2024 Employer Summit – An Overview
“Unlocking Potential: Leveraging Employer Leadership for Immigrant’s Economic Inclusion.”
On March 26, 2024, the Annual Employer Council of Champions Summit engaged 100 senior executives, human resources professionals and stakeholders from private, public and non-profit sectors in a discussion on the theme “Unlocking Potential: Leveraging Employer Leadership for Immigrant’s Economic Inclusion.” This was set around Canada’s ambitious goal of welcoming about 1.5 million immigrants in the next three years. Speakers and experts shared their insights, experiences, best practices and strategies for building inclusive workplaces that effectively attracts, hires, and integrates immigrants
Keynote Address
Dr. Rupa Banerjee, an Associate Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University, delivered the Summit Keynote Address. She shed light on the challenges faced by immigrants in Canada, such as unemployment, underemployment, earnings gap and the role of employers in fostering economic inclusion and belonging. She emphasized the impact employers have on immigrants’ economic outcomes and integration, referencing recent research that indicates an increasing outmigration of recent cohorts of immigrants in part due to adverse economic experiences.
Dr. Banerjee urged participants not to take Canada’s perception as a model immigration society for granted, noting a growing narrative among immigrants and Canadians that indicate a lack of welcome and feelings of belonging. She highlighted the disconnect between the rhetoric of diversity and inclusion initiatives amongst employers versus the day-to-day reality for immigrants in the workplace as characterized by surface level diversity initiatives that do not meet the needs of immigrants. The tendency for “similar to me bias” or homophily amongst employers, and belief in a particular kind of meritocracy that evaluates the merits of immigrant employees via a “Canadian” behavioural and experience lens.
Dr. Banerjee called on employers to recognize the changing demographics of Canadian society that is characterized by large numbers of immigrants and ensure their workplaces and practices reflect these realities. She proposed practical recommendations for employers, such as tapping into immigrant networks, mentoring newcomers, foster two-way (employer and employee) cultural exchanges, and reevaluate the criteria by which “organizational” and “cultural fit” are measured. Dr. Banerjee emphasized the need for employers to bridge the gap between diversity and inclusion expectations and realities in workplaces to retain talent and prevent brain drain.
Panel Discussion – Addressing Barriers to Immigrant Inclusion
A panel of experts provided practical and actionable strategies for addressing barriers and maximizing immigrant talent, sharing best practices to fostering diverse and inclusive workplaces. These strategies, applicable to any organization, have proven effective in unlocking the potential of skilled immigrants in Canada.
Mengistab Tsegaye, Executive Director of World Skills Employment Centre, emphasized the need for a more strategic approach to tapping into Ottawa’s immigrant talent pool, highlighting the youthfulness and high education levels of recent cohort immigrants, along with their global experience. He made a strong case for paid internships for newcomers, citing the Federal internship for Newcomers (FIN) program as a successful model and encouraged the establishment of networks like the Employer Council of Champions to support immigrant integration.
Steph Barlow, Chief People Officer at Iversoft, shared successful strategies for attracting, hiring, and onboarding skilled immigrants, stressing the importance of authentic diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. She emphasized the value of diversity as a cultural asset and challenged traditional hiring practices to focus on skills, experience, passion, innovation and to do away with educational requirements for certain kinds of jobs. Steph argued that embracing immigrant talent is crucial for organizational growth and urged employers to disrupt outdated norms.
Louise Summers, Regional Vice President at RBC Royal Bank, highlighted RBC’s commitment to inclusion through mandatory DEI training and the formation of a Newcomer Team to support immigrants in both work and community integration. She underscored the importance of diverse representation within employee teams to better serve communities.
The panelists emphasized the need for conversation, advocacy for legislative change, and collaborative efforts among employers to truly embrace immigrant talent. They stressed the integration of DEI initiatives into organizational values and practices rather than treating them as standalone initiatives.
Participant Engagement
The Summit concluded with participants sharing strategies and practices for unlocking immigrant talent including outreach to diverse communities, attraction, recruitment, onboarding, training, and career advancement and retention. Summary of Participant Discussions.
