Representation by employee group
“In places where there are more women and people of colour in leadership positions, there is less likelihood of a glass cliff...I know that women in leadership positions, no matter where they are, are going to face the same challenges, but in comparison in a progressive environment it ought to be better.”
2016-2022 trends by type of work (employee group)
The 2022 diversity self-ID data provides an update, while also showing trends from 2016.
The 2022 data shows that distribution of equity groups by employee group remained uneven, with higher and lower representation depending on the type of work. This suggests that barriers continued to limit the opportunities for equity-deserving groups in some occupations. These barriers usually exist in society, such as the relatively low representation of women in STEM professions.
The data in the second illustration below, on representation change over time in employee groups, shows whether or not progress is being made in the representation of equity groups in different types of jobs.
The seven year trend does show notable progress for women, racialized people, Black people, and First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) Peoples in many types of work at the university.
However, creative and intentional action is needed for the university to help build diversity in the pipelines to occupations in which equity groups are persistently underrepresented, as well as to recognize transferable skills, equivalent qualifications and excellence in different forms, to make progress in the short term.
Programs such as the TMU Learn for Empowerment Program, that helps increase the representation of Indigenous staff at the university, and support services from Human Resources’ talent acquisition staff to help identify hiring strategies, are available to assist hiring managers. TMU Faculty Association’s collective agreement provisions, such as having an equity focused representative in hiring committees, and support and services provided through the Office of the Vice-Provost, Faculty Affairs, can assist with hiring more full-time faculty from underrepresented groups.
- The representation of women in all levels of leadership, and full-time faculty in the assistant professor role, increased from 2020 to 2022, to above the broader community representation. However, the representation of women in the full professor role, and in maintenance and trades jobs, declined slightly from 2020 to 2022.
- The trend continues with increasing representation of racialized full-time faculty in the assistant professor role, from 41 per cent in 2020 to 43 per cent in 2022, as well as in mid-level and frontline leadership roles, from 27 per cent to 33 per cent and from 37 per cent to 39 per cent respectively. While the representation of racialized senior leaders decreased from 24 per cent in 2020 to 21 per cent in 2022, given the small numbers it may reflect a change in the overall number of senior leaders and/or one less racialized senior leader. Still, it is important to track these changes to make sure it doesn’t reflect the start of a declining trend, and it should be noted that the representation of racialized senior leaders continues to be well below the community representation.In fact, the representation of racialized leaders at all levels remained well below the broader community representation of 57 per cent (2021 Census data for the GTA).
- The trend continues with a substantial increase in the representation of Black full-time faculty in the assistant professor role, from nine per cent in 2020 to 11 per cent in 2022. There was also a slight increase in the representation of Black full professors from one per cent in 2020 to two per cent in 2022. However, representation in the associate professor role remains unchanged. If Black full-time faculty in the assistant professor role are successful in transferring to tenure in the upcoming years, we should see increases at the associate professor level. While the representation of Black senior leaders decreased from five per cent in 2020 to four per cent in 2022, given the small numbers it may reflect a change in the overall number of senior leaders and/or one less Black senior leader. The representation of Black mid-level leaders increased from four per cent in 2020 to six per cent in 2022 and among frontline leaders from eight per cent in 2020 to 12 per cent in 2022. While the representation among mid-level leaders continues to be below the broader community representation at eight per cent, the gap is narrowing, and the representation of frontline leaders now exceeds the community representation.
- The trend that started in 2018, of increasing representation of First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) full-time faculty in the assistant professor role, continued with another substantial increase from four per cent in 2020 to six per cent in 2022. If FNMI full-time faculty in the assistant professor role are successful in transferring to tenure in the upcoming years, we should see increases at the associate professor level. The representation of this equity group in front-line leadership decreased from two per cent in 2020 to one per cent in 2022, perhaps, in part, because there was an increase in representation of FNMI mid-level leaders from one per cent in 2020 to three per cent in 2022. However, general staff representation continues to stay the same at one per cent. Staff make up the largest full time employee group and it will take a substantial increase in the number of FNMI staff to move the needle on representation in that employee group..
- Representation of senior leaders with disabilities decreased from 11 per cent in 2020, back to the 2016 level of eight percent in 2022. Given the relatively small number of senior leaders, this may reflect a change in the number of senior leaders and/or one less senior leader who identifies as a person with a disability. There was a marginal increase in mid-level leaders with disabilities from eight per cent to nine per cent from 2020 to 2022. The representation of assistant professors with disabilities decreased from seven per cent in 2020 to five per cent in 2022, perhaps in part because the representation in the associate professor role increased from seven percent to nine per cent from 2020 to 2022. Although we see some increased representation in teaching/graduate assistants and postdoctoral fellows with disabilities, in every employee group, the representation of employees with disabilities remained less than half (below 10 per cent) of the broader community representation (20 per cent). This suggests the need for a new strategy to increase the representation of this equity group.
- The representation of 2SLGBTQ+ senior leaders increased from 14 per cent in 2020 to 17 per cent in 2022, perhaps related to the decrease in representation in mid-level leadership from eight per cent in 2020 to five per cent in 2022. The representation of 2SLGBTQ+ part-time and casual employees shows a concerning trend – there continued to be increases, with another jump from 14 per cent in 2020 to 19 per cent in 2022, while the representation among full time career and long term contract staff, at nine percent, remained unchanged from 2020 to 2022. There was also another increase in the representation of 2SLGBTQ+ part-time and sessional lecturers, from 12 per cent in 2020 to 15 per cent in 2022, while the representation in the entry level assistant professor role, at 10 per cent, remained unchanged from 2020 to 2022.
- Terms used to present the data, such as employee group, are defined in the glossary provided.
- The first bar chart shows the percentage representation on the X axis (horizontal) and the employee groups on the Y axis (vertical). The bar for each employee group, for a selected equity group, extends to the percentage representation, showing the extent of the representation in that employee group. Looking at all of the bars from the top down shows the representation from highest to lowest by employee group.
- The second bar chart shows the equity groups on the Y axis (vertical) for 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022, with on the X axis (horizontal) showing the percentage representation. The bar for each equity group and year extends to the percentage representation, showing the extent of the representation of each equity group, in each year, for the selected employee group.
- This interactive data is produced using Tableau and is best viewed on desktops. Users can see the data that corresponds to the visual by hovering or clicking over portions of the illustration. The data can also be explored using keyboard shortcuts (external link) .
- To explore the data further or in a different format, the aggregated data can be downloaded and saved in a variety of formats such as Google Sheets, MS Excel, CSV and more, using the link at the bottom end of the graph or chart. Downloads are provided for the data in a graph or chart based on user selections. For example, in the first bar chart below, the data provided for download would be based on the equity group and year selected and, for the second chart, the selection would be for the employee group.
This visualization is best viewed in desktop mode.
Note: Support staff refers to administrative, operational, technical and professional non-academic support staff who are not in leadership roles. This includes OPSEU and MAC confidential full time career, partial year and long term contract staff.
Visit the Tableau Public website to learn more (external link) .
Download data for 2016-2022 change in equity group representation by employee group
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