Our energy comes from our team — people with unique skills, broad experience and a deep commitment to improving and saving lives.

About 3,800 people work for Canadian Blood Services, and each plays a vital role in achieving our mission — as do the roughly 17,000 dedicated volunteers who work alongside them. Our employees have many areas of expertise: from collecting blood, inspiring people to donate and building our donor registries to testing, manufacturing and delivering safe, effective products across the country. Together, our team members are the key to our continued success.

We understand how important it is for our employees to have a workplace that is safe, respectful and fulfilling, where they are supported by their peers, accountable for their efforts and valued for the positive outcomes they achieve together. As our organization evolves to meet the challenges ahead, we’re creating opportunities for our team members to develop their talents, expand their knowledge and contribute in new ways.

We have added to our public information resources on this subject, including an FAQ video on our website, and a research article that provides more information about MSM donation eligibility criteria around the world.

Growing our potential

We’ve always believed in the value of developing our organization from within. In the past year, that conviction has only deepened. Our new strategic plan will include a commitment to strengthen our existing capabilities while developing new ones in areas ranging from customer analytics and experience design to product management and continuous improvement.

Who better to lead and deliver this evolution than the team we have today — the highly capable people who are already building their careers at Canadian Blood Services? Our priority is to nurture and improve their diverse talents in everything from science and medicine, to donor recruiting and engagement, to biologics manufacturing and quality management, and to all other areas of our expertise. By growing the wealth of potential within our organization, we’re creating a better future for our employees — and for the health systems they work to support and improve.

Diversity and inclusion

During the past year, we formalized our diversity and inclusion strategy following a thorough assessment of our policies and practices in this area by the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. In clearly articulating a set of guiding principles, our new strategy helps us to more closely reflect the communities we serve and the donor populations we seek to attract.

In addition to the strategy, we’ve also introduced an education program on diversity and inclusion. The program includes e-learning modules on accessibility and inclusion priorities in the LGBTQ+ communities, including a specific module related to individuals who identify as trans. All of our processes and documentation for recruiting new employees have been reviewed to ensure they align with our strategy and training practices. And we’ve begun work on a new demographic assessment of our organization based on how employees self-identify.

Our diversity and inclusion strategy supports our wider efforts to promote flexibility and collaboration. That’s only possible when everyone at Canadian Blood Services — and everyone whom we interact, from donors, registrants and patients to hospital staff, physicians and our various health-system partners — feels fully represented and accepted.