Part 3: Top 11 Best Practices When Hiring Indigenous Peoples
Welcome back to the Joint Economic Development Initiative’s (JEDI) 3-part blog series on Reconciliation: A guide to Indigenous Perspective! If you missed “Part 1: What is Indigenous Reconciliation?”, please click here. If you missed “Part 2: Diversity Strategies for an Indigenous-Friendly Workplace”, please click here.
In our final post of this 3-part blog series, we will be covering 11 Best Practices when hiring Indigenous Peoples, including the concept of “two-eyed seeing”.
What is Two-Eyed Seeing?
Two-eyed seeing was first conceptualized by Mi’kmaq Elder Albert Marshall, the perspective bridges Indigenous and Western thought jointly and equally together. The notion of two-eyed seeing is to respectfully understand that both are equally important to ensure a positive and trusting partnership can be made. In the workplace, this can be understood as creating a space for “co-learning”, collaboration, sharing perspectives, and active listening. To give space for the understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing and mainstream thought, this will create new ways of exploration, ideas, and principles of change.
There are many barriers to employment for the Indigenous population. For organizations to have success in the recruitment and retention of Indigenous employees they need to be aware of the barriers and take action to reduce them. Some examples of Indigenous barriers to employment are:
Transportation
Education
Complicated application process and interview process
Child care costs
Family and community obligations
Geographical locations of First Nation community
To best support employers and Indigenous employees, JEDI has a preliminary list of “11 Best Practice” guidelines to help organizations implement the Two-Eyed Seeing Approach in day-to-day policy and practice:
All human resource (HR) departments, managers, and leadership roles should complete a cultural awareness program such as JEDI’s Indigenous Reconciliation Awareness Module (IRAM). When possible, roll the program out to all employees for best results
Include Indigenous hiring into the HR department’s key performance indicators
As reconciliation begins at the top, develop a plan for inclusion within your organization’s culture, core values, ruling principles, etc.
Create an inclusion plan which includes work from home options, flexible schedules, and hiring part-time with the possibility of building up to full-time
Adjust leave policies to be inclusive and accommodating (especially bereavement leave, taking into consideration other culture’s practices)
Create relationships with local Indigenous communities and organizations to learn how to connect with future employees
If you are a large organization, consider hiring an Indigenous liaison/mentor to help improve organizational awareness and to create a support person for Indigenous hires
Job advertising should include wording to suggest a diverse and inclusive workspace and be posted in First Nation communities
Create an informal application and interview process, or overlook the need for a resume, especially when seeking experiential knowledge of the land
When possible, try to hire more than one Indigenous candidate for open roles
Create internship positions or entry-level positions for Indigenous candidates including an upskilling plan for successful growth
Understanding better ways to hire Indigenous Peoples in the workplace is a great move towards reconciliation. For direct support or questions on best practices when hiring Indigenous Peoples in the workplace, please contact our Provincial Indigenous Employment Coordinator, Nisa Kennedy at nisa.kennedy@jedinb.ca.
Thank you for tuning into JEDI’s 3-part blog series on Reconciliation: A Guide to Indigenous Perspective. We hope these posts provided you with some action items to improve Indigenous reconciliation in your workplace.