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I saw a post online some time ago that said (paraphrased): “Communication can be so strange. You can say: ‘I like waffles,’ and someone will respond, ‘Why do you hate pancakes?’” I have been reminded of this post several times as I encounter people who seem to be speaking at cross-purposes in various discussions about the current diversity, equity, & inclusion backlash.
La période est difficile pour toute personne œuvrant dans le domaine des droits de la personne, comme dans notre cas. Les programmes en équité, diversité et inclusion (EDI) font l’objet de vives attaques et sont en voie de démantèlement, du moins chez nos voisins du Sud, tant dans le secteur public que privé. Et il serait naïf de croire que le Canada est à l’abri de cette tendance.
Bien que nous soyons surtout reconnus pour la conduite et le soutien d’enquêtes ainsi que pour la formation en matière d’enquête, ce qui nous passionne avant tout, chez Rubin Thomlinson, d’améliorer la culture en milieu de travail. L’un des moyens d’y parvenir est d’offrir de la formation sur le respect en milieu de travail (FRMT). Bien que souvent perçues à tort comme de simples formations sur le harcèlement et la discrimination, la FRMT englobe en réalité toute « formation qui apportera [aux travailleurs] l’information suffisante pour favoriser un milieu de travail respectueux »
It is a difficult time for anyone who works in the human rights space, like we do at Rubin Thomlinson LLP. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs are severely under attack and are being dismantled, at least south of the Canadian border, in the public and private sectors. I fear that Canada is not far behind.
While we are probably best known for conducting and supporting investigations and providing investigation training, our firm’s passion is elevating workplace culture overall. One of the ways we do that is by facilitating Respectful Workplace Training (RWT) – while often narrowly viewed as harassment and discrimination training, RWT more broadly refers to any “training that will provide [workers] with information intended to help foster a respectful workplace.”
My colleagues Christine Thomlinson and Lori-Ann Green recently wrote about how an organization’s respect at work policies, often written to comply with its legal obligations and to correspond with legislative requirements, may use legal and technical language which can be difficult to interpret, and may, from the perspective of those whom the policy is designed to protect, not be easy to navigate.1
Janice Rubin and I recently completed a two-part webinar series on workplace restoration. During the sessions, we received several interesting questions, all of which we did not get the opportunity to answer. The questions were excellent and thought provoking and represent some of the questions that we are frequently asked when engaging in this work.
This is the third and final post in a series of blog posts that I wrote on data and investigations.
To recap, workplace investigations are also an invaluable source of data that organizations can use in a variety of ways – outside of the investigation process – to help their workplaces get into the zone – the optimal workplace that is characterized by respect, civility, tolerance, inclusivity, and no, or few, employment-related legal problems.
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