There are clear, actionable steps that every company can take to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The higher up the corporate ladder, the fewer women we see. That’s true in Canada and around the world.

Consider the data: in Canada, men continue to hold over 90 percent of C-level executive roles. In 2021, women were only 52 of the 533 named executive officers among Canada’s publicly-traded corporations.

Despite this, there have been some gains. In Canada, women accounted for slightly more than a third of all managers last year. The proportion of women in senior management roles globally grew to 31 percent, the highest number ever recorded.

That’s meaningful progress, but there’s still a lot of work left to do to reach gender equity in leadership, especially at the highest ranks.

Here’s where companies can start:

Secure commitment at the top

Ensure that senior leaders, including the CEO, are committed to the intentional and hard work it takes to close equity gaps.

Measure what matters

Commit to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) measurement and transparency. Measure employees’ experience of inclusion. Measure and track board diversity, workforce diversity by employee level, and gender pay equality. Establish DEI targets and mechanisms for holding senior leaders accountable for progress.

Create equitable pathways

Develop fair and transparent talent management systems and procedures to mitigate unconscious bias, including objective advancement criteria, specific and constructive feedback, and equitable allocation of high-visibility jobs associated with leadership positions.

Prioritize sponsorship

Sponsorship is an important career accelerator for women, particularly women from underrepresented ethnic or racial groups. Sponsorship programs can help build an inclusive leadership pipeline for organizations.

Be flexible and practise empathy

Make empathy a management practice. Empathic leadership improves inclusion, engagement, and retention and decreases burnout, particularly for women of colour. Understand what your employees need and design inclusive, flexible work options and hybrid work models to meet those needs.

As we enter year three of the pandemic, I’m optimistic that we have an opportunity to reimagine the workplace and reimagine leadership. Let’s use this moment to drive equity for women.

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Tracy Fleming

Advanced Solutions, Avaya

The link between company and customer is built on experiences. It might be products and services that bring people to engage with a company in the first place, but it’s the quality of the interaction that retains customers, or loses them. Wherever and whenever that point of contact occurs, there’s a need to deliver an experience that’s welcoming, useful, appropriate, and enjoyable. With more than seven billion people on this planet, however, each with their own needs and desires, it’s simply impossible to curate a single experience that will suit them all. What one customer loves, another will hate.

And that really matters. People are no longer willing to accept friction in their interactions with companies. They know that there’s a better way and they expect it. The data is quite clear that customers are more than willing to walk away from a company after a bad experience. But how can you consistently create a good one for an audience with infinite variety?

The augmented human experience

In today’s era of cloud AI, the golden prize of a truly personalized experience for each customer is finally within reach. The answer is not, however, replacing agents with computers. Instead, we can augment the capabilities of the agents with AI, blending the human and the digital to create a seamlessly personal experience. “The human piece of this isn’t going away,” says Tracy Fleming, Practice Leader for AI at Avaya, a multinational technology company that specializes in cloud communications and workstream collaboration solutions. “Human interaction is still the gold standard. What you’re seeing is AI enabling that human to provide a better experience.”

Artificial intelligence is by no means a new area of exploration within the customer experience field, but as the capabilities of modern AI continue to grow exponentially, the implementation is taking on a whole new character. “The cloud is really the accelerator for the applied use of AI,” says Fleming. “It allows the technology to be applied seamlessly across an entire business model, and so we’re certainly seeing it being deployed in a much broader range of applications. But the core capabilities in this space have been executed in the Avaya world for years.”

Human interaction is still the gold standard. What you’re seeing is AI enabling that human to provide a better experience.

The angel on the shoulder

One of the major new developments is the ever-increasing speed and flexibility with which these AI solutions can be integrated into ongoing interactions. Gone is the time of AI systems facilitating the start of an interaction and then analyzing it afterwards. Whereas it used to be the norm for something like five percent of daily calls to be thoroughly analyzed after hours, now one hundred percent of calls can be analyzed as they’re happening.

AI still plays an integral role in directing the right customer to the right agent, not only for their needs, but also for their personality, demographics, and mood. But then it stays on the line. “What’s been really interesting due to the amount of computing and storage in the cloud today is the way we can provide outcome and input to agents in real time,” says Fleming. “We can have the AI acting as the front door concierge and also sitting on the shoulder of the agent as they’re talking. The AI hears what the customer is saying, finds the relevant data, and then renders it out to the agent on the fly. And it can prompt the agent before the call is over if they forget something, so you never have these incomplete experiences.”

The end result is an experience that is even more human. This is the real arc of the AI transformation, as it allows us to rehumanize our interactions. After decades of digitization and depersonalization, technology is building us a bridge back to genuine human connection.

Let’s see how your company scores on the total experience self-assessment?

There’s nothing artificial about an experience

When implemented properly to build dynamic experiences, artificial intelligence creates an environment where the humanity of both the agent and the customer is able to shine. The Avaya Experience Builders ecosystem leverages all the power of this technology to customize customization itself, so that the experience can be refined down to the essential of the business and then broadened again to fit the rich diversity of its customers. When done right, the most diligent AI experience work renders itself almost invisible.

“When a customer gets off a call thinking that, for 10 minutes, they were the only thing in that person’s world, they may not think to themselves, that was an incredible use of artificial intelligence,” says Fleming. “I would argue that’s the point. I think artificial intelligence is at its best when you don’t know it’s there.”

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Why is financial literacy important for young Canadians?

Managing money is one of the most important lessons a young person can learn. You speak to any rich families and that is the first lesson they teach their children. Financial literacy pops up in all aspects of our lives very early. From how much to pay for a game, is it wise to spend money on popular video game sites without any tangible returns, and what do you do with that money you made selling lemonade? Do you put it in a piggy bank or do you invest it in a financial instrument that can allow that money to grow?

What’s something you wish you told your younger self when it comes to money management?

I wish I had learned early the importance of saving and investing. Saving is not just about putting money in the bank but how do you make that money work to your benefit? I recall in my younger years I would spend every cent I earned as it came in. But in my early twenties, I realized that the value of building equity was far greater than that of mindlessly spending. So, I worked twice as hard to save so that I could invest – eventually going on to purchase my first house. I quickly learned that renting was not making me any money. As a result of home ownership, the equity that eventually built up into my then house allowed me to be a better contender for a sizeable loan. This same loan that I took out against my family home allowed me to start a business which continued to build value for me.

Leverage is something that I wish I had known when I was younger. The key (I now know) is to learn how using other people’s money, in particular a bank, can and will build your own wealth. But to do that you must have something to give them as collateral (something to give them as value to hold in case you run into trouble and cannot repay the debt). If we have no asset to use as collateral to obtain leverage, getting a neighbour or adult with excellent credit to guarantee the debt for you could also work.  Therefore, it’s important to show good work ethic and attitude early because you never know who could help you based solely on your conduct or work ethic.

Why is it important for Canadians to invest in their wealth?

Wealth provides certain freedom in life. It is not just about driving a nice car or living in a nice neighbourhood. Wealth allows you the flexibility to tackle important social issues through philanthropy whether that be education, health care or racial justice. Let’s say you are from an under-served neighbourhood, you can then use your wealth to help others in that neighbourhood escape poverty. If you came from poverty, it’s important that you return and help as many people as possible. Wealth allows you to pay that forward.

What are your top money management tips for new businesses?

Watch the Bottomline. In translation – watch how much money you earn versus how much you spend. Many business owners focus on the money they bring in (revenue) which is fine to an extent, however, though you may be doing a good job bringing money in, only governments can spend more money than they make and stay in business. Do not overspend on anything. I see the same mistakes by new business owners repeatedly – they tend to spend too much on rent or leasehold improvements on their office or space to look trendy. I wish business owners knew that flashy renovations can come after you are profitable, and after you have proven yourself.

Every dollar you spend earlier on in starting your business must be spent very wisely and methodically. Ask yourself, is this spend necessary? How will it advance my business? Is there a cheaper or more effective alternative?

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Why is financial literacy important for young Canadians?

Youth financial literacy puts them in control of their own decisions and finances which is important especially in today’s society where the cost of living is on the rise. Children need to learn early in life that there are differences between needs and wants and how this impacts our financial decisions. It will ultimately play a key role in making them lead a happier and more financially stable lifestyle.

What’s something you wish you told your younger self when it comes to money management?

I would tell my younger self that a healthy financial life begins with effective money management skills. Apart from creating a budget and sticking to it, many other financial practices can alter the course of your life drastically.

There are many strong pieces of financial advice that I would tell my younger self:

• Contribute towards your retirement fund
• Get life insurance when you are still young
• Make an effort to learn about investments
• Don’t spend money on frivolous things
• Focus on your strengths
• Don’t use too many credit cards
• Spend money on experiences
• Save for rainy days
• Build your contacts and career network
• Learn about the stock market

What are your top money management tips for new businesses?

Being a small business owner is all about following your dreams and calling your own shots. But it’s also about managing your money responsibly and keeping a tight grip on your finances.

• Create a Budget and Adjust Accordingly
• Get Your Cash Flow Organized – When you’re getting your business started, keep track of all income and expenses from day one — even if most of your numbers are zero.
• Establish an Emergency Fund – An emergency fund isn’t just for personal finances. Business owners should have one, too. Odds are, your business will eventually face a less than a stellar month or an unexpected expense, so it’s essential to plan for these cash crunches.
• Remember That Time Is Money – New business owners often start out with one person running the show. Marketing and sales, accounting and product design, shipping and customer service — it’s all in a small business owner’s job description. But as you grow, it’s important to know which tasks you excel at and which ones you probably have no business doing.
• Running a small business is no easy task, but it’s easier when you stay organized and disciplined.
• When you dive in and get comfortable with your business finances, you’ll have a better idea of how your business is really doing, where improvements are needed and where growth is possible.

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Omar Rbati

Partner, CrucialLogics

Amol Joshi

Partner, CrucialLogics

Being proactive and people-focused is the most effective protection against online attacks, a leading expert says.

Cybersecurity is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face.” Those are the opening words of the Honourable Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s Minister of National Defence, in the latest National Cyber Threat Assessment. The document is a chilling look at data and credential security in a rapidly-digitizing landscape faced with rising incidents of cybercrime and increasingly sophisticated threats. According to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, more than 80 percent of the nation’s organizations were targeted by a cyberattack in 2020, while many companies identify cybersecurity as their number one operational concern in 2021. So what can Canadian organizations do to defend themselves effectively?

One of the best ways to approach the challenge is, first and foremost, as a people problem. “You can spend a lot of money on technology and have all the right hardware and software in place,” says Nim Nadarajah, Partner at Canadian cybersecurity firm CrucialLogics, “but the weakest link in the security chain is always going to be the end user.”

During the pandemic, the importance of strengthening this link grew even more acute as the rise of working from home dramatically shifted the need for cybersecurity beyond organizational spheres into the personal realms of employees. “It’s not just about having a lock and alarm on your front door,” Nadarajah says. “You need to make sure that it’s locked every night and have a plan for when the alarm goes off.”

Anticipating danger is the first and best defence

According to Nadarajah, maintaining such a plan and ensuring real security requires a continuous mindset of vigilance and action. These days, cyberthreats are innovative, prolific, and diverse, as are the actors who initiate them. Many companies know this but may not be equipped to tackle digital perils in all their forms and mutations. It takes the right tools and expertise to stay one step ahead of the bad guys in such a murky climate.

Trusting the right security partner is key

Nadarajah believes that true peace of mind comes from an open and honest dialogue about vulnerability within an organization. “Transparency is where a lot of organizations in the cybersecurity space fail,” he says. “If we have a customer who’s willing to work with us and give us the keys to the kingdom, we’re going to show them how we’ve fortified it, the defence mechanisms we’ve put in place, what we’ve caught, and what got through.”

In truth, Nadarajah says, “some attacks are always going to get through, but it’s how you handle the response and remediation that’s important.” And on that front, CrucialLogics is well-armed.

Nadarajah is one of three partners that started CrucialLogics. He’s joined by Amol Joshi and Omar Rbati, who started CrucialLogics as an advisory-first company whose goal is not to sell technology but to help companies demystify and enable security.

The post Cybercrime Is Scary, but a Strong Offence Is the Best Defence appeared first on HiveInnovates.

CMHA sits down to discuss the disruptions caused by the pandemic in the workplace and the resulted focus on employee’s mental health.

There is no denying the toll the pandemic has taken on individual and employee mental health. 

Workplaces around the world and across all industries have faced disruption. These disruptions brought on immense personal challenges, but organizations can use this time of disruption to rethink and redesign their workplaces. 

Many organizations have responded to the struggles their employees are facing by increasing benefits like flexibility, access to resources on mental well-being, and paid time off. Many are hosting safe and supportive conversations and education around mental health in the workplace, and some organizations have gone even further, like the Canadian Mental Health Association’s national office, which closed its doors for a week to allow employees time to rejuvenate.

We will likely continue to see disruption in the workplace, and no one can say for certain how the future of work will look. We do know that employees, now more than ever, are looking for flexibility in where, when, and how they work. 

Organizations need to realize that productivity is driven by how and why people work—not when and where they work. If we don’t care about our workers, then they won’t care about their work. 

Workplaces that successfully manage the post-pandemic environment will do so, at least in part, by making psychological health and safety a priority and putting their people first. 

The post The Future of Work appeared first on HiveInnovates.

The Presidents of CCCPE and ACE sit down to discuss good ergonomics and the human factors to lead a successful hybrid workplace

As we look to the potential for a return to the office, many companies are considering hybrid working models. Hybrid work typically refers to having employees working part-time in the office and part-time from home.

The subtext of hybrid working models is that for many, the office environment will look different. If only a portion of employees are in the office at any given time, companies can save money by reducing the square footage and, consequently, the number of computer workstations. While this concept makes sense for financial reasons and for the flexibility it provides employees, there are some real concerns from the point of view of ergonomics and human factors. 

Addressing potential pitfalls

When employees begin sharing workstations, employees’ workstations become less customized to their own abilities, needs, and preferences. This goes beyond the ability to keep a desk lamp on the table and favourite snacks in the drawer. We need to consider how we’re going to accommodate a 5’2” and 6’2” employee at the same workstation using the same equipment. As ergonomists, we’ve all taught employees how to optimize the fit of their office chairs, only to have them stick a “do not touch” post-it on the back of the chair. Employees aren’t confident in their ability to optimize their set-up on their own, and many won’t even bother to make these adjustments when they’re only going to be sitting at a workstation for a single day. Furthermore, prolonged work on a laptop isn’t recommended, because laptop screens are too low, resulting in the potential for neck strain. 

If employees are expected to dock their laptops with external keyboards and mice, will they have to carry this equipment back and forth with them each day? If they’re sharing equipment, how will it be sanitized? If we look beyond the physical workstation and consider that many jobs involve collaborative work efforts that have suffered from absences from shared workspaces, how is this work going to be promoted in an office where an employee might end up sitting in an available seat that isn’t next to their colleague’s? 

Working toward solutions

How do we go about designing these hybrid work environments to promote good ergonomics, good human factors, and, overall, a comfortable and productive workspace? Consider consulting with a Certified Ergonomist to ensure that you’ve selected equipment such as chairs and monitor arms that are easily adjustable and will fit a range of employees. Height-adjustable workstations are a great way to eliminate the need for things like footrests and keyboard trays. Ensure employees have access to external keyboards and mice. Finally, ensure that you train employees to use the equipment that you’ve provided in order to get all the benefit you can from your efforts. 

The post The Key to a Successful Hybrid Office appeared first on HiveInnovates.

One year ago, a global pandemic thrust Canadians into a situation we never expected to face. Our personal and professional lives were forced to transition quickly to a more digital landscape — everything from work to leisure and homeschooling to grocery shopping. As our devices became even more important, cyber criminals took note.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre)’s National Cyber Threat Assessment 2020 report showed that as Canadians adopted new technology and embraced more internet connected devices, cybercrime remained the cyber threat most likely to affect Canadians and Canadian organizations in 2021, and in the years ahead.

While you might think cyber threats only target large organizations or governments, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are most likely to face cyber threat activity in the form of cybercrime that often has immediate financial or privacy implications.

And we see SMBs being targeted every day. Cyber criminals can shift their tactics quickly to take advantage of themes of the day. They use cheap yet sophisticated cyber tools to steal information, including ransomware and phishing scams. Cyber threat actors target Canadian businesses for their data about customers, partners and suppliers, financial information and payment systems, and proprietary information. Cyber security incidents can also result in reputational damage, productivity loss, intellectual property theft, operational disruptions, and recovery expenses.

The good news? There are simple, cost effective steps you can take to help protect your information. Following basic cyber security hygiene measures like software and device updates, and enabling two-factor or multi-factor authentication, are your first lines of defence against cyber criminals. Additionally, the Cyber Centre’s Baseline Cyber Security Controls for Small and Medium Organizations offers advice tailored specifically for businesses, while keeping in mind budgetary and resource limitations.

The Cyber Centre also recommends using a protected DNS service that blocks malicious websites. Canadian businesses can take advantage of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority’s cost-effective DNS Firewall for Small Business or Enterprise, which uses threat intelligence provided by the Cyber Centre, as part of its broader effort and mandate to protect all Canadians online.

Some of these steps might seem tedious, but they are often overlooked layers of security that can make the difference between an attempted cyber attack and a successful one. Good cyber hygiene and business continuity best practices, as they relate to cyber security, help to manage cyber risks for many of today’s most prevalent threats. It’s also best to limit administrative privileges, and segment and separate your organization’s data.

The Cyber Centre offers multiple resources for any Canadian, regardless of your level of cyber proficiency. From general advice and guidance on its website to in-class learning through its Learning Hub, it also has a public Contact Centre to help answer your questions.

The Cyber Centre is here to help protect Canadians from cyber threats. Following simple cyber security hygiene tips can help everyone stay more cyber safe and be on top of their cyber security.

The post How Canadians and Businesses Can Stay Cyber-Healthy appeared first on HiveInnovates.

The Canadian Association for Girls In Science (CAGIS) is an award-winning club for girls aged 7­–16 that supports interest in science, technology, trades, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Chapters meet monthly to do fun hands-on experiments and activities. Usually, these events occur at the workplaces of our STEM experts but in response to the pandemic we’ve moved our meetings online and adapted our activities. There are loads of cool things to try at home with CAGIS Virtual, including app development, making your own ice cream, and even extracting DNA!   

Here are three tried, true, and kid-approved activities you can explore with your children to inspire some scientific thinking. These experiments are simple, but the concepts are big!

Incredible Ice Melt

When you take a piece of ice out of the freezer and place it on your kitchen counter, it melts, of course. The warmer the temperature, the faster the melt will occur. But did you also know that ice melts under pressure, even in cold temperatures? 

You can do a simple experiment to test this out. Take an ice cube and put it on a plate. With a pair of scissors, cut the ends off a cotton swab. Use the stick to press against the ice cube. With some pressure, it will take only a few seconds for the stick to start to sink into the ice. As soon as you release the pressure, the ice refreezes, and you may find you can lift the cube up by pulling on the stick. 

You’ll also have observed this phenomenon if you’ve ever gone ice skating. When you place your skate on the ice, the blade (and your weight behind it) exert pressure on the ice. This causes the top of the ice to melt — just while the blade is in contact — allowing your skate to glide across the slippery surface! 

Exploring Surface Tension

A super simple experiment with pepper helps to demonstrate the way a small amount of soap affects the surface tension of water. 

Fill a bowl with about an inch of water. Grind some pepper (or sprinkle pre-ground pepper) over the top of the bowl. Observe how the pepper floats on the surface of the water. 

Now dip a toothpick into some dish soap. You only want a tiny amount on the toothpick. Touch the toothpick to the water’s surface, right in the centre. You’ll notice the pepper suddenly darts to the edges of the bowl or sinks to the bottom. What’s happened?

The pepper flakes can’t dissolve in water. They float because water molecules tend to stick together. The effect of this is that the top layer of water molecules act like a thin elastic sheet — something we call surface tension. Soap breaks down that surface tension. This is one of the reasons we use soap for cleaning.  

Egg Trick

To do this experiment, you’ll need two eggs in their shells — one raw, and one hard-boiled. They look exactly the same, but with a little science knowledge, you’ll be able to tell which is which, without cracking them! 

On a smooth hard surface, give each egg a spin. Observe how they behave. You’ll notice that one egg spins smoothly, while the other one wobbles. 

The secret to telling the eggs apart is understanding the principle of inertia. Inertia is the tendency of objects to resist a change in motion. The inside of the hard-boiled egg is firm, so everything moves together, and it spins smoothly. But the raw egg has fluid in it, which resists the spinning motion applied to the shell, and causes the egg to wobble.

Membership in CAGIS Virtual costs $200 per year (and $50 for each additional sibling). This includes invitations to 24–28 virtual events per year. Sessions run most Saturdays at 11 a.m. EST (ages 7–12) and 1 p.m. EST (ages 11–16). Our one-hour events include a hands-on activity and time for questions, led by a STEM expert and a certified teacher.

The post No Lab? No Problem! 4 Ways to Explore Science at Home appeared first on HiveInnovates.