In 2024, ISL Engineering and Land Services set out to reimagine parental leave through a process led by employees, for employees. The organization launched an internal survey and facilitated focus groups to gather candid stories and feedback about team members’ experiences with parental leave. Using this input, a collaborative team worked alongside a consultant to develop guiding principles that informed a new equity-focused parental leave policy grounded in lived experience.

Through this initiative, ISL created a policy designed to help address persistent representation and career progression challenges that can arise during a critical stage of career development.

The policy recognizes the many ways families grow by supporting birthing parents, non-birthing parents, individuals who become parents through adoption or surrogacy, and team members who experience pregnancy loss.

By framing parental leave as an equity issue rather than simply a compensation benefit, and by having the policy formally adopted by its Board of Directors, ISL demonstrated a clear commitment to embedding equity into its core people practices and organizational culture.

About the Award

In 2020, the ACEC-BC Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee worked with our Board to bring forward a new award recognizing the impact of member actions on advancing our values of equity, diversity, and inclusion. The Committee proposed the Award to shine a light on the many ways members are working together to build a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive industry and to recognize the considerable effort needed to effect change.

The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award selection was made by a panel of members representing different business practices, which acknowledges that actions supporting equity, diversity, and inclusion are not the responsibility of any one person or group, and must be considered core to the business practice of every member firm.

Change can be difficult. Like building any technical skill, change needs time, clear intention, and deep commitment. Building a more diverse and inclusive industry is a journey, and our inaugural Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award recipients support us all through their leadership by example.

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