Diversity Best Practices

By and large, the recent COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdowns of workplaces and unprecedented shifts to remote working have brought forth concerns regarding a potential financial crisis. The effects of these changes, however, are not equal across all communities. For instance, the pandemic has done more harm to the Black and Latinx communities that also stand to lose more from the economic downturn. On the other hand, if we look at the pandemic’s impacts from a gender perspective, around 865,000 women have left the workforce due to the pandemic.

Such disproportionate effects of the pandemic are disrupting the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives that many businesses had in place. To overcome this, organizations now need consistent, holistic, and sustainable DE&I practices. It is also imperative for a firm to consider DE&I initiatives as business strategies and think about the long-term implications of COVID-19 on women and diverse communities. Only then can they set up a truly diverse and inclusive work culture.

Interestingly, many of these organizations have found a common partner to achieve their DE&I goals in Diversity Best Practices (DBP)—the strategic advisory wing of Working Mother Media (WMM).

WMM acts as the mentor, role model, and advocate for more than 17 million working mothers in the U.S. and has an in-depth, data-backed understanding of what drives employee experience in successful workplaces. Using this data, WMM creates high-level strategies around DE&I best practices that can address deeper issues and challenges. WMM also organizes live and virtual conferences to manage the day-to-day challenges of today’s employees.

Notably, through DBP, WMM helps the world’s forward-thinking companies to strategize and maximize the business benefits of diversity and inclusion. DBP is Seramount’s membership program for DE&I practitioners across many client organizations. DBP actively partners with more than 200 members to map a success journey toward their individual DE&I goals and devise strategies to increase engagement of employee resource groups. DBP equips its member organizations with research, resources, benchmarking, and publications to help them create, implement, measure, and grow first-in-class diversity programs. “We like to think of ourselves as an extension of our client’s teams. We are very conscious about meeting the client where they are on their DE&I journey,” states Deborah Munster, the vice president of DBP.

Going the extra mile, DBP offers an inclusion index to help organizations understand gaps in demographic representation, diverse talent strategies, and corporate culture. The index is a critical tool in creating change as organizations look to address systemic issues, such as lack of diverse representation at executive levels and gaps in the talent processes. And the results provide a strategic roadmap for driving internal change through DE&I solutions and close the gaps. DBP’s clients can also access an on-demand content hub that contains tools, templates, articles, insight papers, case studies, and research reports on more inclusive, impactful, and resilient workplaces.

We like to think of ourselves as an extension of our client’s teams. We are very conscious about meeting the client where they are on their DE&I journey

Additionally, DBP conducts annual members-only events that cover trends in DE&I metrics and accountability, cutting-edge talent strategies, and next practices in global DE&I. Member organizations can gain access to powerful and versatile knowledge networks through a range of channels and formats. At the same time, the company also offers on-demand online resources to help its members implement tangible, data-driven solutions and build cultural competencies.

At this juncture, DBP’s unique value proposition can be best explained with a client success story in the DE&I arena. DBP worked side by side with a nationwide commercial real estate construction company that was just starting its DE&I efforts. DBP helped the client develop a strategic framework, align its diversity strategy with the business strategy, and identify various objectives that needed to be accomplished within one, three, and five years. “We focused on making the business case for DE&I and embedding it into the organization’s culture,” highlights Deborah.

In another instance, DBP ran an inclusion index study for a financial service organization. The research uncovered that even though the member organization had sponsorship programs for its employees, it was not targeted toward the advancement of women and women of color as much as it should have been. “And from our experience, we know that 50 percent of women of color are open to leaving their organizations if they feel the sponsorship programs do not advance their career within an organization,” states Deborah. Therefore, DBP helped the financial service organization revamp their sponsorship programs and focus specifically on women and people of color to make sponsor matches. The company also integrated the sponsorship program with the members’ talent development and the succession planning process. Soon after the organizational overhaul, almost 60-70 percent of female employees could secure promotion to senior management positions within a year, thereby indicating a strong DE&I initiative on their employers’ part.

These are a few of the many instances where DBP has proven its excellence in driving fulfilling results for clients. DBP is also making an effort to bring back 865,000 women who left the workforce amid the pandemic and help them acquire new skill-sets for staying relevant in the coming years. The company has also made its clients aware of leadership accountability. When DBP first started tying leadership accountability with businesses three years ago, it was below 29 percent; and now it is above 42 percent. “But there’s still a long way to go. Organizations need to treat diversity as a business strategy and make sure leaders are compensated for their progress against their DE&I efforts. This is a truly significant way to change the current paradigm,” concludes Deborah.