Employers may see DEI as an easy target for cuts, but these actions could result in poor employee morale and loss of young talent.Anchiy/Getty Images
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As the business sector navigates an uncertain economy, organizations across the country are no doubt strategizing how budgets can be tightened.
While diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives might seem like an easy target for cuts, employers may not be prepared for the short- and long-term consequences, says Jennifer Anthony.
“If companies see it as a quick and easy solution, they’re taking a big risk,” says Anthony, senior vice-president at FleishmanHillard HighRoad and chair of the HR and governance committee at Pride at Work Canada, a non-profit that works with employers to celebrate all employees regardless of gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation.
Companies that shut down active DEI work are demonstrating to women, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQ+ and disabled employees that they’re no longer valuable, says Anthony. De-prioritizing diversity can alter perceptions of the workplace and its brand, leading to employees losing interest in their workplaces.
“[Employees] start to look at their leaders and go, ‘Are you sure? What does that mean about what you think about my role here?’” says Anthony.
Read the full article for more on how DEI cuts hurt individuals and jeopardize businesses too.
How much money do I need to take a career break?
For Toronto-based accountant Sonia Datta, the first signs of burnout began to crop up in early 2020. “I was just working all the time, doing everything possible to keep the company afloat – I was so exhausted,” said Ms. Datta, whose senior role in the financial department at Arctic Kingdom, a company specializing in tours to the North, went into high gear during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I made a decision that I would take a year off after COVID, so I budgeted and saved $35,000 for about 13 months,” said Ms. Datta. “I didn’t expect that seven months into my break the mortgage rates would rise that much – it went up like 60 per cent.”
While recent studies from LinkedIn suggest that 62 per cent of employees are following in Ms. Datta’s footsteps by taking a career break, a lack of proper budgeting and contingency planning will make the time off anything but restful.
“If you need $3,000 a month to stay afloat, and you want to take six months off, $18,000 is the bare minimum,” says Jonathan Lazeo, a Vancouver-based certified financial planner at Freedom 55 Financial.
Read more on how to prepare financially for a career break.
Mejuri founder Noura Sakkijha on the causes close to her heart
Since its launch in 2015, fine and semi-fine jewellery brand Mejuri has trumpeted the message “Buy yourself the damn diamond,” according to CEO and co-founder Noura Sakkijha. Yet the Toronto-headquartered company – which in a matter of weeks opened its largest retail store to date, released its newest dance-inspired collection, unveiled its first Sustainability Report and announced investment in regenerative mining – has evolved to champion activism above and beyond encouraging women to buy jewellery for themselves as a simple celebration of life (and not something to wait around for another person to gift them).
The brand has also introduced its own Empowerment Fund to support education for women and non-binary folks in Canada and the United States; it has signed the sustainability-focused UN Global Compact – the first Canadian jewellery brand to do so, as well as the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles. And last month, Mejuri became the sole jewellery partner of Regeneration, a remining initiative from the NGO Resolve. We caught up with Sakkijha in the wake of these monumental developments to hear more about why they’re causes close to her heart, as well as what other points of advocacy she’s passionate about.
Read more in this story from the Off Duty series, featuring lively conversations with influential people on life, work and the art of taking time off.
In case you missed it
Burnt-out Canadian nurses are shipping out for better working conditions and pay
When it comes to her work life, Maha Hassan is in a better place. She quit her job as an emergency room nurse at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto earlier this year to work as a travel nurse at a hospital in Texas. Now, she is getting paid three times her salary in Canada and working only three shifts a week – 36 hours – as opposed to the punishing 70-80 hours she was working in Toronto.
“I can choose to work only day shifts. This has worked out much better for my quality of life, my sleeping schedule,” says Ms. Hassan. “In Ontario, you must work two days shifts, two nights and then you get five days off. I would spend most of my time just recovering from these shifts because we wouldn’t get breaks and had very sick people come in during the night.”
She says it wasn’t an easy decision to move away from her family.
“I really miss my family. There’s a lot of key moments that I’m missing out on and that’s a sacrifice. No one should be put in such a position,” she says. Fortunately, her husband, who works in finance, can work remotely and has made the move to Texas with her.
Read the full article.
Want to be a better leader? Stop trying to be someone you’re not
When Morgan Klein-MacNeil first landed a senior leadership position at the bank where she worked, she had three go-to shirts set aside for days she would speak in front of her large team.
They were specifically chosen to cover the hives that covered her neck and chest.
“My body was literally rebelling against the fact that I needed to talk to a large group of people that worked for me,” she says. “I felt like, ‘Oh, they’re going to find me out. Everyone here knows more than I do and I’m supposed to be their boss.’”
Ms. Klein-MacNeil was in her twenties when she landed her first executive position and she tried hard to lead like her peers, all of whom were at least two decades older than her. It was a white shirt, navy blue suit (and mostly male) crowd she was trying to emulate, and it just wasn’t working.
Read the full article.
Ask Women and Work
Question: I am non-binary and I recently started a job at a new organization. I let my employer know my pronouns when I was hired, but people in the office commonly refer to me as she/her rather than they/them. I don’t want to make a huge issue out of it because I want to create good connections in my new workplace, but I would really appreciate people using my correct pronouns. How should I approach this issue with my manager, and also my colleagues?
We asked Tara Robertson, leadership coach and principal at Tara Robertson Consulting, to field this one:
Congrats on the new job! First, I want to affirm that having people use your pronouns correctly is a mark of basic respect. I totally understand wanting to start off on the right foot in building strong relationships at your new job, and you shouldn’t have to diminish yourself to do that.
Being new means that you’re meeting people for the first time, so you have the opportunity to share your pronouns and ask people theirs.
I would have a frank conversation with your manager that people are using the wrong pronouns for you and ask them for their support. Your manager can have your back by correcting people when you’re not in the room. You two might brainstorm some additional ways that they can support you.
If you’re comfortable, you can add your pronouns to your organization’s internal directory, email signature or your Slack profile, so that information is there and your colleagues can look it up if they forget. If it’s not common for people to share their pronouns internally, you might ask your manager, or HR directly, to start being deliberate about non-binary and trans inclusion. This is extra labour that you likely weren’t hired to do, so think about where your boundaries are. You may want to send them a resource and encourage them to hire an expert to help them, or maybe you’re willing to be involved in crafting policy. Honour your boundaries.
If you’re experiencing any hostility or deliberate ignorance, talk to your manager or HR. You were hired because you’re awesome and you shouldn’t have to put up with that.
Submit your own questions to Ask Women and Work by e-mailing us at GWC@globeandmail.com.
