Attracting diverse talent tagGRI 401-1
Attracting diverse talent is important in Bell’s evolving business environment as we continue to lead in a highly competitive marketplace. To secure access to top new talent, we drive a variety of initiatives that build a community of job seekers, with a focus on attracting and hiring diverse candidates who reflect the customers and communities we serve.
In 2021, we received close to 350,000 applications and hired more than 7,800 new team members, an increase of over 2,900 from 2020. Internally, we also saw over 2,800 employees successfully move into new roles within the company.
These hiring volumes were supported by an increased focus on improving our online presence to better connect with candidates. In 2021, Bell invested in a new career website that supports a more user-friendly and personalized job search for candidates, and that better positions Bell as an employer of choice by giving candidates more insight into what life at Bell is like. We have also continued to expand our social media recruiting initiatives, which have helped contribute to generating over 273,000 LinkedIn followers, 74,000 Twitter followers, and 30,000 Instagram followers. Our social media strategy focuses on highlighting not just job opportunities, but also stories of our #TeamBell community and the incredible work they do throughout the country. This year, our social media activity generated 385 social posts, over 2,450,000 impressions and nearly 40,000 content clicks.
In 2021, Bell continued to prioritize hiring more people from underrepresented groups by advertising job opportunities and partnering on career-focused events and programs with organizations that connect us with high-potential diverse talent, including: Black Professionals in Tech Network, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, HireBIPOC, JVS Toronto, Lime Connect, Military Spousal Employment Network, Onyx, Pride at Work Canada, Women in Communications and Technology and a number of other diversity-focused, on-campus student groups. Bell is also a founding partner of Career Edge, which enables us to source talented, internationally-trained professionals and persons with disabilities. As part of our diversity and inclusion strategy, we ask job seekers to self-identify so that we can ensure diverse representation in our shortlists of qualified candidates. Through all of these initiatives as well as our ongoing and new partnerships, we hired more candidates who identify as women, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) and persons with disabilities in 2021 than in 2020. As a result of our efforts, Bell was named one of Canada’s Top Diversity Employers for a fifth consecutive year.
Bell also actively works to help Canadian Veterans, Reservists and their spouses find career opportunities within our company. Bell gives qualified Canadian Reservists and Veterans priority in hiring across all Bell operations, building on our long and proud tradition of supporting members of Canada’s military. We also provide training to our recruiters to understand how service members' skills are transferable, the benefits of hiring a service member and how to support service members throughout the recruitment process. Since 2013, Bell has hired more than 515 Reservists, Veterans and their spouses. Bell is also a partner of the Military Family Services Spousal Employment Network. This network supports sustainable career development among military spouses, thereby leading to the cultivation of financially stable and satisfied military families who directly contribute to the operational effectiveness of the Canadian Armed Forces.
For early career and student hiring, our innovative Campus Recruitment team went virtual for the second year in a row. We hosted four virtual “New Grad and Student Recruitment Experiences” in 2021, a series of online recruitment events that took place from September through October. This virtual experience allowed us to reach 166 schools across Canada, and we received over 18,000 applications for recent graduate and internship positions. Bell was again named one of Canada’s Top Employers for Young People. To learn more, see our Supporting diversity, equity and inclusion in our communities information sheet.