Manulife announced July 17 that it has set leadership and recruitment goals to increase the representation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) across its North American businesses.

"We recognize how important it is to improve the diversity of our organization at all levels," said Roy Gori, President and CEO, Manulife. "Establishing goals not only demonstrates our commitment to this important work, it will help us build a more inclusive culture to drive innovation and enable us to better serve our customers."

The company has committed to further diversify its workforce across its North American operations, which includes John Hancock in the US: increasing BIPOC representation in leadership roles by 30% by 2025 and annually hiring at least 25% BIPOC talent in its graduate program.

Manulife has also signed on to the BlackNorth Initiative Pledge in Canada, as well as the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion pledge in the US.