Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) is a large patient care, teaching and research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto. Since 2007, Media Corp Inc. has named MSH one of Greater Toronto’s Top Employers. MSH seeks to be a national leader in all of its diversity and human rights programs, and to have a staff team that reflects the diverse patients they serve.
In November 2006, the hospital approached an external consultant to help them with a workforce survey to learn more about their staff, in terms of characteristics like race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, age, gender, education, languages and place of residence. MSH was the first health care institution in Ontario to do such a broad workforce census.
Some factors that led MSH to do this census included:
When planning how best to collect the data, MSH had to get the support of many different stakeholders, for a project that was asking for sensitive, confidential information. They had to think about healthcare workers’ desire for anonymity because of strong concerns about privacy and fear of discrimination, especially based on sexual orientation or psychiatric disability.
On the logistics side, they had to survey 5,000 staff, including many who worked shifts and did not regularly use a computer.
For the past seven years, MSH’s Diversity and Human Rights Office (DHR), under the leadership of the Hospital’s Diversity and Human Rights Committee and Marylin Kanee, MSH’s Diversity and Human Rights Advisor, had done extensive work to advance human rights issues and foster an organizational culture of inclusiveness and equity, which earned the trust and support of senior leaders, particularly the President and CEO. This trust and support was a key element as MSH prepared for the survey. Activities before the survey included:
MSH’s workforce census was launched from May 14 – 27, 2007, with an extra week added. The census included 50 questions. Staff could fill out a paper copy, use laptop computers that were made available at key locations throughout the hospital, or complete the census on computer at home. Staff who filled out the census were eligible to win prizes if they filled out a ballot and dropped it off in a drum in the main lobby.
DHR staff and committee members were on hand to answer any questions or concerns, and to assure people that the census was confidential and anonymous. An external consulting company administered the census, collected and stored the data, and reported the overall results to MSH. No one at MSH saw the individual responses.
A total of 2,475 or 55% of employees completed the census. When comparing to general census statistics for the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area, the MSH workforce was judged to reasonably represent the community it serves. For example:
As well, one-third of foreign-trained immigrants were less likely to be using their credentials in their jobs (21%) than people educated or born here (34%). And while there is much diversity in the lower and supervisory staff levels, diverse groups (especially racialized persons) were underrepresented in upper management positions.
MSH widely reported the results to staff in many formats, ranging from intranet articles to information forums.
MSH is using the data to find where there are gaps between the make-up of its existing workforce and that of the City of Toronto. It is developing targeted programs, policies and initiatives to identify and deal with barriers. It has put a new Fair Employment Opportunity policy in place, and is working to help foreign-trained staff get their credentials recognized here.
To improve access for people from marginalized groups, MSH conducted focus groups with patients, and is implementing Accessibility for Ontarians With Disabilities Act (AODA) Customer Service Training. To promote respectful treatment of GLBTTQ members of the hospital community, MSH developed an anti-homophobia/transphobia communication campaign and posters and brochures promoting “equity is good for your health.” MSH partners with TRIEC to provide mentors to internationally trained professionals and is building relations with organizations that find employment for people with disabilities and recent immigrants. They are integrating human rights and diversity competencies into hiring, performance appraisals and succession planning.
Some best practices and lessons learned by MSH include: