H o w W o r k place D E I D r i v es R e venue
& P r e v ent s I n c idents
Finding Value Before a Crisi
Michelle Ngome
Fractional Diverse Marketing Consultant
Line 25 Consulting

Agenda
 Measuring and accountability to your DEI plan
 The significance of content and communications to internal and
external audiences
 Creating a culture of belonging for productivity and success
 Using DEI as a preventive measure

About Michelle Ngome
 Line 25 Consulting
 The 6 Methods For Your Organization to Become Inclusive
 The Language of Inclusion – DEI Glossary
 Education
 University of Houston Victoria
 Cornell University
 University of South Florida
 African American Marketing Association
 Marketing For The Culture Podcast
 Marketing For The Culture Summit

What is DEI?
Diversity: individuals representing various backgrounds; gender, race, age,
religion, military, and other factors.
 Work location
 Job function
 Management level
 Seniority
Inclusion: equal access to information, opportunities, and resources to all
people.
Equity: acknowledging individuals’ specific needs, experiences, and goals.

Many organizations have a
diverse workforce, but are not
necessarily creating an
equitable and inclusive
environment.

Adidas Incident
 2nd largest sportswear maker.
 George Floyd/Black Lives Matter statement in 2020.
 80 employees demanded an investigation.
 Adidas executive board member for global human resources for 20
years; said racism is noise.
 Employees called out problematic environment for POC.
 "As the Executive Board Member responsible for HR, it was my
responsibility to make clear our definitive stance against discrimination,
and this I did not. Should I have offended anyone, I apologize.“
 Announced a public apology and resignation.

Adidas Plan
 30% of new hires would be Black or Latino.
 50% of new positions will be filled by all types of diverse talent.
 50 scholarships a year for Black students at partner schools over the
next 5 years.
 Invest $120+ million on racial disparities over the next 5 years.
 Zero Tolerance policy; violation will result in discipline up to
termination.

DEI is a strategic opportunity
for organizations to grow.

DEI Plan
 Content & Communications Plan
 Establish & Maintain Viable Talent Pipelines
 Company Culture
 Community Awareness
 The Accountability of DEI Initiatives

Content & Communications
Content
 Thought
leadership
 Informative
 Reputation
 Positioning
 Consumers
Communications
 An event, issue, situation
to an audience.
 Language of Inclusion
 Positioning
 Stakeholders, employees,
consumers

Creating Inclusive Content
1. Create diverse and inclusive teams
2. Start internally
 Brainstorming, planning, writing
3. Audit your brand communication
 Internal and external messaging; digital footprint
4. Revamp operational processes
 Add diversity-related categories to your editorial plan
 Diverse editorial advisory board: cultural references, special
dates, insights, list of partners

Talent Pipeline
 How does the organization position
themselves to candidates?
 What does the careers page say about the
company?
 Where and how can candidates learn about
the company before applying?
 P.S. Meet people where they are.

Talent Pipeline
 Establish and maintain viable talent
pipelines.
Entry level
 Alaskan Native & Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions (ANNH)
 Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI)
 Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU)
 Primarily Black Institutions (PBI)
 Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU)
Mid level & C suite:
 Grad school
 Conferences
 Networking – organizations, social communities
 Webinars

Candidates
People want:
Remote
Salary
Transparency
Hiring process
Communication
DEI statement

Supplier Diversity
 The Great Resignation meets The Gig Economy
 Part/Full-time contractors
 Remote
 Flexibility
 According to Supplier IO
 66% of respondents have supplier diversity programs less
than 10 years old.
 Over 80% of responding companies are tracking spend with
Minority-owned, Women-owned, Veteran-owned, and
LGBTQ-owned businesses.
 60% growth in 2 years.
 23% integrated in organization.

Poll Question
How confident are you in your ability to respond to a
harassment complaint effectively?
a. Very confident.
b. Somewhat confident
c. Not very confident.
d. Panicked.

Company Culture Challenges
As a general rule, employee retention rates of 90% or higher are considered
good; a company should aim for a turnover rate of 10% or less.
Factors:
 Poor onboarding
 69% of employees stay at least 3 years with a good onboarding program
 Lack of training and development
 Poor communication
 Unclear job descriptions
 Staffing problems
 Little to no feedback
 Lack of recognition
 Flexible working hours
 High turnover costs

What Is Harassment?
Harassment is aggressive pressure or intimidation in the
workplace.
1. Verbal/Written
 Derogatory comments, jokes on culture, religion, age,
language or disability
2. Visual
 Sending or showing derogatory videos, emails, or texts
3. Physical
 Facial expressions, touching, or hand gestures
 Standing too close
4. Cyber-bulling
 Social media
 Online communities – Slack, Facebook, etc.

Microaggressions
Microaggressions are verbal or nonverbal insults that usually
happen towards marginalized groups.
 You speak well.
 Is that your real hair? Can I touch your hair?
 Telling a transgender person, they don’t look “it” or
“passing.”
 Calling a woman boss emotional, crazy, or name calling.
 Not willing to learn how to pronounce someone’s name.
 Negating someone’s experience - are you sure that
happened?

Wage Gap
According to Times Up Foundation, the gender pay gap is the result of a range of
forces, including gender and racial discrimination and occupational segregation.
Wage Gap-2021
 On average women earned $0.83 of what men earned
 White women earned $0.79
 Black women earned $0.64
 Latin women earned $0.57
Challenges
 Economic insecurity makes it hard for women to leave jobs
 Women harassed on the job are more likely to take lower paying jobs, switch
fields, exit labor market
 Deal with retaliation for reporting

Company Culture
How does the organization support their
employees, personally and professionally?
How can we foster innovation?
What does equity look like in this hybrid
world?
Does the company enforce equitable wages?

Company Culture
 Team building – cross team exercises
 Open communication and sharing
 Company goals
 Role on team
 Open door policy
 Reward team collaboration
 Recognition
 Personal and professional stories
 Videos
 Interviews
 Thought leadership
 Quotes
 Reduce churn
 Company newsletter
 Training, events, conferences, memberships

TE Connectivity
• You Belong Here
Campaign
• 2-min employee
videos
• Stories
• Website and social
media

Employee Tips
 Advocate for yourself
 Express empathy and show support to others
 Ask for 1-1 meetings
 Mentorship or sponsorship
 Identify your role, learning style, and leadership method
 Always ask questions
 Initiate trainings

Ensuring equitable pay and safety in
the workplace is a foundational
component of developing a sound
company culture.

Community Involvement
 Businesses impact communities
 Brand awareness
 Potential candidates
 Company culture
 Employee engagement
 Matching donations
 Volunteer hours
 Leadership roles

Accountability of DEI Initiatives
1. Recruitment - Creating pipelines that allow for qualified applicants,
interviews, hires, and diversity boards and partnerships.
2. Salary - Ensure offers and increases are equal across the board for male,
female, and non-gender talent.
3. Supplier Diversity - Creating a user-friendly process. Tracking vendors,
proposals, and awarded contracts
4. Representation - Make sure that each department has fair
representation as well as in leadership roles. Also beneficial for supplier
diversity.
5. Advancement - Monitoring the success of employees
6. Retention - Track the attrition rate and survey why employees leave the
company to determine what systems can be repaired.
7. Community Involvement – Hours of service, financial contributions,
leadership, organizations

McKinsey Facts
 There is a linear relationship between racial and ethnic diversity and
better financial performance: for every 10% increase in racial and
ethnic diversity on the senior-executive team, earnings before
interest and taxes (EBIT) rise 0.8%.
 More diverse companies are better able to win top talent and
improve their customer orientation, employee satisfaction, and
decision making, and all that leads to a virtuous cycle of increasing
returns.

Diverse Teams

Inclusive Environments
 Ownership & Accountability
 Solve problems, make decisions, manage responsibilities
 Empathy & Allyship
 Understanding and support
 Curiosity & Courage
 Safe spaces to confidently speak up and understand different perspectives
Employee experiences of inclusion are a key factor in company results:
 49% team problem solving
 35% work engagement
 20% employee intent to stay
 18% employee innovation

Let DEI be your competitive advantage?

Summary
 A proactive DEI plan
 Create content and communicate to all stakeholders
 Understand the needs and desires of candidates in the current job
market.
 Employee engagement
 Equitable pay
 Recognition
 DEI can be measured, be accountable to your plan.

Resources
 Adidas
 Adidas Instagram – Black Lives Matter post
 Apollo Technical
 Catalyst
 Catalyst – Women’s earnings
 Forbes
 McKinsey & Company
 NY Times
 Rolling Stones
 Supplier IO
 TE Connectivity
 Times Up Foundation: Unsafe Underpaid Sexual Harassment

T h a n k Y o u f o r
P a r t i c i p a t i n g
Find more free webinars:
www.i-sight.com/resources/webinars
@isightsoftware
C o n t a c t
M i c h e l l e N g o m e
C o n t a c t
i - S i g h t
webinars@i-sight.com
ngome@line25consulting.com
www.line25consulting.com
www.linkedin.com/in/mngome
@MichelleNgome