We are a very distributed business, with 85+ locations in Canada, the US and Mexico. We wanted to build a diversity and inclusion function that reached all areas of the business.

�In 2020, we launched our Diversity Advisory team. From day one, it was important this was a company-wide initiative. To kick things off, we appointed two leads who conducted interviews across the business with volunteers who were looking to make a difference at their location and in their communities. These interviews included candid conversations about the DEI opportunities we had at Samuel. Continuing the theme of candid conversations, we also launched:

• A company-wide diversity survey – to better understand where team members thought our biggest gaps were when it came to DEI
• Coffee with Colin – one-hour monthly meetings held with our CEO. Eight individuals have the opportunity to join the call, ask questions, raise concerns and make suggestions for improvement. These calls are open to anyone, at any level of the organization
• Ask Me Anything – an anonymous form on our intranet for team members to submit questions, comments and concerns directly to our CEO. Responses are posted for all employees to read

To further our commitment to our DEI program and better support our efforts, we appointed a full-time Manager of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Under her leadership, we have:

• Expanded our company mentorship program to include all employees
• Launched DEI Playbooks at each of our locations, ensuring every Samuel facility in the US and Canada helps build an inclusive culture by implementing initiatives in the areas of inclusion, career progression and talent outreach in the community
• Added more self-paced DEI training modules, which have been completed by more than 85% of the organization

Most recently, we’ve launched our Elevating Women Circle, an affinity group for women across the business to have candid conversations, with a particular focus on professional growth and development. This group now has 100+ members across Canada, the US and Mexico. We’re also actively working on:

• Creating action plans to ensure our workforce represents the communities we operate in
• Developing plans at each location for engaging with schools, community organizations and not-for-profit organizations to create employment pathways for underrepresented groups
• Identifying and addressing systemic barriers in recruitment for underrepresented groups
• Increasing female representation across the business. This includes:
    o Diversifying our Management Committee, which is now 30% female vs. 10% in 2019
    o Increasing the number of female Directors across the business by 3% since 2022

We are also a proud member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries (AWMI) and were thrilled to be recognized with the AWMI Cornerstone Award for our ongoing efforts with the organization.

We’re delighted with the DEI progress we’ve been able to make at Samuel so far and look forward to doing even more in 2023 and beyond.

Our recent engagement survey, which was completed by 72% of our team, showed that 69% of people felt they belonged and were included at Samuel. This survey also saw a 5% increase in overall engagement from our 2019 survey, which was released before we began these efforts.