Interac employees participating in the first-ever 1Interac Women’s Conference: Empower Her.supplied
During the 11 years she spent as CEO of the Economic Club of Canada, Rhiannon Rosalind became acutely aware of gaps in the conversations about women in corporate leadership.
“No one was really talking about the underlying challenges that I was seeing,” says Rosalind, now founder and CEO of Conscious Economics, a social enterprise focused on research and education for equity-deserving populations. “Even before the pandemic hit, women were deeply, deeply burnt out.”
Seeing a “hollowness” in the discourse about equity in the labour force, Rosalind founded Conscious Economics and later launched the HeARTwork project, a three-year project dedicated to capturing the diverse experiences of women and breaking down barriers in the corporate landscape. The initiative gathered small groups of intersectional women and facilitated “deep listening” amongst community partners from the CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals, the Canadian Arab Institute, the Indigenomics Institute and more.
While the women were from across the country and from a wide variety of backgrounds, the results showed striking commonalities, Rosalind says. Diverse women talked about working within “toxic systems,” experiencing microaggressions and dealing with “invisible” additional workloads.
More than 500 staff members came together to celebrate annual achievements at Interac’s summer appreciation barbecue.supplied
“There was this sentiment around having one role but almost feeling like you’re doing the [work] of two or three people,” Rosalind says.
Drawing from the HeARTwork insights, Conscious Economics invited Canadian corporations to help develop a policy framework to address the issues head-on.
Interac Corp., the initiative’s lead corporate champion, jumped in feet first, says Rosalind.
“Once we completed the initial research phase, Interac was the first corporation to get on board and say, ‘We want to be at the table,’ says Rosalind. “They participated in all of the design thinking sessions, held sessions within their organization, got the women within Interac involved, and eventually helped co-create policy solutions that became part of the HeARTwork framework.”
The move was particularly notable, she adds, because Interac already fares well when it came to women’s empowerment. “They are doing some really progressive things for women within their organization,” she says.
Proactively addressing barriers
Despite making strides in their corporate journeys, diverse women in the workplace are facing barriers to their career growth at critical early stages. Described in a 2023 McKinsey report on Women in the Workplace as the “broken rung” in the corporate ladder, these women have been stalled at moments where their careers should be trending upwards. For example, the report found that for every 100 men promoted from entry level to manager, 73 women of colour were promoted.
Using a blend of existing activities and newly updated initiatives, Interac has positioned itself to proactively address these barriers, clearing the way for diverse women to advance in their corporate careers, says Sophia Dhrolia, diversity, equity and inclusion lead at Interac.
In addition to being actively involved in the development of the HeARTwork framework, in August 2023 the company launched Count Me In, an innovative internal data collection module meant to provide an in-depth look at the intersectional experiences of employees.
Interac employees participating in the HeARTwork: Advancing Women in Leadership Summit, an initiative that aims to breakdown systemic barriers in corporate Canada.supplied
“We’re not just looking at representation of women,” says Dhrolia. “We’re actually breaking it down as much as we possibly can to see if there are barriers.” By examining promotions and turnover, the company is looking at the bigger picture, she adds.
Support for women is also woven into the workday itself. The company offers hybrid work, extra-long wellness weekends and shortened “Summer Fridays” to help teams recharge. Each day, the company has a morning, afternoon and end-of-day “quiet hour” where there are no meetings booked.
“For myself, I’m a parent of two and my wife is a teacher, and I’m responsible for the kids in the morning,” says Dhrolia. “Working at Interac, I’ve never been stressed in the morning and have time to prepare myself for the workday ahead,”
Interac also has an active women’s employee resource group (ERG), an employee-led group that supports women both professionally and personally through events and mentorship. The group recently organized the first ever 1Interac Women’s Summit, which included educational sessions, panel discussions, professional headshots and networking.
Community partnerships
In addition to creating a workplace where diverse women can thrive, Interac also works with like-minded community organizations like ACCES Employment and Black Moms Connection through monetary support and mentorship and educational events.
For example, Black Moms Connection, an organization facilitating financial literacy programs and emergency grants for women in need, has received financial and product support from Interac, allowing women to tap into services in a faster and more accessible way.
Interac hosted its first Building Financial Confidence in Newcomers Summit, which brought more than 200 newcomers together for a day of keynotes and workshops such as staying in control of your money and financial wellness tips.supplied
“Black Moms Connection leverages Interac e-Transfer to send emergency funds to moms in need for household essentials like paying rent,” says Dhrolia.
Rosalind notes that one of the key aspects demonstrating Interac’s commitment to positive change is the company’s willingness to listen first, then get to work.
“What is so inspiring to me was that they [are] willing to sit down at the table and use their resources to learn,” she says.
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Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio with Interac. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.