De Beers Canadian team wins inclusion and diversity award

31 July 2019

De Beers Group’s Canadian operations have been celebrated on the international stage for their promotion of inclusion and diversity.
The International Association of Business Communicators’ (IABC) Gold Quill Award of Merit was presented in Vancouver during the IABC World Conference in June.
The award is for communications work by De Beers Group’s three-person Canadian Corporate Affairs communications team to support inclusion and diversity initiatives in 2017 and 2018.
The campaign focused on raising awareness among Canadian employees and included developing and executing plans for grassroots engagement of employees, demonstrating support for the initiative from senior leaders and coordinating events and activities to maintain momentum in this area.
One of the judges reviewing the submission described it as a “thoroughly thought through, well-executed, professional approach to communication that met an important business need for De Beers” that recognised “the challenges in reaching the particular audiences that face a mining operation”.
There was also praise for how the company used “a range of approaches, including leadership communication, training Strategic Communications Manager materials, experiential and interactive elements, onsite and print”.
Tom Ormsby, Strategic Communications Manager for De Beers Group Managed Operations in Canada, said: “Our goal in developing an effective communications programme was to provide employees with the information about why inclusion and diversity is so important both to society and to the future success of the company through diverse views.
“Communicating such a complex issue is never easy, but our team believes in the commitment, which makes it easier to move forward. To also receive recognition in this way from our professional peers affirms that the tools and tactics we developed were appropriate, effective and made a positive impact.”
As a global thematic #HeForShe champion of UN Women, De Beers Group has invested US$3 million to advance women and girls in its producer countries, including US$600,000 in Canadian scholarships and other opportunities to encourage women and girls to take science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and STEM-like education programmes.