Healthy Communities
YMCA named one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 2016
24 February 2016 - by YMCA of Greater Toronto
The YMCA of Greater Toronto is honoured to be selected as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers. This is the fifth consecutive year we are receiving this award. This competition recognizes the nation’s leading organizations when it comes to having exceptional workplace diversity and inclusiveness programs and initiatives. The Y’s commitment
The Greater Toronto is continually growing and becoming more and more diverse – it is this diversity that brings richness to our society and makes the GTA such a great place to live and work. Through a focused 10 year plan, the YMCA of Greater Toronto is committed to expanding our programs, partnerships and Centres of Community to support the changing needs and diversity in our communities. The Y’s vision is to build healthier communities.
As an organization, the YMCA aims to reflect the diversity in our population by ensuring there is diverse representation among our employees and also, by embracing many dimensions of diversity, including race, physical/mental ability, opinion, gender, age, class, sex, sexual orientation, image, religion, faith and spiritual belief, and ethnicity.
The Y’s Approach
The YMCA’s approach goes beyond only having diversity-focused initiatives and programs, to making diversity and social inclusion a part of our organizational DNA, and encouraging employees to bring their “whole self” to work.
The YMCA’s approach is on valuing each person’s uniqueness by:
- Ensuring that people with different opinions, backgrounds and characteristics are represented to bring a variety of perspectives
- Creating an environment that supports people with different behaviours, attitudes and beliefs working together for common outcomes
- Encouraging diversity of thought and experience across all our interactions
Diversity and Social Inclusion Conversations
Facilitated workshops occur throughout the year, to encourage discussion on diversity and inclusion topics. Employees from all areas of the Y contribute their experiences and insights to these conversations based on their lived experience.
From these conversations, employees regularly share with us their experiences:
I've had great opportunities to participate in many of our YMCA initiatives such as the YMCA Pride events, Black History Month, Aboriginal Awareness Month, Women Awareness Month, Ableism Month and the list goes on. Each project and each event gave me an opportunity to hear from that community and to learn and expand my knowledge so that I have the tools and confidence to better support people. This morning I celebrated the reopening of the YMCA Sprott House which is Canada's first transitional housing for LGBTQ2SA individuals with my fellow colleagues, city council, the mayor and residents of the community and I was reminded of how much we can accomplish by embracing our diversity.”
- Nelson Borges, Director, Youth Substance Abuse Program
Based on the YMCA’s Employee Survey, the significant majority of employees feel:
- accepted and included in the work environment
- welcomed at the YMCA regardless of how they look
- that leaders are role models in valuing diversity and social inclusion
The official reception to honour this year’s winners will take place today at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Toronto. This year's winners are also being announced today in a special editorial supplement in The Globe and Mail. We’re truly excited about this award, and continuing our commitment to diversity and social inclusion, towards building healthier communities.
