It is impossible to leave who you are and the problems that are affecting you at the door as you walk into work. Your feelings can inhibit as well as drive your work. In general, to stay productive it’s important to have access to mental health services and work in an environment where you feel supported and comfortable speaking about mental health.

The Essential Role of Mental Health for a Diverse, Inclusive Workplace

There are serious racial & ethnic disparities when it comes to mental health and mental health services. So, it only makes sense that EDI strategies should support and proactively include mental health.

Try: Tracking your team members’ mood & morale by sending out regular surveys -> Moodtracker is a free online service made for this!

The Connection Between Mental Health & EDI

Would you feel as comfortable telling people you need to take a sick day to recover from the flu, as you would telling people you need to take a sick day to recover from a bad mental state? This question emphasizes the disparity that still exists when comparing physical and mental health.

Note: When tragic events are broadcast in the media, certain groups are more heavily affected than others. People with direct connections to the targeted group are hit the hardest. And when this group is BIPOC, other BIPOC groups are often hit very hard if their communities have been through a similar experience. These worldwide events can also contribute to one's mental health and should be addressed.

Talking About Mental Health in the Workplace - 5 Steps to Support Your Coworkers

Research backs up the value of storytelling and its impact on diversity initiatives. Studies show that stories are six to 12 times more memorable than facts alone

Why We Need to tell Diversity Stories to Achieve Sustainable EDI Success

A video example of a diversity story

Gloria's Story

Impactful, well-designed training is required to make a difference. Often, training is completed just to be completed and it doesn’t stick.

Here is an example of a Diversity Training Success Story

Inclusive teams improve team performance by up to 30% in high-diversity environments. Yet only 40% of employees agree that their manager fosters an inclusive environment.

Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace: Benefits & Challenges

When it comes to diversity and inclusion, the problem starts with using the word “problem.” Diversity and inclusion should be about “opportunity”.

5 Reasons Why Diversity & Inclusion Fail

Diversity-focused recruitment efforts may bring diverse individuals in the door, but if the environment is not inclusive will those individuals stay?

Problems associated with EDI

“Unconscious bias exists in each person’s worldview, affecting our behaviors in the workplace. It refers to the implicit attitudes, beliefs, and stereotypes that affect our perception and decision-making without our conscious awareness. As a result, unconscious bias creates barriers to inclusion, performance and engagement. Understanding what unconscious bias is and how it impacts our decisions is key to fostering more inclusive and intercultural workplaces, practices and leadership.”

Implicit Racism in the Workplace

“Often the work of changing company culture to create an equitable workplace free from harassment falls on people of color and marginalized employees. They advocate for their own mentorship, guidance and leadership positions, because no one else does. To be clear: it's certainly not on people of color or marginalized employees to change the cultures at their companies. Company leadership needs to be at the forefront of improving workplace diversity through hiring, recruiting, training, calling out microaggressions, and mentorship.”

How to Survive in a Mostly White Workplace

When the term "people of colour" is used to describe all non-white people, it also conveniently disguises the ways in which our systems are particularly harmful toward certain communities. For example, we could say that the average income for "people of colour" in Canada is 13 per cent below the national average, or we could say the average annual income for Black Canadians is 36 per cent below the national average.

Up and coming idea: The term "racialized people" is not only free of the dark implications that come with using the word "colour" in reference to people, but it also gives credence to the fact that race is a construct.

Here’s why “BIPOC” doesn’t do it for me

The current state of racial diversity in environmental organizations is troubling, and lags far behind gender diversity. In the US, although ethnic minorities comprise 38% of the US population, they occupy less than 12% of leadership positions in environmental organizations.

Food for thought: Environmental organizations express a desire to diversify their boards and staff. However, few have a diversity manager or have formed a diversity committee.

The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations