The Bank of Canada (the Bank) has played a prominent role in ensuring the smooth functioning of the Canadian financial markets since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like other central banks, the Bank has ensured ample liquidity in the system through its accommodative policy. In a recent event hosted by CFA Society Toronto, Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle described the preventative actions the Bank took during the pandemic: an expansionary monetary policy that provided Canadians with a safety net and eventually aided one of the fastest economic recoveries over the past few months.

By many measures, the Bank of Canada has set a gold standard in the way it supported financial institutions and markets during the crisis. The speedy recovery and boost to economic growth are evidence of the positive impact of these actions. But monetary policy is not the only area where the Bank has demonstrated leadership: it is also thinking ahead with its diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives.

Staying true to its mission, the Bank recognizes that being diverse and inclusive is fundamental to delivering on its mandate, including supporting economic stability for all Canadians. Fostering an environment that enables diverse and well-rounded views of issues, risks, and opportunities helps the Bank identify and understand emerging trends, avert and manage crises, and decrease the possibility of groupthink and confirmation bias. These efforts are driven by Bank of Canada employees at all levels. D&I also promotes increased employee engagement and satisfaction, which in turn leads to more creative problem solving, resilience to stress, and better and more innovative decisions.

The Bank’s leadership is demonstrated in the way it prioritizes D&I, treating it like other strategic priorities. The profile of, and accountability for, D&I at the Bank has been elevated with the publication of a comprehensive Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and a new core value of “including everyone,” which form the foundation for the Bank’s D&I efforts in the near term and allow it to accelerate future endeavours. The D&I Strategy works in harmony with other strategic priorities, but it also has a distinct, well-defined vision and set of goals.

The D&I Strategy clearly spells out the Bank’s vision: “We are a leading central bank. What makes each of us unique makes the Bank stand out” (p. 7). This vision is further broken down into four broad categories, each with its own set of goals. These four areas include:

1. Inclusive leadership
2. Diverse workforce
3. Engaging workplace
4. Expanded connections

The accompanying governance and accountability standards have been strengthened to ensure that the right processes and roles are in place to make effective and informed decisions. All D&I initiatives have the support of senior leaders across the Bank, some of whom are also the Bank’s D&I champions. All commitments are tracked, and in turn, this transparency is expected to build more trust. The Bank also leverages data as a tool to inform policy and program decision making, ensuring that self-identification processes are inclusive and that data is accurate.

How is the Bank doing toward its goals?

We took a deeper dive to evaluate how well the Bank has been progressing toward the goals outlined in its D&I strategy. To that end, we sough further input from Meghan Brooks, D&I Strategy and Program Lead at the Bank of Canada. The following section provides a summary of the Bank’s goals and achievements.

Inclusive leadership
The purpose of this goal is to equip and support leaders to embed diversity and inclusion in the Bank’s business. This is demonstrated by the Bank’s commitment to training programs specific to its leaders and the commitment of the leadership in promoting D&I initiatives, some of whom also act as the Bank’s D&I champions along with other employee champions.

Diverse workforce
The Bank’s new approach to representation aims to have their workforce reflect all Canadians, broadens the focus beyond hiring to include retention and self-identification, and makes goals clearer and more actionable by sharing them at the department level. This helps the Bank measure its progress toward equitable representation of historically marginalized groups, including women, members of visible minority groups, Indigenous peoples, and persons with disabilities. Their effective tracking is evident from an 87‑percent participation rate in the Bank’s self-identification program. Over 23 percent of employees identified as being part of a visible minority group.

The Bank has demonstrated its progress to increase diversity within the leadership ranks and in occupations in which women have been underrepresented. According to the Bank’s 2021 D&I Strategy, 45 percent of leaders at the Bank are women. The Bank has introduced programs to ensure leaders are trained in hiring and selection practices that are bias- and barrier-free. Data is monitored to identify roadblocks for candidates from equity-seeking groups.

Over the past year, the organization has leveraged virtual recruitment approaches to deepen connections with more universities across the country. Students from over 250 universities applied during the latest recruitment campaign, and 43 percent of students hired in 2019 were women

Engaging workplace
The Bank has also implemented employee engagement surveys and employee resource groups to help identify areas for growth and has jumped in to move solutions forward. The D&I Strategy reports that 86 percent of the Bank’s employees feel comfortable being themselves at work, and 91 percent feel they are treated with respect.

Expanded connections to external partnerships
The Bank’s stakeholder customer relationship management system is being leveraged to enhance engagement with diverse communities and increase engagement with crown corporations in efforts around anti-racism. The Bank provides content for anglophone and francophone linguistic minorities in its engagements across the country and seeks opportunities to participate in external events and conferences on D&I (for example, with their contributions to this article).

Like in other organizations, D&I efforts move forward with some constraints. The Bank’s employee turnover is at a record low, and while this is a sign that employees enjoy working at the Bank, it affects its ability to bring in new talent and increases the time it takes to develop and promote internal staff. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced another level of complexity by dramatically affecting the way the Bank and its employees work.

D&I in a post-pandemic world
Although the Bank has been solidifying its foundation for D&I for several years, and inclusion has been a guiding principle behind the Bank’s internal response to the pandemic (including policies and communications), implementing D&I in a virtual work environment comes with its own challenges. A recent concern was around supporting shifts in how employees were working and being mindful of their capacity and availability. In response, the Bank adapted the pacing of its initiatives to accommodate these challenges.

The D&I mindset has proven to be an asset in navigating through the pandemic, as evidenced by the following efforts:

• Leveraging D&I knowledge to ensure that all the necessary steps are taken to support the health and well-being of staff
• Ensuring staff are supported and provided with the flexibility required to help them adapt to the many challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic
• Providing additional adaptability through flexible work hours, expanded health benefits, and other initiatives
• Conducting periodic surveys/pulse checks and engaging with leaders to gauge the need for additional support to understand what works well that should continue post-pandemic

A few of the Bank’s new D&I initiatives include:

• Expansion of an existing scholarship to include scholarshipsfor racialized students
• Incorporation of D&I into key programs, such as the leadership competencies and the employee accommodations process
• New D&I-related training for staff and leaders
• A series of initiatives to support racialized and Indigenous employees and advance equity and anti-racism

Clearly, the Bank of Canada has found an effective way to leverage D&I and its core values for success. As Governor Tiff Macklem said in a recent speech, monetary policy is a broad macroeconomic instrument, and, while the Bank can’t use it to target specific groups, it can keep the benefits of inclusion in mind while implementing monetary policy.

One of the striking features of the pandemic has been the way it has deepened inequalities in society. This makes it even more important to foster an inclusive economy that caters to the realities of diverse Canadians. Who better to lead the way than the Bank of Canada?