Saskatoon study finds 'disconnect' on improving workplace diversity

University of Saskatchewan researchers have found that while most people support the idea of diversity in the workplace, there’s still a long way to go to get there.

Jason Disano is the director of the Canadian Hub of Applied and Social Research, the group that completed the study in December. The study shows 82 per cent of those surveyed like the idea of hiring as many diverse groups of people for jobs as possible.

However, that likely won’t translate into more minorities such as Indigenous peoples, new Canadians, women, LGBTQ+ members or people living with disabilities being hired.

“There’s a bit of a disconnect. People tend to be less supportive of these issues when they see that real-world impact on themselves as individuals,” Disano told CTV News. An example would be losing out on a job to someone in a minority category.

In addition, 60 per cent of respondents said employers should consider only how qualified a candidate is even if it results in less diversity.

Hanif Hemani, the director of Express Employment Professionals, a local staffing and recruitment company, sees this as a lost opportunity given that in many cases job profiles need to be rethought.

“If the role itself has changed, the technology has changed, the competencies have changed the competitors have changed, the landscape has changed, and regulations have changed so why is the job profile the same?”

His answer is to make changes so qualified minorities are not being overlooked unfairly. In the case of a person with a disability, Hemani says, a business could tailor the job to include working from home, which the pandemic has made more mainstream.

“We need to change the job profiles to better meet the qualifications of folks entering the workplace,” he said.

Similarly, the executive director at the Gabriel Dumont Institute (GDI), Lisa Bird-Wilson, said in order to get qualified people in the correct positions, employers need to be proactive in their approach and learn how to incorporate different cultures in the workplace which can be done through education.

“Now is the time absolutely. It’s always been the time. If the labour market is looking for workers, then Metis and First Nations employees and workers are ready to go to work,” she told CTV News.

GDI offers employers training to meet the needs of Indigenous workers as well as apprenticeships.

“We’ve had a lot of really good success in the trades. In the areas where it hasn’t always been open or hospitable for Indigenous workers to work,” she said.