|
Forging the Link Between Diversity and Business Strategy
Forging the link between strategy and people drives BMO Financial Group’s Human Resources’ mandate. This means that our people strategies must clearly result in outcomes which enable the bank to successfully execute its customer-focused business strategies.
BMO’s people strategies focus on the importance of talented, engaged and high performing employees. Developing an equitable and supportive workplace, which reflects the diversity of the communities in which we do business, are objectives that are explicitly aligned with strategic initiatives from the top and, subsequently, are carefully measured and connected to performance.
 |
|
According to Rose Patten, Senior Executive Vice-President, Head of Human Resources and Senior Leadership Advisor, "The impact of HR on the bank's strategy can be and must be measured. HR practices must measurably add value. And all of this includes analytics and constant assessment." |
For several years now, BMO Financial Group has been committed to diversity on both sides of the border. Continuous evaluation and assessment have driven positive, measurable change.
A history of diversity
In 1990, Tony Comper, then President and Chief Operating Officer of BMO Financial Group, took an industry leadership role in breaking the “glass ceiling” with his milestone decision to sponsor the Task Force on the Advancement of Women. As exemplified by the Task Force’s first report written twelve years ago, we were just beginning to understand how accurate data could move diversity forward. The Task Force assembled a statistical profile which gave us the facts about ourselves – who we were, and (even more revealing) who we really weren’t. In other words, when the Task Force members sat down to tell us our problems, and present us with solutions, they had facts.
The statistics revealed that the advancement of women was not a strategic imperative. In order to address the situation, the drive towards creating an equitable workforce was highlighted in BMO's 1990 Corporate Strategic Plan, and a series of other executive-sponsored employee task forces were established to identify relevant issues including the Advancement of Aboriginal Employment (1992), Employment of People with Disabilities (1992), and the Advancement of Visible Minorities (1995). The findings from these reports generated fact-based diversity and workplace equity goals.
In 1992, BMO established a National Advisory Council on the Equitable Workplace to oversee enterprise wide implementation of all workplace equality initiatives. That same year, BMO created the Office of Diversity and Workplace Equity. Chaired by Tony Comper, and comprised of BMO Financial Group’s most senior business line and corporate executives, the Council set the strategic direction for quantitative and qualitative diversity goals, and measured performance against those goals on a quarterly and annual basis. Today, the council is known as the President and CEO’s Council on the Equitable Workplace.
Measuring change
Recognizing the value of metrics, BMO’s commitment to diversity and workplace equity continues to be supported by a comprehensive system of goal setting, monitoring and evaluation processes. Through an extensive suite of management information reports, the President and CEO and senior executives monitor progress towards these benchmarks on a quarterly basis.
Through annual performance appraisals, executives are held accountable for meeting their diversity goals. To support executives in monitoring their progress, the Office of Diversity and Workplace Equity developed and implemented a system of posting quarterly results on the corporate Intranet.
Another important way we measure progress is by surveying our employees through the Annual Employee Survey (AES). A tool to calculate employee attitudes and opinions, the AES measures opinions about workplace issues, including the enterprise’s commitment to a diverse workforce and an equitable, supportive workplace. Extensive demographic analysis is followed by focus groups and interviews.
The survey includes a Diversity Index, a compilation of questions enabling us to measure how well employees think we are doing. These efforts facilitate lines of business to prioritize diversity action plans and strategies. The Annual Employee Survey diversity results, which measure their qualitative progress, are also available online to all executives.
Maintaining the momentum
While quantitative indicators are critical, we understand that it is our employees who implement the bank’s diversity strategy. Ultimately, employee engagement in workplace diversity has had an impact.
In 2000, the CEO’s Council on an Equitable Workplace also initiated the articulation of our Corporate Values:
· We care about customers, shareholders, communities and each other.
· We draw our strength from the diversity of our people and our businesses.
· We insist upon respect for everyone and encourage all to have a voice.
· We keep our promises and stand accountable for our every action.
· We share information, learn and innovate to create consistently superior customer experiences.
These Corporate Values represent BMO’s core beliefs. They stand as our collective commitment to each other, to our customers, to our shareholders and the communities of which we are a part.
Articulating our Corporate Values to every employee within BMO, the executive Council is supported by Diversity Councils (employees organized by line of business) and Affinity Groups (employees organized by areas of interest), which draw members from all levels of the organization. Although often led by senior executives, these groups fulfill a grassroots role by collecting and disseminating information to provide advice and counsel to senior decision-makers. Across the enterprise, groups are actively involved in increasing awareness and advocating for inclusion within their business. The groups themselves reflect the organization’s diversity: Aboriginal sharing circles exist in Canada, U.S. Affinity Groups offer mentoring and career support for African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanics, networks of employees who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing, as well as a transnational group of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees all address workplace issues and initiate change.
External Recognition
BMO’s progress towards the goal of a diverse workforce and an equitable and supportive workplace has also been recognized externally. Some of the honours we have received include being the first Canadian company to win the Catalyst Award in 1994, the Vision Award from Human Resources Development Canada (the first organization to win this award twice), and the Optimas Award from Workforce Magazine. Harris Bank’s progress towards diversity has also been acknowledged. In 1997 it received a recognition award from the Network of Women Entrepreneurs. In 1994, Harris Bank earned the Small Minority-Owned Advocate of the Year Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
|
