Don't just hire, but include

Photo: Kirk Penton

Cicely Blain chats with Kelowna chamber president Carmen Sparg (left) and Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran.

Hiring minorities is the easy part.

Including them enough to make them want to stay, however, is the next big quest for Canadian employers.

Canada is becoming more diverse by the day, which means the workforce is following a similar path. Immigrants are one of the country’s greatest untapped resources, and companies are starting to get on board.

One of the biggest challenges after that hire, though, is including them in the workplace and making them feel part of the family.

“It’s about: Can people progress within the organization? Can they get leadership roles? Do they want to stay?” said Vancouver’s Cicely Blain, a diversity and inclusion consultant who was in Kelowna earlier this month to deliver the keynote speech at Ignite Okanagan, an employer symposium sponsored by Kelowna Chamber of Commerce.

For more on this story, visit Okanagan Edge.