Creating a culture of belonging at CPCS
CPCS has a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policy and continues to remove barriers to become an inclusive and conscious employer. This policy stitches together many ongoing initiatives and creates a shared understanding of what CPCS aspires to be.
A diverse, employee-led taskforce was given complete freedom to define it.
“We wanted our people to empower themselves,” says Diane Lane-Hutchings, CPCS Director of Talent Management.
The CPCS taskforce pushed the firm to look at the full spectrum of diversity and inclusion, including ethnicity, physical ability, gender and 2SLGBTQI+. The focus is to reduce workplace and hiring barriers and improving psychological safety, among others.
The turnaround was quick. The executive team approved the policy in one week.
How the DEI policy came to be
CPCS is a global business. It has a diverse client base and works in a wide variety of contexts. Its purpose is finding better infrastructure solutions to improve lives. The DEI policy has to align with that.
This means contributing to a better, healthier world for citizens through smart, environmentally-friendly and inclusive infrastructure. For instance, CPCS is helping cities and countries improve their public transit system, or supporting the development of water treatment facilities in African communities.
No one can be ever too inclusive
Is CPCS where it wants to be in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion? Not yet.
Choosing to openly talk about how inclusion is evolving at CPCS is one of many ways to show the company is committed to do better.
For instance, women are underrepresented in senior positions at CPCS.
Gender composition at CPCS as of December 2024
Data from a gender survey conducted at CPCS.
Gender disparity at the higher rungs is not the only challenge CPCS is tackling.
Internal research also shows that CPCS employees belonging to a visible minority report having slightly more barriers to be successful at work compared to their white coworkers. They feel they have fewer opportunities to show their work and are less confident in the fairness of performance evaluations. They feel more vulnerable to microaggression.
Knowing this, ensuring gender balance and cultural equity at all levels are top of mind.
CPCS doesn’t seek diversity for the sake of being diverse. Having a global team opens the door to global projects.
Becoming an inclusive employer
Rolling out an inclusive talent management strategy is how CPCS is turning the DEI policy into practice. It’s about building a pool of genderless and colourless leaders.
Part of this strategy is an annual diversity benchmarking. The transparent nature of this assessment allows employees to keep the executive team accountable.
The strategy also puts an emphasis on minimizing and removing constructed and unconscious biases from the recruitment process.
Other initiatives include:
- Training people managers on biases and microaggressions
- Reviewing pay equity
- Implementing a family expense policy
- Implementing a family-friendly flexible work arrangement
CPCS has taken definitive steps in creating an equitable work environment with equal access to opportunities and resources allows employees to contribute to the development of the company.
Clear, visible change leaders
Co-CEOs and Managing Partners Jean-François Arsenault and Marc-André Roy are aware of their status as white, male executives. Yet, they’re the biggest diversity and inclusion advocates a business can ask for. Their approval rate on Glassdoor is over 90 per cent.
When both took on this role in 2018, they felt it was time to revisit the firm’s identity and purpose. All employees were involved in this exercise, and most agreed that creating a culture of belonging was a must.
Since then, the co-CEOs have been actively embedding inclusive mindsets, behaviours and processes in the firm’s DNA.
Instilling a culture of belonging is also the job of effective and deliberate communications.
“As a strategic communications management professional, I’m responsible for championing an inclusive language,” says Benoit Laplante, Director of Global Marketing and Communications.
In short, CPCS is committed to providing and fostering a workplace that is diverse, inclusive, free from barriers and psychologically safe.
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