First Capital’s ED&I Council drives meaningful change, creating an empowering work environment for all employees.
In 2020, we launched our employee-led equity, diversity, and inclusion (ED&I) Council to create meaningful actions that foster awareness and advocacy for all employees. In its inception, our Council established a three-year action plan, partnered with various ED&I-related organizations, and created four pillars of action (foundation, education, awareness, and community outreach) that would ultimately guide us on this journey.
Over the last three years, we’re proud to say that we’ve achieved a great deal in the ED&I space. But most importantly, First Capital is creating a culture where employees have an equal opportunity to thrive, love what they do, and grow their careers. Through our actions, we create a safe and respectful work environment that embraces different perspectives and lived experiences, and we strive to inspire everyone to become better at who we are and what we do.
Our actions that foster a welcoming and inclusive culture include:
Knowing the First Capital team:
- Conducting an anonymous employee self-identification survey to better understand the diversity of our workforce so we can better support the needs of our team
Focusing on mental wellness:
- Offering a mental health benefit of up to $2,000 of yearly coverage for mental wellness, including counselling
Building on inclusion:
- Launching our “Everyone is Welcome” campaign across all of our properties
Sharing and learning together:
- Providing opportunities for sharing experiences through panel discussions on important topics such as Indigenous culture, Pride at work and allyship, invisible and visible disabilities, learning and unlearning conscious and unconscious bias, women in leadership, and mental health
- Introducing our “Employee Spotlight” series to provide a safe space for our people to openly share their personal stories, learn from one another, and dialogue
- Launching our employee cookbook that’s filled with recipes from various cultures that represent our people
- Introducing mandatory Pride at Work and 4 Seasons of Reconciliation training for all staff
Now that we’ve conducted essential, meaningful, and impactful work within, we can expand to our communities around us. We’re especially looking forward to growing our yearly Pride and mental health week activations; publishing more Employee Spotlights that touch on holidays, cultural events, and religious celebrations that are important to our staff; surveying contractors, suppliers, and vendors on ED&I metrics, values, and policies to ensure we’re working with the right companies whose views align with ours; and building our new 2024-2026 ED&I Action Plan, which will ultimately guide us in our future endeavours and initiatives.
Our Co-Chairs, Samantha Ross and Carolynn Colvin, are the engines that drive these ED&I initiatives forward. Our ED&I Council Co-Chairs change leadership every two years to provide a fresh and innovative perspective and to ensure we’re taking the necessary steps forward.
To learn more, visit fcr.ca/company/edi.
