Yes.
Evidence of meeting #75 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was men.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #75 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was men.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Governance and Government Relations, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
It was important to ensure that we could encourage advancement of strong employees, going forward, and that they weren't being held back by any unconscious biases. We wanted to give people the full opportunity to succeed in their careers.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
That's awesome.
One thing you mentioned as well is that you've noticed that gender diversity is really good for business, and you offered a few reasons. You mentioned increased creativity, innovation, productivity—increased revenue, even. Your finances are stronger because of it.
That feels like a carrot approach to me. It feels like a very client-centric, business-centric approach, saying that you know that bringing women to the table is going to be good for business, that it's going to help you serve your clients better, and that at the end of the day everyone is going to benefit because of this decision.
Do you want to comment on that?
12:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Governance and Government Relations, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
The client-centric focus is one of our main values and main focuses. Yes, we did hear from clients that this is important, but we heard it from our employees as well. We take our employee survey process very seriously. We do pulse checks and an annual survey. We've noticed that the more we focus on dealing with unconscious bias and on promoting the right people and giving them the tools they need to succeed, the happier our workforce and the better we are at servicing our clients. It is a win-win situation.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
We're going to move on for five minutes with Emmanuella Lambropoulos.
October 31st, 2017 / 12:50 p.m.
Liberal
Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC
Thank you for being with us today.
My question is going to be aimed at CIBC as well.
You seem to be doing a great job of encouraging and promoting women to take on higher positions, and you have made the workplace a lot fairer for them, which is encouraging for them. It makes them take that leap forward.
Do you find that you have an equal number of women and men applying for these higher-level positions?
12:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Governance and Government Relations, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Definitely there's a broad range of candidates, whether they're external or internal candidates. We try to fill as many positions as possible with internal candidates. I'm currently hiring a few people to join my team, and the diverse range of candidates and the very fair representation between men and women among the applicants is amazing.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC
They're taking the decision to apply for these positions, then, and they're taking the initiative.
12:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Governance and Government Relations, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
We sometimes tap people on the shoulder as well. I think that's important also. It's part of the sponsorship aspect. Sometimes there is a right person for the role, but they haven't self-identified that they may be the right person or don't think they have the exact skill set to meet the needs of the role. We try to help those people, to encourage them to come forward and apply for those roles and get the learning on the job.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC
Generally speaking, do you find that the people you have to tap and push a bit harder are women?
12:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Governance and Government Relations, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
In my own personal experience, yes.
12:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Governance and Government Relations, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
But once you tap them, it's amazing what you get from providing that extra support and extra effort—and that extra encouragement. Sometimes you just need reassurance that you can do the role.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC
I know that you have many tools in place to help women stay in these positions and to make it easier for them to balance work and life. Do you find that women stay in these positions longer? What are the results of the programs you've put in place?
12:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Governance and Government Relations, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Yes, they do stay longer. I would have to get back to you and consult with my team as to what the exact figures are, but our retention rates are very strong and our “return from maternity leave” rates are very strong. We have many people with careers at CIBC who then retire from the CIBC, having been here for their whole working life.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC
What would you say is the biggest factor in getting women to take a step forward and to ask for a particular position or for a raise? If you were to give pointers to another business, what would you say would help these women to come forward?
I find that often this is an issue. We create our own barriers because of gender stereotypes and the way we've been raised. How can we overcome that problem?
12:55 p.m.
Vice-President, Governance and Government Relations, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
I think it's through being willing to take a chance. That's what I've been willing to do within my career. I had enough confidence in myself that I could move on to the next role and succeed in and learn something in that role. Even if I wasn't fully qualified when I went into the role or knew everything you needed to know, I could learn it very quickly. That's what I try to encourage other people to do.
We look for a basic skill set. When I was in the legal department, we would note that, yes, you have the law degree, yes, you have this experience in legal work, but then we're looking for that little extra. That's what we encourage people to highlight and show in the interview process, or sometimes when they're sponsored into a role.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC
All right. What exactly do you include in your flex policy? You said they can work from home. What other options are there for this flex policy to make it easier for them?
12:55 p.m.
Vice-President, Governance and Government Relations, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Working from home, or working remotely is one thing, but it's allowing flexibility in the hours they work, provided the role allows for that flexibility and provided the manager and the employee can agree on those terms.
We look at each employee as a person and look at what they need to succeed in the role, certain things you have to deliver in the role. Sometimes they have to be within a certain time frame, but it's how we support you in achieving what you need to do in the role, so it's more a customized approach.
12:55 p.m.
Vice-President, Governance and Government Relations, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
It's very much a manager-employee conversation, with the support of HR and the tools we've developed.