The topic of workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion is at an all-time high right now. It has been proven that there is a direct correlation between inclusive workforces, productivity, and revenue. According to the McKinsey & Company diversity report, “companies in the top-quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity on executive teams were 33% more likely to have industry-leading profitability.” Without a strong DEI program, though, your organization could face internal harassment incidents, discrimination lawsuits, high employee churn, and a poor corporate reputation, leading to lost customers and clients. Join inclusive marketing consultant, speaker, and author Michelle Ngome as she outlines DEI best practices that will increase your organization’s revenue, as well as prevent workplace incidents.

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

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

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. DEI is a strategic opportunity
for organizations to grow.

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

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

13. 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

15. 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.

16. 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

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

18. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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

22. 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.

23. 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?

24. 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

25. 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?

26. 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

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

30. 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

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

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

34. 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

35. 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.

36. Diverse Teams

37. 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

38. Let DEI be your competitive advantage?

39. 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.

40. 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

41. 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