One morning last September I had about 10 tomatoes on my desk. Everybody had gotten some, and there was no way my family could eat so many tomatoes in such a short time; he had been bringing some every other day.

A customer of mine walks in. A great man. The type of guy that carries the sunshine with him. He talks all the time, notices everything, always has something uplifting to say. (The company that he works for is a customer of ours, but with time could easily become a supplier.) Anyhow, I figure that being Italian he would not turn down a portion of my tomato stock. So I bring him a few in a bag. He looks at me a bit stunned. “You do not want them?” I say.

“No, no I will take them. My wife is making sauce this weekend, and I will add them to ours.” He smiles. Being the curious type, I ask, “What’s with the tomatoes and the reaction? He explains to me what was going on a few generations back: His father, who was an immigrant from Italy, always planted a huge garden at home. The French Canadians in the city, his neighbours, used to tell his dad, “Hey, Italian, you know you can buy tomatoes at the stores, right?” They would tease and laugh at him because he would spend hours growing his vegetable garden. Are you too cheap to just go to the store? This was his memory of his father, a frustrated younger man, holding tight to his integrity and customs, regardless of what anyone said.

Well, now, generations later, I, a French Canadian man, give him tomatoes from my own father’s garden. Ironic—and interesting.

HIRING IMMIGRANTS

This story made me think of how we Canadians got to where we are. In my own company, two Christmases ago, there were 22 different countries represented, countries as far as Laos and Argentina. For the last six years the reality has been exactly that: A melting pot of great individuals from all over the world. I am asked often, “Don’t you have more problems with your production since you hired all those immigrants?” Most definitely not! In fact, I believe that the trick is to gather the best people possible under the same VALUE umbrella. I want to hire and retain people that adhere to our values, care for the work, the customers and our company. Pretty simple. I do not care what colour they are, what religion they follow, what country they are from. I seek the best candidate, and then I want them to adhere to the company values: Hard work, honesty, integrity, and a passion to be the difference. And we all must practice religion at home and leave politics at the door.

Yes, one of my best partners once told me that there are two things that you never talk about with buyers and potential customers: Politics and religion. Well that applies at my company as well. Men from Georgia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia likely have differing opinions when it comes to politics. Arriving at a new country is like turning a new page in a book. Why dissect the reason why many left their country? It’s their business. The work place needs to be busy and for it to run well, there is no time for arguments. If I evaluate our progress in the last six years, I can honestly say that the strengths of the company lie in its multiculturalism.

Immigrants want to succeed, not only for themselves and for their family here, but also for their extended family in their native country. Most importantly, they want to succeed for their kids and their future.

For many of my employees, this was their first job, here at our company. I’ve watched them get their first car, their first kid, and their first house. I’ve enjoyed watching their advancement toward independence and self-sufficiency.

I think people like a melting pot environment. Perhaps the company provides a safe haven. Some have a common language, some don’t.

Once, we even arranged for French courses to be given every Friday afternoon, enabling those from various countries to interact with one another. The courses were a success not necessarily because of the newly acquired language skills, but because of the friendships developed. Many became more comfortable and integrated faster within the workplace.

I got concrete proof at one point. We had three shifts on one of our machines. A young Russian man assigned to a machine initiated a ritual: a formal handshake in between shifts. That became a sign of mutual respect. I, still to this day, say it was the beginning of something special. We had these three young men in their 20s, a Russian, a Jamaican and a Moroccan, working at that machine for about eight months, and each one of them would take the time to not only leave the place clean and ready for the next operator, but he would actually reach out and shake his hand! It was much like a relay race, keeping one eye on efficiency but making sure the next one could do just as well as himself— and letting him know that he wanted him to have a great eight hour shift. If you’ve ever worked in a production area you will certainly appreciate what I just described.

It is clear to me that a multicultural work environment is the way of the future. Hire landed immigrants, hire new citizens. But, like with all people you hire, regardless of whether they are new to the country or not, make sure they understand your company values.

BY MARIO LAPOINTE