by Jim Byers
Last updated: 6:01 PM ET, Sun March 4, 2018
Air Canada has another fine feather in its cap.
Canada's largest airline has been named one of Canada's Best Diversity employers for 2018, the third consecutive year the carrier has been awarded this distinction
In honouring Air Canada, Mediacorp Canada Inc. cited among other things the airline's success forming partnerships to reach diverse communities. The award is based on Mediacorp's Canada's Top 100 Employers project, which also included Air Canada for the fifth consecutive year for 2018.
There are an estimated 80 languages spoken by Air Canada employees and 22 per cent of employees belong to visible minorities, up from 14 per cent a decade ago. Visible minorities represented 31.6 per cent of all newly hired employees in 2016.
"Air Canada is proud to be named one of Canada's Best Diversity Employers for the third consecutive year as it shows we are not simply a progressive employer but also a company that recognizes the tremendous competitive benefits diversity brings to an organization," said Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Senior Vice President, People, Culture and Communications.
"Cultivating an inclusive environment that is welcoming to all talents helps us attract and retain the best people in the world. This is extremely valuable for a global carrier such as Air Canada and we actively reach out to all communities to ensure everyone with the right skills and aptitude knows the doors are open to come work with us,"
In citing Air Canada, Mediacorp noted that Air Canada recently launched a new partnership with Ready, Willing, and Able to match the unique qualifications of candidates with intellectual disabilities or Autism Spectrum Disorder to specific roles -- the company also worked with a community partner to develop a workshop for the recruitment team on pre-selecting candidates with disabilities.
As well, in partnership with imagineNATIVE, Air Canada offers the "imagineNATIVE Shorts Program" as part of their in-flight entertainment programming -- the compilation includes films from well-known Indigenous filmmakers featured in the imagineNATIVE Film Festival.
In addition, Air Canada's maintenance division maintains a dedicated committee to provide female employees with a forum to network, explore personal development and receive guidance on establishing individual career goals
Diversity is a core value at Air Canada, which reports on its progress with respect to diversity initiatives in Citizens of the World, Air Canada's Corporate Sustainability Report available at http://www.aircanada.ca.
In 2016, a new module on diversity was added to the corporation's online reference library for managers. It covers such topics as how to recruit diverse talent, problem-solving related to diversity and communicating with employees from different cultural backgrounds. Moreover, a sensitivity and education workshop was developed with the help of an external partner on managing unconscious bias for human resources advisors, recruiters and partners.
Air Canada maintains three Diversity Committees, one each in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. To validate that the corporation's approach is meeting its objectives, for the first time in 2016 questions relating to diversity and inclusion were included in the biennial employee engagement survey and additional demographic data regarding designated groups was collected.
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