Why aren’t more people with disabilities in leadership roles at the City of Vancouver?
It was a question Mayor Ken Sim posed last week to staff in the council chamber after receiving a presentation on the city’s goal to become the most accessible city in the world.
The response came from Aftab Erfan, the city’s chief equity officer.
“We have a culture that is really about speed, delivering, checking boxes…we’re very kind of product-oriented and we move fast,” Erfan said. “And I would say almost by definition, we are a little bit ableist.”
Added Erfan: “There's something about our culture that is not super welcoming to folks who need a longer time to respond to questions, or get a report done or be in a meeting.”
'Shortcomings of the city'
The city conducted a survey in 2021 of staff that was answered by 55 per cent of the 7,000 employees. From that exercise, staff estimated about nine per cent, or 600 employees, identified as people with disabilities.
Of that population, about four per cent were in leadership positions (or considered senior exempt staff), with higher representation among auxiliary staff (12 per cent), part-time staff (20 per cent) and among CUPE 1004 outside workers (15 per cent).
“Interestingly, the largest groups who reported having a disability reported having a chronic illness, chronic pain and mental health issues or psychological and emotional issues,” Erfan said.
The survey asked employees about their experience working at the city and found that staff with disabilities reported having “a less good experience than others,” she said, noting some of the more negative responses were related to discrimination, bullying and harassment.
“I should just say, these scores aren't an indication of the shortcomings of staff with disabilities, they're an indication of the shortcomings of the city to make a good place for folks to work,” she said.
'Falling short in our recruitment'
Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services, the Vancouver Police Department and Vancouver Public Library conducted similar and parallel surveys, but the results were not reflected in the data presented to council.
In the Metro Vancouver labour market, about 14 per cent of the working population are people with disabilities, yet only 3.8 per cent of people who applied in 2022 to work at the City of Vancouver reported having a disability.
Erfan said there may be some “under-reporting” with the percentages, with people concerned about the stigma associated to having a disability and how that could affect a person getting a job.
Last year, the number of people with disabilities hired by the city totalled 3.6 per cent of those who indicated they had a disability — an indication “we are falling short in our recruitment and in our hiring of folks with disabilities,” Erfan said.
“There has been some improvement between 2017 and 2022, but there's a long ways to go in terms of making sure that our recruitment isn't presenting barriers, or isn't discriminatory for folks with disabilities,” she said.
'Challenging, or scary'
Part of that improvement has been the creation of a group of city employees with disabilities to work as a resource for senior staff to better understand barriers and concerns in the workplace and in recruitment.
Erfan cited “stigma and lack of education” from the group as top concerns.
“A real feeling that the sense of welcome that is extended to staff [without disabilities] is not always there for folks with disability and it makes it challenging or scary to disclose needs and access supports,” she said.
Disability awareness training for staff and council, along with the city’s need to better accommodate people with various needs are also in progress, with improvements to make worksites more accessible another priority.
Coun. Lisa Dominato noted during discussion that she knows of a young man who applied to the city for casual work but was unclear how to expand on details of his disability and the daily requirements of his physiotherapy.
Simon Goldsmith, the city’s human resources director, said staff is actively looking at the city’s medical accommodation process to ensure it is better defined and more embedded in the recruitment process.
