The Responsible Investment Association is creating a statement on diversity and inclusion and inviting Canadian institutional investors to sign on. The initial signatories of the statement, which is currently circulating, include the Alberta Investment Management Corp. the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the OPSEU Pension Trust and the University of Toronto Asset Management among others. The RIA said investors have […]
Vodacom Group, a South African telecommunications firm, is providing all global employees with 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. Employees will be able to take the leave if they or their partner are having a baby, adopting a child or becoming a parent through surrogacy. They can take […]
BMO Financial Group is introducing a new diversity strategy that sets goals to address gaps affecting Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, Latino and LGBTQ2+ employees, customers and communities. The new benchmarks and plans, which expand the bank’s multi-year diversity strategy set in 2017, includes doubling company-wide representation of Black senior leaders, accelerating Indigenous talent strategies, […]
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Scotiabank kicked the expansion of its existing childcare offering for employees into high gear. “Given the bank has announced that anyone who’s working remotely will continue to do so until the end of 2020 minimum, we wanted to make sure we had some extra options available for employees since working remotely […]
The coronavirus pandemic has pushed women’s participation in the labour force down to its lowest level in three decades and rebounding won’t be easy, according to a new study by the Royal Bank of Canada. The report showed 1.5 million Canadian women lost their jobs in the first two months of the pandemic and said […]
In June 2017, the federal government amended the Canadian Human Rights Act to strengthen protections against employment discrimination for LGBTQ+ individuals, forbidding employers across all jurisdictions to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. While the protections and language used by organizations can vary, the intent of the protections is […]
In 2019, Telus Communications Inc. bumped up its combined lifetime plan maximum per employee for fertility benefits to $15,000 for both treatment procedures and drugs. “More than anything, it’s just recognizing that we want to be a good place for women to work,” says Carol Craig, director of pensions and benefits at Telus. Generally, Canadian […]
In recent years, investing with a gender lens has become far more popular among institutional investors. “Part of it is awareness and part of it is some of the performance,” said Jackie VanderBrug, managing director and head of sustainable and impact investment strategy at Bank of America Corp., during a webinar hosted by the Forum for […]
Around International Women’s Day, many Canadian employers are once again talking about the importance of equality in the workplace. However, a new survey by Mercer, which polled senior leaders, human resources executives and employees around the globe, found there are many areas where companies could be doing more to make work more equitable for all. It found slightly more […]
A substantial wage gap between men and women continues to exist in Canada, according to a new study commissioned by ADP Canada Co. Based on self-reported numbers, the study found women earned an average pre-tax salary of $51,352 in 2019, while men reported an average pre-tax salary of $67,704 — a gap of 24 per cent. […]