DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

Our commitment to an inclusive culture that embraces diversity of thought, background and experience was reinforced by our Board and executive leadership team through our renewed social commitment framework. We want to create an industry and a company where everyone is welcome and has the same opportunities.

Creating a culture of inclusion is consistent with our long-standing foundational values and we are committed to making progress so that everyone has an equitable opportunity for success at Ovintiv. To that end, we have assembled an internal Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Working Group representing a cross section of our workforce, acting as a sounding board for initiatives, testing communications and acting as an incubator of ideas.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Guiding Principles

We engage in this work not only because it leads to better business outcomes, but most importantly because it is the right thing to do.

Above all, we believe listening and learning is the priority. We will take our time to get it right and be authentic along the way.

Ovintiv’s values and leadership capabilities underpin our commitment to an inclusive workplace.

Learning From Our Employees

A critical part of building a culture of inclusion is listening to and learning from our employees. In the fall of 2021, we launched two inclusion initiatives – a pulse-check survey and employee inclusion listening sessions. The survey asked employees to anonymously assess four statements regarding their experience and perception of inclusion at Ovintiv. The Inclusion@Work listening sessions went a step further and allowed for deeper dialogue where employees shared details of their personal experiences and perceptions of inclusion in a smaller, more intimate forum. Both quantitative data from the surveys and qualitative data from the listening sessions were shared with the executive leadership  team. Feedback from the circles informed updates and changes to practices, programs and training initiatives.

In total, approximately 700 employees completed the pulse-check survey and approximately 170 individuals participated in the Inclusion@Work sessions. Through the inclusion initiatives, we learned that participating employees have a high sense of inclusion, although it was clear that not all employees experience inclusion in the same way. In 2022, Inclusion@Work training was offered to all employees.

This feedback, along with our company’s demographic data, helped us understand how the experience of inclusion differed across demographic groups within our company.

“From this exercise, we recognize the importance of feedback loops, and we will work with all levels of leadership to continue to design mechanisms to listen and learn from our employees. I am committed to continuing this dialogue and developing the programs, processes and initiatives required to support diverse talent and an inclusive workplace.”

Brendan McCracken

President & CEO

Understanding our Workforce

One of our goals is ensuring we have diverse talent at all levels within our organization. We are continuing to deepen our understanding of the age, gender and ethnic make-up of our company, through voluntary employee surveys as well as formal gender equality surveys. As we build awareness, we have been able to tailor our recruiting practices to broaden the diversity of our talent, increase our transparency around gender equality and better support our employees with resources to build an inclusive workplace.

Attracting, developing and retaining diverse talent while fostering an engaged culture of inclusion is both a challenge and an opportunity. We will continue to lean into our values as we strive to create a work environment where everyone can feel accepted and be successful.

Workforce Ethnicity

Of the 98% of US employees and 63% of Canadian employees that responded to our survey, our ethnic breakdown is as follows: 

United States

84.3% White
7.9% Hispanic / Latino
2.8% Asian
2.2% Two or More
1.3% Black / African American
1.1% American Indian / Alaskan Native
0.2% Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander

Canada

78.1% White
5.2% Chinese
4.1% Indigenous / Aboriginal
3.6% South Asian
2.5% Black
1.3% Filipino
1.3% Other
1.1% Latin American
0.9% Arab
0.6% Korean
0.6% West Asian
0.5% Southeast Asian
0.1% Japanese

Building our Culture of Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are critical to building an empowered culture and strengthening company performance. By embracing our diverse perspectives, we can continue to innovate and evolve our business to adapt to an ever-changing world. Creating a space for trust and support to ensure that all great ideas are heard is a priority and an area we will continue to strive to improve.

In support of that objective, Ovintiv partners with organizations whose primary goals are to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. These organizations offer various resources, and as a member company, all staff can access these resources.

Building a culture of Inclusion
Considering Equity in Employee Benefits

Building and strengthening our culture of inclusion has been an important focus for our organization over the past two years. We continue to look for new ways to promote and improve our inclusive culture, including taking deliberate action to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are considered in our employee benefit plans.

In 2021, as part of our yearly benefits assessment, we conducted an Inclusion & Diversity Discovery Assessment. This is an innovative way to evaluate benefit plans and programs using our workforce demographics, diversity of family roles (caregiving, disability, life stage), and broad societal views across ethnicity, race, religion, socioeconomic factors, and other “lenses”.  This gave us a wholistic view of our benefits programs, which helped highlight areas of opportunity. While we received exceptional results across most areas, the assessment pointed out opportunities for program improvement in two areas: Family Leave and Family Forming. In 2022, we took action.

Family Leave
We understand the importance of supporting our employees through the exciting process of welcoming a child. Upon birth or adoption, primary caregivers are provided 16 weeks paid leave. This benefit includes 14 weeks paid leave of absence as well as 10 business days of paid parental time-off to be used within the first year of the birth or adoption. Secondary caregivers are provided 10 business days of paid parental time-off.

We recognize the necessity of extending eligibility of the benefit beyond the birth parent to include adoptive parents and secondary caregivers. This exciting enhancement reinforces our commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace, ensures the well-being of our employees, and maximizes flexibility for unique return-to-work needs.

“Great policy change and great to see ‘primary and secondary caregiver’. As an adoptive parent and a member of the LGBTQIA community, this makes me proud of Ovintiv and the steps we are taking as a company to be more inclusive.”

– Michelle, Production Analyst

 

Family Forming Benefits

Ovintiv recognizes that forming a family can take many different paths.  We provide enhanced coverage for fertility treatment, adoption assistance and surrogacy assistance to support our employees through their journeys to growing their families. The addition and enhancement of these benefits provides employees with market-leading benefits that are inclusive of everyone.   

SPOTLIGHT

ALLY Energy’s Best

LINK was recently awarded an ALLY Energy GRIT Award for The Best Affinity Group for its efforts to embrace inclusion and collaboration. The award recognizes the group’s accomplishments as well as impacts on recruiting practices and employee experience.

 

DE&I Recognition 

Inclusion in Bloomberg Gender Equity Index (GEI) (2023)

The companies reflected in the 2023 Index have scored above the GEI Score threshold for inclusion and are committed to making strides towards equality in the workplace. The 2023 Index comprises 484 companies with a combined market capitalization of $16 trillion (USD) headquartered in 45 countries and regions across 11 sectors.

Winner Best Affinity Group  (2023)

The ALLY Energy GRIT Award for Best Affinity Group recognizes groups that embrace inclusion and collaboration. The award represents ALLY’s highest honor for internal employee groups, companies, start-ups, and schools.

Included in Globe and Mail’s Women Lead Here benchmark (2023)

A ranking of 500 of the largest (over $50M in revenue) publicly traded companies in Canada in terms of the percentage of female-identifying individuals in the top three tiers of executive management.