This Resource Page is designed to supplement nabs' DEI Learning Hub and help us advance inclusion in our industry. It's also applicable to anyone regardless of their industry, who wants to become a more inclusive leader.
This Resource Page is designed to supplement nabs' DEI Learning Hub and help us advance inclusion in our industry. It's also applicable to anyone regardless of their industry, who wants to become a more inclusive leader.
Our industry is experiencing a hiring frenzy right now, as we rebound from a global pandemic and all the human and financial impacts associated with these uncertain times. We have a shortage of people to fill the available positions, and the notion of reducing turnover and retention of staff is an ongoing challenge across Canada. During the pandemic, many in our industry restated and reconfirmed their commitment to inclusion, equity, and diversion, and while we’ve made strides, there is still work to be done, to impact diversity in our industry.
Retention of diverse talent is an opportunity to elevate vs. a problem to be solved.
A model of talent abundance led to decades of talent abuse in the twentieth century, and this traditional perspective on talent management continues to foster bias and exclusion while fueling highly toxic cultures that corrode creativity, innovation, and growth. The twenty-first century—driven by the knowledge, information, and culture industries—demands that company leaders and managers adopt a talent scarcity model that puts the onus on them to acknowledge and nurture the human complexity of a talent force that is the engine of growth in a multicultural and global market.
The focus on diversity without first pursuing inclusion harms everyone. The public focus on the retention of Black talent, while well-intended, is deepening the chasm between Black talent and their white counterparts, many of whom were primed by the talent abundance model to see diversity as a zero-sum game. More importantly, this question suggests that Black and white talent don’t want the same things from their work experience and careers.
Inconsistently applied inclusion, equity, and diversity efforts can undermine impact and deepen the trust gap between you, your leadership team, and managers. Amplified by years of talent abuse, this trust gap will be hard to overcome without transformational change in the way you recruit, hire, evaluate, and advance talent. You might think this crisis of credibility is a relatively new phenomenon among your white employees, but it has been, is, and will continue to be a lingering reality with Black, Brown, and female talent who have suffered the consequences of these inconsistencies more acutely.
The relationship between your leadership and your talent force should be a two-way street, not a highway and a bike path. Black talent feels the frustration of decades of neglect, managerial ineptitude, and indifference more keenly than their white colleagues. However, the lack of career satisfaction reported by the talent force as a whole fuels resistance to diversity efforts, which then pushes Black talent out the door. The key to retaining talent is fostering a corporate culture where ALL talent sees real benefits from individualized, equitable programs that support job and career success for everyone, and a leadership mindset that elevates the relevant differences among talent to reflect and meet the needs of a multicultural and global market.
Organizations seeking to employ people with lived experience can often be undermined by their own recruitment and hiring practices, which can exclude certain candidates by design. For example, people with mental illness may have gaps in their work histories – something that can raise flags and make it more difficult to get hired. But job candidates who have gaps in their work histories may have been dealing with personal challenges that enable them to offer fresh perspectives and make unique contributions. Unless an organization examines its standard procedures, it can miss out on such opportunities.
Any of the above can “hinder” workplace diversity. When combined, they can make progress virtually impossible.
Because, if you are intentionally including those who are most likely to run into barriers at your office, you will see an overall increase in employee retention.
For example:
The inclusive language you use in your job description adds many more women to your candidate pipeline because they aren’t turned off by words like “hacker” or “competitive”.
Inclusivity: an intention or policy of including people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who are handicapped or learning-disabled, or racial and sexual minorities.
Fact: If you create a workplace that is accessible and inclusive for the employees who have traditionally been excluded, the workplace becomes better for everyone.
Fact: Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.
Fact: Flexible schedules reduce absenteeism, improve employee’s health, and increase retention of productive employees. Employees who have even a small degree of flexibility in when and where work got done had significantly greater job satisfaction, stronger commitment to the job, and higher levels of engagement with the company, as well as significantly lower levels of stress.
Fact: Language is one of the most powerful tools we have as humans. It binds us. Instructs us. When used well, it creates a common understanding. It is essential for creating an environment where everyone feels welcome and included.
Historically, language has left many out. We can do better. Inclusive language seeks to treat all people with respect, dignity, and impartiality. It is constructed to bring everyone into the group and exclude no none.
It does ask something of us. It asks us to try.
Fact: it’s a great way to create more diverse leadership. A Harvard Business Review study found that formal mentoring programs within organizations boosted representation of women and POC in management on average by 9 to 24 percent.
It’s easy to assume we know what’s best for our employees, based on our own experiences and insights, but you know what happens when you assume things.
We’re all different. The employee who thrives with clear instructions needs different management than the employee who needs space and autonomy to do their best work. The employee with dependents needs different benefits than the employee nearing retirement. The employee who is new to your company experiences it in a very different way than a long-term employee.
You can use surveys, focus groups, shadowing, and interviews – whatever you need to develop a clear picture of what your employees need to be successful in your organization.
Orientation is an event that takes place within the employee’s first couple of days, or maybe weeks.
Onboarding is the process of integrating a new employee with a company and its culture, as well as getting a new hire the tools and information needed to become a productive member of the team. Onboarding is a process which is longer in length lasting anywhere from six months to one year or more. Experts say how employers handle the first few days and months of a new employee’s experience is crucial to ensuring high retention.
What does success look like? A successful onboarding program will include things like:
Ensure you are considering all angles:
Overall objective of onboarding is to ensure the employee feels connected to the organization, builds key relationships, and understands how he/she/they fit into the overall mission and values. Emotional: the feeling the person takes away from their experience – “happy, satisfied, and wanting to return again in the future”
Tip from an Employer: “Right from the interview or Day 1 at work, we approach it from the perspective of ‘what do you need to succeed?’ And we ask that question on an ongoing basis, like “what do you need today, to feel successful?” And not just feel successful, but well. To do well.”
There are two main goals on the first day:
This can be achieved by:
HR should be in regular contact with the employee’s supervisor to check progress and offer any coaching that may be required to enhance the onboarding process.
HR should have a one month check in with the new hire to:
Fact: Nearly 90% of new employees decide whether to stay or go within the first six months. Showing you sincerely care, welcome feedback of any kind, will help the retention process and positively impact the new employee’s decision.
Design a program that will evoke a positive perception of your organization.
Review your current practices and ask yourself these questions:
Connecting your Mission, Vision, and Values/The Takeaway you Want to Create
What emotional takeaway do you want to create?
What perceptual takeaway do you want to create?
Make it Count
The onboarding process is an organization’s opportunity to make an exceptional first impression. You want to ensure the new employee feels welcomed valued and prepared for what is expected of them and doesn’t have to learn the “hard way”.
Train Supervisors to Manage the Onboarding Process
Include supervisors and managers in the design of the onboarding process, gather their input into what they think critical elements for new hires are. Train supervisors on how to manage and respect the onboarding process to ensure it is a top priority and reflects the organization positively.
This program focuses on helping newcomers to Canada understand the Canadian employment market, how and where their skills fit into the employment market, how to consider/position/communicate their skills/experiences for optimal results and how to build a long-term successful career in the Canadian marketplace.
The purpose of this program is to provide the individual with:
To accommodate the evolving needs of nabs community, there will be 3 provided program options, based on differing levels of content and engagement. This program will be highly customized to the groups of 10 participants, and it is anticipated that we will move fluidly between all three options depending on the changing needs of the group, this will help us refine our offering for future participants. Other resources will be provided about the industry in Canada. We anticipate having guest speakers from various disciplines speak to the participants, to provide context around the various roles creative/account/strategy/media.
*UPDATED* Submission deadline for our inaugural cohort: July 15th, 2022
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEl) are more than buzzwords. When put into practice effectively, DEl initiatives can help create stronger teams, healthier cultures, and more successful organizations. The question is, how do you get there?
This Learning Hub is designed for leaders who are new to DEl or want to build upon their skills. It’s also applicable to anyone at the manager level, regardless of their industry, who wants to become a more inclusive leader.
Starting with the basics, this Learning Hub explains why DEl is important and outlines how to build the DEl business case. Once you have gained the foundational DEI knowledge and have a better understanding of the landscape, it delves into how you can drive change at the organizational or manager level with specific strategies and actions.
This Learning Hub is led by LifeSpeak experts with vast experience helping leaders and employers to move the needle on DEI. It will take you from a place of awareness and equip you to become a DEl leader, advocate, or ally.
A user is guided through a series of expert-led content modalities (video, tip sheets, blog posts, etc.) at their own pace; upon completion of the playlist they will have gained valuable knowledge and gleaned practical tips that they can implement in their own lives straight away.
Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores the different histories and contemporary perspectives of Indigenous peoples living in Canada. From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores complex experiences Indigenous peoples face today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations. Topics for the 12 lessons include the fur trade and other exchange relationships, land claims and environmental impacts, legal systems and rights, political conflicts and alliances, Indigenous political activism, and contemporary Indigenous life, art and its expressions.
Developed by Four Canadian diversity and inclusion advocacy groups: The Black Business and Professional Association; The Canadian Congress on Diversity and Workplace Equity; Pride at Work; and Ryerson University’s Diversity Institute, with Zulu Alpha Kilo for strategy and creative, Zulubot for production and post-production, along with Pirate Toronto for audio.
The Micropedia of Microaggressions website offering comprehensive information and guidance about microaggressions. The micropedia is meant to raise awareness and provide more people with a better understanding of microaggressions. The site includes definitions, information and examples from culture, media, and daily interactions in nine different “volumes”: 2SLGBTQ+, Age, Class-Based, Disability, Ethnicity, Gender, Indigenous, Race, and Religion.
In this video, people talk about their experiences with microaggressions before being introduced to the micropedia. The video ends with the line: “Unlearning starts here”
Start browsing this resource to learn more about microaggressions and their impact.
The team hopes to offer it in French soon, please stay tuned!
Independent film and cultural content studio BADLANDS has released this anti-racism short, All The Little Things.
Based on the real experiences of people of colour (PoC) working in the advertising and creative industry, the film is the first piece of work created as part of the studio’s RAW initiative (Racism at Work), which is volunteer-led and aims to promote openness about race and mental wellness through storytelling.
The people that respond to calls on our dedicated supportline, are all professional clinicians and can help you access counselling. The more you share at intake, the better they will be able to find you a clinician who has experience to help you – the supportline will do it’s utmost to find you a clinician with diverse, lived experience wherever possible.
A directory of fee for service BIPOC therapists who are committed to supporting BIPOC mental health.
Togetherall provides a clinically monitored, online peer to peer mental health community that empowers individuals to anonymously see and provide support 24/7.
POCAM exists to ensure the voice, vision and talent of BIPOC professionals are fully and fairly present in Canadian Advertising and Marketing. POCAM was founded as an industry organization in 2020 by Alyssa Dominique, Stephanie Small, Joshua Richards, Julian Franklin, Justin Senior and Gavin Barrett. It was incorporated as a NFP in early 2021. The organization has its online roots in the POCA LinkedIn Group launched by Stephanie Small in 2019. POCAM is over 1200 members and growing.
POCAM (People of Colour in Advertising & Marketing) is pleased to present the 2nd Annual Visible & Vocal study, the only industry study that focuses on the profile, perspectives, and experiences of Canadian BIPOC advertising and marketing professionals. Moderated by POCAM co-founder Julian Franklin, and led by data scientist Chasson Gracie alongside POCAM Steering Committee member Chino Nnadi, this 1-hour report will highlight outstanding takeaways from the comprehensive survey. The year 2021 was another year of racial, and social unrest that impacted the lives of Canadian BIPOC professionals in the industry. Hear BIPOC experiences, and walk with us as we examine what actions are needed to advance and recognize BIPOC contributions in 2022. Because sometimes, being seen begins with being heard.
Black Talent Initiative (BTI) is a volunteer-driven, social impact organization committed to delivering professional development, mentorship and community for Black talent seeking career advancement. Volunteers and partners across North America collaborate with BTI to create connections and career opportunities for Black talent. An MH3 Collective venture, BTI was born of shared compassion, lived experience, and a vision to inspire equitable, anti-racist workplaces for today and tomorrow.
The MH3 Collective is a group of ventures inspired and co-founded by Mark Harrison. From advertising and sponsorship marketing to integrated communications and education, each company shares a collective consciousness that focuses on empowering people, promoting social equity and reimagining a world where entrepreneurial passion and purpose comes to life.
The 20Doors Scholarship Fund was launched by Zulu Alpha Kilo Founder and Chief Creative Officer Zak Mroueh. Founded in 2008, Zulu Alpha Kilo has built a reputation as one of the most respected independent agencies in the world. The company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is rooted in the belief that more diversity leads to better creativity.
When starting his career in the late-1980s, Mroueh faced a number of barriers to landing a creative job in advertising. In fact, he was told he’d never make it in the business because he didn’t have the right credentials, background or connections to get his foot in the door. The 20Doors Scholarship Fund is his agency’s way of giving back to the industry by opening the door for 20 of the best and brightest minds.
BIPOC Canadians are underrepresented in the ad industry. Many of these young minds never even consider a career as an advertising creative. Why? Because often there is no door for them to enter the industry.
The 20Doors Scholarship Fund is about opening doors for new voices. The initiative will cover the tuition for four BIPOC candidates each year, over the next five years, to complete a year-long post-graduate program in copywriting or art direction. Additionally, Zulu Alpha Kilo will provide recipients with the mentorship they need to start a successful career in advertising.