Bridging the Gap Between Identity and Social and Emotional Skills: Black Canadians’ Perspectives of Social and Emotional Skills in the Workplace

This research project was initiated to address the critical need for a diversity lens in Canadian social and emotional skills (SES) research. The objectives of the research were to:

• understand the similarities and differences between Black Canadians’ and non-Black Canadians’ experiences of SES.
• establish if and how Black professionals perceive discrimination as impacting the development and assessment of their SES.

To conduct the research, The Conference Board of Canada engaged the market research firm, Environics Research, to survey 9,232 individuals across Canada. The survey recipients included a diverse community of professionals from each of the 10 provinces. This issue briefing presents the survey findings and reveals how Black professionals perceive the development, expression, and evaluation of SES at work.