The pandemic set back diversity and inclusion in the hotel sector, including for females at the executive level, but the overall Canadian workforce has been recovering.
Don Cleary, president of Marriott Hotels of Canada, said there was no question some of the child care responsibilities fell on women as schools and day cares moved remote during the coronavirus outbreak.
"No doubt the last two years have been a setback at the property level," Cleary told the Hotel Association of Canada conference in Toronto. "I think the closing of the schools fell disproportionately to too many of our female executives, and that is why they dropped out of the workforce. We need to get back to that and get a lot more creative and flexible."
During the pandemic, women accounted for 53.7% of year-over-year employment losses between March 2020 and February 2021, according to Statistics Canada. Pre-pandemic, the services sector, excluding public administration, represented 89.8% of employment among women compared with 68.3% for men. That sector drove job losses during the pandemic, affecting women more.
But there's been a strong overall recovery this year. The workforce participation rate for those between 25 and 54 reached a record high of 88.6% in March, according to a survey Statistics Canada released in April. The rate for women in that age bracket in the workforce hit 84.8% in March, the highest on record.
About 57% of Marriott employees who report directly to Marriott's CEO today are women, said Cleary, a 25-year veteran of the hotel chain. He said that 20 years ago, his group formed a board committee to advance women and people of colour.
"That is still active today, and they set the goals every year. Out of that came a women's leadership program," and without that program, "we wouldn't be where we are today," Cleary said.
Anne Axler-Larcade, president and CEO of Sequel Hotels and Resorts, which provides hospitality consulting and investing services, said recent data shows that diversity can increase profitability by 3% to 13%.
"There is a good reason for Marriott to be a leader" in diversity, Axler-Larcade said.
Marriott reported global net income of $377 million for the first quarter, an improvement from the net loss of $11 million in the first quarter of 2021.
Kathleen Taylor, chairwoman of the country's largest financial institution, Royal Bank of Canada, said the path to reach the top rung of an organization often holds women back.
"The CEOs of the future have to be the people in the pipeline today," said Taylor, adding that means being involved in operations roles. "The vast majority of CEOs who ascent to the highest rung on the ladder have gone through those operations roles, and the vast majority are men."
Taylor, who served almost 24 years at Toronto-based Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, including as president and chief executive for three years, said most women go through a period where they are raising children.
She said organizations need to "purposely" ensure people can integrate work and life and create balance.
"Lateral moves back into operations are very difficult and sometimes even involve a cut in pay," said Taylor.
Anna Chartres, regional director of talent and culture at the historic Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto, part of the global Fairmont brand with 70 properties worldwide, said part of her company's key performance indicators include diversity, inclusion and unconscious bias.
"We had some intense conversations," said Chartres, adding she was reminded just recently about bias when customers are filling out a dry-cleaning slip that requires the suit to be labeled for a woman or a man.
"Do we just call it a suit?" she asked. "I had a young leader challenge me. But for 24 years, we just printed the exact same slips. We were just doing things that made no sense."