Canadas Human Capital Challenge Strategic Capability Network Symposium: Diversity and the BottomLine

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Canadas Human Capital Challenge Strategic
Capability NetworkSymposium Diversity and the
Bottom-LineApril 28, 2006
Judith L. MacBride-King PrincipalMacBride-King
and AssociatesResearch and Advisory Services in
Human Resources Management
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Eight Mega-Issues Facing Canada
Global Economy
Canada U.S. Relationship
Governance
Innovation
Human Capital
Healthy Environment
Health Care
Competitive Cities
Source The Conference Board of Canada
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Its All About PeopleThe Skills Crunch 2000
and 2002

• Significant numbers of governments and private
  sector organizations reported experiencing skills
  shortages
• Both private sector firms and governments
  projected that the trend would continue - and
  intensify - especially for particular occupations

Source The Conference Board of Canada
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Projected Skills Shortages (Governments) - 3 to
5 Years -
Source Judith L. MacBride-King, et al. Building
Tomorrows Public Service Today Challenges and
Solutions in Recruitment and Retention, The
Conference Board of Canada, 2002
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Average Age of Executives/Managers/Supervisors(Al
l Three Levels of Government)
Source Judith L. MacBride-King, et al.
Building Tomorrows Public Service Today
Challenges and Solutions in Recruitment and
Retention, The Conference Board of Canada, 2002
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Retirement Woes

• If the age of which public servants across the
  country retire remains at current level..

governments project that by Dec. 31, 2010, a full
44 per cent are eligible to leave.
Source Judith L. MacBride et al, Building
Tomorrows Public Service Today Challenges and
Solutions in Recruitment and Retention, The
Conference Board of Canada, 2002
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A Sampling of Occupations in High Demand

• Engineers IT project managers
• Accountants Computer analysts
• Nurses doctors Firefighters
• Physical scientists Electricians
• Heavy equipment operators Welders
• HR professionals Managers

Source Various
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Attracting and Retaining Talent Trend Data
employers reporting difficulty attracting
retaining talent
Source The Conference Board of Canada
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Its Time For Your First.
QUIZ!
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Attracting and Retaining Talent
employers reporting difficulty attracting
retaining talent
?
Source The Conference Board of Canada
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Answer.
employers reporting difficulty attracting
retaining talent
The pressure for talent is building as
predicted. Beginning in 2010-2011 labour
shortfalls will be more widespread. Employees are
becoming a bit more footloose. The voluntary
turnover rate in organizations is on the rise.
Source Various publications, The Conference
Board of Canada
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A Sampling of Recent Headlines
Oil patch labour crisis seen spreading to rest of
country
Buttoned down and in demandnot enough accountants
Nursing shortage more severe, urgent than
expected
Cities face off over talent
Skills crunch rivals tax cuts as top issue
Alberta Labour Shortage Draining Civil Service
India, China call expats back home
Oil patch labour crisis seen spreading to rest of
country
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BUT, It Is Not Just About People
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Skills in Need of Improvement in Governments
Across Canada
Source Judith L. MacBride et al, Building
Tomorrows Public Service Today Challenges and
Solutions in Recruitment and Retention, The
Conference Board of Canada, 2002
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Things Havent Changed Much

• Technical, professional, or job specific skills
• Leadership and management skills
• Computer skills
• Interpersonal and teamwork skills
• Problem solving skills
• Communication skills
• Basic skills such as literacy and numeracy

Source Canadian Labour and Business Centre
(2005 Survey of Business and Labour Leaders)
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Whats Driving the Skills Shortage

• Ageing of the population
• Ever increasing global competition
• Rapid pace of economic, technological and
  scientific change

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Demography Is DestinyCanadas Demographic
Realities
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Demography Is DestinyCanadas Demographic
Realities

• Fertility rates going the wrong way for
  population replacement
• As a nation, we are getting older
• Other developed nations also aging some at a
  faster pace than Canada
• Not only are we getting older, but there are more
  colours in our national demographic portrait.

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Population Estimates for 1998 and Projections for
2006, 2016, 2026
Source Statistics Canada
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Source United Nations Population Division, World
Population Prospects The 1998 Revision
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Time For Your Second.
QUESTION
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Whence Youth?
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Whence Youth?
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Whence Youth?
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Whence Youth?
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Whence Youth?
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So, That is Our Challenge

• What must we do to meet the skills challenge?

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What Must We Do?

• As a country we need to build a human capital
  strategy
• Nurture, develop skills
• Recommit to/invest in education
• Recognize and leverage the competencies/skills we
  have (i.e., PLA)
• Remove barriers to labour mobility within Canada
• Tap into untapped or underutilized pools of
  labour
• Improve our ability to attract and keep talent
  from abroad (immigration)

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Create a Compelling Brand
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Immigration

• Remove barriers of entry into Canada
• Continue to ways to expedite the assessment of
  and recognition of foreign credentials and work
  experience
• Create a welcoming environment improve
  settlement services
• Prepare the nation for even greater ethnocultural
  diversity

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The Problem isFor Too Many We are Not Living Up
to the Promise

• Immigrants are attracted to Canada by a promise
• rewarding employment opportunities and a high
  quality of life for themselves and their
  families.
• The challenge is that it can take many years for
  newcomers to realize their dreams, and for some
  the prize remains elusive. According to one
  person in a CBoC focus group.

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We are Not Living Up to the Promise

• I had the feeling that I was good enough for
  immigration, but not good enough for Canadian
  employersIf Canada needs cab drivers, then
  Canada should get cab drivers, not professionals.

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Immigration is Seen as Being Important in Helping
to Close the Skills Gap

• Yet.we in Canada and Canadian organizations
  continue to underutilize the skills and talents
  of immigrants.
• According to one Statistics Canada study, 6 in 10
  immigrants did not work in the occupational field
  in which they had worked prior to arriving in
  Canada.
• For the immigrants in that study, two major
  hurdles to achieving the right occupation fit
  were
• difficulty in transferring their qualifications
• lack of Canadian work experience.

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Other Challenges for Immigrants According to CBoC
Focus Group Participants

• Desire of managers to hire someone like
  themselves
• Scarcity of visible minorities in hiring roles,
  which may create bias in selection and promotion
  processes
• Language issues and an inability on the part of
  the hiring staff to look or hear beyond the
  applicants accent
• Unfamiliarity with the Canadian way

Source The Conference Board of Canada
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Immigration will Continue to Play an Important
Role in our Nations Success.
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Components of Population Growth

• Natural Increase Net Migration
• Selected Years
• 1851 - 1861 77 23
• 1951 - 1961 71 29
• 1991-1996 49 51
• 2030 20 80
• Projections

2051 0 100
Source Statistics Canada, The Conference Board
of Canada
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Trends in Immigration Proportion of
Immigrants Born in Europe and Asia by Period of
Immigration
Source Census 2001, Statistics Canada
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Visible Minorities in Canada

• Soon will no longer be a minority in many
  communities.
• Visible minority population growing at a rate
  five times faster than the Canadian population as
  a whole.
• Approximately 13 per cent of persons in the
  Canadian labour market and in the population are
  visible minorities.
• By 2016, visible minorities will constitute 18
  per cent of the labour market and 20 per cent of
  the population.

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Immigration is Changing the Face of Canada

• Over 80 per cent of all visible minorities in
  Canada are immigrants
• In 2003, 73 per cent of all newcomers to Canada
  were visible minorities

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Visible Minority Talent is Underutilized,
Under-Appreciated

• We have labour shortages and yet...
• 1 in 5 visible minorities report experiencing
  discrimination and most of this occurs in
  employment-related situations (Statistics Canada)
  
• Visible minorities are under-represented in key
  decision-making positions
• Their earnings are roughly 15 per cent below the
  national average

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What Must We Do? Continued

• In organizations
• Get serious about talent management make it a
  strategic priority aligned with the business plan
• Make diversity a core part of an integrated TM
  strategy
• Tap into and retain untapped talent pools
• women
• visible minorities
• aboriginal peoples
• persons with disabilities
• older workers men and women

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What Must We Do? Continued

• In organizations
• Create inclusive work environments identify and
  break down barriers to full participation and
  growth in workplaces (The time for talk is long
  past.)
• Rethink retirement and develop different forms of
  working relationships
• Invest in training and skills development for
  employees of all ages
• Move beyond retention to engagement
• And, segment the population - focusing on what
  matters to them

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The Diversity Advantage
Close labour force gaps
Build stronger client relations
Organization Effectiveness

• Expand business
• opportunities
• national/
• international

The Diversity Advantage
Enhance creativity and decision making
Enhance organizations reputation
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A Focus on Diversity Helps in Recruitment and
Retention

• In CBoC studies over the years, women, youth and
  visible minorities have all indicated that they
  are attracted to organizations that are
  demonstrably supportive and respectful of
  diversity.
• People have choices lots of them!
• Women and visible minorities in our work noted
  that they would leave/have left organizations
  that do not have a culture supportive of
  diversity.

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For Example

• In 2000, almost 5 in 10 women executives in one
  survey noted that inhospitable organizational
  culture had prompted them to leave organizations.
  (The Conference Board of Canada)
• The most prevalent reason given by women in the
  Ottawa Police Force who have considered leaving
  the Force is frustration over harassment and
  limited opportunities (Ottawa Citizen, Nov.
  13/04)

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Engaging TalentWhat Does it Take?
Organization Support
Supervisor Support
Employee Outcomes
Fit and Belonging
Employee Engagement
Job Characteristics
Organization Effectiveness
Justice/Fairness
Rewards
Source The Conference Board of Canada
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A Focus on Diversity Helps in Engagement

• Consider the driver relating to fairness and
  justice
• In a recent study in the U.S., the most inclusive
  workplaces generated the most loyal employees.
  (Gallup)
• Among visible minorities in Conference Board
  focus groups, those who believed that their
  employers and managers were fair were less
  likely to perceive other barriers in the
  workplace.
• Employees whose leaders/managers display key
  competencies with respect to diversity are
  rewarded with engaged staff. (TWI Inc.)

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A Focus on Diversity Acts a Magnet for Customers
and Investors

• Customers and shareholders alike are becoming
  more selective in where they spend/invest their
  dollars.
• In one U.S. study, 40 per cent of households
  which included a person with a disability
  indicated that they would be extremely likely
  or very likely to switch brands to support a
  disability cause.
• What is more 32 per cent of households which had
  NO member with a disability would do the same
  thing.

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A Focus on Diversity Acts a Magnet for Customers
and Investors

• In Canada, the Ontario Municipal Employees
  Retirement System Pension Plan recently announced
  that it would apply social and environmental
  criteria to the plans share votes.

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Diversity Contributes to Innovation and
Decision-making

• It is unfortunate that attempts at cloning
  leaders still go on at a time when globalization
  and internationalization of the workforce make it
  possible for us to seek different leadership
  characteristics. Every time you seek to clone
  leaders, you will restrict your competitive edge.
  
• Conference Board Interview with
• Hubert de Pesquidoux
• CEO of Alcatel

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Toward Organizational Change Lessons Learned
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Diversity must be embedded in the cultural DNA of
the organization
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Lesson One Demonstrable Leadership and
Commitment Count

• Leaders must lead...
• Dont ask employees or managers if they buy into
  the value of diversity. Tell them this is the
  way it is...and model it. Value diversity.

Source Leaders Summit on Visible Minorities,
May 2004. The Conference Board of Canada
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What Does Demonstrable Leadership Look Like?

• Strong leaders
• model desired behaviours and become personally
  involved in diversity
• have a propensity for action and they invest time
  and resources to achieve change
• hold themselves and others accountable for change.

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Lesson Two Education is Important But Its
Not Enough

• We thought that if we created awareness through
  an education process, managers would eventually
  do the right thing. That didnt happen.
• We are now embarking on a completely different
  course that has targets, measurements and pretty
  tough reporting the way line managers are
  typically used to reporting their business
  results.
• Source Interview with Human Resources Leader,
• Financial Services Industry, The Conference Board
  of Canada

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Its About Accountability for Change
What gets measured and rewarded and recognized
gets done.

• Develop internal accountability frameworks
• Develop supplier standards/accountability
  frameworks

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Lesson Three The Basics Matter

• Get serious about talent management make it a
  strategic priority
• Develop a zero tolerance for discrimination,
  harassment
• Invest! Invest! Invest!
• Provide diversity training to managers and staff

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Lesson Four Experience Counts

• Learn from your past experiences in managing
  diversity (transfer lessons learned)
• Tap into current and prospective employees views
  on what is needed
• Connect with other employers and other groups

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Some Specifics for Newcomers to Canada

• Provide career development programs that focus on
  the development of soft skills, such as
  communication and listening skills, as well as an
  understanding of how to do things the Canadian
  way.
• Programs could provide information on
• how to navigate organizational processes
• how to interact with colleagues and managers
• what it takes to be successful in Canadian
  organizations

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Lesson Five Building Capacity Goes Beyond the
Organization

• Invest in the future get involved in community
  efforts to support diversity. For example...
• Work with stakeholders to seek solutions
  regarding the recognition of foreign credentials
• Provide financial support to help build capacity
  among diverse communities
• Invest in programs to help visible minority youth
  and newcomers gain valuable Canadian work
  experience

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Contact Information

• Judith L. MacBride-King
• Principal
• MacBride-King and Associates
• Tel [phone]
• E-mail macbrideking_at_sympatico.ca