While Canadian companies appear to have made progress in addressing racism in the workplace, could these initiatives suffer from spending cuts?
The ability of Black Canadians to advance in their careers and increase income could be impacted by recession.
That’s the concern expressed in a new survey from KPMG in Canada that highlights how progress in tackling workplace racism has been made, but that respondents worry about spending cuts pushing initiatives onto the back burner.
Three quarters of Black Canadians are concerned that a potential recession would harm their career and promotion prospects, while 77% of respondents are concerned it will hurt the career and promotion prospects of their Black and racialized colleagues harder than others.
If Canada does face an economic downturn then almost 7 in 10 respondents fear that Black and racialized people will be the first to lose their jobs.
Recession could negatively impact the improvements that have been made in Canadian workplaces in recent years such as improved understanding of societal and workplace barriers that Black Canadians face.
Improvements made
Although 7 in 10 respondents said they have to work harder than non-Black colleagues to be valued and recognized in the same way, almost 8 in 10 said they feel valued and respected the same as their non-Black colleagues.
“While it’s encouraging to see Canadian organizations have continued to make progress on addressing anti-Black racism over the past year, it’s imperative to keep building on that momentum, even in the face of economic headwinds, labour market fluctuations and inflationary pressures,” said Elio Luongo, CEO and Senior Partner of KPMG in Canada and Co-Chair of the firm’s Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (ID&E) Council.
He added that this is not only good for business but for the Canadian economy and it should continue to be a priority.
The survey also revealed that remote working had helped reduce anti-Black racism in the workplace and that firms have improved customer service for Black customers and clients and made efforts to engage more Black-owned businesses/vendors over the past year.
