Praveen moved to Canada in 2012 to become a health care professional. He worked as a nurse before moving into the HR services industry focused on the nursing profession. Staffing shortages in nursing are one of the biggest challenges across Canada and the US. He now works very closely with the Canadian government to try and solve the nursing shortage problem.

Praveen's business brings nursing staff in from the Philippines, India, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia. The salaries are low. Many of these educated people want to move to Canada. The immigrants to Canada work as caregivers firstly while getting their skills up to date for accreditation in Canada.

Praveen is passionate about the Humanised Workforce – Future You out of necessity. At first, he started recruiting doctors who were recent immigrants and training to get accredited as doctors in Canada. 

Praveen does not have formal qualifications in HR, but he does have ten years of experience working in the space.

Praveen aims to ease the transition of skilled immigrants and people who want to change their careers. He has found that recruiting managers are not so good at thinking outside the box on sourcing talent.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) has many benefits. What happens when DEI is actively executed in a workplace? 

·       A global outlook can be achieved – especially when there is ethnic and cultural diversity. Different ideas are invited and included in the discussion.

·       Increase the creativity in the organisation – cross-pollination and creativity are enabled.

·       Real-time decision making can occur when the whole team is heard by the Leader.

·       A culture of inclusion enables the celebration of the culture for sharing ideas and innovation.

·       High engagement.

·       Increased curiosity.

·       Problems can be more easily solved by using a broader range of input.

Problems present an opportunity to innovate.

Diversity is not a destination – it is a journey. Diversity starts with inclusion. Inclusion is the biggest challenge.

We need to be receptive to change and not resistant to change. Just hiring a diverse range of people is not diversity. All staff require a voice and due consideration at each level in the organisation.

Psychological safety is integral to diversity. There are six parts to psychological safety.

·       Be approachable – in the event of sharing problems, if there is a positive reception, then PS is encouraged.

·       Be compassionate: encourage people to talk freely and feel safe by doing it.

·       Inclusion: when people feel included, they feel valued. They feel they have a seat at the table.

·       Be vulnerable – share aspects of your story. A relationship and a connection are important.

·       Listen to understand. Don't just listen to respond. If people don't feel they are being heard, then they don't feel included.

·       Psychological safety: can be developed once people are included, heard and feel safe. 

In general, health care companies and medical facilities are finding it difficult to set up a psychologically safe work environment because there is high turnover, casual staff and high burnout of staff.