new training program aims to help the Canadian mining industry diversify workforce

The Canadian mining industry has provided essential minerals and metals throughout the country’s history, but there is still one resource it has yet to tap to its full potential: diversity. The industry has historically had challenges attracting diverse workers and, to this day, still has room for improvement. According to the Mining Industry Human Resource Council’s (MiHR) 2020 Canadian Mining Labour Market 10-Year Outlook, women account for only 15 per cent of the workforce, youth (workers aged 15-24) at eight per cent, immigrants at 13 per cent and visible minorities at nine per cent. Mining employers will benefit from tapping into diverse talent pools to close the labour gap. In addition, an inclusive and diverse workforce ensures a pipeline of important skills and leadership talent, has been found to improve health, safety and wellness, increases innovation and productivity and enhances corporate reputation.

Intercultural Awareness Training for the Canadian Mining Industry is one of MiHR’s latest efforts to help employers attract, hire and retain an inclusive and diverse workforce. Developed in partnership with Professions North/Nord (PNN), this online training provides human resource professionals with awareness of intercultural competencies critical to our changing industry and explores tools and resources to evaluate and enhance hiring policies and practices to create an inclusive workplace. Launched April 2020, it is being offered free of charge until March 31, 2021. Use of intercultural awareness training by human resource professionals will help to more effectively diversify mining company talent pools.

Modern, inclusive hiring policies and procedures are key to attracting a diverse workforce, but understanding, respecting and embracing cultural differences is key to their retention.

By alex Parsons

MiHR’s Intercultural Awareness Training includes five modules that take about 15 minutes to finish each. These include: • Module 1: The Importance of Intercultural Awareness in the Workplace • Module 2: Understanding and Building Cultural Competencies • Module 3: Culturally-Competent Attraction, Recruitment and Onboarding Practices • Module 4: Culturally-Competent Engagement and Retention Practices • Module 5: Building a Culturally-Competent Workplace

Participants have the flexibility to go through each module at their own pace and have the option to access a suite of accompanying written materials and worksheets to help them fully process and master its content. Upon completion, each participant will receive a digital badge for their effort.

Inclusion, diversity and career development are the focus of one of MiHR’s strategic objectives. As such, MiHR has a long history of providing support to the industry’s diversity challenges through programs such as Gender Equity in Mining Works and the Mining Professional Immigrant Network. The launch of the intercultural awareness training comes after rigorous program development to ensure it meets the quality of MiHR’s other initiatives and has a positive impact on inclusion and diversity in the Canadian mining industry.

The training is designed to make insights easy to share among colleagues, to deepen the roots of cultural awareness. It aims to increase awareness and the value of inclusive workplaces and encourage professional integration of a more diverse workforce within the Canadian mining sector to help optimize mining’s human resource supply.

For more information about MiHR’s Intercultural Awareness Training, visit mihr.ca, call (613) 270-9696 or email mpin@mihr.ca. l

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