A Conversation with Preet Kiran Sandhu on the Voices for Change Project’s Chapter on Microaggressions
TRIEC’s Voices for Change project was launched on September 20, 2023. As part of this project, we reach out to employers and subject matter experts to explore various issues that encumber immigrant inclusion, advancement, and retention from the perspective of businesses.
In this first chapter of Voices of Change, we discuss microaggressions. Our guests, Nada Aoudeh, Public School Administrator and Educator, and Michael Kaneva, Director of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity, OPTrust, sit with Preet Kiran Sandhu, Manager, employer and Stakeholder relations at TRIEC to discuss how microaggressions negatively impact immigrant professionals in the Canadian workplace and ultimately hurt businesses and brands.
Perhaps untraditionally, we wanted to interview the interviewer and hear from Preet about what she learned from this candid conversation with Nada and Michael. Being an immigrant herself, it was full-circle moment as she tackled this very personal topic with people and organizations who are entrenched in the practice of inclusion.
Welcome Preet! It’s such a pleasure to have you talking to us today. Let’s start with learning a little bit about yourself and about Voices for Change, because I would really like to know why you chose microaggressions as the first topic for this project.
Sure, let’s do that! Thank you so much! It’s great to have the opportunity to bring my perspective on this issue after that enriching conversation with Nada and Michael. I’m Preet Kiran Sandhu, Manager, Employer and Stakeholder Relations at TRIEC. In my current role, I build relationships with partners within the immigrant employment eco-system, specifically employers who hire and help immigrants advance in their careers in Canada.
Prior to joining TRIEC, I was with Skills for Change where I had the opportunity to manage and deliver employment and bridging programs. That is where I interacted with over 150 immigrants and refugees to assist them in their job search journey. I bring my lived experience as an immigrant to my job at TRIEC, where the aim is to understand employer perspectives on persistent barriers faced by immigrants in finding employment and advancing in their careers.
So as part of this quest, when developed the Voices for Change project, and decided to interview business leaders and other experts who practice in the DEI space, I jumped on the opportunity to host the Voices for Change podcast and bring my immigrant perspective and explore barriers such as microaggressions in the workplace, lack of Canadian experience along with employers and subject matter experts, in the most mindful and open way possible.
How did you decide what topics to explore through the Voices for Change project?
As a practice at TRIEC, we rely on research to understand critical issues or gaps in the space of the labour market in Canada and the state of immigrant integration into the labour force. The Bridging the Gap report released by TRIEC in 2022 spoke to the racialized immigrant women in me. The report highlights specific examples of microaggressions and that hit me more than the other statistics. When we got down to discuss topics for the Voices for Change project, in my mind, this topic had to be the first one. Thankfully, we all agreed that it should be, and we created a lot of content around this topic, central to which was this podcast episode!
If I may say so, you’ve done a phenomenal job bringing out underlying issues that were not easy to discuss. I’m curious, why did you invite Michael and Nada in particular to be guests in this first episode?
Michael has been involved with TRIEC for many years and is a person who walks the talk in the space of DEI. As a senior DEI professional, he brings the perspective of putting theories in action—through practice– operating in a corporate environment. When we pitched this podcast topic to him, he shared his personal position in a nuanced way which helped articulate my own immigrant experience. In that moment, I knew he would be a great person to speak on this issue. He also has a solid background and experience to draw upon when speaking about this topic, which made him the perfect fit. It didn’t hurt that Michael has always been a champion of TRIEC’s work, and he relates to our mission with deep understanding and great sensitivity.
Nada is an educator and has a background in anti-racism, anti-oppression and decolonization education. She would help us approach this topic through a systems lens, which I thought would bring a unique insight into the topic and how we could discuss solutions to this issue. Her ongoing work in the space of anti-racism/anti-oppression and deep knowledge of what the practice of anti-racism looks like in day-to-day interaction, I felt would be useful to unpack some of the more difficult questions. Since TRIEC wants to help bring about systemic change, we thought Michael and Nada would be a good mix of perspectives on the issue; Michael bringing the business perspective, Nada bringing the academic perspective.
In listening to the podcast, I completely agree that there is a unique blend of perspectives and insights into the topic, and one of the reasons why it’s so engaging. One of the big discussion points that stood out for me was the speakers referring to microaggressions often being overlooked by employers and/or not being properly addressed in the workplace. Why do you think that is the case?
That is a very interesting insight, and certainly something that might pop the interest of a lot of listeners. I think the first step is acknowledging that microaggressions exists in the workplace, because as we know, we can’t solve an issue if we don’t think that it is an issue in the first place.
The thing about microaggressions is that it exists in subtle ways, and it becomes difficult to detect and address it. The other side of it is that a lot of it is dependant on intersectional factors, which many employers are unaware of, or ignore when it comes to workplace inclusion efforts. This is mentioned in greater detail in the Bridging the Gap report, which illustrates that EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) efforts aren’t directed at multiply marginalized individuals.
In the podcast episode, we’ve spoken a lot about this, and how organizations can create an inclusive workspace for immigrant professionals. We’ve also mentioned the Micropedia, which is a fantastic resource and one that I would recommend to anyone who wants more information on what constitutes microaggressions and what some of the signs could be. The TRIEC Learning module on Introduction to Intercultural Competence in the Workplace is another great resource that provides a high-level overview of intercultural competencies.
That is so fascinating! I have learned so much by listening to the podcast and talking to you today. Considering that this episode talks a lot about organizational and workplace inclusion, why is it important for employers get involved in this whole business of inclusion?
That’s a great question and thank you for giving me the chance to promote this work to other employers out there. This episode will help employers understand the impact microaggressions can have on the employee and the employee feeling like they are working in hijack mode, and how it ultimately affects productivity, the business and the overall image of the company.
Michael provides some very good insights and solutions, in the “Shaking Up Power and Privilege” chapter of the episode, where he talks about how organizations can make institutional changes that will impact and influence their leadership, which could then bring about real change across the board.
The intent is to highlight what we found in the Bridging the Gap report, to create awareness around it so that we can create change in individual behaviours at the workplace.The main intent is to invite other employers to speak about this and help us find solutions since they can be the ‘Change Agents,’ and this episode is a great first step to begin that journey and have that conversation.
It has been a great conversation… I’ll end by asking you this; for those who haven’t heard this episode yet, what will they gain if they give their time to listen to it, ideally right after reading this blog?
Yes, this has been fun, and I’m glad to have this opportunity to dive deeper into the origins of the project and this episode. This episode is a must for anyone who wants to understand what microaggressions are, how we define it, its impact on your work and that of your colleagues, how it can hinder organizational inclusion efforts, and really good resources and perspectives on addressing this issue.
More importantly, we aim to explore why and how microaggressions exists and what can we do about it. If we get people to listen to it, become aware of it and know what to do when they are in the situation witnessing it, that is all the change I seek through this work. Mindful office interactions with immigrants that makes us all feel invited, accepted and helps us advance our careers, that would be the ultimate end goal.
Through data, stories, a series of podcasts and other activities, Voices for Change will kickstart a conversation about some of the more challenging issues that hinder immigrant professionals from finding skills-commensurate employment, advancing in their careers and having a sense of belonging in the workplace.
This interview was conducted by Rohit Singh, Manager, Content & Public Relations at TRIEC.
Canadian workplaces are diverse, reflecting our diverse population.
This is a good thing! Diverse organizations are more innovative and productive – but to be productive, workplaces also need to be inclusive. Diverse teams need environments where everyone feels that they belong and that they can contribute.
How exactly do you create an inclusive workplace? The TRIEC Inclusive Workplace Competencies can answer this question. They provide a framework to help you and your colleagues build organization that works for everyone.
The competencies are based on research and consultations with a range of experts. But what do we mean by competencies, and why should your organization use them?
Competencies describe the knowledge, skills, and behavior that you need to perform effectively at work. Nowadays, being great at your job is about more than just getting through a list of tasks – it’s about being able to demonstrate key behaviors in different situations. Creating an inclusive organization is everyone’s job and goes way beyond what an individual employee does. So competencies are also about how teams work together and the organization’s culture.
There are 15 competencies, divided into three areas: myself, my team and my organization. You can add them to your existing competencies and customize and adapt them to meet the needs of your workplace. For example, if innovation is a priority for your organization, you can set the competency “collaborate in diverse teams to foster productive outcomes” at a high level for all of its employees.
One of the great things about these competencies is that you can use them in many different ways. You can use them to write job descriptions, in recruitment, to design training, to review organizational policies and processes, and much more. To find out more about how the competencies work and try them out for yourself, visit triec.ca/competencies.
