Diversity in the Workplace Policy

Updated July 2024

Friesens Corporation is dedicated to providing an atmosphere free from barriers in order to promote equity and diversity. We celebrate and welcome the diversity of all employees, stakeholders and external personnel. It is our policy to foster an environment that respects people’s dignity, ideas and beliefs thereby ensuring equity and diversity in employment. We demonstrate our commitment to this by providing a supportive work environment and a corporate culture that welcomes and encourages equal opportunities for all employees.

This policy has been adopted to promote the full participation and advancement of members of the designated groups, which includes but is not limited to women, Indigenous persons, members of visible minority groups, and persons with disabilities within the company’s workforce. Friesens Corporation will act in compliance with the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Employment Equity Act, and all other applicable legislation.

Friesens has specific policies in place to prevent any discrimination on the basis of the protected grounds in any employment, stakeholder or external personnel matter. As such, Friesens is dedicated to promoting diversity within the workplace.

All personnel actions regarding hiring, compensation, promotion, benefits, job assignments, transfers, lay-offs, return from lay-offs, company sponsored programs or events, etc. will be taken without regard to race, colour, creed, religion, sex, gender identity, gender expression, family status, age, language or national origin.

We will to the best of our ability ensure that accommodations are made for individuals who require them. Individuals are encouraged to let management know of any accommodations they believe would be of benefit.

Cultural Competence

Friesens Corporation will promote cultural competence through various training initiatives. These training initiatives may include:

Allowing awareness of one’s own cultural view
Encouraging positive attitudes towards cultural differences
Obtaining knowledge of differing cultural practices and views
Teaching cross-cultural skills

Hiring Practices

Friesens Corporation is dedicated to recruiting and retaining a qualified workforce. By valuing a diverse workforce, Friesens is committed to hiring practices that are fair and equitable. It is always the goal of Friesens to hire the most qualified candidate for a position. We will ensure that the search and hiring process is fair and equitable, so the appropriate qualifications of each candidate are the only criteria upon which a hiring or promotion decision is made.

This policy is referred to in Friesens staff handbook, The Friesens Way and it is the responsibility of every Friesens Employee to acquaint themselves and read the policies and procedures referred to therein. Employment is conditional upon accepting the terms and conditions as set forth in The Friesens Way. If anyone employed with Friesens Corporation violates the guidelines/procedures outlined in this policy, they face disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.

Employment Equity

Friesens Corporation has the following objectives related to employment equity:

To promote the full participation and advancement of members of the designated groups under the Canadian Human Rights Act and Employment Equity Act, including women, Indigenous persons, members of visible minority groups, and persons with disabilities, in the company’s workforce.
To develop policies, programs, practices, and traditions that facilitate the full participation and advancement of members of historically disadvantaged groups in Canada by eliminating direct, indirect, and systemic discrimination. This includes Indigenous persons, visible minorities, ethnic minorities whose mother tongue is neither English nor French, persons with disabilities, women, and persons of minority sexual orientations and gender identities.
To implement such special measures as are required to attract, retain, and promote members of the designated groups and to ensure that individuals in positions to make or influence decisions regarding the status or working conditions of current and prospective employees are aware of such special measures and have received training in their application.
To identify those areas of the workforce where members of the designated groups are underrepresented and to focus special measures to redress such underrepresentation and to ensure that individuals in positions to make or influence decisions regarding the status or working conditions of current and prospective employees are aware of such special measures and have received training in their
To ensure that individuals in positions to make or influence decisions regarding the status or working conditions of current and prospective employees are aware of this policy and have received training in its meaning and application, that they implement its core values in all decisions and that they communicate and apply them to all members of staff.
To recruit and retain staff on the basis of individual merit and achievement, while ensuring that all persons and in particular members of designated groups will have genuine, open, and unhindered access to employment opportunities free from artificial barriers.
To achieve equality in the workplace so that no member of a designated group is denied employment opportunities or benefits for reasons unrelated to ability by giving effect to the principle that employment equity means more than treating persons in the same way but also requires special measures and the accommodation of

In furtherance of these commitments, Friesens Corporation will:

Continue to build a diverse workforce that is representative of the pool of potential candidates with appropriate qualifications from designated groups, while retaining individual merit and achievement as the prime criteria for all staffing decisions;
Ensure that all employment-related decisions are based on principles of individual merit and achievement, such as skills, knowledge, and abilities relevant to specific positions, and not on factors unrelated to a person’s ability to do the job;
Ensure that company regulations, policies, and practices do not have an adverse effect, direct or indirect, on the employment and advancement of members of designated groups;
Seek to increase the range of applicants for all staff positions to reflect the diversity of the pool of potential candidates with appropriate qualifications from designated groups;
Ensure that, where candidates do not differ in merit, employment decisions are guided by the company policy on employment equity;
Seek to make reasonable adjustments for differences related to belonging to a designated group thereby enabling them to compete equally with others; and
Identify those sectors of the workforce where members of the designated groups are underrepresented and to develop measures to address such underrepresentation.

However, in pursuit of employment equity, it is understood that Friesens Corporation will not:

Impose quotas for the hiring of members from designated groups; or
Engage in reverse discrimination, which can occur when a less qualified candidate is hired over a more qualified one due to being part of a designated group.

Pay Equity and Equal Treatment

Friesens Corporation is also committed to ensuring pay equity and observing obligations under the Pay Equity Act and the Canada Labour Code.

Employees will not be paid different wage rates due to a difference in their employment status if they work in the same industrial establishment; they perform substantially the same kind of work; the performance of that work requires substantially the same skill, effort, and responsibility; their work is performed under similar working conditions; or any other factor that may be prescribed by regulation is present. However, this is not applicable when pay systems are based on seniority, merit, the quantity or quality of each employee’s production, or any other criterion prescribed by regulation.