LifeLabs named one of Canada's Best Employers for Diversity by Forbes for second consecutive year

Toronto, Ontario, July 12, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LifeLabs has been named one of Canada's Best Employers for Diversity in 2023 by Forbes and is the only organization to be honoured in the category of Health Care Equipment & Services. This is the second consecutive year LifeLabs has been recognized by Forbes. 

Forbes presented this prestigious award in partnership with Statista, the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. The Best Employers for Diversity list recognizes Canadian companies that have demonstrated a significant commitment to a defined strategy to foster and promote diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in their workplace culture, recruitment practices and employee education and training.

Recipients were selected based on the assessments of approximately 10,000 professionals working for companies employing at least 500 people in their Canadian operations, and were surveyed to identify Canada's Best Employers for Diversity. The following four criteria were taken into consideration:

• Direct recommendations: Employees were asked to give their opinions on a series of statements regarding Age, Gender, Ethnicity, Disability, 2SLGBTQAI+ & General Diversity in their current workplace. The recommendations of women, elders, and racially & ethnically diverse individuals were weighted higher than the dominant group.
• Indirect Recommendations: Participants were also given the chance to evaluate other employers in their respective industries that stand out either positively or negatively with regard to diversity.
• Diversity Among Top Executives/Board and Diversity Engagement Indicators were also part of the evaluation.

"Such recognition is a privilege and a testament to our ongoing efforts to promote equity and social justice," says LifeLabs President and CEO Charles Brown, "While we have undoubtedly made strides in our endeavour to become a DEI-driven organization, we firmly believe that our Stronger Together program empowers us to push the boundaries of our commitment and continuous improvement. We will continue to amplify our efforts in fostering an inclusive workplace for our team members and a healthcare environment for Canadians."

LifeLabs' continued investment in a comprehensive DE&I strategy has brought forth valuable programs, initiatives, and leadership that continue to make meaningful impacts and facilitate future development and innovation in this area:

• Our Stronger Together program has taken significant steps to ensure that equity-deserving individuals can thrive at LifeLabs and bring their true selves to work through building systems of support and feedback for team members (such as our Diversity Meter Survey), educational resources and learning opportunities for our leaders and employees, as well as countless events, policies and practices to promote greater inclusivity, awareness and respect, and embrace the diversity of our teams and communities.
• Our DE&I Steering Council continues to develop and advance our DE&I strategy and provide guidance and support to leaders across the organization to strengthen our diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
• Our Employee Resource Groups, which actively represent several equity-deserving demographic groups within LifeLabs, lend their skills, expertise and lived experiences to creating spaces that enable community building, education and development and identify career advancement opportunities for those under-represented in the workforce. In 2022, our ERGs had their first full year of event implementation and worked to support social activities and virtual events that recognized and celebrated significant dates and holidays, including National Indigenous History Month, Pride, National Day for Truth & Reconciliation, Women's History Month, Diwali, International Pronouns Day, Transgender Day of Remembrance, and many others. 
• Our partnerships with leading DE&I organizations, including Canadian Equality Consulting and Pride at Work Canada, that partner with our Stronger Together program to further our DEI knowledge and provide employees with educational resources and events on DE&I topics, Indspire, through which we have established a bursary program to promote educational opportunities for Indigenous youth, as well as the Drone Transport Initiative in collaboration with First Nations Health Authority (FHNA), the Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCBC), University of British Columbia's Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Drone Delivery Canada that has allowed us to explore ways to innovate health care supply delivery to remote communities using drone technology.
• We were also proud to partner with organizations like the Women's College Hospital Foundation for events, including the Black Women's Healthcare Summit and Women for Women's Gala, which help our ERGs demonstrate their values inside and outside of LifeLabs. 
• In 2023, we have been refining our ERG strategy to enable greater alignment with our organizational DEI goals and deeper engagement with all LifeLabs employees.

We are also continuing to identify and invest in new education opportunities for our teams, including the launch of our Stronger Together Lunch & Learn series and continuing to work with partners, like Pride at Work Canada, to collaborate on learnings that will provide our employees with the knowledge, language and skills to truly embody our values and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

As Canada's largest community laboratory, we want to lead the way in creating an environment that is accessible and equitable for all employees and customers alike. We recognize and appreciate the diverse experiences of our teams and the value that brings to building an inclusive environment for our customers.

More information about LifeLabs' DE&I initiatives can be found at: https://www.lifelabs.com/about-us/diversity-equity-inclusion/. To learn more about this award and to see the complete list of recipients, please visit the Forbes website.

About LifeLabs
LifeLabs is Canada's leading provider of laboratory diagnostic information and digital health connectivity systems, enabling patients and health care practitioners to diagnose, treat, monitor, and prevent disease. We support 20 million patient visits annually and conduct over 100 million laboratory tests through leading-edge technologies and our 6,500 talented and dedicated employees. We are a committed innovator in supporting Canadians to live healthier lives, operating Canada's first commercial genetics lab and the country's largest online patient portal, with more than 5 million Canadians receiving their results online. LifeLabs has been named one of Canada's Best Employers (2021,2022,2023) and Best Employers for Diversity (2022 and 2023) by Forbes and recognized for having an award-winning Mental Health Program from Benefits Canada. LifeLabs is 100% Canadian owned by OMERS Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment manager of one of Canada's largest defined benefit pension plans. Learn more at lifelabs.com.

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• LifeLabs emerges as the only organization to receive the honour in the category of Health Care Equipment & Services.