Hatch: Workplace System Leadership (Communications)

 Award Recipient Profile
Hatch Workplace System Leadership: Communications Awarded to organizations that have demonstrated innovative and effective practices in one of the following workplace systems: HR, procurement, communications, CSR. We are very pleased to honour Hatch with the inaugural Workplace Inclusion Leadership Award – Workplace System Leadership: Communications, in the Performance Excellence category. Within a one-­‐year period Hatch, a global engineering company, implemented effective communications strategies to advance enterprise-­‐wide Indigenous workplace inclusion within their operations. The resolute team with remarkable leadership synergies from Mississauga headquarters are helping Hatch advanced rapidly up the Aboriginal Human Resource Council’s Inclusion Continuum. Hatch’s leadership team understood very quickly that in order to advance inclusion, they needed to build effective Indigenous partnerships, and ensure that every employee understood the business driver and the company’s goal to win contract bids with clients that work on or near Indigenous land. To support this goal, Hatch adopted a First Peoples Engagement Statement for North America that is based on the values of honesty, respect and transparency. The statement recognizes that the company’s ability to deliver successful projects on behalf of its clients is enhanced by their knowledge and understanding of the histories, cultures, protocols, values, aspirations and governments of First Peoples across North America. Internally, Hatch blended a variety of communications and engagement strategies together with web-­‐based technology, to ensure that all employees within their global operation would be involved in Indigenous learning and interactions as they occurred. When Indigenous leaders were invited to speak at Hatch, the presentation was streamed-­‐
live to other sites. The company also involved staff in activities such as National Aboriginal Day, and they are investing in cultural awareness training that will further help employees understand the Indigenous community and how to apply Indigenous inclusion to all workplace systems. Externally, Hatch created a relationship with the First Nations Chiefs, which resulted in an Agreement of Partnership with the Chiefs of Ontario to develop Mining and Environmental Assessment Toolkit Workshops. They also invested $30,000 in an Indigenous education and capacity building outreach program in Northern BC, formed an Aboriginal Engagement Committee, and attended a wide-­‐variety of Indigenous conferences and events. Hatch is determined to make a difference in the lives of Indigenous youth by supporting their education. The company is convinced that education equates to the expansion of social and commercial impact and community progress among Indigenous and non-­‐Indigenous people. Or as many Indigenous people say… education is the new Buffalo.