NAV CANADA Championing Our Culture and Values

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Nurturing a culture of collective purpose

Every day, we must live our Company values and nurture a culture of collective purpose. Those ideals find expression in several ways at NAV CANADA, but they start with the understanding that employees are central to our mission. It is our people who are responsible for keeping Canada’s skies safe and, as an organization, we must actively support them at every juncture to ensure they are seen, heard and understood. It is important that employees at all levels and locations of our operations feel recognized for contributing to our overall mission and empowered to perform their best. Furthermore, just as safety is central to their responsibilities, it is vital that they feel safe and cared for, whatever their role may be.

Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging

We endeavour to create an environment as equitable, safe and respectful as possible at NAV CANADA so that all our employees feel seen and valued. By introducing our National Strategy on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) for FY24-28, we have taken definitive steps towards empowering and educating employees and giving them a voice.

Broadly, our Strategy identifies six priorities: elevating DEIB discourse; developing inclusive leaders; increasing representation; developing inclusive communities; lifting barriers for an equitable workplace; and building trust and recognition. These components will provide the framework for our activities over the next five years. As we are only now embarking on our DEIB journey, we must appreciate that this process takes time and commitment to reach its full potential.

We have already begun putting these principles into action: introducing and implementing programs, analyzing their effectiveness and refining their delivery. We anticipate even more evolution with the growing impact of advisory councils and employee resource group training. To date, there has been an impressive amount of activity that the Strategy has produced, including:

Establishment of the CEO Executive DEIB Council
Creation of the National DEIB Advisory Council
Establishment of 2SLBGQTIA+ Employee Resource Group (ERG)
New sponsorship for the Black Aviation Professional Network (BAPN)
Launch of the Employee Resource Group for Women
Delivery of unconscious bias training for the Talent team
Delivery of inclusive leadership training for leaders
Development of inclusive language guidelines
Development of our first DEIB annual report

By bringing employees with diverse lived experience into these various resource groups, we are better positioned to make meaningful changes. Looking ahead, we are preparing to roll out training and workshops to fulfill our objectives of continuous learning, awareness building and information sharing. While it is still early in our journey, we are committed to removing barriers, providing fair processes that treat everyone equally, and empowering employees to share their thoughts and feel heard. We believe we are creating a workplace where people can be themselves and feels a sense of belonging.

Sustainability and ESG

As a member of the UN Global Compact and signatory to Canada’s Aviation Climate Action Plan, NAV CANADA is committed to pursuing and implementing standards that bolster our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Strategy and lead us towards supporting net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada’s aviation sector by 2050. We are proud to tackle this challenge across several key areas of our operations.

Meaningful action around sustainability starts with measurement. With respect to our emissions, it is important to calculate our outputs year-over-year to identify where positive changes are occurring and where more work needs to be done. We first reported on our Scope 1 and 2 (direct and indirect) emissions last year, and this year we are adding Scope 3 (value chain) emissions as well.

In 2023, our total overall GHG emissions sat at 90,594 tCO2e. Scope 1 emissions accounted for 14% of that total, while Scope 2 and Scope 3 represented 18% and 68%, respectively. More specifically, the main contributors to Scope 1 and 2 emissions were the powering and heating of our area control centres, towers, buildings, and communications, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) equipment. For Scope 3 emissions, purchased goods and services represented the bulk of our value chain emissions.

This year, we announced plans for the construction of the Victoria Tower, demonstrating how we are building sustainability into our infrastructure. The ground-breaking in May 2024 of our first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified tower in the country marked NAV CANADA’s shift towards modernization and sustainability. Designed in collaboration with the Victoria Airport Authority, the tower features green power supplied by BC Hydro, and the facility will operate virtually emissions free, which is a big step towards our vision for Net-zero emissions by 2050. We have even landscaped the surrounding property with native flora and selected plants that minimize bird attraction, integrating safety and sustainability. The tower is scheduled to open in 2027.

The NAV CANADA Pension Plan Responsible Investing Policy is another example of how ESG factors, combined with a related risk management assessment, contribute to our decision-making and responsible practices. Asset and investment management choices directly reflect our core principles, and our ambition is to promote good governance that spurs long-term value. Incorporating ESG factors into our due diligence, while measuring and benchmarking the carbon footprint of our public market investments demonstrates those choices. Looking ahead, we will expand our carbon measurements to private market investments and push for stronger ESG reporting from investment managers.

We have also extended sustainability into our Supply Chain Management Strategy, factoring in the environmental impact of goods and services as we assess prospective partners and suppliers. These baseline requirements for supplier sourcing and bid evaluation better position us to discuss environmental issues and introduce best practices into our processes.

To embrace simplification is to remove barriers, ease complexities, improve efficiencies and bolster overall operations. That mindset inspired the launch of our Simplification Program in 2023 as part of our Enhanced Culture Initiative (ECI), and we have since started to build tools and practices. This effort aims to identify areas where low-risk changes can be made to improve various facets of day-to-day operations.

These ideas converge on our intranet, with a shared resource where employees can contribute straightforward, effective ideas to streamline our processes. They can draw on experiences, encourage discussions, provide Q&As and offer insights that will help colleagues work and interact with greater clarity and efficiency. More effective meetings and more incisive review processes, for example, mean fewer redundancies and less time required to complete tasks.

Employee Experience Survey

Designed to take a measure of everyone’s experience within the organization, our most recent Employee Experience Survey revealed a mix of positive and negative sentiments. This initiative aims to create a more robust and connected culture at NAV CANADA, and these snapshots help highlight some positives, flag where we need to invest more resources and ultimately inform decision-making.

With a 32% response rate (unchanged from last year), the above-the-fold findings included upticks in motivation, team spirit, workforce diversity and skill development. In terms of areas for improvement, we saw declines in transparency, trust and feeling valued. Despite efforts to improve communication, including the introduction of Ask Me Anything sessions to generate feedback and site visits, positive sentiment dropped 3% from the prior year.

Overall, while there are challenges to address, the findings indicate that our leadership’s efforts to drive culture in support of a better workplace are resonating throughout the organization. Our commitment to a more inclusive environment and connected Company will see us continuing to encourage feedback, though we will now conduct the survey annually to avoid the potential drawbacks of survey fatigue.