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Creating Inclusive Hybrid Worplaces

Creating Inclusive Hybrid Worplaces

 Creating Inclusive Hybrid Workplaces

For many of us, we are planning or amidst our transition back to the office or a hybrid model. For some, there is a level of excitement and while for others, there is a level of anxiety. 

The excitement of being around others is wonderful for the extroverts, while the introverts are looking for new ways to manage their energy. 

Creating an inclusive hybrid workplace needs to be a practical, planned and purposeful exercise where extra attention needs to be given to accommodate in-person and remote employees. 

Below are 9 ways to be more inclusive in the hybrid workplace:

  1. Involving remote team members in meetings through inviting them (even last minute), providing video option for meetings
  2. Managing remote meetings (inclusion of those not in the room)
  3. “Transferring” water cooler chat to online chat
  4. Creating an environment where all feel valid for their choice. There is no shaming for working from home
  5. Effective performance management taking into account that rapport is harder to establish online
  6. Ensuring the right information is getting to the right individuals. It is easier to have conversations in person therefore an important piece is remembering who else needs to be a part of that conversation. 
  7. Continue regular weekly 1:2:1 check-ins and regular weekly team meetings are important to create a sense of belonging within the team. 
  8. Encourage team members to participate in cross-organisational committees and activities 
  9. Start weekly meetings with a personal check-in and breakouts where possible to engage team members in conversation. Breakouts can be to discuss key questions like:
    1. How did you feel you contributed in the last week?
    2. What is something you are proud of?
    3. What is a lesson you learned?

Always, feel free to take Veza Global Inclusion Self Assessment Quiz as way to measure where your organization is on the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion maturity model.

 

When Leadership is Complacent

When Leadership is Complacent

What do you do when you want leadership to take action but they’re being complacent? What do you do when you’re asking for them to take a stand and they say nothing?

In 2020, we saw people asking for change to happen. We saw people who were looking for organizations to step up and be better leaders and role models. In 2021, accountability for organizations will be the focus. Organizations will need to show that they are taking the action that they said they were going to do. With the recent events on Capitol Hill, our team members are feeling so many emotions. As leaders, it is important to address uncomfortable conversations especially when it is a human rights issue. People are looking to leaders to lead the way through the conversations and to take action. The level of safety people are needing right now is at utmost importance. Individuals are looking to be seen as their foundation is shaken. This safety and security can look like connecting with team members as individuals and creating a compelling future vision with them. The future vision will help to create hope and provide direction and focus. 

People are impacted by a multitude of world events happening around us. These events include farmers’ protests in India that are impacting people who have Indian backgrounds especially from a farming family. Their ancestors and family members are standing at the front line asking for justice. Yes, the situation is in India. However, there may be team members who are distracted and feeling different emotions as their family members are marginalized there.

As a leader who may have team members who are impacted, ask them how they are doing. Ask them what is happening with the situation and if their family is safe. 

All of these events have an effect on people’s emotional, physical, mental and spiritual body and we need to realize the impact it has on your employee’s and how it might bring back old emotions. Questions such as “do I belong here?” and “what does this mean for us and what does it mean for me” may be coming up in your employee’s minds. It is so important to create a safe place for your employees to be themselves, feel accepted and that they belong in the organization. They need to feel as though they are in an environment where they can share their points of view on subjects and feel safe about it. 

How can your organization get involved?

There are different ways your organization can get involved in eliminating systemic racism. Things such as signing pledges and taking part in challenges can help guide your organization and create a safer environment for your employees. These pledges can also serve as conversation starters amongst your teams of ways to make your employees feel more accepted.

The BlackNorth Initiative and the 50-30 Challenge are two ways Veza Global is implementing equity, diversity and inclusion practices into the workplace.

BlackNorth Initiative

This pledge is committed to removing anti-Black systemic racism in Canada and moving towards an equitable future where all Black Canadians and other underrepresented groups will achieve their full potential, free from systemic barriers. The BlackNorth Initiative is composed of senior leaders from all Canadian companies and organizations-both from the public and private sectors.

Why be part of the BlackNorth Initiative?

The persistent inequities across our country underscore our urgent, national need to address and alleviate racial, ethnic, and other tensions and to promote the elimination of anti-Black systemic racism wherever it exists. As leaders of some of Canada’s largest corporations, signatories manage hundreds of thousands of employees and play a critical role in ensuring that inclusion is core to their workplace culture and that their businesses are representative of the communities they serve. Moreover, it has been proven that true diversity is good for the economy; it improves corporate performance, drives growth, and enhances employee engagement.

To learn more about the BlackNorth Initiative and ways your organization can get involved, click here.

50-30 Challenge

This initiative is bringing together the Federal government and organizations, researchers, corporate partners and equity seeking groups to advance gender equity and diversity in leadership across Canada.

The challenge’s meaning refers to two aspirations: 50% gender parity and 30% representations from under-represented groups ( Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ2+ community) on Canadian Boards and senior management. 

To learn more about the 50-30 Challenge and to participate click here.

As leaders, we need to see everyone we work with as humans. The need to connect with them should be greater than the fear of saying the wrong thing when events happen both locally and around the world. We need to be able to create a safe space for people to discuss how they’re feeling and ways they can be supported. Speaking up and shedding light when situations occur shows that you care as opposed to leaving it in the dark and not even giving your employees a chance to speak about how it’s affecting them. It’s better to say the wrong thing rather than nothing at all. It at least shows that you care and have the right intentions. 

It’s about creating an inclusive environment for your employees. We need to make them feel like they are supported and they belong in the organization. As a leader it is your responsibility to give people a safe space to express their thoughts and opinions. Learning from your employee’s experiences is what creates the diversity of thought in the workplace. Connecting through phone calls, emails and team meetings are ways you can reach out to your staff and start the conversation about current issues that may be affecting them.

Remember, your need to connect with humans should be greater than your fear. 

Thank you for an impactful 2020

Thank you for an impactful 2020

Dear Veza Global Supporters,

It is important to set the goals, reflect and express gratitude where needed. I wanted to take this time to express my gratitude for all your support this past year. 2020 has been a year of learnings, growth, challenges, awarenesses and impact. For those within the Veza community, many of you have been great supporters in many ways. Our team at Veza, rose to the challenge when the lockdown’s happened, the anti-Asian racism increased, George Floyd was murdered and the #blacklivesmatter movement gained a second wind. We rose through supporting our colleagues through directing individuals in need to the right organizations who had stepped up. We ourselves, took a backseat while we funneled equity, diversity and inclusion work to other disproportionately represented groups who specialized in supporting Black, Indigenous and Anti-Racism. We knew for ourselves that was the right thing to do as it is a marathon, not a sprint. We wanted to remind you all too, exactly that – the work you do is a marathon, not a sprint so the impact you want to make will happen. 

We were able to contribute to the conversation and our impact through having the conversations, speaking at workshops/panels, and educating ourselves on how to be better and do better. Through our own audits, advisory, training work, we were able to bring economic empowerment to disproportionately represented groups by impacting 500,000 people in 2020. We thank you for your continued support in sharing our services so that we could create this impact. 

In this last year, we have had a number of memorable highlights that kept us going. We relaunched the ASCEND program for skilled immigrants with the Immigrant Employers Council of BC. 

We worked in partnership with HR Tech Group to create a Diversity and Inclusion Hub of curated over 300 equity, diversity and inclusion resources. Through this partnership, we audited various tech companies to help them understand where they are on their EDI journey and their path forward. 

Our team created a number of resources to help individuals and organizations to be more inclusive.

We worked closely with the Women’s Enterprise Centre Team to support immigrant women entrepreneurs in the province in terms of peer mentoring, funding and resources. 

We had the privilege of working with Community Future’s Entrepreneurs with Disabilities program and coached a few of their entrepreneurs on their business ideas. 

We worked with some outstanding individuals who are so committed to creating inclusive cultures in various industries from not for profit, tech, real estate, restaurant, government and law enforcement.

What to look forward to in 2021

In the upcoming year, we are looking forward to continuing our equity, diversity and inclusion work and impact. We have some exciting new announcements of programs coming out this year. 

Thank you to each of you for helping us make the impact that we are working to make. There are so many people to thank for this journey, each of them contributed in their own way. 

Warmly,

Manpreet

CEO/Founder

Supporting Women Within your Organization During the Pandemic

Supporting Women Within your Organization During the Pandemic

To say that this year has been tough for everyone is an understatement. The Covid-19 pandemic has touched every single person in the world and has unapologetically changed everyone’s lives for the foreseeable future. From wearing masks at the grocery store, waving to your friends and family from a two metre distance, and saying “sorry, my wifi cut out” in zoom calls, are all aspects of everyday life that have changed. However, specific groups have been more affected than others. Women and specifically women of colour have been particularly affected by the pandemic. Senior level women are 38 percent more likely to mentor one or more women of colour compared to 23 percent of men. If we let women leave the workforce, this could have detrimental effects on an organization’s profits and overall work culture that we simply can’t afford. 

The challenges women face in the workplace have only intensified in the last six months. Many of these women are working mothers and are now working a “double shift” while balancing their careers, children and keeping up with their homes. As a result of this work/life imbalance, one in four women are contemplating leaving the workforce and leaving behind years of hard work. However, this is extremely alarming for corporate America.

Companies risk losing their women in leadership positions and unwinding all of the progress to implement gender diversity in the workplace. However, this presents itself as an opportunity for organizations. This is the time organizations need to invest in their talent to ensure women have the resources and flexibility during these times to ensure that they don’t leave the workplace. Employers need to foster a sense of nurture culture where women have an equal opportunity to fulfill their potential and career goals.

Losing women in the workforce would translate into a significant financial loss to companies. According to the research, company profits and share performance can be almost 50 percent higher when women are well represented at the top. Alongside the profit, women also carry a lot of importance when it comes to creating a positive work culture, employee-friendly policies, and champion racial and gender diversity.

6 Ways Employers can Support Women in the Workplace

  1. Make work more sustainable

Adapting the everyday work-life is essential when supporting women in the workplace. Employers might want to look at the productivity expectations before Covid-19 and adapt them to be more realistic. This might encompass resetting goals, narrowing project scopes or extending deadlines. Another way organizations can support employees is by offering “Covid-19 Days” to give parents a chance to catch-up with their home life or a day to simply recharge. 

2. Reset norms around flexibility

The pandemic has made it harder to strike a good work-life balance as employees might always feel like they are “on”. One way to help improve the balance is to establish set hours for meetings and responding to emails. Leaders can also communicate their support for workplace flexibility to help mitigate the feeling of “always being on” and that it is encouraged to take advantage of flexible work options. When employees believe their employers are supportive of their flexible practices, they are less likely to consider downshifting their careers or leaving. 

3. Take a close look at performance reviews

Performance reviews are a great tool to help gauge how your employees are doing and rewarding their contributions. However, with the shift to remote work, new challenges have risen and the old criteria before Covid-19 may no longer be applicable to today’s environment. Employers can relieve stress by making the performance criteria more attainable to help prevent anxiety and burnout. Ultimately, this can help with overall performance and productivity. 

4. Take steps to minimize gender bias

Throughout this pandemic, biases against women have been amplified and have shown up in new ways. Either kids playing in the background of zoom calls or co-workers assuming their colleagues are doing less work due to taking care of their children while working from home. Since there is less visibility into the day-to-day there leaves room for bias to creep in.

In order to mitigate the biases women face, managers need to ensure that their employees are aware of them. Employers should speak publicly about the impacts of biases, especially during the pandemic. Bias training and tracking promotions between genders is a good way to track if men and women are being treated fairly.

5. Adjust policies and programs to better support employees

Due to the pandemic and its changes to “normal life”, organizations have extended policies and benefits to help support their employees. Resources for mental health and homeschooling are examples of what organizations have in place to help with the new adjustments. As an employer, ensure that all your employees are made aware of the resources that are available to help them during these challenging times. Organizations should also determine if their resources and benefits are addressing the employee’s needs and reallocate time and money for the challenges your employees might need support in.

6. Strengthen employee communication

When shifting to remote work, communication with your employees is critical to ensure that they still feel connected with their managers and peers. One in five employees have consistently felt uninformed or in the dark during the Covid-19 pandemic. Leaders and HR teams should have regular communication and be empathetic towards their employees to make sure all team members feel valued and understood. It has been shown that this practice can reduce anxiety and build trust among teams.

Ensuring that women in the workforce don’t fall through the cracks is essential during the Covid-19 pandemic. All practices have to adapt to these unprecedented times to allow for more flexibility and understanding in the workplace. We have to ensure that we strive for gender equality in the workplace and that we have women paving the way for the younger generations. We have to look at each other as human beings and not just robots that work from 9 to 5. This pandemic is something that no one has ever experienced before and we are all learning how to maneuver through it the best way we can. Organizations need to adopt more flexible and accommodating practices to make sure all their employees can thrive in this new environment.

Metrics in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Metrics in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Our current socio-political climate has shined a glaring light on the necessity for large scale change across organizations of any size when it comes to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). Most companies however, face the same issue they always have when working with qualitative features of social systems.

How do you make things tangible?

When implementing change in an organization, it can be hard to find a starting point, especially when it comes to tackling social systems in the workplace. However, being able to add tangible value to these concerns can make for a good start. Ways to make EDI tangible is using metrics to quantify the levels of engagement in EDI in the organization. Using metrics will help you find a starting point in your organization’s journey and will help your managers stear in the right direction. The best part of using metrics is that they can be used across all of your organization’s departments and can act as a benchmark for your EDI journey.

How do you justify the time, effort and investment in ways that make business sense?

Organizations are always going to ask themselves “Is this even worth it.” The answer is yes. Diverse companies make better decisions 87% of the time, are 35% more likely to have above average profits, are more productive, innovative and attractive to investors and customers. Employees of diverse backgrounds and abilities can reduce risk by 30% while improving innovation by 20%. Implementing diverse practices makes business sense. Having EDI fosters more creativity to help with problem solving and can ultimately improve an organization’s bottom line through breakthrough innovations. Not only can it improve your organization’s productivity, it can also impact the overall culture in a positive way that makes your employees feel safe and included to share their perspectives. 

Organizations have always had trouble dealing with these questions even in a broader people sense, now including new budget items around EDI need to be justified and warranted.

This is why industry leaders today put an increasing emphasis on measuring, analyzing and implementing a data-driven, quantifiable approach to EDI, giving it the same level of analytical thought as other technology-heavy functions like finance and supply chain.

The problem here is the difficulty in accurately and meaningfully quantifying these unique, ambiguous and subjective features that set EDI apart from most other functions. Most small and medium enterprises that lack the technology, systems and data aren’t even sure of where to begin. Hopefully, this article will help with that first step.

EDI metrics can be broadly classified into 3 categories – Diagnostic, Tracking and Prediction.

Diagnostic metrics are the most fundamental ones that directly determine the success of the other categories. These parameters help explore, quantify and shine a light on the potential focus areas for interventions. Some are common across most organizations, such as:

  • Diversity ratios
  • Employee engagement and retention metrics
  • Hiring and recruitment pipeline metrics
  • Compa ratios and benefits
  • Standardized exit interview data 
  • Employer brand. 

Others would be more specific to each organization based on its location or industry. For example, language might be an important diversity metric in European offices, while race and ethnicity might be more crucial in North America. The purpose of these metrics is to provide a blueprint and starting point for your organization, the data of which can then be used to start asking the right questions.

Once these questions have been asked, Tracking metrics come into play. How do you know whether your questions are accurate and what is your frame of reference? What are the standards to which you hold each parameter? Benchmarking plays a key role in this stage to provide each organization with the context and guidance it needs. When interventions are decided based on your diagnostic metrics, tracking parameters would include measures like participation rates in training programs, membership rates in ERGs and mentorship groups, and employee feedback data. These metrics will help steer the course of your interventions and adapt them to best suit your organization’s needs. Having a benchmark allows your managers to have a starting point in the EDI journey. 

The final and most challenging category is prediction metrics. These can be thought of as return on investment, but aren’t simply limited to financial returns. In order to understand how well your interventions are doing, you must most often draw insights against time. Trends across months or years help provide a bird’s eye view of the progress being made by the organization and in turn help predict the most probable outcome. These predictions can be as simple as a regression line that predicts the re-hire budget saved through diversity retention, or as intricate as complex supervised learning models that predict which employees are at a risk of getting disengaged. A major variable to keep in mind here is that ethics and moral decision-making must always trump the ever increasing need for more accurate information. 

When starting or continuing your organization’s EDI journey, finding that starting point can be the most challenging and daunting part. This is where Veza helps. Veza and its team of EDI experts will help guide your organization through its EDI journey through our Assessment. The Assessment gives your organization the necessary metrics on all aspects of the business to ensure that your EDI journey is measured. Our Maturity Model is used to gauge where your organization is on its diversity journey. The model helps identify the level of investment the organization is making to attract and retain underrepresented groups as employees, suppliers, or customers.

To get a snapshot of how your organization is doing for inclusivity, Veza offers a free Self Assessment. This free Self Assessment will give your organization an insight of areas for improvement in its EDI journey. However, if after taking the free Self Assessment is leaving you wanting more, you can take the plunge into Veza’s Full Assessment. 

Click here to take Veza’s free Self Assessment!

Supporting Staff During Turbulent Times

Supporting Staff During Turbulent Times

As we have heard many times we are in unprecedented times. The world is watching as the United States elects its next President. It will impact what happens with organizations and how individuals show up. The current election is showing the polarization that exists within our societies and communities. This current election is calling for a deep reflection as individuals and as a nation as to what will you stand up for? What do you believe in? What are you willing to let happen in your world? These questions are ones we should be asking ourselves on a regular basis as organizations and as individuals.

Many organizations are taking the stand to remain non-partisan while they want to support their staff and their resiliency stocks this time. Staff are challenging the status quo by asking to display the pride flag, examining the organizations for their commitment to equality and equity of BIPOC and asking leadership to take a stand and in some cases, any stand.

When staff are challenging the status quo, in reality they want to know they are safe and if the organization is inclusive. Employees want to make sure that their values are aligned with the ones of their company. They want to know their voice matters and they matter. It’s important to make them feel accepted no matter who they are. 

The beauty to organizations is that they are finding out what culture their staff want. They are also discovering what supports are needed to be more inclusive. This presents itself as an opportunity to organizations to reflect on their inclusivity practices. When employees are taking a stand for what they believe in this election, employers will get an insight on what culture they want to create to better support their staff. Most of all, they are finding out what will support their employees and their resiliency.

Resiliency is key when supporting your teams during change. Resiliency can be the saving grace from burn out.

4 Ways To Build Resilience in Your Team 

  1. Checklists and Guides

During times of change, you don’t want to be adding more stress to your employees. Therefore, creating checklists and guidelines can help employees have something to turn to when feeling overwhelmed. Having a standard operating procedure can help newer staff learn the procedures that are set in place. 

  1. Training

When on-boarding new employees, it’s important for them to feel comfortable and included in the organization. Having team meetings to get to know each other and develop an understanding for one another is a great way to promote cohesion amongst the team.

  1. Debriefing Sessions

During turbulent and stressful situations, it’s important to have debriefing sessions with your team. This way everyone can reflect and explain the highlights and the areas of improvement for when the next challenge may arise. Encouraging this team discussion will promote a more supportive and inclusive environment for all staff. 

  1. Work Culture

The final piece of the puzzle for resilience. Work culture. Managers should display positive behaviours in order to create an inclusive environment for all. In an inclusive environment, employees should feel safe to speak up, share bad news, reach out for help and thank their colleagues for their expertise. 

This is the time to think about inclusive culture. To think, plan and strategize on how to be more inclusive. No matter the outcome of the upcoming election, it is important and vital for your employees to feel supported and safe at their workplace. Creating a sense of belonging amongst all departments and positions will put your employees at ease during these turbulent times. 

Setting up an inclusive strategy for your organization is the first step into creating a sense of belonging and safety to your employees of diverse backgrounds and abilities. However, knowing where to start can be a daunting task. This is where Veza helps. Veza and its team of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) experts will help guide your organization through its EDI journey through our Assessment. The Assessment will help you pinpoint areas of improvement with actionable recommendations to help kickstart your organization’s EDI journey. 

To get a snapshot of how your organization is doing for inclusivity, Veza offers a free Self Assessment. If you’re left wanting more after the Free Assessment, your organization can take the plunge into Veza’s Full Assessment. 

Click here to take Veza’s free Assessment!

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