Half day open training event held in Mississauga.

1. Avoiding discrimination and
managing equality
by Toronto Training and HR
May 2012

2. 3-4 Introduction to Toronto Training and HR
5-7 Challenges faced by minorities in Canada
Contents 8-11 Examples of discrimination
12-13 Types of discrimination
14-17 Communication and training
18-20 Addressing specific areas
21-24 Age discrimination
25-26 Discrimination on sex, sexual orientation
and gender reassignment
27-31 Mental health and substance abuse
32-37 Stigmas around mental health and
substance abuse
38-40 Obesity
41-43 Ontario Human Rights Commission
44-50 Managing equality issues
51-54 Case studies
55-56 Drill
57-58 Conclusion and questions
Page 2

3. Introduction
Page 3

4. Introduction to Toronto Training
and HR
• Toronto Training and HR is a specialist training and human
resources consultancy headed by Timothy Holden
• 10 years in banking
• 10 years in training and human resources
• Freelance practitioner since 2006
• The core services provided by Toronto Training and HR are:
- Training event design
- Training event delivery
- Reducing costs
- Saving time
- Improving employee engagement & morale
- Services for job seekers
Page 4

5. Challenges faced by
minorities in Canada
Page 5

6. Challenges faced by minorities
in Canada 1 of 2
The lack of representation of minorities in major
corporations and senior institutions, such as
Parliament
The glass ceiling faced by professional women and
persons from ethnic minorities
The overrepresentation of racialized minorities in
prisons and jail
Page 6

7. Challenges faced by minorities
in Canada 2 of 2
The ―discovery‖ by some Canadian police forces
that they have been relying on racial profiling
Canada’s reactive refugee and immigration
policies, often which seem to regard potential new
Canadians with suspicion
The lack of recognition of professional credentials
received in other countries, thus resulting in
underemployment of new Canadians
Page 7

8. Examples of discrimination
Page 8

9. Examples of discrimination
1 of 3
Rejecting applications from persons with physical
disabilities on the assumption that they cannot
adequately do the job
Asking only female applicants about their day-care
arrangements
Isolating co-workers because of their sexual
orientation
Page 9

10. Examples of discrimination
2 of 3
Denying women promotions to management
because the employer believes women are not
committed to their careers
Refusing to hire persons of certain cultural
backgrounds because the employer is
uncomfortable with their perceived differences
from the "majority" of employees
Page 10

11. Examples of discrimination
3 of 3
Rejecting applications of graduate students from
certain cultures because some group-differences
research suggests that they are less intelligent
than candidates from other cultures
Evaluating students negatively because the
instructor disapproves of their political beliefs or
cultural perspectives
Denigrating ethno-cultural contributions to
academic fields of study and subject material
Page 11

12. Types of discrimination
Page 12

13. Types of discrimination
Direct
Indirect
Associative
Perceptive
Victimization
Harassment
Page 13

14. Communication and
training
Page 14

15. Communication and training
1 of 3
Make it clear what standards of behaviour are
required of everyone, what kinds of behaviour will
not be tolerated and the consequences of breaking
the behaviour codes
Ensure line managers understand their particular
roles in addressing all incidents of harassment and
bullying and making sure all employees
understand their personal responsibility to treat
colleagues with respect
Page 15

16. Communication and training
2 of 3
Use a variety of communication methods and
channels to do this
Seek to monitor the diversity of the workforce by
asking employees for relevant personal
information, guaranteeing confidentiality and that
it will not be used to disadvantage people unfairly
Be seen to act proactively and fairly on all
incidents of harassment and bullying
Page 16

17. Communication and training
3 of 3
Consider employees networking and support
groups as a way of making sure employees
understand diversity issues and take them
seriously in ways that focus on business needs
Make equality and diversity policies and
statements easily accessible to all
Page 17

18. Addressing specific areas
Page 18

19. Addressing specific areas 1 of 2
Ensure recruitment and selection processes are fair
and diversity friendly
Take care in drafting advertisements to avoid
discrimination and stereotyping through language
and images and aim to attract candidates from
diverse sources
Indicate if any occupational requirements apply.
Operate transparent and consistent appraisal and
performance management processes
Page 19

20. Addressing specific areas 2 of 2
Have clear career paths including promotion and
training opportunities for all employees
Revise policies and procedures and terms and
conditions of employment to ensure fairness and
legal compliance
For example, reward and recognition
policies, flexible working practices, dress code and
the design of corporate uniforms
Page 20

21. Age discrimination
Page 21

22. Age discrimination 1 of 3
Definition
IT CAN:
affect anybody regardless of how old they are
adversely affect employment
opportunities, especially those of older people and
younger people
result in failure to consider skills-based
abilities, potential and experience in the workplace
result in significant legal costs and compensation
Page 22

23. Age discrimination 2 of 3
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EMPLOYERS
Recruitment and selection
Medical advice
Reward
Learning and development
Promotion
Attrition of employees
Layoffs
Page 23

24. Age discrimination 3 of 3
ACTION PLAN
Review
Policy
Key actions
Page 24

25. Discrimination on
sex, sexual orientation
and gender reassignment
Page 25

26. Discrimination on sex, sexual
orientation and gender
reassignment
Definition
IT CAN:
adversely affect employment opportunities, for
example those of women and people who are
lesbian, gay or transgender
result in failure to consider skills-based abilities,
potential and experience in the workplace
result in significant legal costs and compensation
Page 26

27. Mental health and
substance abuse
Page 27

28. Mental health and substance
abuse 1 of 4
One person in five in Canada (over 6 million
people) will have a mental health problem during
their lifetime
One person in seven Canadians aged 15 and older
(about 3.5 million people) have alcohol-related
problems
One in 20 (about 1.5 million) have cannabis-
related concerns
Page 28

29. Mental health and substance
abuse 2 of 4
Some have problems with cocaine, speed, ecstasy
(and other hallucinogens), heroin and other illegal
drugs
Mental health and substance use problems affect
people of all ages, education and income
levels, religions, cultures and types of jobs
Page 29

30. Mental health and substance
abuse 3 of 4
REASONS PEOPLE DEVELOP PROBLEMS
Some are genetic or biological—people are born
with them
Some come from people’s experiences—such as
stressful situations in their childhood, at school or
work
Some come from places where they lived with
injustice, violence or war
Sometimes we simply don’t know why
Page 30

31. Mental health and substance
abuse 4 of 4
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Know the facts
Be aware of your attitudes and behaviour
Choose your words carefully
Educate others
Focus on the positive
Support people
Include everyone
Page 31

32. Stigmas around mental
health and substance
abuse
Page 32

33. Stigmas around mental health
and substance abuse 1 of 5
Definition
Stigma includes:
having fixed ideas and
fearing and avoiding what we don’t
Prejudice and discrimination
Page 33

34. Stigmas around mental health
and substance abuse 2 of 5
LIMITS PEOPLE’S ABILITIES TO:
Get and keep a job
Get and keep a safe place to live
Get health care (including treatment for substance
use and mental health problems) and other
support
Be accepted by their family, friends and
community
Page 34

35. Stigmas around mental health
and substance abuse 3 of 5
LIMITS PEOPLE’S ABILITIES TO:
Find and make friends or have other long-term
relationships
Take part in social activities
Page 35

36. Stigmas around mental health
and substance abuse 4 of 5
BECOMING INTERNALIZED:
This leads them to:
believe the negative things that other people and
the media say about them (self-stigma)
have lower self-esteem because they feel guilt and
shame
Page 36

37. Stigmas around mental health
and substance abuse 5 of 5
KEEPING PROBLEMS SECRET:
As a result:
they avoid getting the help they need
their mental health or substance use problems are
less likely to decrease or go away
Page 37

38. Obesity
Page 38

39. Obesity 1 of 2
SOME PEOPLE THINK:
poor self-discipline
low supervisory potential
poor personal hygiene
less ambition and productivity
Page 39

40. Obesity 2 of 2
TYPES OF DISCRIMINATION:
becoming the target of derogatory comments and
jokes by employers and coworkers
being fired for failure to lose weight
being penalized for weight, through company
benefits programs
Page 40

41. Ontario Human Rights
Commission
Page 41

42. Ontario Human Rights
Commission 1 of 2
Age
Aboriginal people
Employment rights
Family status
Gender identity
Housing
Mental health
Page 42

43. Ontario Human Rights
Commission 2 of 2
Pregnancy and breastfeeding
Race
Religion
Sex
Sexual orientation
Page 43

44. Managing equality issues
Page 44

45. Managing equality issues 1 of 6
ACTIONS SHOULD FOCUS ON:
Create a culture of respect and dignity of all
employees through effective implementation of
well designed policies and procedures which
support both individual and business needs
Foster respect to realize different perspectives
matter, and that diversity is everyone’s
responsibility
Make the business case for diversity – view this as
an opportunity, not a threat
Page 45

46. Managing equality issues 2 of 6
ACTIONS SHOULD FOCUS ON:
Assign senior level responsibilities for driving
diversity issues and allocate appropriate resources
to drive change
Think inclusively when designing diversity policies
and procedures to ensure they are transparent,
fair and address different needs
Continually check that policies and practices are
bias free and fairand working across the
organization
Page 46

47. Managing equality issues 3 of 6
ENGAGING PERSONAL COMMITMENT:
Making person standards of behaviour clear to
everyone through regular and appropriate
communications methods
Emphasizing the role of line managers in making
sure policies and practices are acted on
Providing suitable training to ensure people
understand what equality and race and religious
diversity are and how to respond to issues
Page 47

48. Managing equality issues 4 of 6
ENGAGING PERSONAL COMMITMENT:
Participative workshops, events and campaigns are
useful-it is not sufficient to simply send an email
saying that a policy is available
Auditing the employee profile to check how diverse
this is by monitoring personal characteristics in an
open voluntary and honest way provides hard
management data on which to judge progress
Page 48

49. Managing equality issues 5 of 6
ENGAGING PERSONAL COMMITMENT:
Employees need to feel confident in providing
personal information and have assurances that
such information will be treated sensitively and in
confidence and not be used against them in a
discriminatory way
Do not tolerate harassment and bullying and be
seen to act when incidents arise
Page 49

50. Managing equality issues 6 of 6
ENGAGING PERSONAL COMMITMENT:
Consider introducing diversity support networks to
identify ways of managing diversity issues in ways
that add value to the business
Make equality policies and statements easily
accessible
Page 50

51. Case study A
Page 51

52. Case study A
Page 52

53. Case study B
Page 53

54. Case study B
Page 54

55. Drill
Page 55

56. Drill
Page 56

57. Conclusion and questions
Page 57

58. Conclusion and questions
Summary
Videos
Questions
Page 58