Photo: Kirk Penton
Raghwa Gopal, left, takes part in a panel discussion on Friday at Ignite Okanagan 2020.
Raghwa Gopal believes it’s time for companies to think about diversifying their workforce whether they need to or not.
The former Accelerate Okanagan CEO, who is now in the same role with Vancouver-based Innovate BC, was back in Kelowna on Friday as the keynote speaker at the Ignite Okanagan 2020 Employer Symposium.
His message at Coast Capri Hotel was simple: Diversify your workforce in order to ensure success.
“A very important thing that is changing, and I think more so over the next five, ten or fifteen years is the consumers will actually look at organizations when they do business with them,” Gopal said. “They will look at those organizations to see: Are they diverse? Are they inclusive? Do they have a sustainability plan?
“All of that is starting to happen more and more. If you’re an employer right now, these are the kinds of things that you should be thinking about.”
Gopal spoke about out how his former company, Vadim Software, faced the need to get government computer systems to be Y2K compliant in the mid-1990s. It couldn’t find enough employees in Canada to complete the $5 million contract, so it reached out to the Philippines and India to fill 40 or so positions.
Gopal said they were smart, hard working and the “lowest maintenance” workers he has ever hired. Those aren’t the only benefits of hiring immigrants, he added.
“Bringing people of diverse cultures gives you diverse perspectives,” Gopal said. “It does bring a lot more innovation into the organization.”
Ignite Okanagan is held annually and sponsored by a variety of Central Okanagan stakeholders, including KCR Community Resources, Central Okanagan Local Immigration Partnership, Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission.
Workshops were held throughout the day, ranging in topics from recruitment to retention to workplace diversity and inclusion.
The goal is to increase the level of diversification in the Central Okanagan business community, which will help the region’s remarkably low unemployment rate. Kelowna, however, receives only about 1.7% of B.C.’s immigrants each year.
“That’s a pretty small number, but we’re working to change that and I see that changing,” COEDC manager Krista Mallory told the crowd. “This is a high priority topic for us at the economic development commission. We know that 39 per cent of employers across Canada identify the attraction or retention of skilled talent as their number one barrier to growth in their businesses.”
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