The Home Depot Canada believes in building from within

When Vinod Nalajala moved to Canada from the United States 20 years ago, he was having a hard time finding work. One day, he walked into a Home Depot Canada store and asked for a job. He was hired, as a sales associate in the lumber department. He continued taking on added responsibilities, becoming a department supervisor and eventually district manager. He then joined the operations team at the company’s head office, known as the store support centre. Nalajala is now vice-president, human resources and communications.

“Home Depot offers immense growth opportunities for people who are committed to the company,” Nalajala says. “We are dedicated to investing in everyone’s success.”

As part of this commitment, the company offers training opportunities including in-house and virtual training in areas such as customer service and product knowledge, and leadership programs that include class training and job shadowing for those aspiring to move into management.

“We have everyone from students who want the flexibility of working here and learning life skills to master plumbers and certified electricians who are retired and want to join us,” Nalajala says. “We have the full spectrum of training opportunities to support all of our associates.”

The Toronto-based Canadian division of The Home Depot always puts associate development at the forefront, says Rafiah Qazi, human resources business partner, technology and finance, and she should know.

While attending university, Qazi worked as a Home Depot store associate, taking advantage of the company’s generous tuition reimbursement program. After graduating and working elsewhere, she returned to The Home Depot Canada in 2014 to work in human resources. She is especially excited about the company’s Orange Academy, launching in January 2022, which will train front-line associates for a career in software development. Employees in the program will participate in 34 weeks of classroom instruction and on-the-job training.

Qazi says many people are surprised by the breadth of technology job opportunities available at The Home Depot Canada, including back-end and front-end systems and desktop IT support, as well as the company’s in-house infrastructure for cloud-based applications that support a seamless customer experience. Human resources teams visit stores to let associates know about these opportunities.

“We get tapped on the shoulder all the time by associates interested in these positions,” Qazi says. “We have people in stores across the country who have the potential to have a career in software development. We’re so excited to provide that platform for associates.” After software development, Qazi says the company plans to add analytics, ecommerce and finance to Orange Academy offerings.

In the past year, The Home Depot Canada has placed store associates into more than 20 specialized tech roles, such as data engineer, data scientist and pricing analyst. “It makes me extremely excited because that was without a formal program like Orange Academy,” says Qazi. “I can’t wait to take it to the next level.

“We’re very focused on internal promotion,” she adds. “When associates come and are part of creating our technology solutions, we are getting complete solutions because they are based on their experience in the store. I am really proud of our investment in our front-line, hourly employees and how much talent we have in our store associates.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Greater Toronto's Top Employers winners, published December 3, 2021 in The Globe and Mail. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.

The Home Depot builds a safe space for employees

At Ivan Ternovoy’s former store location for The Home Depot Canada, the break room was upstairs. Because of that, the store had no associates with mobility issues. When two candidates who use wheelchairs applied for jobs, Ternovoy and his leadership team tore apart an old main-floor office, created a break room and hired both candidates.

One of the associates started work in the department that included the store’s key-cutting station. He was unable to use the station, as it was not wheelchair accessible. One Sunday night, an assistant manager went into the store after it closed and rebuilt the key-cutting station to be accessible.

“I remember the impact that had on the associate,” says Ternovoy, a store human resources manager in Edmonton. “It was like, ‘Look at how valued I am by this organization.’ He was so excited when he told his family, and his dad thought so much of Home Depot that he applied for a job and now they both work for Home Depot.”

Ternovoy continues to take steps to create an inclusive space. He writes regular feature articles spotlighting associates and their experiences and challenges. He recently wrote one article with an Indigenous employee and another with an employee who is deaf.

“It opens up a conversation and associates talk about things they ordinarily wouldn’t have talked about,” Ternovoy says. “Sitting down and asking them their stories, and sharing them, raises awareness. We need to grow and learn from each other’s differences and my hope is that opening the door to some of these conversations makes it that much easier.”

Creating this inclusive culture is one of the four pillars of Home Depot’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) strategy, says Vinod Nalajala, vice-president of human resources and communications.

“This includes allyship and ensuring the mental and physical safety of our associates and that they get the required support and resources,” Nalajala says. Other pillars include regularly gathering feedback from associates and using that to inform the DE&I strategy. A learning and development pillar includes mandatory training on topics such as gender diversity and unconscious bias. Another pillar is leadership commitment and accountability.

“Every leader has to be held accountable to continue to foster this environment of diversity and inclusion. So we actually have certain activities they need to do that can be measured,” Nalajala says.

The Home Depot Canada also has associate resource groups to foster engagement through events, education and community outreach. The Orange Ability group aims to foster an environment where people of all abilities are able to reach their full potential. Orange Pride has a mission to celebrate LGBTQ+ associates and allies. Orange Mosaic encourages intercultural understanding, while Orange Women’s Network promotes professional growth for women through networking, development activities and community outreach.

“Our success as a company comes from things like having great products and online capabilities, but more importantly, we double down on our investment in our associates,” says Nalajala. “And when we have associates who value diversity and inclusion work with others who value diversity and inclusion and they enjoy what they’re doing, that’s the driving force for our success.”

For Ternovoy, it’s this focus that has kept him at Home Depot for 14 years, when his intention was to work there for six months. “It’s the values that keep me there,” he says. “At Home Depot, our values truly guide us in everything we do and in taking care of our people. I’ve never worked for an organization that does such a great job of taking care of its people and living all of its values.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Canada’s Best Diversity Employers winners, published March 8, 2022 in The Globe and Mail. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.

The Home Depot Canada hammers away at emissions

Every year, stores of The Home Depot Canada donate millions of dollars of slightly used or unsold products to the Habitat for Humanity Canada ReStore program. Habitat ReStores sell donated home furnishings, appliances and other renovation materials at low prices, with all proceeds supporting construction of Habitat for Humanity homes.

“Our partnership with ReStore helps us divert products from landfill,” says Joanna Caners, senior manager, sustainability. “In 2020, we donated about nine million lightly used or unsold products to Habitat for Humanity. That helps the environment and also helps people in our communities. So it is a double benefit.”

The Habitat for Humanity partnership is just one of the ways The Home Depot Canada focuses on environmental sustainability. For example, its global parent company has announced a goal to have 100 per cent renewable energy in all its facilities by 2030, worldwide. The Home Depot has also pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030 and 50 per cent by 2035.

Over the last decade, The Home Depot Canada has reduced electricity usage by 43 per cent. In 2020, the Toronto-based company installed LED lighting, building-automated systems, and energy-efficient heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems, which led to an eight per cent electricity reduction in its stores.

“This commitment is important because, when we reduce our impact on the environment, it strengthens our business and our communities. It is part of us being a responsible company,” Caners says.

“Operational changes and the LED lighting upgrades are a big part of it, but it also includes how each store and its associates take steps to minimize energy consumption as much as possible.” The Home Depot Canada encourages associates to take ownership of this commitment, Caners adds, offering an example of an associate who held a Lunch and Learn on how to improve waste management in the break room.

The Home Depot Canada also has significant goals regarding product packaging. “Packaging has a significant impact on the environment and we are working very deliberately on reducing the amount of waste that comes from our product,” says Pam O’Rourke, vice-president of merchandising.

O’Rourke says the company is well on its way to meeting its pledge to exclude expanded polystyrene (EPS foam) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in all of its private brand packaging by 2023.

“Although foam is protecting products, it’s difficult to recycle and takes more than a century to break down,” O’Rourke says. “So we’re replacing it with innovative materials, like wood pellets or moulded pulp and paper.” PVC is also difficult to recycle and takes a long time to biodegrade, so The Home Depot Canada is working on replacing that and encouraging some of its partners to do the same.

“We recognize that the biggest impact on the environment comes from the products we sell. So anything we can do to reduce that impact is just the right thing to do,” O’Rourke says, adding that the views of its customers and associates are crucial.

“If it is important to our customer and to our associates, it’s important to us. We’re guided by what our customers and associates are telling us regarding waste and the impact that we’re having. So we view that as one of our obligations.

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Canada's Greenest Employers winners, published April 20, 2022 in The Globe and Mail. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.