DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Our differences make us unique, and even stronger. That’s why, at iA Financial Group, we are committed to supporting and celebrating diversity. We are continually building a team that is as diverse as the people and communities we serve. By combining our different ways of seeing and experiencing the world, we will always be stronger than the sum of our parts!
Cultivating diversity and inclusion
At iA Financial Group, we recognize diversity and inclusion as a key driver of our innovation and growth. Each year, our markets are expanding to new communities. We need to understand our clients in order to best serve them, and to develop the right products for them. To do this, we need our teams to represent the communities we serve.
Moreover, if we want to remain successful, we have to constantly innovate, finding new solutions to new challenges. To achieve this, we need the best minds working together in every field. And we need diversified minds—a variety of points of view, from all our employees, who know that their ideas will be heard.
By promoting teamwork, respect for individuals and quality of service, we make every effort to ensure that our employees thrive in an environment of trust, solidarity and authenticity. These are the keys to success that will help them reach their full potential.
“I believe that diversity and inclusion are key to the future success of iA, both for business and human reasons. As our markets expand into new communities, our employees need to be representative of them in order to understand and serve our new customers well. And to innovate, our employees must represent the best talent in all fields, and know that their diverse perspectives will be heard. Finally, we must use the privilege of being employed by a successful company to promote equality in our society.”
Denis Ricard
President and Chief Executive Officer
“Our idea of an inclusive workplace is not just having a diversity of people represented, but a diversity of people involved, developed, empowered and trusted. We strive to provide everyone equal opportunity to contribute to iA Financial Group’s success. We want everyone to feel that they belong, to feel that they are safe and can bring their full, unique selves to work.”
Lilia Sham
Executive Vice-President, Corporate Strategy and Development
“At iA, we are proud to have effective and meaningful diversity and inclusion measures in place that will not only contribute to the employee experience, but also to the communities we serve. We take the time and care to really listen to our employees and in doing so have successfully launched employee resource groups, successfully launched D+I training models to help dispel biases, and we are making great progress towards establishing women in senior leadership roles.”
Inderpal Palmier
Diversity and Inclusion Leader
Mission statement
Our Diversity and Inclusion (D+I) Committee, which was created in 2020 and includes representatives from across iA Financial Group, has progressively implemented programs fostering D+I development. The committee’s mandate covers all forms of diversity and makes inclusion an equally important target for every form of diversity. The following is our mission statement:
“At iA Financial Group, we support and celebrate diversity. We strive to provide and be recognized as an inclusive workplace for all regardless of ethnic origin, nationality, language, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, family situation or physical or mental disability.”
Diversity and Inclusion Statement (PDF)Human Rights Statement (PDF)
2022-2025 action plan
To achieve our mission of integrating diversity and inclusion into the core iA culture and having an inclusive workplace for all, we have put in place a three-year action plan, spanning from 2022 to 2025, which includes continuing and further rolling out our diversity and inclusion programs and laying the foundation to continue to listen to, engage and educate employees in our diversity and inclusion journey.
The major themes we will focus on to support this three-year plan are:
- Continuing to raise the level of diversity and inclusion awareness and education throughout the organization
- Encouraging and promoting ally behaviour in our leaders
- Supporting our employees in their career development in a more inclusive manner
- Improving our human resources practices promoting diversity and inclusion
Recent achievements
Recently, we have continued to make significant strides in implementing programs and initiatives that not only enhance the employee experience, but also promote our values within the communities we serve.
Explore all our achievementsAwareness and education
We have put in place numerous awareness and education activities for both employees and managers, including training on unconscious bias and how to break down or eliminate it. To date, 100% of managers and 70% of employees have received training on this topic. We also regularly offer conferences and other sources of quality information to all of our employees to support them in acquiring new knowledge related to diversity and inclusion.
Employee resource groups
We launched a new employee resource group (ERG) program within the company. ERGs are brought together based on shared qualities or life experiences and form a network of contacts primarily dedicated to enhancing professional and personal development. These voluntary, employee-led groups aim to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace that takes into account multiple realities. We are very pleased that the following groups have a voice in our organization:
- Women
- LGBTQ+
- BRIDGE Network (Black community)
Certifications
We recognize that company policies and practices regarding relations with diverse communities or underrepresented groups, the recruitment and advancement of employees from these groups and internal education, among other things, should be certified based on external standards of practice set by recognized organizations. That is why iA Financial Group has committed to taking steps to obtain the following certifications:
- Progressive Aboriginal Relations (PAR) certification from the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business
- Women in Governance Parity Certification
Philanthropy
We have established collaborations with charities and organizations that support diversity and inclusion such as the Inclusion Fund, GRIS-Montréal, Women in Capital Markets (WCM), Women of Influence, Indspire and Mission inclusion. We have also made donations to more than a dozen charities whose mission or project supports diversity and inclusion.
Discover all our commitments