Through Niagara College’s partnership with New College Lanarkshire (NCL), NC’s Honours Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Human Resources (HR) students are becoming more world-ready as they support NCL’s Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and wellness workplace initiatives as part of their capstone project.
“NC’s mission is to provide outstanding applied education and training for a changing world; this initiative supports that mission by allowing students to apply their HR knowledge to real business cases while preparing them to be work ready at local and international levels,” said Program Coordinator in NC’s School of Business & Management Studies, Kristine Clark, PhD, who is supporting this initiative along with NC’s School of Business & Management Studies Professor, Rami Alasadi, PhD.
“Through this initiative students will hone their applied research and investigation skills, be provided the opportunity to synthesize the HR knowledge and skills developed throughout their program, further develop their competence in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and address NCL’s human resources needs.”
As a component of their coursework in the Honours Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Human Resources, NC students are engaged in applied research projects with industry partners.
This year, NC’s fourth-year HR degree students are analyzing, researching, evaluating, and making recommendations to support EDI and wellness workplace initiatives at NCL. More specifically, students will research and present best practices to create a trans-inclusive culture at NCL that aligns with outcomes in their EDI policy and analyze how the mental, physical and social wellness of NCL’s faculty and students can contribute to success in productivity, efficacy and retention.
“Students in this course are required to work directly with industry partners to develop HR related solutions to their business needs,” said Alasadi. “This year, with the support and collaboration with Dr. Holly Catalfamo, students were able to work with an international industry partner in Scotland which enabled them to assess and develop HR business solutions, while also enhancing their international competence and knowledge of international HR practices.”
“This partnership is illustrative of the vast opportunities that grow out of international partnerships,” said NC’s Director of Global Engagement, Holly Catalfamo, Ed.D. “Working with our academic areas, our talented students and faculty truly have an opportunity to shine on the global stage, and showcase their incredible knowledge, skills, and abilities.”
Alasadi explained how students in their fourth year of the program prepare independent research projects which are supervised by faculty in a manner that resembles graduate thesis supervision. Students apply the business and human resources knowledge and skills developed throughout the entire degree program and work in consulting groups to conduct HR research for client companies.
“The aim of this capstone project is to engage students in the synthesis of their experience beyond the borders of the classroom to analyze the partner’s needs, operations, conduct current research, and present recommendations,” said Alasadi. “The students gain applied research experience and engagement with industry professionals, which helps prepare them for the world of work. The business partner receives plans and recommendations that are responsive to their HR needs and aligns with current research and industry trends. It’s truly a ‘win-win’ opportunity.”
One of the HR degree students contributing to this initiative, Michelle Berube, explained how the project scope was wide, focusing on diversity and employee wellbeing, but allowing research groups to choose their own specific focus. Berube shared that her group was drawn to the topic of assisting NCL in achieving their equality outcomes and creating a trans-inclusive environment.
One reason Berube noted was that NCL staff currently had no employees who self-reported in this demographic and a large portion of NCL staff prefer not to report gender at all. She added that the equality outcomes report also highlighted that staff specifically asked for assistance in supporting the trans community.
“Given Ontario’s progressive views on gender inclusion, we thought looking at best practices Ontario colleges currently use to build a trans-inclusive work environment could be of benefit for NCL in accomplishing their equality outcomes,” said Berube. “In addition to providing a list of best practices, we hope to determine if there is correlation between employee satisfaction surveys and what kind of/how many best practices are in use. If we can reduce discrimination and provide better inclusion for the trans community, then I believe we will have created an impact.”
Berube highlighted that the objective is to implement best practices to create a trans-inclusive workplace as part of an organization’s strategic plan. “As an HRM student, this project really requires use and application of a broad number of skills and former courses,” she said. “It is a real-life work scenario which requires the ability to understand the client’s goals, and provide some well-informed research that can assist them in long-term organizational planning.”
Another HR degree student contributing to the initiative, Chantal Wayland, highlighted how wellness has become an increasingly important topic for organizations, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Organizations like NCL recognize that wellness initiatives are imperative to achieve growth and sustainability in a constant changing society,” said Wayland. “My capstone group this semester is hoping to find a direct correlation between wellness and productivity, wellness and self-esteem, and wellness and turnover to prepare the best HR recommendations that can be utilized at NCL. A huge part of what professionals do within the HR field is provide support and recommendations to stakeholders, and I think this project gives us an opportunity to see what that could entail in the real world.”
Wayland noted that that they are using primary and secondary research to help NCL further understand how employee and student health and wellness impacts the bottom line as trends continue to emerge.
“In utilizing our research skills we’ve gained, and knowledge from previous classes, our main goal is to provide a strategy that will help NCL become proactive in their approach to health and wellness allowing them to identify potential issues before they arise for a happy and healthy culture,” said Wayland. “I truly believe that if we are able to achieve this goal, we can create a real impact for NCL to remain competitive in their efforts to invest in their students and their employees.”
