5 Ways Companies Are Embracing DEI for Their Teams

When it comes to building an engaged employee experience, values like diversity and inclusion have increased in priority for many workplaces over the past few years.

Companies embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) not only build more equitable, supportive workplaces but to increase retention, attract talent, and nurture employee engagement.

In fact, about 78% employees in the workforce say it’s important to them to have DEI as a priority for their organization.

And according to Glassdoor about 76% job seekers say diversity is an important factor when weighing new opportunities.

Large teams like Google, Facebook, and Amazon started by sharing their demographic data in an effort to uncover their own unconscious biases and to commit to new goals to grow more diverse teams across the board. And in a trend to embrace a holistic employee experience— meaning supporting your employees' needs for work but also inspiring employees with the company mission and purpose— organizations started to flesh out DEI programs and activities and inclusion efforts.

In 2020 and 2021, many teams increased their initiatives with employee resource groups (ERGs) to support underrepresented employees in their organizations. And many teams dove into educating their workforce leaders on unconscious bias and allyship or added a chief diversity officer to their ranks.

For many teams, this is just the beginning of a strong, engaged and ongoing DEI strategy. And if you're looking for other efforts to add to your DEI approach, read on to see how organizations are leading the charge.

Asana’s Intentionality in the Hiring Process

Based on the tenants to build, recruit, and thrive, Asana’s team seeks to cultivate a culture with intentional D&I initiatives from hiring down to their employee experience.

Along with creating foundational resources, from bias training to updated policies, Asana put intentional steps in their hiring and recruiting from partnering with organizations aligned with underrepresented groups when searching for talent to dedicating job search opportunities with HBCUs, women’s colleges, and early career programs. They've made intentional requirements when pooling candidates for higher level roles to ensure diversity is represented. And the hiring team will  be at the forefront of their D&I training to help interviewees feel comfortable and help them be their best selves during the process.

Net Health’s fireside chats & monthly activities

Net Health’s commitment to their core values of agility, empathy, collaboration, and imagination fosters a strong, engaged, supportive workplace. Spanned over different cities, Net Health connected their distributed team through their digital environment on Cooleaf and communication networks. Their culture club and employee resource groups regularly host activities to help everyone feel included. And from book clubs to online multicultural potlucks, they foster a safe space for discussion, learning, and tackling hard topics.

Net Health deepened the conversation with DEI this year by hosting their first organization-wide fireside chat surrounding the Black experience in America. Executives moderated a panel of employees sharing their personal experiences, and Net Health was able to open a line of dialog to support and show their employees that they're taking the steps towards a more inclusive environment at work and for their future.

Salesforce’s equality groups

With about 60,000 employees around the world, Salesforce ranks as one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. Equality is an ingrained value, and along with sharing metrics on their representation goals, Salesforce hosts a breadth of employee equality groups, from their Women’s Network to their Black Organization for Leadership and Development (BOLDforce) to name a few.

Their range of Equality Groups are super engaged— with 1 out of every 2 Salesforce employees reportedly participating. And their Equality Groups actively host programing from hosti speakers, spreading awareness and education, celebrating culture, and empowering employees to bring strategies to integrate diversity to the team at large. They've also created a Racial Equality Taskforce which has conscious goals when it comes to Salesforce's people, philanthropy, policy, and purchasing.

A lot of Salesforce's efforts relies on transparency and sharing their metrics, their goals, and how they seek to achieve equality in their organization.

Shipt’s remote and in-person volunteering events

Shipt works diligently to foster a workplace culture that supports individuals of all backgrounds and encourages everyone to bring their authentic selves to their work. And customers certainly feel that in their service and product.

In honor of Pride, Shipt donated to two nonprofit organizations, Magic City Acceptance Center and QueerLifeSpace, both of which are run by and serve members of the LGBTQ+ community. Shipt also gave their team the opportunity to volunteer in-person or remotely through the Cooleaf platform. They provided a list of national events or ones in their team members’ cities and asked employees to share where they registered and to snap a photo of their day volunteering. It’s one of the many ways, Shipt continues to promote inclusivity on their team everywhere, through a digital platform like Cooleaf.

ezCater's holistic approach

While, we highlighted a few examples companies have for DEI, many of those efforts are actually part of bigger-picture initiatives for their organization. That being said, this quote from ezCater's senior manager of diversity Amaia Arruabarenna, captures a strong DEI approach that felt inspiring. In a report by Built In, she said, "This work is continuous; there’s no checking the box with one or two action items and calling it a day. Implementing training and new policies are great steps in the process, but they won’t work if not treated holistically and paired with other supporting and continuous actions.”

Along with being one of the 32 companies who took the tech inclusion pledge back in 2016, ezCater committed to tracking representation and diversity in their team and continues to publish updates on their blog, along with intentions on how to push for success.

Want to learn more on how Cooleaf can help you with your team's DEI goals with pulse surveys, recognition, and dedicated programming and activities? Chat with us!‍