The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan was adopted in November 2021 as a key transformational piece of the Strategic Plan, People, Place, Potential. In particular, it supports the priority to become a more inclusive and healthier place for work and study: “We believe that well-being in all its aspects depends on how we treat each other. We will therefore prioritize our work to advance equity, celebrate diversity, and practice inclusion.”
The action plan has six goals and progress on all of them is underway. Implementation of two key strategies identified in Goal Four is complete.
Goal Four states: Support more employees from equity-deserving groups to apply, be hired, and thrive at VIU.
The first of these strategies was rolled out in late fall 2021. Human Resources and the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion began offering implicit/unconscious bias training to people sitting on hiring committees. We have had 810 registrants, some of whom have provided feedback that the training has helped them understand these concepts and consider them while going through the hiring process. All employees are encouraged to take this training even if you are not on a search committee. To sign up, please email recruit@viu.ca. Unconscious Bias Training is available online through VIU Learn and can be taken at your own pace.
The second strategy implemented in October 2022, was to create a process for collecting voluntary self-identification information to monitor the EDI composition of the VIU employee community. The result is the Employee Diversity Identity Census, which is housed in your employee portal in Unit4. The outcome of this strategy is not yet known as HR continues to gather the information. If you haven’t yet counted yourself in, you can do so through your employee portal (see instructions below). The reason behind asking employees to complete the census is so we can track and make adjustments to hiring strategies and processes. We also hope to improve important aspects of VIU’s Human Resources experience such as wellness benefits and other supports. The goal is to make VIU a more attractive, comfortable, supportive, and inclusive place to work for all people from a variety of backgrounds. This is a fully confidential process, and choosing not to disclose is an option on each section of the census.
If you have not yet, you can count yourself in by completing your self-identification census in your employee portal by following these instructions.
Human Resources has implemented two strategies that are designed to help improve VIU’s EDI, although they are not covered directly under a goal or strategy of the action plan.
1) VIU was granted special program approval by the BC Office of the Human Rights Commissioner giving us the option to limit or restrict hiring to equity-deserving candidates for up to 25 instructional faculty positions over a five-year period: November 22, 2021 to November 22, 2026. Preferential hire postings indicate that candidates belonging to the equity-deserving group identified will be given priority consideration, and limited hire postings indicate that only candidates belonging to the specified equity-deserving group will be considered. As of February 2023, VIU has had success with two limited hire postings within VIUFA. On postings where we didn't specify a limit of preference, we have several candidates who self-identified as belonging to an equity-deserving group
2) The launch of the job applicant self-identity questionnaire: Effective August 18, 2021, a self-identification section was added to the job application to gain insight about who is and is not applying to positions at VIU. Data from this program is currently being analyzed and will be used to inform strategies for improving the job application experience and climate for applicants
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