Workforce Diversity
Why a Company Must Have a Diverse Staff Recruitment Strategy
A diverse workforce is a workforce that can aid a company in improving its performance in the provincial, national markets and global economy.
In today’s changing and competitive global economy it is important to expand your search for labour. There are obvious and not-so-obvious groups of potential employees that are still either underutilized or overlooked.
Which of these potential labour sources is your company missing out on?
Experienced Workers are those in the plus 45 age bracket and are often called Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers make up approximately 20% of today’s labour pool. They possesses both life and work experience. Along with a record of job performance, skills and work habits they bring with them personal motivation and reliability. The majority of this group may be planning to retire over the next 5 to 10 years. They can be attracted by incentives such as a reduced work week, job sharing, and a change in job duties. Experienced workers also can play an important role in the training and mentoring of new employees in conjunction with succession planning.
Persons with Disabilities include individuals with visible and non visible disabilities. In the province of Alberta only 50% of the approximately 244,000 working age persons with disabilities are employed. Less than 20% of persons with disabilities require supports beyond those provided to other employees. Often it costs less than $500 for an employer to accommodate a disabled employee. When it comes to attendance, job performance and work safety they rate average or better than their non-disabled colleagues. Canadian persons with disabilities have a spending power of $25 billion annually. The major barrier that persons with disabilities face is attitudes and misconceptions. Employers should not let their misconceptions get in their way of hiring the right person for the job.
Aboriginal People are an underutilized section of the Canadian workforce. As the percentage of Aboriginal people obtaining high school and post secondary educations increases, so does their rates of employment. The federal and provincial governments have introduced trade program incentives for Aboriginal people. Combining the trade programs with the ever increasing number of Aboriginals in universities and colleges, employers would be wise not to overlook this growing section of the labour pool.
Immigrants are another source for Canada’s labour pool. The Canadian birth rate has fallen to its lowest level ever recorded. The bottom line of this statistic is Canada must look beyond its borders for skilled and educated workers. Immigrants now make up 20% of the workforce. The world has an increasing pool of skilled labour which Canada is lacking. Economic advantages will be to those employers who tap into global interests, business practices and cultures in order to attract immigrants to their employ.
These are just four groups that have been historically underutilized or overlooked by employers. In today’s labour-strapped market employers are going to have to become flexible and adapt their hiring practices and ways of thinking in order to work with today’s workforce.
