This document discusses how large corporations are re-evaluating their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies in light of recent socio-political events like the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter movement, and Stop Asian Hate movement. It notes that these events have brought greater attention and urgency to DEI issues and that many companies have increased their DEI initiatives, transparency around DEI data, and community involvement as a result. However, it also discusses some companies that have faced criticism for perceived superficial or hypocritical support for DEI.

1. “Diversity, Equity
& Inclusion in big
organizations.”
A virtual roller coaster ride on how big
corporations are re-evaluating their Diversity,
Equity & Inclusion strategies in view of recent
socio-political events like COVID-19, Black Lives
Matter & Stop Asian Hate.
May 26, 2021 - University of Georgia

2. Hello.
* This was the entire population of REBORRN & Satori Analytics just a bit over a year ago. 1 year later we are a team of 45 people strong.

3. reborrn.com
We are a hybrid of
consultants & makers
on a mission to help
visionary companies
thrive in the digital
economy.

4. Who we are
Angeliki Sakellaropoulou
People Operations Consultant
Stéphanie Skrindaj
HR & Communications Associate

5. What this
presentation
is about.
Give you inspiration on how to create
inclusive & safe spaces in your university
and your workplace.
Share insights on how recent
socio-political movements are shaping
DEI initiatives in big corporations.
Shed light into what DEI in the
workplace actually means.
Today our goal is to:

6. Agenda.
1. Who we are.
2. Icebreaker.
3. Introduction to the topic.
4. Definitions: What’s DEI?
5. Anti-Definitions: What’s not DEI.
6. The current situation of DEI in big organizations.
7. Good examples
8. Bad examples
9. Outlook on the future: Dos & Don'ts
10. Outro: Personal Responsibility
11. Q&A
12. HMW Exercise

7. But first, can
you guess?

8. Percentage of the people who
reported experiencing at least
one negative interaction
related to their LGBTQ+ identity
at work:
47%
75%
64%

9. Percentage of the people who
reported experiencing at least
one negative interaction
related to their LGBTQ+ identity
at work:
47%
75%
64%

10. The percentage of Fortune 100
companies that shared
statements that included plans to
increase their diversity recruiting
and representation strategies
(after BLM) is:
88%
55%
40%

11. The percentage of Fortune 100
companies that shared
statements that included plans to
increase their diversity recruiting
and representation strategies is:
88%
55%
40%

12. Diverse teams make
decisions ____ faster:
60%
53%
73%

13. Diverse teams make
decisions ____ faster:
60%
53%
53%

14. 2020: A turning
point for DEI
“A lot of organisations saw more
change in the second half of 2020 than
they saw probably in the last 10 years.”
- Bendita Malakia, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion,
Hogan Lovells

15. BLM: A catalyst for change

16. BLM taught
us that DEI
is a matter
that matters
to all of us.

17. DEI used to be a nice to have.
The pandemic made it a must-have.

18. The
scapegoating
of Asian
Americans.

19. Asian Hate brings DEI to
spotlight.

20. The
Gender
Equality
Paradox.

21. 2021 brought an
unprecedented surge
in interest in women
empowerment.
● According to the World Economic Forum,
Covid widened the time estimation to
close the gender gap from 99.5 to 135+
years.
● Throughout the first 10 months of the
pandemic, American women lost 5.4
million jobs, almost 1 million more
than men. It has been described as
the “first female recession”. (Forbes)
.
COVID-19 pandemic has set
back efforts to close the
gender gap by a generation.

22. COVID-19 revolutionized Remote Work, thus opening
up opportunity for attracting global talent.
BUT this means that different cultures, religions and
working styles need to be taken into consideration.
Remote Work
is driving
Diversity and
requiring
Inclusion.

23. It’s Diversity
that will get
us out of
the crisis.
Diversity promotes innovation and out of the box
thinking, aka what we need to address a global
health & economical crisis.

24. “The coronavirus pandemic has,
underlined that inclusion is a
fundamental business imperative
rather than an almost social,
bringing-people-together imperative.”
- Roianne Nedd, Global Head of Inclusion and Diversity,
Oliver Wyman

25. But first
things first:
What’s DEI?

27. “Diversity is about what makes each of us
unique and includes our backgrounds,
personality, life experiences and beliefs, all
of the things that make us who we are. It is a
combination of our differences that shape
our view of the world, our perspective and
our approach.”
.
Diversity:
Definition.
“ Australian
Government
“Diversity is the art of thinking independently
together.”
Publisher Malcolm
Forbes

28. Types of
Diversity:
Individual.

29. Types of
Diversity:
Organization.
Workforce
Behavioral
Structural
Age, Gender, Race Ethnicity, religion,
physical ability, sexual orientation.
Different working and thinking
styles, different values and beliefs.
Different horizontal and vertical
levels of an organization.
Business
Different customer markets, community
representation, supplier diversity

30. “ When we treat everyone equally, we
treat everyone the same, but when we
treat everyone equitably, we focus on
individualistic needs. Equity asks us to
acknowledge that everyone has
different needs, experiences, and
opportunities that require support in
different ways.”
Equity vs.
Equality:
Definition.
“
Culture Amp

32. “Inclusion is defined separately from
diversity as the achievement of a work
environment in which all individuals
are treated fairly and respectfully,
have access to opportunities and
resources, and can contribute fully to
the organization’s success.”
Inclusion:
Definition.
“
Society for Human
Resource Management
(SHRM)

33. “Diversity is being
invited to the party.
Inclusion is being
asked to dance.”
– Vernā Myers, VP, Inclusion Strategy at Netflix

34. What’s
definitely
NOT DEI.

35. 1.
There’s no
such thing
as a diverse
employee.

36. 2.
Diversity is
not an
one size
fits all.

37. 3.
Diversity is
not only
horizontal.

38. 4.
Diversity is
more than a
quota.

39. Why
organizations
need DEI?

40. The Benefits
of a Diverse
& Inclusive
Workplace.
Attracts top talent: 67% of people on the job
market stated that racial and gender diversity is
an important factor in their job search (Glassdoor)
Engages and retains employees: 83% of
millennials feel more engaged at work when their
company fosters an inclusive culture. (Forbes)
Enhances decision making: diverse teams make
better decisions 87% of the times (Cloverpop)
Drives innovation: Companies with above
average diversity scores generate 45% revenue
from innovation in comparison to 26% by non
diverse companies. (BCG)
Enhances brand and customer relationships:
83% of executives agree that diversity improves
the company’s ability to attract & retain clients.
(Nagaoka Review)
Generates greater performance & profit:
Gender-diverse companies perform 21% better
than the average & ethnically and racially diverse
companies have 43% higher profits. (McKinsey)
Apart from
happy people
😉

41. The current
DEI Situation:
Let’s talk
numbers.

42. Representation
in Leadership.
White staff represents 85% of executives
(McKInsey)
Although 13.4% of the total US population is Black,
only 2% of executives are Black. (McKInsey)
18.5% of the U.S. population is Latinx, but only 3% of
executives are Latinxs. (McKInsey)
Women in senior-vice-president positions represent
28% in corporate America, and representation in the
C-suite is at 21%. (McKInsey)
Women of color remain dramatically
underrepresented: Black women face an especially
hard path to a CEO role, with 65% of Black female
employees in a staff role, as opposed to line roles.
(McKInsey)
A total of 21 Black Americans have held Fortune 500
CEO positions (HBR)
LGBTQ+ men comprise 3% of managerial positions,
while LGBTQ+ women only 1.6% (McKinsey)

43. HBR Study: Only 9.5% of people of colour
received mentions of leadership qualities in their
performance evaluations. Mistakes were
reported at higher levels in performance reviews
of people of colour than of white people (78% vs.
46% )
HBR: 46% of woman asked whether they feel
disadvantaged in performance assessment
responded with “a great deal”
Black employees are 23% less likely to receive
support to advance, 41% less likely to view
promotions as fair than white employees.
(McKinsey)
Performance &
Development.
Remuneration.

44. According to a Glassdoor study, diversity and
inclusion-related job openings in the US slumped in view
of BLM. One month after Floyd’s killing, on May 25, the
number of positions listed had surged 55 per cent; by the
end of November, the increase was 245 per cent, with
nearly 1,500 openings.
Between 2020 -2021 more than 60 U.S. companies
appointed their first-ever chief diversity officer (CDO).
More and more companies have appointed DEI advisory
boards & have included DEI in their Code of Conduct.
#1 Positive Trend:
Big organizations
are taking DEI
seriously.

45. published their full diversity quotas.
reviewed their 2020 DEI initiatives.
shared their 2021 DEI strategy.
showcased their OKRs/SMART goals tied to DEI.
#2 Positive Trend:
Big organizations
are becoming more
transparent.
Big players in the market, like Apple, Netflix, Microsoft and
Atlassian have reinforced their commitment to Diversity, by
making their stats public. More specifically, they:

46. Representation Stats: Netflix

47. Representation Stats: Apple

48. Atlassian
Microsoft
Goal Setting

49. The Good
examples.
What did
companies
do for their
people?

50. Redesigning
their recruiting
strategies.
Atlassian has:
- used Textio software to avoid gender-biased language and
representation on their Careers site.
- formed strategic partnerships with organizations that focus
on tech diversity initiatives, including Women Who Code,
People of Color in Tech, Lesbians Who Tech
- entered into a partnership with Disability Network
Australia to audit their current recruiting methods, tools, and
processes.
Apple is investing in Historically Black Colleges and Universities,
offering internship opportunities and 100 additional scholarships
for students from underrepresented communities.

51. Reinforcing
engagement with
internal DEI
communities.
Most companies like Netflix, Linkedin and
Nielsen are fostering ERGs especially dedicated
to represent diverse groups, e.g. Latinos, People
of Colour, LGBT+
Loreal Italy launched 10 DEI squads on a
volunteering basis, working on different projects
that promote internal diversity initiatives.

52. Nielsen Linkedin

53. Apple: The Career Experience (CE) program gives Retail
and AppleCare team members around the world
opportunities to grow and contribute their talents to other
teams across the company, from engineering to
marketing and beyond.
Publicis Group is organizing women led company wide
Hackathons.
Lenovo has come up with on demand trainings with
rewards for participants from underprivileged groups.
Merck has introduced a DEI training curriculum:
Foundations of DEI, Inclusive Leadership development,
Unconscious Bias Education.
Investing in
Development &
Training.

54. Apple doesn't ask for salary history during the
recruiting process. And every year, they examine
the compensation employees receive and ensure
that they maintain pay equity.
Atlassian has introduced a compensation training
program for all managers to ensure equitable pay.
Netflix has opted for Inclusive Benefits. Their
parental leave policy is gender-blind. They support
employees regardless of marital status, gender, or
sexual orientation on their fertility, surrogacy, or
adoption journey. And they cover comprehensive
transgender and non-binary care.
Introducing Bias-free
Compensation &
Benefits.

55. The Good
examples.
What did
companies
do for the
community?

56. The 3 main trends
Funding and Donations: The most common way we
saw Fortune 100 companies address the BLM
Movement was through funding and donations.
Over 50% of organizations chose to donate to at
least one charitable organization, resulting in
roughly $2 billion worth of contributions from the
world’s largest companies.
Creating Social Awareness: For some
organizations, this simply meant creating awareness
through social media or hosting additional events.
Pushing for Community Equality Advancement:
Standout companies actually leveraged their
business expertise to create shared value for
members of underserved communities.

57. Awareness: Social Media Examples

58. Nielsen turned their data into reports for clients to know how
to represent diversity properly and provided pro bono
consulting to support small businesses of diverse
communities.
Netflix has spent $100k to increase diversity in film, launched
an incubator for Indigenous creators in Australia, and trained
people from underrepresented groups for a production career
in Brazil.
Verizon announced its “Citizen Verizon” project with the aim of
upskilling 500,000 workers, mostly from minority
demographics, for jobs of the future by 2030.
Community Equality
Advancement.

59. DEI in big
organizations:
Bad Examples.

60. • Two years ago, Google came under fire for a sexist viral
letter one of its employees wrote and for allegedly
paying women less than men.
• In November, roughly 20,000 Googlers walked out of the
company's offices worldwide to protest its handling of
sexual assault allegations directed at key executives.
Thousands of
Employees walked
out to protest.
But why?

61. • Google's search feature at one time tagged images of
African-Americans as “gorillas"..
• Another tool released in 2018 that matched people's selfies with
popular artworks, inadvertently correlated the faces of African
Americans with artwork depicting slaves.

62. Starbucks.
In June 2020, Starbucks announced that it would donate $1
million to support racial-justice-oriented causes.
The company came under fire for a leaked internal memo
banning employees from wearing any merchandise supporting
Black Lives Matter. Facing criticism, they went as far as to
distribute Black Lives Matter T-shirts to their baristas.

63. Last summer, tech companies including
Amazon, Google, and Pinterest joined a
corporate chorus of support for Black Lives
Matter in the aftermath of George Floyd’s
killing.
A Black employee tweeted that they were
underpaid, threatened, and harassed by
colleagues at Pinterest, even as the
company tweeted support for Black Lives
Matter.
Pinterest: Real or
fake support?

64. 3 Black employees filed a complaint with the EEOC alleging the
social network doesn’t give Black workers equal opportunity
to advance.
Google listed only five Black female executives among FB’s top
357 officers. The Equal Employment Opportunity Coalition is
currently investigating Facebook for racial bias in its hiring
practices.
The racial bias
must stop.

65. Unilever changed the name of the
fairness cream in response to the
worldwide protest Black lives matter
protests, but they are still selling the
cream and they continue to profit from the
their belief that “lighter skin” is more
appealing.

66. 🔮 Outlook on
the future:
Dos & Donts

67. The DOs:
Embed it in the whole employee lifecycle.
Support it with an open & inclusive culture.
Include employees in decision-making.
Raise Awareness, learn and use the right vocabulary.
Lean into the discomfort with compassion.
Change the narrative.
Make it an organizational thing not just an HR thing.
Give back to society in a sustainable way.

68. Probably the most
important DO: Commit!
Take it seriously: DEI needs to be a part of company ethos, purpose
and values.
Make it strategic: Consider a more strategic approach to inclusion
rather than ad-hoc measures and tie to it to business outcomes.
Own it: Appoint CDOs and DEI Advisory Boards that will hold
executive leaders accountable for driving DEI outcomes.
Audit it continuously: Examine your culture and practices to
determine how well they support or hinder equity.
Make it techy: Leverage AI to eliminate bias when possible.
Measure it: Have a measurement processes in place, e.g. KPIs/ OKRs
or Include DEI as a criterium in employee evaluations.
Review it with employees: Run a internal Diversity survey to collect
employee feedback.
Publish it: Make Diversity Reports public and accessible to all.

69. The DON’Ts:
Misunderstand the Why.
Reduce importance.
Consider DEI initiatives as a Band-Aid for systemic
problems.
Focus on Diversity and forget about Equity and Inclusion.
Self-replicate when hiring.
Believe that DEI is only responsibility of HR.
Avoid the hard conversations.
Fail to track results.

70. Corporate
Accountability is
key to sustainable
change.
“We can’t simply tweet our way out of inequity. We
must ask ourselves, how will we change to ensure no
one feels this way again? This is about more than a
program or making a splashy hire. It’s putting
accountabilities in place, such as laws, regulations and
corporate policies, that not only promote inclusion but
also hold people of influence accountable for it. This is
the start to sustainable progress.”
- Jerrell Moore, Global Diversity and Inclusion leader at
Assurant

71. From
corporate
accountability
to personal
responsibility.

72. Netflix: Allyship.

73. • Support and celebrate each other’s differences (Have a
prayer room, celebrate different holidays, etc).
• Be mindful while talking with people whose native
language is not English.
• Create a judgment free environment. By making sure
you listen to your colleagues, asking them questions,
allowing them to be open with no judgement.
• Rethink Your Meetings. Inclusion in meetings is all
about making sure that everyone feels like they can
speak up and contribute to whatever is being discussed.
How can we
make a
difference?

74. Your
questions.

75. Universities
should also be
diverse & inclusive.

76. How Might
We Make Our
University
Diverse &
Inclusive?

77. Thanks!