WHAT WE’RE THINKING
Seen@Work Insights
We share our reflections as we navigate employee engagement and inclusion at the leadership level, synthesized every month in the posts below.
Pride Past June: 6 Ways Your Company Can Support the LGBTQ Community Long-Term
As June winds down and July rolls around, the glitter settles, companies remove their rainbow logos, and Pride flags are lowered- only to hibernate until next June. This is a mistake many companies make; they neglect the fact that the LGBTQ community deserves visible celebration and sustained support through all 12 months of the year. While demonstrating your company’s commitment to the LGBTQ community during Pride Month is essential, this solidarity must stick.
Size Inclusivity: A Forgotten Dimension of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts
Anti-fat bias is deeply rooted and often openly accepted within our society, and the workplace is no exception. When it comes to employment, research has demonstrated that fat people are perceived as less qualified and less competent, are assumed to have less leadership potential, and are expected to be less successful in the workplace.
Working Toward Gender Inclusivity: 5 Ways You Can Integrate Pronouns Into Your Recruiting Process
Whether they’ve known about your company for ten years or ten minutes, the first time new employees experience your company culture for themselves is during the recruiting process. Hiring managers and recruiters know that the start of the process is an important opportunity to tell candidates what kind of organization they would be joining.
Employee Resource Groups: How to Unlock the Full Potential of ERGs
Employee Resource Groups, or ERGs, are a familiar feature of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work. ERGs (sometimes called Affinity Groups or Business Resource Groups) represent employees with a shared identity, affiliation, or interest. They offer a sense of community to members as well as a platform to advance DEI efforts within an organization.
10 Ways Your Company Can Authentically Celebrate Pride
As storefronts, logos, and websites take on rainbow shades for the month of June, it is important companies ground themselves in authentic support and genuine celebration of the LGBTQ community during Pride Month. Pride in the workplace matters.
4 Strategies to Encourage Mental Health in the Workplace
During May, we see an increased discussion around mental health in support of Mental Health Awareness Month. While this is great, it is important that we dive deeper--not only to become aware of mental health but to also create workplaces that truly support employees’ wellbeing.
Biases to Watch Out For in Your Recruiting and Hiring Processes
A few weeks ago, our guest on the Seen@Work podcast, Gary Davis, explained how flawed recruiting processes can be if not effectively and intentionally adapted to be more equitable. At its worst, he explained, recruiting could be the most biased thing we do in the workplace.
It Shouldn’t Be My Job to Tell Managers to Talk about George Floyd
Managers seeking to be inclusive leaders should make keeping up with abhorrent occurrences like this one a top priority. They should attempt to stay abreast of not just the criminalization of Black people, which has persisted for hundreds of years, but of all of the ways communities are systemically oppressed…
My Journey from Passive to Active Feminism
We had just learned that women perform better in negotiations when they negotiate on behalf of others than when they negotiate on behalf of themselves. Society doesn’t expect women to advocate for themselves, but they do expect women to caretake others.
Lift Every Voice and Sing (you too)
There are ordinary miracles that we as humans experience. The way we interact with music is profoundly unique in and of itself. Only humans can meld rhythm and tone with the poetry of lyrics to create art that transcends so many of our differences. And only humans regularly take that ordinary miracle for granted.
We’ve all done it. We’ve all been driving on the highway or walking in the park and it happens. You start listening to the song, fully immersing yourself in the experience of the music.
Make Sure Your Next Holiday Season is Inclusive. Here’s How:
A couple of weeks into the new year, it’s easy to push forward, past the holiday season, without spending some time reflecting on how inclusive it was for your team and work colleagues.
In fact, it’s likely the only moments you’ve spent thinking about this past holiday season involve the new gadgets and goodies you received from loved ones, the loungewear set you gifted yourself during a cold night of online shopping, or the plans you made to make sure 2021 is a better, more productive year than the difficult one we all just endured – certainly, 2021 has to be better than 2020, right?
Diversity Leads to Innovation. But How?
You’ve probably heard this before: “Diversity is important because it leads to innovation.”
And this is true.
Research shows that diverse organizations are more likely to file a higher number of patents. They’re more likely to report a growth in market share. They’re more likely to report capturing a new market, and they’re likely to see higher returns on their R&D investments.
What a Lizzo Song Can Teach Us about Inclusion in the Workplace
Let's talk about Lizzo.
If you're unfamiliar with Lizzo, one of the most popular artists on the rise right now, you're missing out. She's great and for the last few months, her song "Good as Hell" has been a staple in my Good Morning playlist. (Yes, I have a Good Morning playlist and I highly recommend you get one as well.)
10 Mistakes Companies Make When Celebrating Black History Month
It’s here!
It’s February, and as #BlackHistoryMonth trends on our feeds for 29 days this year, people around the country are finding ways to celebrate.
In fact, Black History Month (BHM) has been celebrated in neighborhoods, schools, and churches around the United States since its inception over one hundred years ago.
Why Companies Should Invest in Diversity: The Shifts in Business
As a professional working in diversity and inclusion, I spend a lot of my time planning, leading, and measuring the impact of workplace initiatives. However, much of the job also involves engaging in important conversations.