Inclusion & Diversity Policy

Bright Money Group (“the Business”) is committed to a workplace culture that values and promotes diversity, inclusion, and equal employment opportunities. That culture includes:

Promoting diversity by identifying and removing barriers in recruitment, advancement, and retention for underrepresented groups. These groups may include women, people of color, Indigenous individuals, individuals with a disability, LGBTQ2+ individuals, and any additional groups identified through ongoing review.
Preventing discrimination by making decisions regarding recruitment, advancement, compensation, and workplace opportunities without regard for race, place of origin, age, sex, gender/gender expression, sexual orientation, religious belief/creed, and disability.
Promoting respectfulness, cultural awareness, and inclusivity by:
fostering a collaborative work environment in which all employees participate and contribute.
empowering and providing a safe space for all employees to express themselves, exchange ideas, and feel heard; and
encouraging employees to be open and curious about others’ experiences and perspectives.
Respecting employee privacy in collection, use, and disclosure of any information about employee personal characteristics.
Application and Scope

This Policy is made in accordance with applicable employment standards, health and safety, human rights, and accessibility legislation. This Policy will be reviewed and updated on an annual basis or as necessary to accurately reflect the diversity and inclusion practices adopted by the Business.

For purpose of this Policy, “diversity” and “inclusion” are defined as follows:

“Diversity” refers to variety in characteristics that we all possess, and which are used to differentiate among individuals and groups of people. Those characteristics include race, place of origin, age, sex, gender/gender expression, sexual orientation, religious belief/creed, and disability. [Diversity also includes differences in backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, thoughts, interests, and ideas.
“Inclusion” is the practice of accepting, respecting, and valuing diversity. Inclusive work culture is one which ensures that all employees are valued, heard, engaged, and involved at work and have full opportunities to collaborate, contribute, and grow professionally.
All leaders, managers, and employees play a role in making the Business a diverse and inclusive place to work for everyone. Please read this policy carefully and openly and make every effort to understand the importance of diversity and inclusion and the ways we can accomplish these objectives together.

Employees must receive and sign off on this policy within 30 days from their date of hire.

This Policy works in conjunction with the Businesses’ “Workplace Violence and Harassment Policy” which should be consulted with this Policy.

Diversity and Inclusion Goals and Action Items

The Business is committed to developing and implementing programs and initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion in all areas of employment.

As part of this commitment, some of the programs and plans the Business has developed include:

Leadership and accountability. Making senior leaders of the Business and other members of management accountable for D&I objectives and having them communicate their support and commitment for those objectives helps demonstrate to employees the importance of D&I as a strategic priority. For example, employers might make the implementation of diversity and inclusion strategies a core responsibility of executives for which they are accountable. Employers might also require senior leaders to undergo training on diversity issues and regularly communicate on the subject to employees.
A workforce diversity profile. The goal of workplace diversity requires an understanding of the current diversity of the workforce, the diversity of the community the workplace should reflect, and gaps in existing representation. The Business might conduct diversity surveys and engage in ongoing monitoring of diversity in recruiting, compensation, advancement, and retention. In conducting reviews of workforce diversity, the organization should educate employees on the purpose of sharing their personal characteristics, obtain their consent to that sharing, and ensure proper privacy protections for that information.
Diverse employee representation. Supporting diversity in hiring and other employment opportunities may include:
identifying any barriers that may exist for providing equal employment opportunities and removing those barriers either by redesigning hiring or advancement processes or by providing accommodations.
training management personnel on the importance of diversity in hiring and advancement and on best practices in those efforts.
expanding talent networks and places for advertising job openings and recruiting a diverse pool of candidates.
ensuring proper representation within those involved in the interviewing and hiring process; and
setting goals to increase the representation of diverse individuals in senior leadership roles or board of director membership.
In designing initiatives to increase workplace diversity, employers should understand the difference between removing discriminatory barriers to employment and actively targeting defined groups for recruitment or advancement. The latter approach may require adherence to “special program” rules under human rights legislation or employment equity legislation.

Internal leadership and development programs. The employer may create programs or tools to develop diverse employees as leaders and help ensure appropriate opportunities for career advancement (for example, workplace mentoring programs and leadership initiatives).
Workplace education and training. Relevant topics on which employers may conduct training, boost awareness, or provide other learning and development opportunities using articles, blog posts, learning modules, education programs, workshops, panels, and employer-hosted events and speakers include:
diversity awareness.
workplace respectfulness and sensitivity.
unconscious or implicit bias.
microaggressions or other micro messages; and
social justice and civil rights issues, including, but not limited to, gender equality, LGBTQ2+ rights, disability inclusion, anti-racism, and allyship.
Employee resource groups. Employers may support and internally publicize employee resource groups or “affinity groups” and encourage employee participation.
External professional development and networking. This may include, for example:
encouraging employees to attend outside professional development courses, seminars, or other events that address D&I issues; and
inspiring employee involvement in outside diversity organizations or professional associations (for example, by reimbursing membership dues).
Workplace policies. The Business might adopt policies to support D&I objectives, such as:
offering flexible work arrangements to accommodate diverse personal situations (for example, family care obligations, disability, or religious observation);
evaluating employees’ job performance on D&I competencies, including respect and support for colleagues.
enabling employees to specify their pronouns and respecting their pronoun designations.
providing social justice or volunteer paid time-off for employees; and
designating certain meaningful days as company holidays and encouraging employee reflection, introspection, or activism on those days.
Employee participation. The Business may charge employees with playing a role in creating an inclusive work environment by, for example, encouraging them to appreciate, support, and avoid excluding colleagues (including recognizing and taking actions to correct subtle acts of exclusion).
Communication and idea sharing. Employers should find ways to encourage an ongoing dialogue on diversity issues. Employers may specifically invite employees to share their ideas, challenge the status quo, and have difficult conversations, as well as find ways to recognize and reward (and prohibit retaliation against) employees for doing so. For example, the employer may solicit honest feedback from employees in town halls, roundtable discussions, informal lunch gatherings, or company-wide surveys.
Accessible information and resources. Employers may, for example, create and publicize an accessible space on the employer’s website to organize and house all D&I resources.
Outside partnerships. Employers may promote D&I beyond the workplace though their philanthropic efforts, community involvement, and business relationship choices (for example, engaging minority-owned or women-owned suppliers and other businesses, donating to social justice causes or participating in programs intended to elevate and advance opportunities for underrepresented individuals).]
The Business recognizes that we must continue to challenge ourselves to ensure these values are upheld. The Business is committed to evaluating existing programs and adapting or introducing new initiatives as our diversity and inclusion goals evolve.

Review of the Policy

The Business will maintain and revise this Diversity and Inclusion Policy as required to advance diversity and inclusion goals. The Business expressly reserves the right to change, modify or remove portions of this Policy without notice.

This Policy was implemented at the Business on 12/04/21