Employment Equity Annual Report - 2019-2020

1 Introduction

As required under the Employment Equity Act, the NRC reports annually on its progress towards achieving a representative workforce.

The annual report includes workforce analysis of employment equity (EE) designated groups - women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities by EE occupational groups (EEOG), geographic regions, salary range, as well as share of hires, promotions and terminations.

The workforce data in this report includes indeterminate employees and employees with terms of 3 months or more. The report does not include data on students, employees on secondment from other organizations, terms less than 3 months, or visiting workers.

The report also outlines the NRC’s progress in implementing its Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy, as well as mechanisms in place to consult employees with respect to employment equity issues.

Note: at the NRC, data pertaining to the representation of women in our workforce is collected from information provided by new employees at the time of hire. Data on the representation of the other designated groups is collected via a self-identification survey.

In order to adhere to confidentiality rules related to self-identification information, all statistics that include 5 employees or less are suppressed from this report. Data on women does not come from the self-identification process and is therefore not subject to the same restrictions.

2 Workforce analysis

As of March 31, 2020, the NRC employed a staff of 4,148 in 12 EEOGs, an increase of 178 employees compared to the 3,970 employees reported the previous reporting period.

Labour market availability (LMA) estimates for fiscal year (FY) 2019-2020 are based on the 2016 National Household Survey (Census) and the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability results.

2.1 Designated group representation – FY 2019-20 comparison to FY 2018-19

As of March 31, 2020, the NRC had representation gaps for 3 of the 4 EE designated groups.

Comparing results with last fiscal year, the representation for women in the NRC’s overall workforce surpassed LMA, while steady progress is noted in the remaining 3 designated groups. For Aboriginal peoples, the representation as a percentage of the LMA at the end of FY 2019-2020 was 48.8%. For persons with disabilities, the representation as a percentage of the LMA was 35.4%, and for visible minorities, the representation as a percentage of the LMA was 86.2%.

In terms of headcount, the NRC representation for women compared to LMA was +11, the gap for Aboriginal peoples was -46, the gap for persons with disabilities was -228, and the gap for visible minorities was -131.

2.2 Representation of designated groups by EE occupational group: FY 2019-2020

± Small numbers are suppressed to protect confidentiality of information.

As noted in table 2.2, the Professionals group constitutes the largest EEOG at the NRC, comprising 50.5% of the workforce. The Semi-professionals and technicians group follows at 24.0%; Administrative and senior clerical personnel at 10.7%; Middle and other managers at 6.1%; Clerical personnel at 3.4%; and Skilled crafts and trades workers at 2.3% of the workforce. Other smaller EEOGs, such as Semi-skilled manual workers, account for the remainder of the NRC population.

The data and supporting narrative that follow in tables 2.3 through 2.6 denote the NRC’s findings and analysis for each EE designated group at the EEOG level as of March 31, 2020, as well as their respective number of hires, promotions and terminations during FY 2019-2020.

2.3 Women: hires, promotions and terminations by EE occupational group

• In FY 2019-2020, the NRC’s representation of women was 37.9%, slightly over the LMA of 37.6%, equating to a headcount representation of +11 women.
• When reviewing the data by EEOG, the largest representation gap in terms of headcount is in the Professionals group at -55 women, while women are over-represented in the Administrative and senior clerical group (+23) and the Semi-professionals and technicians group (+21).
• The proportion of hires of women increased 5.9% from the previous fiscal year to 51.3% in FY 2019-2020, and was higher than the LMA estimate of 44.9%.
• At 48.8%, the proportion of promotion of women improved by 6.8% in FY 2019-2020 compared to the previous year, again higher than the LMA estimate of 40.0%. Compared to availability, promotions of women surpassed their proportionate share of promotions by 21.
• In FY 2019-2020, 161 women departed from the NRC, representing 44.2% of all terminations.

2.4 Aboriginal peoples: hires, promotions and terminations by EE occupational group

± Small numbers are suppressed to protect confidentiality of information.

• On March 31, 2020, the NRC employed 44 Aboriginal peoples, a gap of -46 based on the LMA estimate of 90.
• Aboriginal peoples are most underrepresented in the Semi-professionals and technicians group with a gap of -20.
• At 1.7%, the proportion of Aboriginal peoples hired during the reporting period increased by 0.4% in the previous fiscal year, and was lower than availability at 2.4%.
• The proportion of promotions of Aboriginal peoples during the reporting period decreased from last fiscal year.
• There was a decrease in the proportion of terminations of Aboriginal peoples from last fiscal which remains lower than availability at 2.5%.

2.5 Persons with disabilities: hires, promotions and terminations by EE occupational group

± Small numbers are suppressed to protect confidentiality of information.

• On March 31, 2020, persons with disabilities accounted for 3.0% of the NRC workforce, compared to the LMA of 8.5%, resulting in a representation gap of -228.
• The largest gaps are seen in the Professionals EEOG at -137 and the Semi-professionals and technicians group at -48.
• In FY 2019-2020, while there was an increase in the proportion of hires of persons with disabilities at 3.7% compared to the previous reporting period, hiring still fell short of the LMA of 8.7%.
• The proportion of total promotions of persons with disabilities in FY 2019-2020 was 3.3%, lower than the LMA estimate of 8.7%, and equating to a gap of -13 promotions.
• Terminations of persons with disabilities increased compared to the last reporting period, from 2.4% to 4.9%, lower than this group’s proportionate share at 8.6%.

2.6 Visible minorities: hires, promotions and terminations by EE occupational group

± Small numbers are suppressed to protect confidentiality of information.

• The NRC’s visible minority population represents 19.8% of the workforce, below the availability of 23%, and equating to a representation gap of -131.
• The representation gap for visible minorities is greatest in the Professionals group at -69, followed by the Semi-professionals and technicians group at -42 and middle and other managers group at -15.
• Visible minorities were hired at rates greater than the LMA estimate during the reporting period – the proportion of hires was 26.2% compared to the availability of 21.9%, representing a headcount difference of +22.
• The proportion of promotions of visible minorities was 21.3% in FY 2019-2020, an increase from 17.6% in the last reporting period.
• Terminations of visible minorities accounted for 17.3% of all terminations in FY 2019-2020, lower than this group’s proportionate share of terminations at 21.3%.

2.7 Hires of designated groups by EE occupational group

± Small numbers are suppressed to protect confidentiality of information.

2.8 Promotions of designated groups by EE occupational group

± Small numbers are suppressed to protect confidentiality of information.

2.9 Terminations of designated groups by EE occupational group

± Small numbers are suppressed to protect confidentiality of information.

2.10 Representation of designated groups by geography

± Small numbers are suppressed to protect confidentiality of information.

2.11 Representation of designated groups by salary range

± Small numbers are suppressed to protect confidentiality of information.

3 Progress in implementing employment equity action plans

Over the course of fiscal year 2019-2020, the NRC continued to implement its 3-year EDI strategy. Aligned with the Government of Canada’s diversity commitments, the NRC EDI Strategy 2018-2021 (“the strategy”) focusses on building a diverse and representative workforce (incorporating EE measures), ensuring that the NRC’s work with clients, partners and entrepreneurs is free from barriers, and contributing to a more inclusive innovation system. The strategy is intended to help position the NRC as an inclusive place to work and engage.

In addition to addressing the NRC’s legislative and reporting requirements, the strategy takes into consideration the NRC president’s mandate to:

• reduce barriers to the participation of women researchers and entrepreneurs in the NRC's programs and partnerships;
• increase outreach to diverse groups to help create a more inclusive Canadian innovation system;
• encourage a more diverse NRC through targeted actions to include more women, youth, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and visible minorities among its researchers.

The strategy was developed in consultation with organizational stakeholders ^{Footnote 1} and includes 3 pillars aimed at building and sustaining:

• a diverse and representative workforce;
• a barrier-free NRC (including accessible employment and programs);
• an inclusive culture.

These 3 pillars are supported by the foundational elements of clear responsibility, governance and measurement.

Specific actions to help address gaps and eliminate barriers for EE designated groups are included in the strategy. The following includes an update on progress made in line with the strategy during the reporting period.

Diverse and representative workforce

• In 2019-2020, the NRC continued to make improvements in the representative levels for all EE groups including eliminating the gap for women at the aggregate level. As part of the NRC’s annual workforce planning process, business units were asked to consider the NRC's EE gaps (including noted EEOGs) and goals when identifying staffing needs and considering hiring strategies such as giving preference to candidates that self-declare as belonging to one or more EE groups; and advertising with EE-relevant groups and associations to increase candidate pools. A common EDI commitment focussing on increasing EE representation is part of the performance agreement for all NRC executives.
• To increase accuracy of self-identification (self-ID) data internally, an online employee self-ID portal was developed to replace paper-based self-ID surveys ^{Footnote 2}. The launch of the new tool in June 2019 coincided with a promotional communications campaign to encourage employees to update their self-ID information. At the end of the campaign in September 2019, headcount representation for Aboriginal peoples increased by 3, headcount representation for persons with disabilities increased by 34 and headcount representation for members of visible minorities increased by 34. Eighty-seven percent of NRC employees had counted themselves in (a 1.2% increase from pre-campaign launch).
• The NRC took steps to enhance talent attraction activities for designated groups. During the year, the NRC worked with Indigenous Link, a career service dedicated to supporting Indigenous job seekers. Various jobs were posted on the Indigenous Link job site and also sent via mail to many Indigenous communities across Canada. The Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) selected candidates from the Career and Vocational Evaluations (CVE) program, a program supporting employment opportunities for persons with disabilities, for the FY 2019-2020 period to join the IRAP Project Management Support Office. As a result of their contribution, contracts were renewed for another 6 months.
• To help build a diverse talent pipeline:
  • steps were taken to increase diversity at each stage of the hiring process including tools for hiring managers (e.g. EDI checklist) and continued education of human resources business partner (HRBP) and Hiring Advisors supporting the hiring process;
  • a compendium of EE-oriented groups was created to promote NRC opportunities and expand reach to diverse talent pools;
  • an Ambassador Program to identify Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) professionals was launched to help promote the NRC and engage the next generation of talent;
  • changes were made to the NRC job poster to apply inclusive language;
  • a new EDI resources page was published on the NRC intranet which includes links to tools, information and networking resources;
• The NRC continued a student hiring approach implemented in 2017-2018 whereby the provision of student applications to hiring managers was restricted to candidates that had self-declared as belonging to one of the 4 EE designated groups. In 2019-2020, 74.7% of our applicants self-declared as a member of at least one EE group. The broader candidate database could only be accessed if hiring managers were unable to fill their placement with a member of an EE designated group. Of the 556 students hired during 2019-2020, 38% were women, 3.2% identified as persons with disabilities and 37.7% identified as visible minorities and 1.3% identified as Aboriginal peoples. This initiative continued to provide the NRC management community with broad exposure to using preference in hiring actions to help increase representation.
• EDI continues to be emphasized in the NRC’s Leadership Development Framework to support increased diversity in leadership positions. For example, EDI is considered in the selection of participants for executive leadership development programs available through the Canada School of the Public Service (CSPS).

A barrier-free NRC

• Continued progress was made this reporting period to action recommendations to improve the recruitment and retention of women at the NRC. A representative committee, co-led by the champions of EDI and Women at the NRC, established working groups to make progress in a number of areas. Activities that occurred during this reporting period include:
  • continued partnering with Engendering Success in STEM on a research project focussed on Realizing Identity Safe Environments (RISE), also known as Project RISE. Led by the UBC Engendering Success in STEM (ESS) consortium, the goal of Project RISE is to better understand the biases faced by women in STEM and how best to create an inclusive and identity safe culture within the workplace. A total of 155 employees across the NRC Canada-wide participated in RISE workshops in 2019-2020 which focussed on leadership development, organizational values, diversity within teams, effective communication and cultural change.
  • participated in the 87th Congrès de l’Association francophone pour le savoir (ACFAS) which highlighted the topic of diversity in STEM. 50 of our researchers (42% women) participated in the event and our NRC president was a panel member for a session entitled "The Driving Force of Diversity".
  • hosting of 6 ‘Women in STEM luncheons’ across Canada, and a Women in STEM Symposium on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Almost 300 women from 12 federal departments and agencies convened to share information about their projects, celebrate successes, form networks and discuss ways to improve EDI across the federal government. The event featured the signing of the Dimensions charter. The Charter signals the NRC’s commitment to address systemic barriers faced by underrepresented or marginalized groups. It is designed to support the Government of Canada’s commitment to fostering increased research excellence, innovation and creativity within the post-secondary sector across all disciplines through increased EDI.
  • work continued toward a mentoring approach for women in research and technical positions. The one-year pilot project began in 2020-2021 and will help inform future approaches to mentorship programming for women in STEM as well as a broader mentoring program across the NRC.
• The NRC continued its efforts to improve accessibility through participation in the Public Service and Procurement Canada workshops regarding accessibility engaging consultants to complete accessibility audits for the built environment. In 2019-2020, accessibility audits of 10 NRC buildings were completed and the remainder will be completed by the end of Q1 2021-2022.
• To support individual accommodations, the NRC used its service-level agreement with Shared Services Canada’s Accessibility, Accommodation and Adaptive Computer Technology (AAACT) program to provide assistance in activities such as assessment of technology to meet user needs. The NRC will undertake a more fulsome assessment of its degree of compliance with the Accessible Canada Act and an associated action plan in 2020-2021.
• The NRC continued to implement the Gender-Based Analysis (GBA+) framework during the reporting period. GBA+ is an analytical process that considers how diverse groups may experience policies, programs and initiatives, in order to challenge assumptions and identify potential impacts. The intent is to use the framework to help ensure an inclusive approach from ideation through to outcome measurement. The NRC uses GBA+ in cabinet documents such as Memoranda to Cabinet and Treasury Board submissions; departmental planning and reporting tools; and plans for new programs, initiatives and processes. GBA+ is part of our broader EDI framework and helps ensure that the NRC contributes to a more inclusive innovation system. More than 50 employees from the NRC Challenge Programs, Office of Audit and Evaluation, and Community of Planners received GBA+/EDI training in 2019-2020.
• In light of NRC IRAP’s expanded Terms and Conditions for funded support to include additional types of eligible firms and organizations, it is reviewing its program delivery approach and processes to identify relevant means of providing Indigenous funding assistance.

Inclusive culture

• The NRC has 3 mandatory training courses in place, including “Diversity and Inclusion Fundamentals”, “Unconscious Bias” for all employees and “Managing Bias in Hiring” for all supervisors. In 2019-2020, the NRC introduced a requirement that all hiring managers complete the “Managing Bias in Hiring” course prior to receiving hiring delegation. As of October 30, 2020, 86% of supervisors completed “Managing Bias in Hiring;” 92% of employees completed “Unconscious Bias” and 91% completed “Diversity and Inclusion Fundamentals.”
• All NRC supervisors are required to complete the “Supervising at the NRC: Fundamentals” program which includes a module on “Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Workplace Accommodation”. The module provides guidance on how supervisors can incorporate EDI considerations into their human resources management practices, such as hiring. Relevant legislation and policies are covered as well as information on accommodation in the workplace, self-identification, inclusion, and additional resources on these topics and others.
• 14 NRC STEM supervisors took part in the pilot Leadership Development for STEM Professionals course. Developed in partnership with the CSPS, the program complements the CSPS Supervisor Development Program. The 2-day training course included a module focussed on fostering diversity and inclusion in STEM which featured a guest speaker and small group discussions about actions participants can take as leaders to be aware of in their own thinking/actions, and how to foster diversity and inclusion within their teams.
• To improve diversity awareness and communication, a calendar of EDI learning events and commemorative days was established. Events promoted during the reporting period included Canadian Multiculturalism Day, Black History Month, Women History Month, Linguistic Duality Day, and International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, National Indigenous Peoples Day, and Asian Heritage Month. Additionally, diversity and inclusion learning events offered by the CSPS are promoted on an ongoing basis.
• A number of EDI-focussed communications have been conducted both internally and externally, including sharing success stories as part of the NRC’s Women in STEM online campaign and on social media and promoting available tools and resources such as the EDI Resources page and promotion of the newly launched Centre for Wellness, Inclusion and Diversity.
• Continued efforts have been made to increase diversity and representation in organizational workplace committees including the Committee on EDI and the selection committee for the NRC’s post-doctoral fellowship program.
• The NRC’s first Wellness Advisor was appointed in November 2019. In February 2020, the first wellness portal was created and launched on the NRC intranet. The portal includes links to a number of tools and resources that support wellness and inclusion. In March 2020, the first wellness strategy was presented to NRC’s Senior Executive Committee. Awareness activities during this period included Canadian Mental Health Week, Healthy Workplace Month and Bell Let’s Talk as well as guest speakers from the Employee Assistance Program and the Federal Speakers Bureau on Healthy Workplaces.
• The Office of the Ombudsperson was created in 2019 and the ombudsperson was appointed on March 3, 2019. The mission of the Ombuds office is to strive to provide a safe environment where all employees, at all levels, can raise, discuss and resolve work‑related issues (interpersonal conflict, harassment, values and ethics, conflict of interest or other) without fear of reprisal. During 2019-2020, the Ombuds office had visited 11 regional research centres and met with over 2,000 employees. Preliminary findings were presented to the Senior Executive Committee as well as all employees.

Foundational elements

• The NRC’s EDI Champion together with a senior level VP Steering committee continued to lead and oversee the implementation of NRC’s EDI strategy and continued integration of EDI in NRC practices.
• The Committee on EDI (CEDI) continued to provide input on the EDI strategy as well as other activities currently underway to improve workforce representation and to foster an inclusive culture. This committee also provided feedback on the wellness strategy.
• In November 2019, the NRC named its first Indigenous champion. An Indigenous Engagement and Culture working group was also started. The working group will focus on the four pillars of engagement, including:
  • research with Indigenous Communities within our research centres;
  • supporting Indigenous businesses through IRAP;
  • better heritage recognition and cultural awareness;
  • increase Indigenous peoples and talent in the NRC workforce.
• A common EDI commitment was added to all NRC executives’ performance agreement with a focus on increasing representation, creating an inclusive workplace and fostering workplace wellness and contributing to a psychologically healthy workplace.

4 Consultations with employees

In fiscal year 2019-2020, members of the Committee on EDI were consulted for input on the NRC’s overall EDI strategy and a number of activities underway to contribute to a more representative workforce and inclusive work environment, including:

• our new EDI tools and resources portal;
• the NRC Wellness strategy;
• the 2019 self-ID campaign that took place from June to October 2019;
• the upcoming 2020 self-ID campaign which gathered input on best avenues to encourage employees to update their self-ID information and increase representation organization-wide.

More than 34 engagement sessions were held with employees across the organization on the NRC Strategic 5-Year Plan and the Strategic HR Plan which includes the NRC EDI strategy as a key component. To facilitate broad participation, in person town halls across the country were facilitated – many of which had an online component for those unable to attend in person.

The Women at NRC committee, which includes representation from across the NRC continues to advance work to address recommendations to support the NRC’s Recruitment and Retention of Women strategy. This committee includes working groups who actively engaged NRC colleagues in their work throughout this reporting period on topics such as outreach, mentoring and networking. The committee also provided input into the overall NRC Strategic HR Plan.

The NRC also gathered input through the Public Service Employee Survey (PSES).  NRC participation in the 2019 PSES was 58.7%, representing 2,471 of 4,210 eligible employees; 14% higher than 2018. In terms of results, the NRC fared better than the Public Service (PS) as a whole in relation to several questions regarding employee engagement, leadership, respectful/inclusive workplace, harassment and discrimination. Specifically:

• 88% of NRC respondents indicated that they are proud of the work they do, higher than the PS-average of 85%
• 87% of NRC respondents indicated that the organization treats them with respect, higher than the 83% result captured in the 2018 PSES and the overall public service (82%)
• 81% of NRC respondents reported that they believe that their department or agency respects individual differences, higher than the PS-average of 75%
• 86% of NRC respondents agreed that, in their work unit, individuals behave in a respectful manner, compared to 82% of respondents PS-wide
• 8% of NRC respondents indicate that they have been the victim of harassment on the job in the past 12 months, lower than the 2018 PSES result for the overall public service (14%)
• 5% of NRC respondents indicate that they have been the victim of discrimination on the job in the past 12 months, lower than the 2018 PSES results for the overall public service (8%)
• 89% of NRC respondents were satisfied with the measures taken to accommodate their needs in the workplace (if requested), 9% higher than the overall PS result (80%)

At the end of the reporting period, the NRC continued to review and integrate the most recent PSES data and themes in its programming and in the continued implementation of the NRC Strategic HR plan and EDI strategy.