b'DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION: THE NEW NORMAL By Andrew BrooksHow the push for inclusive workplaces is changing the way organizations approach mobilityI ts tough to grab headline space in a year as eventful asSyed cautioned, however, that D&I takes work and aware-2020. Yet while the COVID-19 pandemic has taken theness. Anything you want success with needs to have a formal lions share of column inches, at least one other topic hasstrategy, with priorities and milestones, so that everybody can managed to garner attention, driven by events south of thebe on the same page. Its not a good-to-have; its a must, border and the backlash that followed in their wake. Wereshe stressed. talking about the need to promote diversity and inclusion (D&I) within society and, perhaps more importantly, in business.Ganesan explained that he prefers the term intersectionality to diversity, as peoples identities, like their experiences with The topic was addressed at CERCs 2020 virtual conference in adiscrimination, are layered. Ive battled with intersectionality session titled Diversity and InclusionMore Than Just Buzzwords. Scottfrom childhood because I have multiple identities, he said. Clark, manager of marketing and business development at AtlasIf someone were to say to me Would you rather identify as Canadathe events Platinum Sponsorintroduced the session,a male, or a visible minority, or an LGBTQ2+ member?, I while panelists included an A-list of participants: Rukhsana Syed,dont want to choose between any of them. Im all of those, D&I acceleration leader for IBM Canada, Girish Ganesan, globaland thats what intersectionality represents. Thats why the head of diversity and inclusion and head of talent with TD Bankinclusion aspect of diversity becomes so important. Group, and Christopher Gordon, partner, global business immi-gration with EY LLP, who served as panel moderator. BOTTOM-LINE VALUE Ganesan described TD Banks D&I program as an integral partAnother conference session, D&I Trends in Mobility, advanced of the companys strategic advantage. The culture of care at thethe topic further. Sharon Nakpairat, senior manager, talent bank, he said, ensures everyone is seen, included, appreciatedmobility consulting, BGRS, and Jennifer Rowe, manager, busi-and supported inside and outside the organization. Our commit- ness development, also with BGRS, discussed specific client ment to D&I is grounded in the belief that our future successexperiences with D&I as it relates to talent mobility. They also depends on the engagement of our colleagues, our customerspresented research results from a range of market studies that and the communities we serve, Ganesan said. The inward-facingdemonstrate the impressive bottom-line value of diversity, aspects of the program prioritize engagement, representation andwhich doesnt often garner much attention: the building of an inclusive culture within the organization. Syed pointed to the fact that IBM hired female employees beforeEthnically diverse companies are 35 per cent more likely to women could even vote and that it hired Black salespeople whenyield higher revenue.the role of Black people in the workforce was still a conten-5 7 per cent of employees and 67 per cent of job seekers tious topic. It was also the first IT company to announce trans- on Glassdoor consider the diversity and inclusion of a gender benefits. Inclusion cant happen without that sense ofprospective employer important.belonging, Syed said. Its the concept of not covering, i.e., we can be who we are, whether its me being a Muslim woman and Companies with the highest percentage of racial/genderallowed to wear my hijab to work or an LGBTQ employee whodiversity have higher sales revenues, more customers and can come out in the workplace.above-average market share.12PERSPECTIVES Winter 2020'