Enhancing Existing Frameworks for Hiring Newcomers

Hiring new Canadians provides an opportunity for employers to reflect the diverse people of Canada within their own work environments. Organizational strategies that can help support newcomers are provided in discrimination prevention and inclusivity. What follows are strategies and suggestions for leaders to support employees who are newcomers to our community. 

A report from Employment and Social Development Canada shares that many respondents from the business community had largely positive feedback with respect to the impact of newcomers on their organizations/workforces and noted that: 

Newcomers often had strong work ethics, which positively influenced the work of existing employees. 

• Newcomers expanded their organizations’ markets, increased diversity, filled critical skills gaps and brought new and innovative ways of doing things. 

• Strategies for supporting newcomers 

• Supporting the success of all employees requires understanding their unique challenges and needs.  

Some challenges for newcomers include: 

• Language competency (in particular, occupation-specific language) 

• Different processes, preferences and norms 

• Cultural adaption 

• Having their foreign experience and education recognized 

• Employer bias against hiring immigrants 

• Lack of social and professional networks 

• Obtaining work because of over-qualification 

Some of the strategies that could help improve the experience of newcomers include: 

• Fair hiring practices that include evaluation of foreign credentials and experience 

• Providing opportunities for English as a Second Language training

• Specific orientation to the workplace culture and norms for new hires 

• Specific orientation to workplace jargon and terminology 

• Ongoing on-the-job training 

• Ongoing mentorship or buddy system 

• Access to leadership for one-on-one discussions 

• Live training on organizational policies and procedures (rather than strictly online or in print) 

• Being aware of and referring employees to community-based resources 

Comparison of Cultural Differences at Work 

These documents compare different perspectives at work based on individuals’ cultural norms through both egalitarian (most Canadian workplaces) and hierarchical (most non-Canadian workplaces) cultural lenses. 

This document explores: 

• Egalitarian and Hierarchical attitudes, problem-solving behaviours, decision-making, and performance evaluations