Fiera Capita

Caroline Turcotte

As I have officially stepped into my fully dedicatedrole of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, I’ve also been taking a step back to understand and learn about the current reality of this space and what we can expect to see in upcoming year.

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) movement is not new. Like many other HR practitioners, I’ve been involved unofficially in these efforts for years now, even before George Floyd’stragic death in 2020, which accelerated activistefforts and commitment from organizations globally.

What is new is the increased focus on DE&I efforts and the fast evolution of this space.

Data is our differentiator

We all know that what gets measured gets done. To achieve and surpass our HR and DE&I goals, leaders need to frequently assess and review the insights to which they have access.

Tracking diversity of the current workforce is no longer enough. We need to take a deeper look into the diversity of our applications, hiring, retention, promotions, and exit (to name a few)to get better insights on what we should prioritize. And let’s not forget about intersectionality, which creates unique experiences of discrimination and oppression across multiple identity factors.

The face of North America is changing

More than 33 million Americans — about 1 in 10 — identify as being of two or more races, a number that grew by nearly 25 million people in the past decade, according to the 2020 US census. Multiracial people span all different combinations of races and ethnicities and make up the fastest-growing demographic in the country. As for Canada, we welcomed an historic number of newcomers, which will definitely impact our future cultural landscape.

It's hard to predict what this growth is going to do but will require a shift of the way people think about race in our communities.

Current issues are influencing the future

We live in a polarized environment, we are entering a recessionary period, and new societal issues are constantly rising to the surface.Therefore, it is critical to keep our fingers on the pulse of current trends and how they’ll shape the DE&I conversation.

“DE&I is not just “an HR thing”: It’s everyone responsibility and needs to be embedded in the objectives for every department”

As DE&I professionals, we are not in charge of fixing societies. It takes years to see cultural shifts, with ups and downs along the way, but the seeds of change are being planted today. We are making progress, and although we may also see regression, we never go back to the starting line.

The DE&I acronym is expanding

Increasingly, the notion of feeling welcomed and accepted has become an important topic of discussion among professionals in this space, with the inclusion of “B” for “belonging” gaining prominence. In fact, the desired result of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) efforts is to create that sense of belonging. In other words, B cannot exist without DE&I.

DE&I must be embedded in overall business objectives

DE&I is not just “an HR thing”: It’s everyone responsibility and needs to be embedded in the objectives for every department (marketing, customer service, research, etc.). Senior Leadership support is also key in order to ensure that resources and budget are prioritized for DE&I initiatives.

DE&Ifatigue is real

People have a lot of expectations for things that are taking a lot of time to change; a number of requests required by different groups are increasing. As DE&I professionals, we sometimes feel that the whole world weighs on our shoulder.

It is important to manage our fatigue by:

• Networking as much as possible to give ourselves energy
• Defining our individual purpose (our true north)
• Setting boundaries
• Prioritizing our own well-being