Turner Consulting Group Audit
2.1 Before we get too far into proving that the DSBN and Warren Hoshizaki have created an Organizational Whiteness DSBN workforce with their long history of discriminatory, racist, oppressive and sexist behavior when looking to employee individuals.
2.2 This is not an out of the box allegation in this compliant. It is fact based and proven by the Turner Consulting Group who performed an equity, diversity, and inclusion audit on the DSBN in regards to the DSBN and Warren Hoshizaki hiring practices.
2.3 The Turner Consulting Group confirms what many racialized individuals and families and already new when taking their children to school each day. Equality does not exist at the DSBN!
2.4 The Turner Consulting Group made some astonishing and well needed, about time recommendations like;
2.5 EMPLOYENTYSTEM REVIEW
a. Recommendation 01: It is recommended that in future documents, the DSBN begin to communicate a desire to diversify its work force to reflect the diversity of its student population.
b. Recommendation 05: Hiring and Selection Policy and Procedure. The DSBN does not have a Hiring and Selection Policy and Procedure that guides its recruitment processes for all positions. Such a policy could state the Board’s commitment to attracting, recruiting, and retaining staff from diverse communities, backgrounds, and identities. It could also state the Board’s commitment to creating and sustaining an inclusive, caring, and safe
c. Recommendation 06: It is recommended that the DSBN develop a Hiring and Selection Policy and Procedure that will provide guidance to all staff involved in the hiring process and clearly state how they are to incorporate equity and diversity into the hiring and selection process, including outreach recruitment, accommodation, training for staff involved in the hiring process, the role of human resources staff, etc
d. Recommendation 07: It is recommended that the DSBN develop an equity statement and include it on the Board’s website and in each job ad.
e. Recommendation 09: It is recommended that a Hiring and Selection Policy be developed that includes a commitment to do outreach recruitment to diversify the applicant pool.
f. Recommendation 10: It is recommended that the Board engage in targeted outreach recruitment to attract teacher applicants from more diverse backgrounds.
g. Recommendation 11: It is recommended that the Board use its position to influence faculties of education to increase the racial diversity of their graduates.
h. Recommendation 12: It is recommended that the Board promote teaching as a profession to students from diverse backgrounds, communities, and identities.
i. Recommendation 23: It is recommended that the Board regularly communicate with employees about the hiring process, including any changes to the process, to strengthen their confidence that the Board has a fair and bias-free process that supports the equitable assessment of candidates from the equity-seeking groups.
j. Recommendation 24: It is recommended that Human Resources Services serve as a model and leader for the rest of the organization by increasing the diversity of staff within the department.
k. Recommendation 27: It is recommended that the Board develop an equity statement that mentions that accommodation will be provided upon request, that is on the Board’s Career Opportunities webpage, and consistently included on all job ads.
l. Recommendation 28: It is recommended that principals be encouraged to informally support staff from equity-seeking groups wishing to advance while the Board also put in place formal supports for these employees.
m. Recommendation 29: It is recommended that the Board communicate any changes made to the promotion process to all staff to strengthen employee confidence in a fair and bias-free process that supports the equitable success of candidates from the equity-seeking groups.
n. Recommendation 31: It is recommended that the Board annually review its promotion process and the demographic data on who is applying and who is successful to identify whether potential barriers to advancement exist for particular groups and examining how the process could be improved.
- I. Priority 04: Diversify the workforce at all levels
- The extent to which the diversity of the DSBN workplace reflects the community served will be examined in the Workforce Census which will occur during the 2019-2020 school year. While employees currently do not have data on the diversity of the DSBN workforce, throughout the focus groups and online survey they shared their perception that the DSBN workforce lacks visible diversity. The review of the Board’s employment practices highlighted a number of opportunities to diversify the workforce to better reflect the school community.
o. Recommendation 43: It is recommended that the harassment prevention policies and procedures be updated to address the issues identified to align with the guidelines from the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
p. Recommendation 44: Recognizing that a great deal of inappropriate behaviors can be stopped and their impact minimized if they are immediately addressed, it is recommended that employees have access to training that provides them with the knowledge and techniques for intervening when they do witness these behaviors.
q. Recommendation 46: It is recommended that managers and administrators be reminded through ongoing communication, training, and other means of their duty to foster a respectful work environment, to lead by example, and to act to stop harassment and discrimination when they witness or hear about these behaviors.
r. Recommendation 47: It is recommended that leaders throughout the organization commit to, and be provided with, adequate supports, including ongoing training, to enable them to demonstrate a greater personal and professional commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion through behaviors and language that communicate inclusion and respect for all employees.
s. Recommendation 48: It is recommended that the Board supports the creation of affinity groups to enable racialized, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ employees to network and seek support. Further, the Board should use the affinity groups as a valuable resource to continue its work to identify and remove barriers to employment equity, diversity, and inclusion.
t. Recommendation 51: It is recommended that a communications / learning strategy be developed (which may include a newsletter, lunch and learns, and other informal methods of promoting knowledge, resources, tools, and practices, etc.) with the goal of:
- I. Increasing employee understanding of workplace equity, diversity, and inclusion
- II. Addressing the facts and myths associated with workplace equity, diversity, and inclusion
- III. Defining key terms and concepts, and
- IV. Developing and communicating a business case for workplace equity, diversity, and inclusion that links the organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts to operational considerations.
u. Recommendation 52: It is recommended that the Board better support staff to understand the need and rationale for its equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts, including barriers to hiring, advancement, and inclusion in the labor market generally and within the Board more specifically. This should include sharing this report and the resulting action plan with employees and providing regular updates with respect to implementation.
- I. Priority 02: Create a more inclusive and respectful organizational culture
- I. Each person has a unique experience in the organization which depends on a number of factors including their personality, their occupation, the department or school within which they work, and also their identity. While there are many employees who indicated that they feel welcomed and valued at the DSBN, there are also a number of individuals who shared feeling disrespected, devalued, and marginalized in the workplace. Sometimes, these feelings were connected to the position the person holds, while at other times, these feelings were connected to the person’s identity.
- II. As the DSBN advances its workplace equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts, it needs to focus its attention on fostering a more inclusive organizational culture in which all staff feel welcome, safe, and able to contribute their best. Inclusion needs to be not only championed by senior leaders, managers, and administrators, but also modelled in order to create a shift in the organizational culture. In addition, as the DSBN’s workplace begins to become increasingly more diversified, it is critical that these staff feel welcomed and included in the workplace, and are supported to be successful.
- v. Recommendation 53: It is recommended that appropriate financial and human resources be allocated to implementing the Employment Equity Plan and leading the Board’s workplace equity efforts.
2.7 WORKFORCE CENSUS
a. Recommendation 03: It is recommended that the DSBN review its hiring practices, establish hiring practices and training that reduce bias, and support the hiring of teachers from diverse backgrounds, communities, and identities.
b. Recommendation 04: Given the low response rate for occasional and long-term occasional teachers, it is recommended that the DSBN work with the respective unions to survey this employee group in order to assess the diversity within this group.
c. Recommendation 05: It is recommended that the DSBN survey new employees at the point of hire to assess progress made to diversify the workforce.
2.8 So with such a factual and damning audit by the Turner Consulting Group against the DSBN and Warren Hoshizaki of there being racist, bias, oppressive and sexist behavior in their hiring practices. How is it that this practice and behavior came to be and was allowed to happen for so long?
2.9 It happens because when you have a DSBN majority workforce were the 87% Caucasian employees come to work every day, ignore the racist facts that a significant amount of their co-workers and DSBN senior leadership team are the same Caucasian skin tone, and they say nothing about it.
2.10 It is clear that everyone in the DSBN Caucasian majority Organizational Whiteness workforce had to see and know what was happening. It was right there in front of their very own eyes, every single day, over years/decades. And in this modern time where racism is a huge part of society, the judicial system, social media, the news and alleged government concerns about it. Still this culture that lacks in White Fragility that turning a blind eye, ignoring the oblivious and say nothing exist so they can continue to collect their pay checks and be surrounded by their preference for Caucasians.
2.11 It is pretty clear to anyone who reviews the Turner Consulting Group audit that the DSBN and Warren Hoshizaki were not concern about having to hide their dislike for diversity at the DSBN. As from the audit we can now see that it was never a priority.
2.12 What we do know is that 6% of participates who refused to do the census and wanted to share their personal reasons for not participating believed that “diversity should not be a consideration when hiring.”
2.13 Another 3% of participates who refused to do the census and wanted to share their reasons for not participating believed and felt that the workplace equity, diversity, and inclusion “census was just a waste of money.”
2.14 Does this surprise anyone? It shouldn’t as 33% of the entire DSBN workforce could not be bothered to take ten minutes out of their day, over a two month period to complete the simple and unobtrusive census!
2.15 So to clarify, the 1,989 DSBN employees who totally refused to participate in any way, shape or form had a total of;
- 1,464 hours or
- 87,840 minutes or
- 8,784 blocks of ten minutes periods offered to each of them and they choose to totality ignore the census
2.16 Nothing says racial inequality like an 87% Organizational Whiteness DSBN workforce that has employees who states “diversity should not be a consideration when hiring” and a census to solve the racist hiring problem “was just a waste of money.”