With diversity taking center stage for many companies trying to gain and retain talent, how does a company make sure its efforts are effective? That question and more were addressed during a recent webinar discussion hosted by Comparably’s SVP of Communications, Jaime Sarachit, with guest Danita Oliver, Sr Global Diversity & Inclusion Leader, from RingCentral (NYSE: RNG) – a leading cloud-based communications and collaboration solution for business. Many different workplace diversity strategies were discussed, as well as how companies need to define diversity today, and some powerful ways to recruit and promote diverse voices.
“It’s important that diversity, equity, and inclusion is infused into the company culture, the business strategy, and everything we do,” Oliver says. “I liken it to seasoning a great meal. You set it out in front of your guests, they eat, and they say, ‘Oh my gosh, that tastes wonderful!’ But nobody sees all the spices out that you put into the dish. That’s what DE&I is. It’s that spice in the dish that makes the dish better.”
These are some of the major highlights from the wide-ranging conversation:
1) Diversity is not a simple definition in 2022; it involves distinctions far more subtle than race and gender. There are so many things that make up the characteristics of a person. Oliver cities her own spread of identifications as evidence: “I am an African-American woman who happens to be an HBCU graduate, who happens to be the mother of a special needs child, who happens to be caring for her parents in a multi-generational household. And all of that plays into the diversity or how I think and perceive things.”
2) It’s not enough to simply have a diverse headcount – those voices need to feel like they fully belong. Three components of a culture – diversity, equity, and inclusion – are crucial to belonging. You need to create equitable opportunities for people to reach the fullest potential that they bring to the table, which may not be the same potential as the person sitting to the right or left of them.
3) A company should have the dynamic of a family that can put away their differences when they come together over big meals. “When I get together with my family, we’re loud and having a great time laughing,” she shares. “There’s dysfunction in my family, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t belong in that dysfunction. I’ve learned how to operate in it. That’s the type of culture we have to learn how to cultivate at work.”
4) Your workplace culture should be transparent and inclusive before you bring in diverse candidates. You can bring all of the diverse representation in that you want, but if you don’t have a strong culture that welcomes all people into that space, then you defeat the purpose because they won’t stay. Build a positive environment through employee resource groups, team building activities, and an open policy for employee feedback.
5) The human race isn’t about to shed the tendency towards personal bias anytime soon.“It seems to just be the way our brains work,” Oliver says, likening our brains to computers in that we’re always taking in and processing information. The brain needs to make shortcuts to process that much information, and those shortcuts are what end up as biases.
6) Diversity is a necessary component because we all have blind spots. DE&I initiatives are simply an acknowledgment of this problem we all naturally have. Once you are brave enough to admit that it’s not an indictment or an accusation to have these blind spots, you then realize that those are always something to be considered. It’s not racist to admit that there are experiences that you just don’t have.
7) With remote work now the standard, employees can and should come from anywhere. Talent is everywhere. You just have to look. Don’t rely on your career site and traditional job boards to see the resumes come flying in. Proactively find candidates (passive or not) in the places where they live as opposed to expecting people to be in the places where company headquarters are located.
8) Recruiting can start earlier than senior year for college students. RingCentral hosts a Historically Black College & Universities (HBCU) LEAD Academy, with “lead’ standing for “leveling equality, advancing diversity.” The program involves early investment in interns. While typical interns tend to be seniors and graduate students, the LEAD Academy finds juniors to bring in for a 12-week internship program.
Listen to the full webinar for more on RingCentral’s ERGs, Oliver’s thoughts on the benefits and drawbacks of blind hiring, and a Q&A session featuring questions from the live audience.