […]
Scotiabank is launching a series of initiatives to increase its workforce diversity and eliminate racial discrimination in the workplace. The bank is using its recently released leader guides to arm employees and managers with practical information on identifying racism, racial harassment and discrimination in the workplace and to help them build up their confidence to […]
Japan Tobacco International is launching a global equal family leave policy for all of its employees. The new global strategy, which goes beyond the national family leave provisions in 80 per cent of the 81 countries in which the multinational is located, offers a minimum of 20 weeks fully paid leave for employees, regardless of […]
Organizations all over the world are pledging their commitments to anti-Black racism as global protests over the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many others, move into their fifth week. While the outcomes of these numerous pledges remain to be seen, discussions on the topics of race and racism are being held in boardrooms and […]
Manulife Financial and its U.S. division John Hancock are investing more than $3.5 million over the next two years to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace and in the communities they serve. In a press release, the organizations said the goals of these investments are three-fold: to increase the representation of diverse talent […]
The Ontario Pension Board has released a statement addressing the role it plays in standing against anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. “I know some of you may be wondering why we didn’t share a message of support sooner,” read the letter from Mark Fuller, the OPB’s president and chief executive officer. “While statements of support matter, […]
In June 2017, the federal government amended the Canadian Human Rights Act to strengthen protections against employment discrimination for LGBTQ+ individuals, forbidding employers across all jurisdictions to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. While the protections and language used by organizations can vary, the intent of the protections is […]