Recognizing the employers that offer Canada's most inclusive workplaces
Background
Now entering its seventh 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, including programs for 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 by BMO Financial Group announcing our 2013 winners, issued on February 19, 2013: English | French
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-leading 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 2013 winners of the Canada's Best Diversity Employers competition (list shown at right), Mediacorp editors reviewed the applications of employers that applied for the 2013 Canada's Top 100 Employers project. Over 3,250 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 unique 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 sponsor, BMO Financial Group graciously took itself out of consideration for the competition.) Final selection of the winners was made by editors at Mediacorp. You can read their editors' Reasons for Selection, together with TWI's scores for each employer, by clicking the names of the winning employers in the opposite column.
2014 Competition
Our 2014 winners will be announced in a special newspaper feature to be published by The Globe and Mail early in 2014. 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 the Top Employer Summit, our annual conference on the Canada's Top 100 Employers project. This event lets you discover the latest best-practices from winners, meet competition organizers and writers, and hear inspiring stories from world-class speakers — all presented in a commercial-free format. The conference is Canada's largest annual event for senior-level HR professionals.
Further Information
For more information on the Canada's Best Diversity Employers competition, please contact us.
Read the press release by BMO Financial Group announcing our 2013 winners, issued on February 19, 2013: English | French
Read the extended editorial feature published in the Report on Business section of The Globe and Mail on February 19, 2013, on this year's winners.
2013 WINNERS:
Our detailed 2013 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.
