KPMG Canada released new research citing that Canadian organizations have continued to make progress to create a more equitable and inclusive workplace for their Black employees. Despite these efforts, 8 in 10 Black Canadians reported that they are still facing some form of racism or microaggression at work. KPMG Canada surveyed 1000 Canadians who self-identified as Black and who were employed between December 2023 and January 2024, here are some of the key findings from the study:

  • 83 percent of Black Canadians say their employer has made progress on their promises to be more equitable and inclusive for Black employees over the last year
  • 82 percent agree that their company has made “significant progress” in creating a more equitable and inclusive workplace for Black employees in the almost four years since African American George Floyd Jr.’s murder and the global Black Lives Matter protests
  • 81 percent experienced some form of racism or microaggression in the workplace over the past year
    • 13 per cent experienced more
    • 53 per cent experienced less 
    • 15 percent experienced the same amount
  • 83 percent also see visible progress being made within their company to build a pipeline of Black talent with the goal of promoting them to the C-Suite
    • Compared to four years ago, over three-quarters (76 percent) say their company now has a Black person in the C-suite or on the Board of Directors
  • 75 percent say their co-workers’ understanding of societal and workplace barriers faced by Black Canadians improved over the past year; 76 percent of their manager or supervisor’s understanding improved and 74 percent of top management’s understanding improved
    • This jumps to 88 percent for respondents working at financial services companies about their co-workers’ and manager’s understanding and 83 percent for top management and drops to 60 percent and 65 percent of respondents employed at law firms about their co-workers and managers, respectively
  • 76 percent feel that their prospects for advancement (such as opportunities to work on impactful projects, upskilling and training, or deepening industry knowledge) have improved significantly or somewhat, up from 68 percent a year ago. One in five (20 percent) say there’s been no change in their career advancement prospects – a nine-percentage-point improvement from last year
  • 74 percent say their prospects of a promotion have also improved, compared to only 58 percent last year. Just over one in five (22 percent) said there’s been no change, an improvement of 15 percentage points from last year
  • 73 percent say their own career progress and/or promotion prospects were deferred or derailed last year due to cutbacks or restructurings their company made in anticipation of a potential recession or economic pressures
  • 80 percent believe the economic and/or competitive pressures their employer faced over the last year hurt the progress and/or promotion prospects of their Black or racialized colleagues harder than others
  • 79 percent believe that Black or racialized people were among the first to lose their jobs over the past year
 

For further information about the poll findings and key data, click here.