March 7, 2023

UCalgary makes top employer, diversity employer lists

Canada’s Top 100 recognizes university for exceptional working environments and diversity initiatives

The sun shines through a landmark in UCalgary

Riley Brandt, University of Calgary

The University of Calgary’s flexible work options and commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion have yet again landed the university among Alberta’s Top 75 Employers and Canada’s Best Diversity Employers.

These are annual rankings organized by Canada’s Top 100 Employers. Each list recognizes employers that lead industries in providing exceptional work environments or diversity and inclusion initiatives.

“We could never have reached this position without the commitment and integrity of our diverse faculty and staff,” says President and Vice-Chancellor Ed McCauley.

“To achieve such recognition speaks to the quality of opportunities and professional development UCalgary can provide thanks to the commitment and resiliency of our employees.”

Among the many reasons why UCalgary was chosen as a top employer in both categories, the following stood out to Canada’s Top 100 Employers:

Since 2015, UCalgary’s Campus Mental Health Strategy has supported the mental health and growth of the campus community. The strategy focuses on collaborative, resilient and responsive care that aims to improve mental health through yearly events like UFlourish and initiatives like the Suicide Prevention Framework.
Ensuring employees can balance personal and family commitments with work is a value UCalgary is committed to upholding. The university supports employees through various stages of life by providing top-up payments for soon-to-be parents and phased-in retirement work options for those nearing retirement age.
For the past six years, UCalgary has moved forward with ii’ taa’poh’to’p, the university’s Indigenous Strategy that carves a path of transformation and responsibility by integrating Indigenous ways of knowing, doing, connecting and being campus-wide through events and initiatives like the Indigenous Knowledge Lecture Series. The goal of the strategy is to implement the recommendations set by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in collaboration with Indigenous communities.
UCalgary’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Data Hub — a transparent, central repository for sharing EDI data in multiple forms and from various sources — was recognized by Educause and reflects UCalgary’s commitment to fostering equitable pathways toward inclusive excellence, data transparency and accessibility, using infographics and data visualizations. With this high-quality data hub — the first of its kind in the Canadian post-secondary sector — UCalgary has begun the work to reveal gaps between the Canadian population and the campus community, and to craft policies that avoid a one-size-fits-all approach to its EDI measures; this approach to diversity is essential to what makes UCalgary an innovative place to work for all.

“We are pleased to have our UCalgary EDI data hub recognized, and to have been included in Educause’s 2022 Horizon Report,” says Dr. Malinda Smith, vice-provost and associate vice-president research (equity, diversity and inclusion).

“With our new censuses and EDI Dashboard we have greatly expanded our data gathering and sharing initiatives at UCalgary, and the EDI Data Hub is the culmination of that ongoing work. To be nationally and internationally recognized for these efforts is validating and fuels our pursuit of EDI data leadership.”

While this is the university’s sixth year ranking among Canada’s Best Diversity Employers and its ninth as one of Alberta’s Top Employers, McCauley says UCalgary has no plans to rest on its laurels and will continue making strides to improve working conditions for faculty and staff.

“We are honoured to be recognized among Canada’s best, but we must continue our progress toward fostering open and collaborative working environments and furthering equity, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of the university,” he says.

The university encourages all UCalgary faculty and staff to implement the Alberta’s Top Employers and Canada’s Best Diversity Employers logos into their email signatures. The corresponding images can be found below.