Advancing employees’ skills in diversity, equity and inclusion increases productivity and talent retention

Wendy Cukier, founder and academic director of the Diversity Institute (DI) and academic research director of the Future Skills Centre (FSC), moderated a panel at the Diversity Network’s Inclusion Festival about the importance of advancing skills and recognizing and celebrating employees' contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Joining her were panelists Aggninder Dhillon, international head of reward and wellbeing, Twinings; Luisa Monteiro Furlan, director of culture and engagement, Jellyfish; and Ruth Barnes, DEI senior manager - global projects, Hogan Lovells. 

Commenting on the rising focus of rewarding and recognizing DEI in the workplace, Cukier, who has spent decades developing evidence-based approaches to improving DEI and skills in the workplace, said, “Similar to measuring an organization’s diversity and inclusion, recognizing and rewarding employees’ DEI initiatives should be baked into corporate strategy, institutionalized and seen as part of an organization’s core business. This is critical to how you attract and engage and retain employees. Making it more tangible to employees through performance and reward systems ensures that you are effectively leveling the playing field. We know, for example, women already bear a disproportionate amount of unpaid labour in the home, and there is growing evidence that they often are saddled with additional voluntary activities in the workplace, so it’s important to reward people for what your organization values.” 

Here are some of the discussion highlights: 

• Barnes of Hogan Lovells argued that supporting DEI initiatives is not just about supporting those who are underrepresented, but is also a part of her company’s cultural identity. Everyone at her firm must dedicate 25 hours toward supporting those who are underserved and often underrepresented, including on DEI activities. 
• Barnes also shared a low-cost example DEI recognition program developed by her firm and endorsed by regional management partners and leadership called the Highlight Awards. “Recognition is provided to all staff with everybody's name, their photograph, a detailed description of what they've done, so that we can celebrate each other. A thank you from our CEO is also provided,” she said. 
• In 2021, Hogan Lovells introduced a billable hour credit for employees’ DEI activity. “It differs slightly by region, but in essence, employees can port up to 50 hours of DEI activity, such as time spent on mentoring and sponsorship, leading affinity groups [and] attending interviews as a diverse representative, and that extra time beyond their billable work is then counted toward their billable hours,” Barnes said. “Rather than disincentivizing people to take part in DEI or disproportionately affect our diverse colleagues, it becomes something that is baked into the system. This rewards them.”
• Furlan shared Jellyfish’s DEI work in performance plans. Jellyfish assesses people's contributions to culture as part of its performance planning and evaluation framework. “Our DEI practices and aspirations are deeply rooted into our culture, our corporate culture and values,” Furlan said. “We tie progression in our environment to the impact in culture as well. We take what we call an active culture approach rather than a passive culture [approach]. We want someone who is actually working on bringing new solutions to leadership, and who is engaged in those values, who chooses to be an outstander and not a bystander, for example. [It’s] Interesting that you've gone that step of actually trying to assess people's contributions to culture as part of the performance framework.”
• Dhillon reinforced the need for a company culture that is embraced by people in the organization. Twinings developed a coaching academy. They encourage people to learn how to be coaches, to ask the really hard questions and then bring about cultural change. Dhillon said they also emphasize the importance of the collective coming together, including through their networks. 
• Focusing on the competition for talent, and particularly for the hearts and minds of young people, panelists contributed some innovative ideas. Dhillon said that the world of work has changed significantly in the last five to 10 years. “Joining an organization with a great culture where you really feel like you can belong and thrive, I think, is so important to people—or everyone, not just young people.” Furlan said, “If you're looking for this young talent coming through your company, you need to make the inclusion part as important as the diversity part is. We just need to keep on top of that systematically, and businesses that understand this will bring the most open-minded talent, the most committed talent, and they will advocate for the brand that they work for.” Cukier agreed, noting “that inclusive talent recruitment definitely brings competitive advantage in most sectors today.” Barnes added that there is a war for talent in the legal sector. Young people have many choices about with whom they choose to work, and culture will become a big part of that, she said. “They ask us what our values are. They ask us what we stand for on the DEI front, on the responsible business front, how they can give their time to pro bono. They want more than just a career.”

The discussion coincides with new research which was released by DI and supported by FSC that shows engaging employees in DEI training supports the development of other skills. The report evaluated an FSC-supported DI, Magnet and Ontario Chamber of Commerce Skills Bridge program, which provided EDI training to more than 1,000 learners across 666 enterprises. The program led to significant improvement in skills beyond DEI, including management, numeracy, innovation, problem-solving, adaptability, entrepreneurship, digital skills and writing.