Multiculturalism a "very significant competitive advantage" for Canada: president
It wasn’t long ago that the president of Federal Express Canada went from job interview to job interview, hoping that someone would take the trouble and do the paperwork required to sponsor him, a foreigner, for a job.
Despite having earned two degrees in the United States, Indian-born Rajesh Subramaniam still found it took some hard knocking to get the first door to open. He finally found an in at FedEx, and within 12 years, became FedEx’s Asia Pacific vice-president and finally president of FedEx Canada in September last year.
Having lived in Canada for less than a year, Subramaniam still remembers how he was struck by Canada’s ethnic and religious diversity.
“You don’t realize that until you come here,” said Subramaniam, “I think what people have to realize now is this whole multiculturalism that’s prevalent in Canada is a very significant competitive advantage for the country.”
As an example of precisely how diversity can make a difference on the bottom line, he pointed to Japanese carmaker Nissan, which managed to turn a $5.6 billion loss in 2000 into a $2.5 billion profit this year. Subramaniam attributed this to the arrival of Brazilian-born, French-educated CEO Carlos Ghosn.
At a speech he delivered last month before the Empire Club of Canada, Subramaniam quoted Ghosn: “We have a tendency to reject what is different. And at the same time, we need what is different. Because what is different is the only way we can grow.” Added Subramaniam: “Sameness is suicide in the business world — particularly now as we operate in the global economy.”
And as Canadian businesses expand into international markets, they would do well to tap their own talent pool for greater knowledge of those societies, to “deeply understand what’s going to work and what’s not going to work, the timing of investments, the nuances around government policies and procedures.”
FedEx Canada doesn’t approach the question of diversity through the lens of compliance, said Subramaniam. As a federally regulated company, FedEx has to report on the representation in its workplace of the four designated groups, “but it’s not a number that I track,” said Subramaniam.
“In fact I was quite happy but surprised to find out that visible minorities make up 23 per cent (of the workforce), and the national percentage is 11 per cent.” (FedEx Canada’s scores in 2003 for women, Aboriginal peoples, people with disability and visible minority were B, A, B, and A respectively. The federal labour department grades each area of representation on a number of factors, including promotion, wage gap and clustering. The grades are A, B, C, D and Z.)
Diversity policies at FedEx Canada are focused largely on communicating respect and fostering awareness of the importance of diversity to the business. Managers are held accountable for the count of personnel from each of the four designated groups in their departments, said Sean McNamee, vice-president of legal and human resources.
“If you take the legal group, which I also have responsibility for, if the makeup of women in the department falls short of what’s in the marketplace, then I as a manager know that it’s something I have to take into consideration when there’s an opening within the legal department.” A new performance appraisal system for managers considers it a core competency “to ensure the workplace is a diverse workplace,” he added.
The company also has what’s called “the guaranteed fair treatment process,” in which any employee could bring any instance of perceived or real discrimination to the next levels of management for redress. Company representatives declined to give an example where an employee accessed this process, but Subramaniam said much of the time, the process helps the company explain a management decision that’s perceived as discriminatory.
McNamee noted that over and above these policies, the company communicates the importance of diversity in a variety of formats, from periodic lectures on topics such as challenges facing women, to the Diversity Month celebrations that take place at FedEx offices across the country. The point is to keep the issue “on top of mind,” he said.
Subramaniam also noted the importance of the company culture. “Putting people first is part of FedEx DNA, and unless one fundamentally believes that’s the case, any policies, procedures, rules and regulations will ultimately not work. One has to fundamentally believe in an organization’s employees, and that has to come straight from the top and not delegated to HR.”
Despite having earned two degrees in the United States, Indian-born Rajesh Subramaniam still found it took some hard knocking to get the first door to open. He finally found an in at FedEx, and within 12 years, became FedEx’s Asia Pacific vice-president and finally president of FedEx Canada in September last year.
Having lived in Canada for less than a year, Subramaniam still remembers how he was struck by Canada’s ethnic and religious diversity.
“You don’t realize that until you come here,” said Subramaniam, “I think what people have to realize now is this whole multiculturalism that’s prevalent in Canada is a very significant competitive advantage for the country.”
As an example of precisely how diversity can make a difference on the bottom line, he pointed to Japanese carmaker Nissan, which managed to turn a $5.6 billion loss in 2000 into a $2.5 billion profit this year. Subramaniam attributed this to the arrival of Brazilian-born, French-educated CEO Carlos Ghosn.
At a speech he delivered last month before the Empire Club of Canada, Subramaniam quoted Ghosn: “We have a tendency to reject what is different. And at the same time, we need what is different. Because what is different is the only way we can grow.” Added Subramaniam: “Sameness is suicide in the business world — particularly now as we operate in the global economy.”
And as Canadian businesses expand into international markets, they would do well to tap their own talent pool for greater knowledge of those societies, to “deeply understand what’s going to work and what’s not going to work, the timing of investments, the nuances around government policies and procedures.”
FedEx Canada doesn’t approach the question of diversity through the lens of compliance, said Subramaniam. As a federally regulated company, FedEx has to report on the representation in its workplace of the four designated groups, “but it’s not a number that I track,” said Subramaniam.
“In fact I was quite happy but surprised to find out that visible minorities make up 23 per cent (of the workforce), and the national percentage is 11 per cent.” (FedEx Canada’s scores in 2003 for women, Aboriginal peoples, people with disability and visible minority were B, A, B, and A respectively. The federal labour department grades each area of representation on a number of factors, including promotion, wage gap and clustering. The grades are A, B, C, D and Z.)
Diversity policies at FedEx Canada are focused largely on communicating respect and fostering awareness of the importance of diversity to the business. Managers are held accountable for the count of personnel from each of the four designated groups in their departments, said Sean McNamee, vice-president of legal and human resources.
“If you take the legal group, which I also have responsibility for, if the makeup of women in the department falls short of what’s in the marketplace, then I as a manager know that it’s something I have to take into consideration when there’s an opening within the legal department.” A new performance appraisal system for managers considers it a core competency “to ensure the workplace is a diverse workplace,” he added.
The company also has what’s called “the guaranteed fair treatment process,” in which any employee could bring any instance of perceived or real discrimination to the next levels of management for redress. Company representatives declined to give an example where an employee accessed this process, but Subramaniam said much of the time, the process helps the company explain a management decision that’s perceived as discriminatory.
McNamee noted that over and above these policies, the company communicates the importance of diversity in a variety of formats, from periodic lectures on topics such as challenges facing women, to the Diversity Month celebrations that take place at FedEx offices across the country. The point is to keep the issue “on top of mind,” he said.
Subramaniam also noted the importance of the company culture. “Putting people first is part of FedEx DNA, and unless one fundamentally believes that’s the case, any policies, procedures, rules and regulations will ultimately not work. One has to fundamentally believe in an organization’s employees, and that has to come straight from the top and not delegated to HR.”
