'This has a direct impact on retention, recruitment, productivity'
"The findings are… quite scary."
Julie Cafley, executive director of Catalyst Canada in Toronto, is talking about a recent report put out by the nonprofit, which helps build workplaces that work for women.
Exposé of Women’s Workplace Experiences Challenges Antiracist Leaders to Step Up exposes hard truths, showing the scourge of racist and sexist behaviour not only continues to exist in many workplaces — for some marginalized employees, the level is even worse.
“It’s saying that workplace racism is rampant,” says Cafley.
“I think Canadians pride themselves on being an inclusive society and in many ways, we’ve kind of tapped ourselves on the back and yet, when you realize the reality for these employees — whether they be Indigenous, whether they be Black, whether they be racialized in other ways — we’re realizing that this is significant, and this is a part of their every day.
“And when we’re looking at improving representation and workplaces, this has a direct impact on retention, on recruitment, on, frankly, their productivity when they’re dealing with this level of racism and negative treatment in the office.”
Skin colour matters
Catalyst found that more than half (51 per cent) of women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups have experienced racism while on the job.
While this might not be surprising on its surface, the report, written by Samantha Erskine, Sheila Brassel, and Kathrina Robotham, shows that women with darker skin are more likely to experience racism versus those with light skin.
“The question around the darkness of the skin tone was actually pretty shocking to me as well,” says Cafley.
As well, trans women (67 per cent) and queer women (63 per cent) are also more likely than cisgender heterosexual women (49 per cent) to face discriminatory behaviour at work.
The report heard from of 2,734 women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups in Canada, Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.
‘We have quite a bit of work to do’
For two senior HR leaders, this report shows the struggle to eradicate racism needs to persist.
“I think that we still have quite a bit of work to do; I think the fight needs to continue,” says Marème Touré, vice-president of diversity, equity and inclusion at dentsu Canada in Montreal.
“I also think that a number of companies made big statements, especially in 2020, and probably need to be held accountable for making that change and trying to create cultures and environments that provide room for more inclusion.”
In addition, sometimes employees have to assert their human rights against discrimination, says Leena Nagpal, vice-president HR GEA and corporate communications at Canon Canada in Brampton, Ont.
“It’s something which I think is prevalent because sometimes people who come from a diversified culture, they need to understand how to stand up for themselves,” she says.
“It’s not just about taking whatever is thrown their way — whether you are an immigrant or, for whatever reasons, you’ve been in a different organization or in a different country — everybody brings value… So learn how to stand up for yourself and speak up and make sure that your voice is heard.”
As an immigrant, Nagpal has seen how difficult it can be to fight to become a C-suite member “but then it’s also important that the company provides you a platform where your voice can be heard,” she says.
As a global company, Canon follows a concept called Kyosei, which means a “dedication to seeing all people, regardless of culture, customs, language or race, harmoniously living and working together in happiness into the future,” says the company’s website.
“We definitely understand the importance of diversity but for us as an organization, what is most important is that it should not just apply only to our products, it needs to apply to the people behind them as well. We try to ensure that to be valued, [it’s about] making sure that there is not a lot of racism and we have a diversified workforce — and I’m extremely proud of that,” says Nagpal.
The construction industry still has a long way to go in addressing sexism at workplaces.
The importance of allies
To combat the rampant racism and sexism, senior leaders should behave as allies in the workplace, says Cafley.
“[That means] in terms of being an ally, including different voices; in terms of problem solving, ensuring that different voices are heard at the table, how the team actually works together and communicates.”
But what exactly does a good ally look like?
“An ally might bring forward the voice of somebody at the table who’s not saying anything, or not being heard or, let’s say, somebody’s being cut off in the discussion, as often happens, they might actually interrupt and say, ‘Sorry, I think so-and-so was trying to say something,’ and they might actually jump in and help to change that,” says Cafley.
At dentsu, the company began a mentorship program recently to provide a way to initiate conversations between senior and junior employees.
“I think that really provided a forum for discussion between these racialized mentees and mentors,” says Touré. “There were some learnings, obviously, on the side of mentees but also in the sight of mentors, in terms of understanding better the culture, and just facilitating conversations around different topics, including race.”
When it comes to the top challenge for DEI initiatives, business leaders who “fail to take ownership for driving DEI outcomes” comes out on top, found a survey.
Role for HR in combatting racism
These key conversations also need to be initiated often by HR, says Nagpal.
“As a VP of HR, you can understand that I will be very passionate about this — I just feel like this is something which we talked [about] to our leaders, we talked to our managers on a daily basis, sometimes to say that it’s very important to engage your employees.”
As well, such things as providing a private reflection room in Canon’s Brampton office was another way to show diverse employees that the company cares, she says.
“We want to make sure that we don’t just say that we are a diversified workforce — we want to make sure that we provide you an environment in which, based on your religious or your spiritual beliefs, you have a safe and a comfortable environment. We want you to be able to worship or meditate do whatever you want, so that you can create a sense of belonging.”
For senior leaders to show empathy and caring, it begins with showing interest in other people’s experiences, says Cafley.
“Curiosity shows a level of humility. There’s a sense of being able to approach leaders who show that curiosity because they’re not seen as knowing it all or being all aware of the situation. That sense of curiosity really opens doors and encourages people to speak up.”
Because some of these conversations are uncomfortable and difficult to begin, she says, asking questions and being genuinely curious “is really a way of opening up so that more junior employee can say to a manager, ‘Hey, listen, I’m not feeling good in this situation’ or ‘I’m feeling like I’m not being heard’ or ‘I’m not being included,’ and so that curiosity is really a great term to explain how you can open those barriers between individuals with that feeling or that ambiance created through curiosity.”
