The Canadian government has developed an extensive network of programs to help new immigrants integrate into society but needs more assistance from employers to ensure long-term success.
-By Peter Scott
Immigrating to a new country is a culture shock because everything from common terms to workplace etiquette is bound to be different than the home country. There are also deeply embedded biases that are the result of cultural upbringing and past experiences that influence the immigrant’s ability to fully integrate into society and the workplace.
The underutilization of immigrant talent is something Canadian employers can ill afford given the skills shortages that led to aggressive global immigrant recruiting in the first place. The government is doing its part by offering a number of federal programs to help newcomers adjust to Canadian culture and find employment.
Once employed, what next? Leaving a newcomer to flounder while adapting makes it exceptionally difficult for immigrants to prosper in their careers and often gets them overlooked as talent for development. Employers can become partners in the effort to create immigrant-friendly businesses for integrating and retaining newcomers in workplaces.
Recognizing the Gaps
Even when the languages of immigrants and Canadians are the same, such as English, there will be a gap in understanding which can lead to misunderstandings in the workplace. Try telling someone from India or China, “I am armed to the teeth for my meeting with the department manager,” and the chances are blank stares, if not panic, will ensue. How will the Indian (or Asian or Middle Eastern, etc.) know his co-worker is merely saying he has collected a lot of facts and information?
Managing diversity in the workplace is a responsibility filled with complexities and nuances, and lack of cultural awareness and sensitivity can effectively widen the gap between a newcomer and full integration as a productive resident.
It is critical to close the immigration gap because all labor force growth since 2012 has come from immigration. There is a demand for people with skilled workers, but recruiting and hiring them are only two steps in the talent cycle. Once in the workplace, development and retention are the remaining elements.
Barriers to integration include employer bias, a mismatch of skills to region, lack of cultural competency, and here we add, immigrant fear of putting themselves out there as talented employees, whether from a reluctance to speak faulty French or English or due to cultural perspectives developed in their home countries.
What Can Employers Do?
Facilitating labor market integration requires a joint effort between governments, educational institutions and employers. Closing gaps focuses on breaking down barriers.
The Panel on Employment Challenges evaluated the reasons why so many newcomers with credentials end up in survival jobs rather than jobs that better fit their experience and skills. One of the key findings was that there are low levels of engagement among medium-sized employers and a silo mentality among supporting organizations.
Imagine what would happen if the employers and the supporting organizations joined together to help immigrants develop networks and Canadian cultural competency, while employers develop cultural awareness and sensitivity.
Moving beyond cultural biases, employers need to support skills training. The Canada Job Fund offers grants to employers to pay for two-thirds of the cost of training an immigrant. Employers pay the remaining third, but they also get a trained, skilled employee once training is completed. The grants can be used to train those who are unemployed, underemployed or currently employed. Skills cover a range of activities. One of the successful strategies for promoting integration is occupation-specific language training, which can be useful from accountants to laborers.
Employer mentoring programs for internal staff are always a successful strategy. Mentors are partnered with skilled immigrants, which fosters networking, cultural learning and better understanding of job responsibilities. Employers get the benefit of increased intercultural awareness and a better ability to identify potential leaders.
Soft skills training is important because the ability to communicate with coworkers and supervisors, interview for positions that enhance a career, and convey new perspectives and concepts are important to career success.
Reaching into Diverse Communities
Of course, a supportive workplace is a required element. Diversity and cultural sensitivity training can help Canadian employers and their workforces better connect with immigrants. Employer policies that recognize diversity, such as leave for religious purposes, contribute to cultural competency.
The importance of cultural sensitivity also extends into the employer’s community. Many immigrants experience difficulty adjusting to life in small or rural towns, sometimes because of community bias, so they gravitate to the large cities, creating new skills gaps. Employers can partner with local organizations working with immigrant populations to discover ways they can help educate community members and create a better sense of belonging for immigrants. Employer-sponsored community programs, such as ESL classes, can include family members also.
There is no one way to become an immigrant-friendly business. Each employer must develop a customized approach, and there are plenty of Canadian businesses that are leading the way.
Closing the immigration gap is not about giving immigrants preferences. It is about giving them equal opportunities to utilize their skills, competencies and talents, while helping them overcome cultural barriers. Specific approaches are guided by the type of business and needed skills.
Accenture gives all employees opportunities to work on important team projects, some people switching assignments every three to six months. This accelerates networking and communication skills development.
Deloitte Canada created a new environment called Workplace of the Future, which offers more space for collaboration and “accidental connections.” Breaking down physical space barriers enables better connecting between employees.
The National Bank of Canada partnered with ALLIES Montréal to give employees opportunities to participate in mentoring programs for the integration of new Canadian employees. It also partners with the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montréal to participate in networking activities for newcomers.
Most of the top Canadian employers focused on immigrant integration offer in-house career planning services, mentoring, online training, accelerated development programs, flexible work hours (when possible), employee resource groups, and much more. Underutilization of skilled immigrants is something Canadian employers cannot allow if they want to remain competitive domestically or globally.
What will it take to bridge the gap for new immigrants? The answer lies with employers because government programs can only do so much.