Case study:
Pomerleau

Industry

Construction

Selected solutions

Creation of a DEI committee

Pomerleau is a leader in Canada's construction industry. From its beginnings in Beauce, Pomerleau now employs up to 4,000 people and has eight offices from coast to coast. These professionals enable us to manage more than 200 construction sites simultaneously, while maintaining a solid reputation.

Challenge to solve

Prior to contacting us, Pomerleau had deployed an extensive Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (DEI) initiative, consisting of an employee survey, on-the-job training and management training. The company was then ready to set up a DEI advisory committee, and was looking for consultants to support them in this process.

Proposed solution

URelles provided support for the creation of the committee in three stages:

Determine the basis and parameters of the committee
Develop a recruitment process for committee members
Train members in DEI basics

The first step was to organize a working session with stakeholders to establish the parameters for the committee and question its operationalization. Through this session, we started with a short introductory training on DEI, then facilitated the discussion by bringing in best practices in DEI committee management, as well as recommendations from case studies and research. This 3-hour work session was followed by the creation of a document summarizing the DEI committee’s final parameters.

Once the groundwork had been laid, we moved on to the composition of the committee members, defining recruitment criteria as well as members’ obligations, tasks and responsibilities. To maximize applications, we organized two lectures on individual empowerment and taking action as a vehicle for change (given by Bibigi Haile), followed directly by an application form for interested candidates. This resulted in a total of 31 applications!

Finally, following the recruitment of members using the criteria defined upstream, we organized training on the basics of DEI, enabling all members to be at the same level of knowledge and increasing the chances that future decisions will be made as objectively and efficiently as possible.

Between the two workshops :

Online questionnaire sent to participants.

Gather questions and real-life situations from the workplace to address in the second workshop.

Impact of DEI workshops

Our support in setting up the DEI Advisory Committee at Pomerleau has had a significant long-term impact on a number of levels:

Solid foundations

Motivated employees

Ongoing professional development

What Pomerleau thought of our collaboration

What have you learned as an organization from this experience?

That our employees have a strong desire to evolve within a diverse and inclusive company. That everyone's personal journey can contribute to making Pomerleau a company where we feel welcome and at ease, and where we can develop while respecting each other's particularities. That the efforts made upstream to clearly define the role, objectives and composition of the Committee will enable it to function more effectively in the future, and be more representative of our employees and their expectations and needs.”

- Geneviève Roy, VP Environment and Sustainable Development

If you had to choose three words to describe working with URelles, what would they be?

Credible

Authentic

Structured

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Would you like support in your equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives? Our team is at your disposal!

Case study:Pomerleau