Transforming Workplace Systems to Build Sustainable Capacity for Inclusion of Diverse Youth

Canada’s manufacturing and construction sectors face persistent labour shortages alongside untapped pools of skilled and motivated youth with disabilities. 4DY addresses that disconnect by helping transform workplace systems such that inclusion becomes embedded in everyday operations.

The Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) provides funding to organizations to deliver a range of activities that help youth (aged 15 -30) overcome barriers to employment. 4DY contributes to this national effort by developing best practices for sustainable, systems-level approaches to strengthen organizational capacity to recruit, hire, onboard, retain, mentor, and promote youth with disabilities.

Drawing on IDEA’s expertise and strong partner base, the initiative ensures that solutions are evidence-informed, are developed with the principle of “nothing without us,” and  designed with sustainability in mind.

Through this collaboration, IDEA, CIRHR and its partners are embedding inclusion directly into workplace systems—building the organizational capacity needed for diverse youth to thrive in their employment journeys.

Specific objectives of the 4DY initiative are: 

Objectives 1 – Systems-Level Framework: Develop, pilot, and scale a framework that integrates a disability-inclusion lens across core organizational systems.

• The framework will guide employers on how to embed inclusion into policies, processes, and procedures across all levels of their organizations to support long-term, systemic change.

Objective  2 – Pulse-Check Questionnaire: Create a benchmarking tool to measure disability confidence and EDIA maturity.

• The pulse-check questionnaire will enable organizations to assess their current state of inclusion across core organizational activities, identify priority areas for improvement, and monitor progress over time.

Objective 3 – Audit Tool: Develop an organizational self-assessment for continuous improvement.

• The audit tool will help employers identify specific gaps and barriers within their systems needing attention,  inform targeted actions to strengthen inclusive policies processes, and procedures, and track progress on change initiatives.

Objective 4 – Best Practice Guidance: Co-design and scale evidence-informed guidance for inclusive organizational systems.

• Drawing on a continual-improvement paradigm, the guidance will outline practical steps to embed disability inclusion human resource activities such as recruitment, hiring, onboarding, retention, and advancement, with a focus on adaptability for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Objective 5 – Framework for Appraising Tools and Resources: Establish a standardized method for assessing and contextualizing existing inclusion tools and resources.

• This framework will help inform the cataloguing of tools and resources that will support workplaces, service providers, and researchers in identifying what works best in specific contexts, reducing duplication and strengthening coordination across core organizational activities.

Objective 6 – Knowledge Platform and Peer-to-Peer Hub: Launch an accessible digital platform to coordinate tools, resources, and learning.

• The platform will serve as a central hub for collaboration, linking partners, showcasing best practices, and fostering a national community of practice to help scale and sustain inclusive employment best practices.

Outcomes include: 

• Disability-confident, EDIA-mature organizations in the manufacturing and construction sectors with the capacity to recruit, hire, onboard, retain, mentor and promote youth with disabilities.
• Sustainable, systems-level capacity built through better and broader use of existing tools and resources, championed by a coordinated network of stakeholders.
• Broad impact across sectors, as the systems-level approach is adopted by champions supporting youth with all types of disabilities within Canada and internationally.

Over a dozen partner organizations are committed to help workplaces put the findings from this initiative into practice to advance capacity for inclusion and accessibility through workplace systems change. Together, these partners bridge the worlds of research, industry, labour, employment services and the disability community to create practical, evidence-informed solutions.

Key Partners

• Ontario Disability Employment Network (ODEN)
• March of Dimes Canada (MODC)
• Lakehead University – EPID@Work Research Institute
• Unifor
• Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario (PBCTCO)
• Auto Parts Manufacturing Association (APMA)
• Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC)
• Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)
• Ontario Bar Association (OBA)
• Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital – Employment Pathways
• SkillPlan
• Business and Higher Education Roundtable
• LiveWorkPlay
• CASE
• Specialisterne

The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS). We received $4.44 million grant for a period of 38 months, from February 2025 to March 2028.

“With the need for greater youth employment opportunities, our government is helping young Canadians get ahead by connecting them with the employment and skill-building programs they need to successfully launch their careers. Funded through the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, this new project will create stronger supports for youth with disabilities, potentially serving as a model for similar programs nationwide."

Leslie Church, Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretaries of State for Labour, for Seniors, and for Children and Youth, and to the Minister of Jobs and Families (Persons with Disabilities)