Hear from the Chief Marketing & People Officer and Wellbeing & Safety Leader, as they share how their history of hiring refugees has taught them to look beyond basic DE&I efforts to practices that focus on transformative belonging, community, and employee fulfillment.
1. How O.C. Tanner is creating a
community of belonging
Mindi Cox
Chief Marketing & People Officer
Chavalah Washington-Brothers
Wellbeing & Safety Leader
2.
3.
4.
5. we are messy
we are loving
we are dysfunctional
we are supportive
we are silly
we are caring
we are loyal
we are dynamic
we are unruly
we are connected
we are a team
we are loud
we are playful
we are excited
we are one
12. O.C. Tanner: Who we are
We speak 62 languages
and hail from 57 countries
21.5% of our workforce in
the U.S. is foreign born
Baby boomers work
shoulder-to-shoulder with
employees from Gen Z—
four generations are under
our roof
O.C. Tanner is a …
• Technology company
• Manufacturing company
• Sales company
• Consulting firm
• Client contact center
• Research institute
Many kinds of smart Many generations Many backgrounds
17. Common types of diversity
• Race
• Age
• Nationality
• Ethnicity
• Culture
• Gender identity
• Education
• Professional
experience
• Political views
• Religious beliefs
• Physical ability
• Mental ability
• Citizenship
• Location
• Marital status
• Socioeconomic
status
• Job title
• Department
• Seniority
• Union affiliation
18. Diversity does not equal inclusion
Diversity is about the number of
different kinds of employees that make
up an organization based on race,
gender, age, sexual orientation,
disability, and many other factors
Inclusion is a measure of how well each
of these groups that make up a diverse
workforce are valued and represented
Great Place to Work® explains it this
way:
“Diversity is about representation or the
make-up of an entity. Inclusion is about
how well the contributions, presence,
and perspectives of different groups of
people are valued and integrated into an
environment.”
19. We hire for diversity,
but we must build a community
where individuals belong
36. As a new employee, I am inspired by the ways in which
O.C. Tanner promotes inclusion. Employees and leaders embrace, value,
and invite different ideas, perspective, and experiences. Inclusion goes far
beyond a diversity initiative...
It is not political or about any one type of protected class. It is a true focus
on the value each person brings to the workplace. It was the first thing
that stood out to me when I started, and I am so impressed by how
everyone lives this every day.
—NEW HIRE SURVEY RESPONDENT, O.C. TANNER
37. I’m so grateful to have been able to work at O.C. Tanner. I’ve loved
my association with all of you. Every day we’ve been able to share our
native foods and dress, our customs and history, and we’ve sat
together and solved the problems of our business. I believe world
peace is possible, because I see it here every day.
—KRUNIJA P., RECENT O.C. TANNER RETIREE
40. Transformative DEI
Affinity groups
D&I speakers
Hire for diversity
Executive champion
Innovative experiences
Leadership skills building
Authentically-aligned business and DEI vision
Community projects
Values-based behavior shifts
Traditional DEI
• Assess executive readiness for unified approach
• Action planning and shared accountability
• DEI goals integrated with L&D
• DEI goals embedded in performance management
• Creative and collaborative business outcomes
• Connected experiences with L&D outcomes
• Quantitative and qualitative progress measurements
• Recognize and celebrate progress
SARA JONES, CEO, INCLUSIONPRO
41. • Based in good intentions to
demonstrate commitment
• Easily delegated to entry and
mid-level employees
• Quick marketing and emotional
lift
• It’s accepted best practice—
“everyone else is doing it”
Why do most organizations
choose the traditional DEI
approach?
48. • Suicide awareness training and family
nights
• EAP
• Flexible schedules
• Parenting groups
• Volunteer opportunities
• LGBTQIA+ inclusion workshops
• Onsite vaccine clinic
• Onsite screenings (e.g., dental,
mammogram, etc.)
• Financial education
• Support groups
• Focus on access to resources for all
• Spotlight on mental health
Belonging and wellbeing
require access to resources
and experiences that make a
difference
49.
50. —2023 GLOBAL CULTURE REPORT, O.C. TANNER INSTITUTE
The equation for a community is simple. Take a group of people and
give them something in common. However, the formula becomes
much more interesting and powerful when you factor in a compelling
purpose—a meaningful goal to work toward together—and when
everyone in the group feels they belong there. By any measure, the
workplace is a natural community. And the strength of it determines
how well organizations can attract, engage, and retain top talent.
54. • Participation in training—focus on “dos”
• In-the-moment actions—
ally behavior
• Inclusive leadership—demonstrated
awareness and empathy for visible and
invisible diversity
• Team behavior—
shared leadership, celebrating many
ways to accomplish goals
Recognize those who foster
belonging
55. Leaders place people in a
position to succeed and provide
the conditions necessary for
growth
56. Leaders place people in a position to
succeed and provide the conditions
necessary for growth
57. Leaders place people in a position to
succeed and provide the conditions
necessary for growth
60. Teams built on belonging
become communities of
support
• Every employee has access to the
same opportunities
• Employees feel seen
• Leaders appreciate all aspects of
individual employees
• Organizations understand rather
than categorize employees
• Leadership represents employee
opinions
61. Determine the moments of truth in the workplace
where any individual can impact diversity and
inclusion. What is most impactful … are the
experiences I have with the five people I work with
every day.
—DANNY GUILLORY, HEAD OF GLOBAL D&I, AUTODESK
62. A strong sense of belonging within a community has lasting
impact
O.C. TANNER INSTITUTE
66. In all our research this year, more than anything else we measured, personal
fulfillment had the most decisive impact on an employee’s choice to stay in their job,
do great work, and define their organization as a great place to work.
Don’t each of us want to feel valued, have a purpose, do meaningful work, master
new skills, balance our lives, and belong to our workplace community?
—2023 GLOBAL CULTURE REPORT, O.C. TANNER INSTITUTE
69. We have room for everyone [here]. Everywhere we look we see
people of every background, belief, identification, and membership
succeeding … You are an important part of a team, teams of people
who rally around and create a place of belonging for each other.
We could not be more serious about our deep commitment to be a
place of growth and acceptance for all, and we thank you for
joining us in everyday actions that show your commitment, too.
—O.C. TANNER COMPANY
Editor's Notes
Mindi – I’d love to start by sharing a story
MINDI
Here’s another recent recognition of achievement at OCT. Please forgive the bad pic.
The man in the picture is Dave Petersen, our CEO. He is presenting our highest honor, the President’s award, to Hanh Ngo, our safety manager and former refugee for outstanding achievements in improving the lives of our employees and significant financial savings to the company. This is not the culture part I’m most proud of.
MINDI
I’m most proud of her leader who asked if we could sneak her kids into the audience and let them hear how much their mom is valued. Brilliant. That’s a leader living who we are.
This story isn’t about how cool it is that Hanh is a first generation American who has been given opportunities. We don’t think about it like that.
This isn’t about a female leader who has demonstrated herself to be one of the most well-respected leaders in our company. We really don’t think about it like that.
This is a story about seeing Hanh as a person. Teaching our leaders to connect, pay attention and know what matters most to their people.
This is a story about making sure Hanh knows what she does matters. Recognition is a powerful way to create and experience where people feel seen, know they matter and we reinforce that what they are contributing matters. And it is in those moments belonging is reinforced and community is created. For O.C. Tanner. That is what the work of Diversity, equity and inclusion is all about.
CHAVALAH – In fact, we feel so strongly about our community that we dare to call it a family. It is a word our people use to describe the culture of our company the closeness they feel as a community over and over again.
CHAVALAH – In fact, we feel so strongly about our community that we dare to call it a family. It is a word our people use to describe the culture of our company the closeness they feel as a community over and over again.
CHAVALAH
Add international image of company celebration
CHAVALAH
CHAVALAH
Mindi – I’d love to start by sharing a story
MINDI
We are particularly proud of the way we’ve long welcomed a significant refugee population into our workforce. We began hiring refugees from Southeast Asia in the 1970s, added those fleeing conflict in Serbia and Bosnia in the mid-90s, and today are benefitting from the skills and perspectives of people arriving from the Middle East, Africa, and Central America. In 2020, O.C. Tanner was one of three companies honored by Upwardly Global, which works to promote workplace equity and inclusion for immigrants and refugees, and the sole recipient of the Championing Inclusion Award.
This tradition of helping the world’s most vulnerable is an integral part of our identity, has helped us create some exceptional diversity in a region typically known to be more homogeneous. And it has direct business benefits as well.
Of the 29 team leaders on our Production floor, 17 are from countries other than the U.S, including Bosnia, Cambodia, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Pakistan, and the Philippines.
CHAVALAH
We are a global company supporting 14 million users, working in more than 180 countries all around the world.
CHAVALAH
Over 1,100 large, global organizations (more than any of our competitors) use our solutions to make their workplace cultures great...
CHAVALAH
...you’ll find proof of that in the fact that 30 of our clients are on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list.
That’s more than any other recognition provider. Because we take culture seriously, we’ve made the list as well.
We’re the only recognition company ever to make the list. And we’ve made it 3 times...
MINDI
Support and encourage balance
Strengthen community, connection and belonging
Opportunities for growth and development
What is diversity – blend tech with mfg, significant amount of foreign born employees
Diversity is more than what you see – experiences, background
We got this call and it floored us – we think about diversity holistically – we think of diversity in a borader way
MINDI
MINDI
I am about to share some stories – stay with me because your initial impression will be wrong
Stay with me
community as group – but u
CHAVALAH
Support and encourage balance
Strengthen community, connection and belonging
Opportunities for growth and development
Our research drives from the employees’ perspective – when we asked them only 44% felt sincere. That’s why it’s so important to embed these belonging experiences early and often
If I asked Bea if any of the organizations she worked for previously
To be effective and sustainable – to permeate the entire employee experience.
To be effective and sustainable, we must be intentional about both diversity and inclusion starting before the recruiting process that extends beyond onboarding and permeates the entire employee experience.
Employee experience model made up of micro moments
We think it’s end to end
UNDERSTANDING INC/EXC
Merely improving exclusion does not in and of itself increase inclusion. Modern leaders actively address the other dimension which is: “What can we do to increase the types of attitudes, behaviors, practices that help produce a more inclusive culture.
To achieve the greatest outcomes, organizations need to work simultaneously to minimize exclusion while proactively fostering inclusion -- making room for both memorable peak experiences and positive everyday/micro experiences for every employee.
MINDI
I recently heard a risk management expert talk about how organizations like the National Transportation Safety Board exist to solve for low probability, high consequence events.
Low probability. High Consequence.
This expert talked about the miracle on the Hudson and other transportation near misses and tragedies.
And it got me thinking about how the best HR leaders I know also solve for these type of scenarios. And the thing I love most is that low probability, high consequence planning can also take a positive spin.
Let me give you an example.
How many earthquakes have we had in the area?The University of Utah Seismograph Stations (UUSS) has located 2,590 earthquakes that occurred in the Magna, Utah, area from March 18 through February 28, 2021(Figure 1). The largest of these earthquakes was the magnitude (M) 5.7 mainshock that occurred at 7:09 am MDT on Wednesday, March 18, 2020. The remaining 2,589 earthquakes are aftershocks. The largest aftershocks were two M 4.6 events that occurred at 8:02 am and 1:12 pm on Wednesday, March 18, 2020. A M 4.2 aftershocks occurred on Apr
Belonging as holistic – coming to the aid of people in respect of their background. Individual Major groundwork: trust to have the vulnerability to share that story – org responds to trust with additional hep and support. il 14 and 17th which were widely felt along the Wastach Front. There have been 36 aftershocks of M 3 and larger. We continue to locate new earthquakes as they occur.
eastern European earthquake and counseling support
What does an earthquake have to do with belonging?
CHAVALAH
76% of people believe their workplace is a community
72% say it is important for them to feel like they belong to that community
CHAVALAH
The enemy of well-intentioned DEI initiatives is backlash — and not just from people from privileged groups. Backlash from all directions is often due to DEI initiatives being framed as solutions to individual problems to be fixed rather than to correct for systemic issues at play in an organization. To reframe the conversation the author recommends five steps to implement in your DEI strategy: 1) Collect data to diagnose specific inequities in your organization, 2) communicate about initiatives using a systems-focused framing, 3) as change-making efforts begin, appeal to “fairness,” 4) clearly lay out expectations for change alongside resources and support, 5) sustain momentum by affirming effort and celebrating wins
When we say system – we mean deep systems – HBR on
Pervasiveness of system – taxes, policies,
We own a lot of really powerful systems into our organizations – how leaders use these systems equal micro moments of employee experience
Check the box?
Diversity can get superficial
What means the most
Unity is not homogency – end to end
MINDI
Explain nuance of this observation
n – idea that any DEI program is evidence of good faith effort – many complaints are dismissed and root issues left unaddressed.
Programs and policies not flowing into employee experience. Commitment to genuine and aunthentic
Negative sentiment around DEI – associated with risk mitigationand compliance – any training perceived as risk mitigation and compliance – as it is currently framed will continue to fall short of the outcomes we are all hoping for -- belonging outcomes
Focus on beloning
MINDI
Why we oriented around a different approach -- organic
MINDI
CHAVALAH
CHAVALAH
For Top 100 it is between 83 and 3 IQR (80 to 86)
For Top 10 it is between 90 and 4 IQR (86 and 94)
For Top 25 it is between 88 and 4 IQR (84 and 92)
We need to cultivate good leaders throughout our organizations. We need to give them, environments, tools and training to become better. Our calling in HR is not to conceive and administer every people program. It is to deliver strategic assists to our leaders. We want to foster consistency. Consistency around what?? Effective leaders offer a consistent experience around Opportunity and well being
CHAVALAH
Trust throughout the orgs –
OCT has room for improvement – inconsistencies – awareness is the first important step – we dive deeer
CHAVALAH
So our focus has been on seen and unseen and belonging and wellbeing for all
When employees have a strong workplace community, we see a 785% increase in the odds that employees feel like they belong.
MINDI
CHAVALAH
What can you do to address systemic inequity in any critical aspect for every employee?
Health center
Retirement benefits
Wages
Training
Strong story of health center is equity – ESL, front-line hourly employees are often least likely to access health benefits and primary care – financial and time components – not only care center,b ut health center time – restoring equity into model, not just another benefit. Health ccenter time and extended hours – not a check the box, a thoughtful initiative that is transformative to culture. All types of health and wellness
CHAVALAH
The equation for a community is simple. Take a group of people and give them something in common. However, the formula becomes much more interesting and powerful when you factor in a compelling purpose—a meaningful goal to work toward together—and when everyone in the group feels they belong there. By any measure, the workplace is a natural community. And the strength of it determines how well organizations can attract, engage, and retain top talent. The good news is that most employees do not aspire to jump from one workplace to another. On the contrary, they prefer their community be a place where they can stay and grow. The Great Resignation may have met its match.
MINDI
I am about to share some stories – stay with me because your initial impression will be wrong
Stay with me
Community is always pictured as a big group – but community is really built on the collective experiences of individuals in our community – let’s take a look at what that looks like.
MINDI
CHAVALAH
Every team in an organization has its own unique micro-culture. And together, these team cultures form the building blocks of corporate culture.
Think about it, if you connect with your team, chances are you will love your job.
That’s why O.C. Tanner developed team initiatives—to help any size team focus, rally, and bond together.
MINDI
MINDI
MINDI
ou think we’re being just a bit dramatic about this right? Check this out?
MINDI
You think we’re being just a bit dramatic about this right? Check this out?
Leader enablement – research focused on are leaders okay, so they can make life ok for everyone else
CHAVALAH
This is important because… [read slide]
RESEARCH BACKGROUND (when needed): Methodology: Our 2022 Global Culture Study interviewed nearly 40,000 employees and leaders worldwide. We maintain panels of employees, independent of our client base, in 21 countries, allowing us to randomly select employees in a way that reflects the workforce demographics. We controlled for over 40 outside variables that may explain our outcomes of interest to isolate the effect of team connection, which is presented here. We assessed a variety of interpersonal measures that together indicate the strength of connect between employees.
Definition of Thriving Culture: We consider a culture to be “thriving” when the culture scores one standard deviation above the mean or higher in each Talent Magnet™ (Purpose, Opportunity, Success, Appreciation, Wellbeing, Leadership).
https://www.octanner.com/global-culture-report/2022/connection.html
Definition of Great Work: “Great work” is exceptional, innovative, and well received from the recipient (“work that others love.”).
We measure Great Work by utilizing a statistical index measuring five behaviors that employees who consistently do great work demonstrate. The five core behaviors are Ask the Right Question, Go and See, Talk to an Outer Circle, Improve the Mix, and Deliver the Difference.
Source: https://www.octanner.com/global-culture-report/2022/engagement-revisited.html
CHAVALAH
Do you see me
Do I matter
Was that okay?
MINDI
Culture is everyone’s responsibility
Commuities require citizenship – an active exchange between the two partners.
It’s a dialogue, both parties have a responsibility.
MINDI
MINDI – returning to workplace – weave in
MINDI
Support and encourage balance
Strengthen community, connection and belonging
Opportunities for growth and development
We can’t stop at community, people are looking for a fulfilling experience.
Belonging for all, fulfillment for all
MINDI
Support and encourage balance
Strengthen community, connection and belonging
Opportunities for growth and development
We can’t stop at community, people are looking for a fulfilling experience.
Belonging for all, fulfillment for all
MINDI
Women in leadership –
WE have to focus on representation – our systems can help us fix that.
But policies and modeling are just as important to cultivating belonging
Share story of GPTW conference in Chicago.
MINDI
Culture is everyone’s responsibility
Commuities require citizenship – an active exchange between the two partners.
It’s a dialogue, both parties have a responsibility.