News Diversity & Inclusion
Room for improvement on diversity, inclusion: ADP survey

A new survey from ADP Canada and Maru/Blue demonstrates that Canadians believe their workplaces have room to improve when it comes to issues of diversity and inclusion.

Specifically, working Canadians who belong to a visible ethnic minority reported that, at their current place of work, they have experienced or witnessed more judgement or misconduct based on ethnicity or skin colour, more negative impacts on their career and greater feelings of discomfort in the workplace.

However, there are some positives, as the survey also noted greater awareness of these issues among younger workers, with nearly half (47 per cent) of employed Canadians aged 18 to 34 saying they would be more loyal to their organization if they took a stand, publicly, on diversity and inclusion.

The results stem from an online survey of 1,546 working Canadians, held in late October.

Problematic behaviours

Of those surveyed, 13 per cent of all working Canadians agreed that they have witnessed or experienced judgement or misconduct at their current workplace based on ethnicity or skin colour.

However, 31 per cent of working Canadians belonging to a visible ethnic minority reported such behaviours — twice the number of all working Canadians.

Moreover, respondents identifying as members of visible ethnic minorities also reported negative effects on their career advancement, with 32 per cent of respondents in this category believing their ethnicity has negatively impacted their career growth.

Nineteen per cent saying prejudice or lack of diversity and inclusion based on their ethnicity has influenced their decision to leave an employer.

Looking at gender, 19 per cent of working women reported witnessing or experiencing judgement or misconduct based on gender and 22 per cent believe their gender has negatively impacted their career advancement.