WEBINAR RECAP: How to Build an Effective Diversity and Inclusion Program from Scratch

December 1, 2020 at 9:00 AM by Laura Davis

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Entelo recently led a webinar focused on the important steps and measures of success for building a diversity and inclusion program from scratch. Moderated by Entelo’s Senior Customer Education & Engagement Manager, Molly Siegel, our panelists included Kai Johnson, Corporate Marketing Manager at Salesforce; Kevin Walters, Diversity L&D Recruiting Leader at Amazon; and Andre Boulais, VP of Customer Success at our own Entelo. each shared the perspectives of three separate leaders championing DE&I efforts for different departments highlighting that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is not just an HR initiative but an entire company initiative.

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No matter the size of your company, a DE&I program is essential to your organizational culture, and in turn the success of your employees. This webinar is a great starting point if you’re in the beginning stages of your initiatives, or if you’re just looking for a passionate discussion between D&I champions.

With an audience of hundreds in attendance what followed was an introspective conversation led by a panel of leading voices in Diversity and Inclusion from companies such as Amazon and Salesforce with real-time market data and insights from Entelo’s database of 500M professionals. Here are some of the biggest takeaways, but make sure to listen to the entire discussion, at the download link, below:

Key Takeaways

The call to action for companies to build a world-class DE&I program has never been louder or more prevalent and the data supports it.

Entelo shared that across all industries that there’s been a 50% increase in searches for DE&I positions in the workforce.

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A successful program starts with defining what DE&I is at your company.

What excites Kai the most about DE&I work right now is “realizing and understanding that there are some underrepresented groups and underrepresented minorities that might not have had a fair shake in life, resources, etc., and making sure that you’re providing that equal access and equal opportunities to all people in your company and organization.”

Self analysis and awareness are key to progress.

“Auditing and defining your goals” is needed, Kevin says, “as well as having a system to measure that. Whether you’re surveying your performance or you have an outside consulting company to help.” Identify key metrics and bring in people who are skilled in the space. Assess your company’s current state in relation to DEI. (Entelo DEI assessment here).

Look at how you can utilize some of your internal talent to build your program.

“If you have an ERG (employee resource group) at your company, encourage [new hires] to attend as part of your onboarding [process]” Andre notes. Setting up new talent to learn from others from the get go will help expand their horizons and set the path for DE&I up for success.

Make sure that your company has an overall vision and understanding of where you sit in DE&I and where you want to be.

Molly highlights the fact that “no one is doing this perfectly, that’s why we call this a journey. But having an identified overall vision that trickles down with a firm understanding of where everybody sits [...] in sharing that responsibility and how you collaborate together to ensure that you’re making progress.” Benchmarking and tracking are key to measuring that progress.

Lastly, thank you to those who were in attendance for adding your voice to the conversation during this interactive webinar. If you were unable to make it, or would like to review the information, we’ve included materials below that you can take back to your companies to share with your teammates, colleagues and leadership to help drive change.

You can download the entire discussion here:

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