Employment equity is embedded at McMaster University

Katherine Hesson-Bolton understands the value of seeing the big picture. As an employment equity facilitator at McMaster University, Hesson-Bolton, who uses the pronouns she/they, was recently involved in a hiring process.

By this point in her/their career, she/they had already spent the past five years connecting employers with students, leading conversations around diversity hiring and removing barriers to inclusion in the workplace. Hesson-Bolton was the university’s first diversity employment coordinator supporting students.

So when Hesson-Bolton encouraged her/their colleagues to look at more than just candidates’ professional certifications when hiring, the colleagues listened.

“Have they managed a family or been a caregiver? Have they balanced school and work? That’s someone who’s got great time management, resilience and determination,” Hesson-Bolton says. “Those are wonderful, transferable skills.”

Looking at the bigger picture helped ensure great candidates weren’t overlooked.

Today, Hesson-Bolton continues to support students as the manager, talent partnerships and employer relations with the Student Success Centre. On top of that, she/they are one of 347 individuals trained to serve as employment equity facilitators within their department, supporting inclusion in the workplace.

“One thing that I’ve noticed over my time with the university is how it has diversified its hiring and recruitment,” Hesson-Bolton explains. “That’s exciting to see, not just from my role, but also my own identities and intersectionality.”

Willingness to change the traditional approach to recruitment along with creative outreach and the employment equity facilitators are all part of the success of McMaster’s equitable hiring practices.

The result is a highly skilled staff that reflects the broader community both locally and globally.

“One does not need to sacrifice talent or excellence to pursue goals of inclusion and diversity,” says Barrington Walker, vice-provost, equity and inclusion.

“Thinking critically about what sorts of lenses you want people to bring to the work that they do is important, as is thinking about the role of lived experience,” he explains.

Building and maintaining strong relationships within the community is another important way that the university attracts talent.

“It doesn’t hurt that McMaster is one of the top research universities in Canada with a very strong national and international reputation,” he adds.

Equitable hiring practices are a piece of a much larger commitment to equity and inclusion at the university.

Among many initiatives, Walker is particularly proud of the Black Student Success Centre, which follows the principles outlined in the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education and the It Takes All of Us learning module on gender-based and sexual violence from McMaster’s Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office.

The list of university resources and initiatives in support of equity and inclusion is lengthy but important and a sign of its longstanding commitment to inclusivity. As part of an initiative to support the launch of the university’s new Employment Equity Census, employees have shared their perspective and experiences on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace, in an online video series, titled Diversity Counts at McMaster.

“This wasn’t a case of an institution that had begun to take these things seriously post-2020,” says Walker, reflecting on when he joined the university in 2023. “There was a longer history of concerted action and attention to these issues.”

While McMaster University has made great strides for equity and inclusion, there’s always more that can be done.

“With any kind of equity, inclusion and accessibility it’s an ongoing process – it’s never perfect,” says Hesson-Bolton. “But McMaster responds much more and sooner when there are changes that need to be addressed and learns from them.”

Hesson-Bolton has also felt the sense of inclusion fostered by McMaster on a personal level.

“This is probably one of the most satisfying places I’ve ever worked,” says Hesson-Bolton. “And one of the places where I truly feel respected and included.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Canada’s Best Diversity Employers winners, published March 5, 2024 in The Globe and Mail. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.