Recognizing the employers that offer Canada's most inclusive workplaces
Background
Now entering its sixth year, Canada's Best Diversity Employers recognizes employers across Canada that have exceptional workplace diversity and inclusiveness programs. This competition examines a range of diversity initiatives covering five major employee groups: (a) Women; (b) Members of visible minorities; (c) Persons with disabilities; (d) Aboriginal peoples; and (e) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered/Transsexual (LGBT) peoples. This competition replaced our two annual rankings of the top employers for women and visible minorities, which we published as an appendix to our book between 2002 and 2007, when the present competition was launched. Read the press release announcing our 2012 winners, announced February 21, 2012.
Eligibility Requirements
Any employer with its head office or principal place of business in Canada may apply for this competition. Employers of any size may apply, whether private or public sector. Each applicant should have an interesting initiative for at least one of the five above diversity groups covered by this competition.
Competition Partners
We are assisted on this project by BMO Financial Group, which has agreed to fund the competition's costs, and the diversity consulting firm TWI Inc., developers of The Equity Continuum™ - an industry-recognized diversity measurement methodology.
Editorial Partners
The Globe and Mail is our exclusive newspaper partner on the Canada's Best Diversity Employers competition, publishing a special editorial section announcing the winners each year. The special section includes extensive background on this year's winners, prepared by the Globe's editorial team.
Selection Process
To determine the 2012 winners of the Canada's Best Diversity Employers competition (list shown at right), Mediacorp editors reviewed the applications of employers that applied for the 2012 Canada's Top 100 Employers project. Over 2,750 employers across Canada started the application process for this year's competition, which was reduced to a short-listed group of employers with noteworthy and interesting diversity initiatives. Each short-listed candidate's programs were reviewed to determine how they compared to those of other employers in the same field. The finalists chosen represent the diversity leaders in their industry and region of Canada. Mediacorp editors were assisted in this process by specialists from the diversity consulting firm TWI Inc. (As the funding sponsor of the project, BMO Financial Group graciously took itself out of consideration for the competition.) Final selection of the winners was made by the editors at Mediacorp. You can read the editors' Reasons for Selection, together with TWI's scores for each employer, by clicking the names of the winning employers in the opposite column.
2013 Competition
Our 2013 winners will be announced in a special newspaper feature to be published by The Globe and Mail early in 2013. Full editorial calendar »
How to Apply
Employers apply for this competition through the Canada's Top 100 Employers application process. Employers complete a single application package for both competitions. Request an application.
Annual Conference
To learn more about the competition, we invite you to join us at Diversity Canada — our annual conference organized around the Canada's Best Diversity Employers competition. This event brings together hundreds of diversity professionals from across Canada who are interested in best-practices for the five diversity groups covered by our competition, all presented in a non-commercial format. Full Agenda »
Further Information
For more information on the Canada's Best Diversity Employers competition, please contact us.
2012 WINNERS:
Our detailed 2012 Reasons for Selection are now available online. Click below to read why each employer was selected. (in alphabetical order*)
* As the competition's sponsor, BMO Financial Group has graciously taken itself out of consideration for this award. We have prepared a review of BMO's own diversity and inclusiveness efforts, which is available online.
Search jobs currently posted at the Canada's Best Diversity Employers:
