Honoring the Spirit of Dr. King and Celebrating Diversity

In light of the moving events in early 2020, Source2 took a serious introspective look to evaluate how we were living up to our stated commitments on diversity, inclusion, equity, and equality. As part of our Core Values, we have always had a focus on hiring a diverse group of employees across race and ethnicity, gender and gender identity, religion, age, and language. Embracing, respecting, and learning from our differences (and discovering our similarities) are an essential part of our company culture and our growth as individuals and a team. 35% of our employees are Black, Hispanic, Asian, or multiracial, and 50% of our leadership team is female.

But we knew we could do more and continually strive to do better.

We began by surveying our employees for their unfiltered feedback on Source2’s culture, leadership, actions, and personal experiences, and we asked them how we could improve. We formed a Diversity & Inclusion Committee comprised of multifaceted individuals from every area of the company, including executive leadership, and this action’s validity was reinforced by the results we saw from the survey. We were happy to learn that, according to our employees, we were already doing most things well and were on the right path. The feedback also informed us where we could improve, and that came in a few main areas, which we’ve found are recurring themes across all types of businesses and organizations:

• Clear support from leadership
• Transparency and communication surrounding diversity
• Education and engagement

We immediately addressed the first two items. A clear message came directly from our CEO to all employees, members of the leadership team were already on the D&I Committee, better language was incorporated into our onboarding documents and training, and updates were made to our HR documents and office facilities to emphasize our commitment. We kept and continue to keep employees current on all initiatives and encourage open lines of communication.

Then we dug into education and engagement. Prior to the pandemic, Source2 regularly participated in group community service activities, and while we didn’t know what the state of things would be at the time, we committed to making Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2021 a day of service and paid holiday for Source2 employees. As the day approached, it became clear a group activity wouldn’t be feasible, and due to the nature of our business, we also realized many of our employees would still be working that day, as is the case 365 days a year for our clients.

With that in mind, we made it into an extended, socially distant week of service rather than a single day, also emphasizing that we should embody this idea of service and progress on social justice on an ongoing basis rather than limit it to a single day. Our Diversity & Inclusion Committee compiled and shared a variety of resources and initiatives each day across channels for employees, encouraging them to also share their perspectives:

• Local and national livestreams and socially distant events honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. employees could attend virtually or in person over the course of two weeks
• Area Black-owned restaurants and shops to visit, as well as how to find them in their area for delivery
• Documentaries and films to watch on streaming services, including family-friendly programming
• Pertinent speeches in audio and text format providing historical context and education
• Books and podcasts on the Black experience and by Black authors
• A Source2-matched giving campaign to donate to the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund
• For those employees working in the office, catered lunch throughout the week from our local Black-owned establishments

Our employees shared their own ideas and experiences across our communication channels, and it sparked new conversations that will carry into our upcoming initiatives throughout 2021, such as remote movie watch parties for important films, lunch and learn events, and monthly celebrations and education honoring our employee spectrum of race, ethnicity, LGBTQ+ identities, and disabilities. Ultimately, our Diversity & Inclusion Committee ensures a continued focus and fostering of company and individual growth, and are responsible for the following:

• Represent the larger employee community, its breath of diversity, and its interests
• Facilitate initiatives to enhance the lives and further the education of our employees toward diversity and inclusion in and out of the office
• Coordinate training and education relative to DEI during onboarding and throughout an employee’s tenure
• Ensure a positive employee experience where all employees are treated with respect and acceptance by leadership and their peers

Why are we sharing this with you? We want our clients to know that we care about DEI issues in the same way that they do. We strive for continuous improvement and are committed to improving our corporate citizenship. By sharing what we’re doing, it may trigger ideas of what may be applicable and useful to our client partners, and we want that to be an open dialogue. We’ve heard from our clients that this information is valuable to them, and we want to share what we learn because diversity breeds diversity. If you want to hire a diverse population of employees, it helps that your recruiters and recruiting partners reflect the diversity that you seek.

If you want to learn more about Source2’s internal diversity and inclusion initiatives or how we are committed to helping our clients foster diversity, we encourage you to reach out to us at solutions@source2.com. We look forward to making progress together.