Author: Workrowd

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Employee Experience

Your paid time off policy needs a mandatory minimum

Historically, employers have considered paid time off to be a necessary evil; hours for which they have to pay employees without reaping any of the benefits of their time. They strictly monitor and track employees’ days off, and dangle additional paid time off as a reward for loyalty as employees’ tenure with the company lengthens. If team members live far away from friends or family, want to take time for a big life event such as a wedding, or if they enjoy traveling, they’re stuck nickel-and-diming their days to minimize the amount of unpaid time they have to take.

Increasingly, startups and other small and mid-sized businesses have been moving towards an unlimited or flexible paid time off policy in which there is no set amount of PTO per year. Under this model, employees are trusted to manage their own time and are allowed to take as many days off as they would like as long as they meet their responsibilities and their manager signs off on it. Few companies however, have mandatory minimums regarding the amount of time off that employees have to take. While it may initially seem counterintuitive, in reality, requiring employees to take a set number of days off per year is one of the best things you can do for your team’s wellbeing.

Why our current approaches to PTO no longer cut it

With the pandemic shutting down travel and forcing many to work from home, paid time off has become a bit of a fiction during 2020. With nowhere to go, and many managers modeling an always-on culture, studies have shown that the workday has elongated by three entire hours. Even once travel and office working resumes, the majority of employees still won’t see a break for some time as everyone will not be able to take time off at once. Vacation days are accruing, but the ability to use them continues to recede further and further into the distance.

Employees feeling that they couldn’t take vacation was already a problem at organizations with ‘unlimited’ paid time off policies. While many business owners may initially view this policy as ripe for abuse by enterprising employees, a study by Namely found that employees at companies with ‘unlimited’ vacation policies actually took an average of just 13 days off per year, compared with those at companies with more standard paid time off policies, who took 15. Additionally, these policies have the benefit to the company of not having to pay out unused days at the end of an employee’s tenure. Perhaps most troubling though, is the fact that culture can make all the difference between employees taking time off when they need, or feeling that they’re unable to take any time off and running headlong towards burnout.

How & why mandating time off can help

Taking time off is crucial to employee engagement and wellbeing. Among employees who take a week or more of vacation per year, 70% say they’re driven to contribute to their organization’s success, compared to 55% who don’t regularly take a week of vacation. Similarly, 63% of employees who take at least a week off say they feel a sense of belonging at their company, as opposed to 43% of those who don’t take time off. Unfortunately, 40% of workers reported feeling that they wouldn’t be able to advance in their careers if they requested time off from their managers, and more than half of employees felt uneasy about asking for time off during the holiday season.

Beyond these stats, or perhaps behind them, there’s the issue of burnout. We’ve written repeatedly about the adverse effects of stress in the workplace, so we won’t go into them here, but suffice it to say that burned out employees are not productive employees. Your team isn’t at their best when they’re exhausted and disengaged. The pandemic has made many feel even more strongly that they can’t justify a break, even though they may need it now more than ever, which is why employers need to step in and begin mandating a minimum amount of vacation time per year. If you want your employees to be at their best, you need to make it clear that taking time off to recharge isn’t just encouraged, but required. You don’t have to reach for the stars here; just mandating that employees take a week off per year will yield significant benefits, as demonstrated by the statistics we mentioned above.

While this effort starts with putting a revised paid time off policy in place, adjusting your company culture and ensuring that managers are modeling taking vacation is what will make or break it. With a minimum required vacation policy, employees won’t have to worry as much about asking for time off, and they’ll feel happier to work for your company knowing that you prioritize their wellbeing enough to write it into policy. If you’re looking for other ways to show your employees that you care and boost your company culture, check out Workrowd, the all-in-one solution for managing employee engagement and company culture across both on-site and remote workers. You can reach us directly at hello@workrowd.com.

Categories
Learning & Development

Learning from tech startups to increase innovation in HR

If you asked the average person, they would likely tell you that HR leaders and startup founders don’t have much in common. Startup founders are typically viewed as fast-moving risk-takers, while HR has long been perceived as highly risk-averse and resistant to change. In reality though, tech founders and People leaders have a lot more in common than it might appear at first glance. They both have to manage a large number of competing priorities at once, they both have to deal with rapidly changing objectives, and they both have to navigate all of this amidst a high degree of uncertainty.

One benefit startup founders have over HR leaders is that they typically have the final say as to what course of action the company will take, making it easier for them to make decisions quickly and remain agile. Just because some HR teams operate within the context of large companies with layers of bureaucracy though, doesn’t mean that they can’t take some of the principles of agile startup building and apply them to their own work. In support of more innovation in HR, we’ve summarized what HR can learn from startups (and vice versa!) below.

The value of agility, regardless of department or role

In the early aughts, agile software development came to the fore as a way to speed up processes and reduce time to market. It is grounded in the knowledge that every endeavor involves a high degree of uncertainty, and enables cross-functional teams to self-organize and self-manage in response to these ever-changing circumstances. It does not prioritize hierarchy or policies, but rather places the focus on responsiveness and progress towards the goal.

There has been a great deal of discussion in HR circles recently around the rigid focus on policy as a tool to solve problems. If we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that in order to be effective in a variety of circumstances, more innovation in HR is needed and policies must be able to flex and adapt. This is just the arena in which agile processes are primed to succeed. Additionally, agile encourages involving the end user (for HR, the employee) in the development process both early and often. By talking to customers, developers can ensure they’re only building the features that users truly want and which will have the most impact towards enhancing the digital experience. This couldn’t be more important in context of supporting employees during a year that has involved so much upheaval. The need for agile processes and innovation in HR is urgent.

Startup maxims that HR should take to heart

HR has a pressing mandate as we continue to flounder under the crushing weight of the pandemic, and it is one that will only become more urgent as we eventually begin to emerge from under the threat of this scourge. People are struggling. HR is the department tasked with supporting them through that struggle, and it is not an easy job. Accordingly, and as we’re in entirely unfamiliar territory, HR would do well to think of themselves akin to a startup where teams must effectively ‘build the plane as they fly’. This has already been the case over the past 9+ months, and realistically, it should continue indefinitely. We’ve seen the future; there’s no room or reason to go back to ‘the way we’ve always done it’. It’s time to move forward without hesitation and drive more innovation in HR.

In support of that goal, we’ve assembled a brief list of startup maxims for HR leaders to begin mulling over as they work towards a more agile approach to their field and more innovation in HR:

  • If you’re not embarrassed of your first product, you launched too late. This is perhaps the recommendation most at odds with how HR has historically operated. In the past, HR has typically given projects excessively long lead times in order to ensure that every ‘T’ is crossed and ‘I’ is dotted before rolling anything out to employees. For instance, most large companies’ digital transformation timelines were upwards of two years before lockdowns forced them to accelerate that to two weeks. Waiting to roll out initiatives until they’re ‘perfect’ just increases the likelihood that whatever you’re launching won’t meet employee needs. Get it out there earlier, get feedback, and iterate on it to actually make it perfect.
  • Fail fast. Doing small tests of innovative solutions rather than undertaking giant, sweeping projects can help HR better serve the entire employee population more quickly. If you want to try a new innovation in HR but you’re not sure it will work, devise a small test with a limited subset of employees, and see what they think. If it doesn’t work, you will only have wasted a minimal amount of time and resources. If it does work though, you won’t have spent years wondering whether it might be useful with nothing to show for it, and instead will have an already completed pilot to justify moving forward with it.
  • Your most unhappy customers are your biggest source of learning. HR has typically viewed troublesome employees as problems to be solved rather than opportunities to be seized. Maximize the impact of your employee surveys and particularly of your exit interviews to identify critical needs that aren’t being met. Turn dissatisfaction and disengagement around by jumping on every chance to learn and improve. Really begin to think of your employees as customers of your services and products, and make sure that every one of them would give your ‘company’ a 5-star review.

HR has had a lot to deal with this year, and many antiquated systems and approaches proved fallible in the face of the onslaught. Now is the time to take a page from the agile technology startup’s book and prioritize ‘user’ feedback; build responsive, cross-functional teams; and move quickly and innovatively. One way we’re doing that at Workrowd is with the upcoming launch of our Global ERG Network, a new community for ERGs, BRGs, and Diversity Councils to network and learn across the globe. Packed full of best-in-class resources, exclusive events, and on-demand analytics, you can learn more in our post here, on our page here, or at our upcoming webinar on 12/15. As always, you can also reach us directly at hello@workrowd.com.

Categories
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging

Announcing the launch of the Global ERG Network

At this point, there should be no question as to whether diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are important to an organization’s success. Cash flow at companies with diverse teams is 2.3 times higher. Diverse companies are 70% more likely to capture new markets than peers who don’t specifically recruit underrepresented talent. Companies with above-average diversity also have 19% higher innovation revenues. Diversity is important to job-seekers as well, with 7 out of 10 saying that they consider the company’s commitment to diversity when evaluating a potential employer.

Despite all of the evidence to support the business case however, there isn’t a great deal of information readily available on how to actually be successful at DEI. The majority of DEI work occurs in silos inside individual companies, and many employees working to advance DEI within their team or department go unrecognized and unsupported. Perhaps a consultant and/or trainer is brought in a couple times per year, but ultimately, succeeding at DEI requires a sustained and multi-pronged strategy that can’t be achieved through one-off initiatives.

Moreover, for all the talk about DEI, particularly during 2020, there are very few organizations that work across all areas and populations to foster true inclusion for every employee. While there are many organizations that seek to advance women, some that focus on BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ folx, and others with even more specialized populations such as veterans, there isn’t a one-stop shop where companies can go to access information that cuts across demographics. This is only the case until 1/1/2021, though. That’s when the Global ERG Network launches.

Why our current approach to DEI can never succeed

Out of all of the employee indicators businesses strive to achieve, true diversity, equity, and inclusion has been one of the most elusive. Want to increase employee productivity? There’s an app for that. Institute more frequent check-ins, entrust your teams with more responsibility, ensure your office environment is optimized or that employees have what they need to make their work from home setups functional, etc. The list of best practices drags on. Want to increase retention? Improve your benefits offerings, offer better work-life balance, etc.; here too, there are myriad software solutions and well-studied best practices.

While the DEI tech solution market is expanding, and while there are patches of best practices consolidated on static websites around the Internet, DEI actually cuts across many of the other employee indicators making it very difficult to ‘solve’ with software. You can’t break down centuries of systemic bias and teach people empathy and instill them with life experiences other than their own through a few lines of code. You can’t do that with unlimited lines of code. DEI requires concerted human-to-human work on a daily basis to truly see change, because it has to happen within each individual in order to drive lasting impact.

DEI also isn’t a job responsibility that can be assigned to just one person. There is a reason that the Chief Diversity Officer role has such high turnover. These individuals join an organization with promises of intensive support and commitment from leadership, and then they’re left to unravel the infinite, complex, very human issues of bias entirely on their own. This is often compounded by the company providing them with only a very limited set of resources, almost always amidst unattainable expectations. Real inclusion cannot be built on the back of one individual, or even one team. It requires the entire organization to get behind it; in other words, it takes a village.

How the Global ERG Network seeks to change all of that

Employee resource groups are effectively the street team for most companies’ DEI efforts. They’re the boots on the ground, the ones in the trenches, doing the work every day. They’re the ones truly making a difference and driving inclusion on the individual employee level in a way that no Chief Diversity Officer or HR team can. Up until now, resource group leaders were largely left to their own devices. After speaking to many ERG, BRG, and Diversity Council leaders and members, we learned that there’s a lot of Googling happening amidst high levels of burnout and minimal support or recognition. Part of the problem is that companies simply don’t know how to do better by their resource groups. Luckily, in partnership with Talent Dimensions, we’ve built a platform to revolutionize all of that.

The Global ERG Network (GEN) is the first constantly evolving, 24/7 community for ERGs, BRGs, and Diversity Councils to network and learn across the globe. It’s packed full of best-in-class resources, exclusive events, and much more. Plus, it comes with real-time analytics so we can finally demonstrate the true value and ROI of DEI at scale. The digital-first experience is highly customizable, empowering every company to build future-proof diversity, equity, and inclusion programs grounded in data and best practices.

GEN launches on 1/1/2021, but in advance of that we’re holding a couple of webinars to enable folx to learn more and see if membership might be a fit for them. If you’ interested in equipping your resource groups with the tools they need to succeed, in order to build real, lasting inclusion for every employee, consider attending during one of the following times:

If you can’t make it, don’t worry; we’ll be posting both the presentation and the question and answer sessions for later reference. If you have questions in the meantime, feel free to check out our brief informational page at erg.workrowd.com or contact us directly at hello@workrowd.com. We’re excited to build this movement with you.

Categories
Employee Engagement

What to do instead of a work holiday party in 2020

Now that you’ve skipped your annual office Thanksgiving potluck, or moved everything to Zoom, the time has come to decide how to mark the December holidays amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, the typical work holiday party is off the table this year (unless you’re wholly unconcerned about endangering your employees and their families). With so many hallmarks of the season in high-risk territory due to potential virus exposure, it may seem easier to just push things off until next year. As employees continue to struggle with anxiety and burnout though, the need for employee initiatives and engagement efforts has never been higher. How do you safely celebrate with your employees this year in a way that’s authentic, fun, and effective?

We know it’s been a difficult year and many are facing budget cuts in addition to the ongoing restrictions. You may be burnt out yourself and the prospect of planning something for employees on top of all the end of year tasks may feel like too much to shoulder. We hear you. Knowing how crucial connection and camaraderie are to the employee experience though, even for HR professionals, we’ve assembled a short list of ways to honor your traditions, acknowledge employees for their hard work, and still keep everyone safe and healthy, including yourself.

Set yourself up for success with strong planning & follow-up

As with many things, a great deal of event success hinges upon having a strong plan in the lead-up, and a strong follow-up game in the aftermath. Start your planning by consulting employees. Unless you’ve conducted surveys after your work holiday party in years past, you likely only have guesses as to what employees did and didn’t like about previous events. Perhaps they weren’t wowed by the entertainment you brought in and just enjoyed spending time with their coworkers. More importantly, a lot of what was relevant to employees last year may be different now after the year we’ve all had. Accordingly, start by asking your employees how they would prefer to acknowledge the holidays this year in a company context. Get their input first to ensure that whatever you plan hits the mark.

Don’t stop after the initial outreach, either. If you have follow-up questions after the first employee survey, don’t hesitate to ask people for their thoughts. Just as consultants may check in frequently with clients to ensure the project is proceeding to their liking, whoever is in charge of events for your company should regularly solicit employee input. Similarly, feedback after the fact is crucial, too. Make your follow-up plan before the event, so you can deploy it in a timely fashion. Employees need to feel engaged in the process in order to remain bought in to the event and interested in attending, so ensure you’re giving your team what they need through polls and conversations.

Ideas for COVID-safe holiday celebrations

While asking your employees how they would like to mark the holidays this year is one of the most important steps you can take, we’ve assembled a few ideas to help inform your process:

  • Organize a virtual team activity. In response to the urgent need for social distancing brought on by the pandemic, many event and activity providers have transitioned their offerings to a virtual format. This includes everything from murder mysteries and escape rooms to tasting parties and cooking classes. If bringing in the professionals isn’t in your budget, you could instead host a virtual game night, talent show, or other event that gets everyone involved and having fun.
  • Send out some DIY cheer. Consider sending employees activity kits to work on either together or alone. This could include decoration boxes (ideally non-denominational) where everyone decorates their workspace or other area and comes together on Zoom to compare (or even compete!). Alternatively, cooking or painting kits that everyone can use while on video chat can be a fun way to get your people engaging with each other in a non-work way. Even if you just send some treats to say thank you for their hard work, such as snacks, sweets, relaxation boxes, etc., it will help to at least acknowledge that you’re thinking of them and their wellbeing at this difficult time of year.
  • Give back to your community. Volunteers and donations are needed more than ever this year, as so many individuals and families have experienced dramatic losses in income and stability in recent months. Bringing your team together for some virtual volunteering, running a charity drive, and/or matching donations can help your team reconnect with what’s important, and feel good about the fact that they work for a company that prioritizes more than just the bottom line.
  • Create a ‘choose your own adventure’ day. The authenticity and flexibility of employee-led events might be just what the doctor ordered this year (besides social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand-washing). Empowering employees with the tools and budgets to run events for their colleagues gives you the ability to offer a variety of options for people to engage with their coworkers without the stress and overhead of one person or team trying to manage everything. Ask for employee suggestions, and enable them to lead activities, learning sessions, or other events for their fellow team members.

Planning for the holidays this year is undoubtedly more difficult and complicated than usual, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything. Ask your employees what would be meaningful to them; it may be the case that staff would prefer to just have a bit of extra pay rather than any sort of event or work holiday party as some may have seen reductions in household income. If your team does express interest in events and other ways to bond with colleagues, Workrowd can help. Visit us at workrowd.com to learn more about our employee empowerment model, or drop us a note at hello@workrowd.com. We’d love to hear from you.

Categories
Company Culture

Practicing gratitude to supercharge company culture

It’s that time of year again: the beginning of the winter holidays in the U.S. Thanksgiving will kick us off in just a couple of days, but for many, it won’t remotely resemble the Thanksgivings of years past. As a result of COVID-19, many won’t be visiting family to share a meal, and more tragically, the more than a quarter of a million Americans whom we’ve lost won’t get to celebrate Thanksgiving ever again. During this dark year when it can so often be difficult to suss out the bright spots, finding reasons and ways to keep practicing gratitude is more important than ever. This is true of both our personal and professional lives.

Many have lost jobs this year, giving those who have remained employed an obvious reason to be thankful. Among those employed however, the anxiety and grief of watching friends and colleagues get laid off, along with increased workloads and personal responsibilities have made it difficult to focus on that point. Similarly, the daily drain of a 24-hour news cycle that promotes negativity and scandal over stories of hope and uplift has done little to help people towards a mindset of gratitude. Ultimately though, practicing gratitude is one of the few ways to get through the multiple, compounded crises of the present with our mental health intact.

The health and financial benefits of gratitude

While many of us know that it’s important to be grateful, few are aware of the far-reaching health and wellness benefits. According to an article in Psychology Today, grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and report feeling healthier than their peers. Gratitude also leads to a reduction in toxic emotions resulting in increased happiness and lower risk of depression. In addition, grateful people sleep better, and we all know that the duration and quality of one’s sleep has major health implications.

On the financial front, practicing gratitude can improve your employees’ performance, making you more money and demonstrating a clear ROI on strategic culture change. Grateful people are better at building relationships with others, which is a critical skill in most business roles. In addition, gratitude increases empathy and reduces aggression, making it more likely that your team members will collaborate productively rather than falling victim to pettiness and infighting. Lastly, practicing gratitude boosts self-esteem and increases mental strength and resilience, all of which we’ve seen become crucial traits in the workplace this year. Grateful employees are better to themselves, better to each other, and better to customers, leading to higher revenues.

Ways you can infuse more gratitude into your organization

Companies spend a great deal of time crafting and attempting to live their values, but gratitude rarely makes the list. As is the case with virtually all values though, gratefulness must be practiced every day and in every interaction in order to deliver on its full benefit. With the upcoming holiday in mind, we’ve assembled a short list of ways to infuse your organization with more gratitude this week and in the months ahead, as we continue to wade through all the ups and downs of 2020 and beyond.

Some important strategies to consider when working towards a more grateful company culture include:

  • Model gratitude from the top down. In order for gratitude to make inroads at your organization, it has to be modeled by leaders. Consider offering a training to help leaders learn ways to infuse gratefulness into their day-to-day interactions, or provide them with reading materials that include strategies for giving thanks more regularly.
  • Implement processes to encourage reframing. When a project goes awry or a deal is lost, help employees look for the silver lining rather than fixating on their disappointment or frustration. By acknowledging that this represents an opportunity to pursue bigger or better efforts, and/or discussing what everyone has learned from the experience and how it will support them to do better in the future, companies can help their teams bounce back faster and more productively.
  • Reevaluate your rewards and recognition programs. While it may not seem to be the best time to work on your rewards and recognition efforts when budgets are being slashed, it’s actually the perfect time to ensure your programs are meeting employees’ needs. Show your team that you’re grateful for them and all of their work by doing what you can to improve their quality of life during this difficult time, and give them ample opportunities to show their appreciation for each other as well.
  • Consider going analog. Handwritten thank you notes are a rarity in the age of digital communication, but they can really show the recipient just how much you care. It may not be the right fit for you, but if you think a handwritten note and potentially a small gift might make a difference for your employees staring down the black hole of burnout, don’t hesitate to seize the opportunity.
  • Give back. Volunteering is a surefire way to help your employees recognize and appreciate the positives in their lives. It also helps those in need, making it essentially a no-lose situation. There are many opportunities for remote volunteering available right now, but even giving your employees an easy way to make donations, and matching them if you have the budget, can help spread gratitude and do good at the same time.

Gratitude is an underutilized word in today’s workplaces. If you haven’t thanked your team for all their work recently, do so. It could make a significant difference for employees during a very anxious and uncertain time. If you’re looking for an easier way to centralize your employee initiatives, show gratitude, and build community no matter where your employees work, consider dropping by workrowd.com. We work really hard to cultivate gratitude in our organization, and we’d love to learn about how we can help you do the same. Happy Thanksgiving, all. Stay safe and healthy.

Categories
Wellness

Healing our workplaces as we heal our nation

After the election that seemed it would never end, we finally have an answer. For some, the result was a beacon of hope while others saw it as a crushing blow. Whatever your stance, few will argue that we seem to be irreconcilably divided across lines of party affiliation, geography, income, race, religion, age, and more.  There is a strong sense of ‘us vs. them’ across the country, and as with most societal dynamics, the same can be said of our workplaces. Aside from the various ideological and demographic divides, many companies also have ‘us vs. them’ dynamics between departments, across levels, and more.

This year has been a catalyzing force for a number of transformations in the workplace, the most obvious being the nearly overnight shift to remote work. As we look towards a new year and the associated planning and budgeting amidst rampant uncertainty, an opportunity exists to build in efforts to break down the aforementioned divides. At this critical juncture, what would it look like to actually revolutionize our workplaces, and redesign them with an eye towards empathy and inclusion, rather than division and indifference? Can we heal our workplaces as we also strive to heal our nation?

The state of our workplaces pre-pandemic

Before the pandemic, 97% of employees and executives believed that lack of team alignment had an impact on task and project outcomes. Taking that one step further, 86% of employees cited lack of collaboration or ineffective communication as the cause of workplace failures. On the flip side, companies and organizations that communicate effectively are 4.5x more likely to retain their best employees.

While lack of communication and outright division are not necessarily the same, they do feed into each other to a large extent. If open and honest communication is encouraged and fostered across the board, there are fewer opportunities for division to build up and get in the way of progress. In fact, a ProofHub study found that more than 99% of employees prefer a workplace where people identify and discuss issues truthfully and effectively. Unfortunately, fewer than half of them feel that their organization fulfills that need. If we are to move past this state and towards building better communication and connection for employees, we have to first break down the barriers to doing so by implementing effective tools and having tough conversations. We have to heal these divides just as politicians urge us to heal our nation.

Ways to work towards unity in the workplace

There are a number of areas to focus on when looking to reduce division in your workplace. We’ve summarized them below so you can start your organization on the road to success in 2021:

  • Increase transparency. Being as transparent as possible at all levels of the company is a crucial first step towards stifling the seeds of division from the start. When left in the dark, it’s easy for employees to assume the worst about colleagues and leaders. If everyone is open about their plans, goals, and intentions, it is much easier for employees to let down their guards and not buy into divisive narratives as so many have in our political system leading to this call to heal our nation.
  • Encourage open and respectful dialogue. Similarly, enabling employees to share their thoughts and experiences without fear of ridicule or reprisal is a key step towards promoting strong communication and collaboration in your workplace. Encourage team members to share their stories to help colleagues learn about each other as whole people, and to better understand where folks may be coming from when they react a certain way to an idea or comment.
  • Prioritize diversity and inclusion. Ensuring that there is strong representation on your team from a diverse set of backgrounds and beliefs can help everyone to feel included rather than having one ‘in-group’ and a handful of others stuck on the outskirts. While we know budgeting for DEI in 2021 can be a challenge, it’s imperative to continue championing this critical work and striving towards intersectionality rather than tokenization.
  • Ensure everyone gets recognized. A strong recognition program is also a key component of building more unified, less divisive workplaces. Having some team members frequently receiving praise and accolades for their work while others toil in silence and anonymity simply breeds resentment and reinforces ‘us vs. them’ dynamics. Ensure that your recognition program is both accessible and egalitarian, so that everyone can participate and feel acknowledged.
  • Be consistent. Last but certainly not least, make every effort to design your policies in a way that one group isn’t privileged over another. Ensuring this consistency will prevent people from feeling that others are treated better than them, leading them to experience exclusion that can cause communication to break down. Any policy that applies to one, should apply to all.

There are a number of ways to ensure that your workplace trends back towards unity rather than division as we usher a new administration into the White House. For better or worse, many of these focus areas drive back to core aspects of company culture, which can be difficult to shift especially with employees spread across offices and remote work situations. As we work to heal our nation though, we can also heal our workplaces. If you could use an easier way to break down silos, build connections, and streamline employee communication, come visit us over at workrowd.com or reach out directly at hello@workrowd.com. We’re looking forward to learning more about the specific challenges you may be facing, and seeing how we can plug in to help you reach your goals.

Categories
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging

Budgeting for diversity and inclusion in 2021

It’s been quite a year, and trying to budget for the next one can seem akin to staring into a crystal ball and anxiously waiting for something to appear. Ultimately, while this next year may seem even more uncertain than most, that doesn’t mean you should back off of critical investments such as those in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). While many companies rush to slash their DEI budgets at the first sign of financial uncertainty, this is in actuality a deeply counterproductive decision. Budgeting for diversity and inclusion drives critical initiatives that feed directly into companies’ bottom lines. By immediately jumping to cut that funding, companies show their employees in no uncertain terms where their priorities lie.

There are myriad reasons not to cut your DEI budget leading into 2021, but how do you frugally plan for inclusion initiatives during a year that may or may not be remote, may or may not include substantial policy shifts, and may or may not see your company doing well? There are certainly a lot of factors to consider. While budgeting for things you’ve never done before can be difficult, we’ve got your back with some best practice advice for budgeting for diversity and inclusion and building a robust DEI program in the coming year that drives measurable impact (you can also check out our newer post HERE for more details).

Why you shouldn’t cut your DEI budget as a way to save money

Unfortunately, despite spending $8 billion per year on DEI initiatives, many executives still believe that DEI is a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘need to have’. Part of this misconception may stem from the fact that the standard slate of DEI initiatives implemented by most companies is largely ineffective and targeted at box-checking rather than concrete business outcomes. With this line of thinking and little to show for the efforts they have made, it’s unsurprising that DEI programs would seem to be an unnecessary expense. In reality though, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Organizations that are more diverse and inclusive have been proven to outperform their peers across a number of metrics. For instance, companies with more women in C-suite level positions deliver 34% greater returns to shareholders. Harvard Business Review also found that organizations with higher than average diversity saw 19% greater innovation revenues. McKinsey reports that companies in the top quarter for racial/ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to surpass their peers. Lastly, companies with two-dimensional diversity are 45% more likely to have captured a larger portion of the market and 70% more likely to have moved into a new market in the past year. Clearly there is money to be made by investing in diversity and inclusion, but as with many things, it has to be done correctly in order to be effective.

How to ensure your DEI investments drive impact

The first step towards budgeting effectively for diversity and inclusion is to start treating DEI like any other business imperative. You wouldn’t short your marketing budget and still expect to receive the same results, so why does that expectation exist for DEI? Similarly, what gets measured gets managed. You wouldn’t put your sales people out into the field with no sales targets to just see how they do, so it’s similarly imperative that you put structures around your DEI program including measurable metrics and goals. Don’t assume that since you ran a half-day training, more diverse employees will just start flocking to your organization. You have to put in the work in order to reap the benefits.

It’s not just about counting the number of BIPOC employees at your organization, though. Companies have been tracking the number of underrepresented employees in their ranks for decades at this point; simply counting doesn’t lead to improvement without accompanying focuses on inclusion, promotion, etc. You have to aim higher. Use studies and statistics to inform your goal-setting and budgeting. Increased DEI leads to higher employee engagement, which drives productivity and other measurable outcomes, so you can design quantitative objectives accordingly.

Consider DEI’s impact on your entire company, from the vendors you engage to the philanthropies you support. Set concrete targets for what you want to achieve, then budget out how to get there, just as you would in any other department. Don’t fall prey to the belief that DEI is an amorphous, ‘fluffy’ concept that can’t be quantified beyond basic employee counts. Use employee surveys and other data to track the success of your program and ensure you’re getting your money’s worth. If you’re not, change your tactics.

Making progress on DEI is difficult, but far from impossible. It simply requires strategic focus and effort, just like any other business imperative. If you’re considering how to best use your DEI dollars, consider an integrated solution that supports employee resource groups, provides best practice toolkits and trainings, and integrates surveys and people analytics. Workrowd offers all this and more, so if we can be of help, don’t hesitate to reach out at hello@workrowd.com. However you choose to proceed, just don’t back off of DEI at this critical time.

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Learning & Development

3 ways to manage political conversations at work

Well, it’s finally election day here in the U.S. It’s certainly been a long road to get here, and no matter what the outcome, the next few days are likely to be pretty emotional for many employees. As our media outlets have grown increasingly sensationalistic, and the two parties more and more polarized and obstinate, the disagreement and animosity have spilled over and we’re now hearing of many tense political conversations at work. In an age when many companies claim to be focused on striving for inclusion, how do people’s party affiliations factor into the equation?

The old recommendation to never discuss politics or religion in ‘polite’ conversation has become untenable amidst a 24-hour news cycle that thrives off of these two supposedly taboo topics. Things have gotten so out of hand that it’s even impacting people’s health and wellbeing. As far back as September of 2019, a survey found that 40% of respondents felt that politics were a source of stress in their lives. Approximately 20% reported losing sleep over it, and roughly the same number noted that politics exacted an emotional toll on them. The numbers are undoubtedly higher now, on the day of the election, and after such extraordinary circumstances in the lead-up. How do you manage all of this as an employer?

Pros and cons of allowing political discussions in the workplace

The overwhelming advice to employees across the board is to simply avoid having political conversations at work at all. Many workers seem to agree. During the also extremely polarized 2016 election season, 79% of survey respondents noted that coworkers are the people they would be least likely to discuss politics with, beating out even neighbors and complete strangers. The logic behind this is difficult to dispute; many people don’t know their colleagues very well, and yet they have to see and collaborate with them every day. If they get into any particularly heated political conversations at work, it can impact both their prospects with that employer, as well as the general office environment due to the increased tension.

On the one hand, you run the risk of employees fighting to the point of not being able to work productively together, and potentially even coming to blows, while on the other hand, completely ignoring the fact that employees are stressed and anxious isn’t a stellar option either. By forbidding employees from expressing themselves or voicing their concerns, they have no choice but to bottle up their anxiety which leads to distraction and disengagement. While in many ways this conundrum requires choosing the lesser of two evils, there are some strategies you can pursue to find some middle ground.

Strategies for enabling healthy dialogue

There are a number of alternatives to stifling and ignoring people’s beliefs without inviting full-on battles into your office. While encouraging political conversations at work outright is likely inadvisable in efforts to prevent anyone from feeling offended and/or victimized, it’s important to at least acknowledge that a big national event is underway. Pretending it’s not happening isn’t going to lead to any sort of positive outcome. Consider the following steps to help support your employees through this charged time:

  • Make it clear that the company understands that employees are under immense stress right now. As mentioned above, it’s important to lead with empathy during this time. The election is undoubtedly impacting your employees, so to pretend otherwise is simply tone-deaf. Ensure your managers are being mindful of the stress that their direct reports may be under, and acknowledge that they might not be at their best.
  • Don’t ban political speech that otherwise complies with your larger behavioral requirements. Political conversations are going to come up; it’s simply a fact of the current day and age. Banning them and making them punishable simply makes employees feel like they can’t bring their whole selves to work, and sets unreasonable restrictions on employee interactions. Stress that your standard expectations of respect, professionalism, etc. remain in place, but don’t add to employees’ anxieties by threatening termination if they slip and mention something about this huge issue that is undoubtedly on their minds.
  • Take a stand against hate as a company. The political rhetoric in this country has reached a fever pitch, but as a company you can still take a stand against hate and in favor of acceptance without it being political. Make sure your employees know you’ll support them no matter which candidate they choose, and offer them security during this highly unstable year.

As has long been the case, political discussions in the workplace are often better when just avoided, but you can still take steps to ensure your employees feel safe and supported. If you’re looking for ways to keep your employees connected during this decentralized time, consider checking out Workrowd. We’ve got solutions for diversity, equity, and inclusion, professional development, social impact, and more. You can reach us at hello@workrowd.com.

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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging

Respecting employees’ intersectional identities

In the U.S. today, approximately 40% of the population identifies as something other than non-Hispanic White. With half of people identifying as female, that means that at the very least, 20% of Americans navigate society everyday with multiple intersecting minority identities. The actual number is obviously much higher than that, considering that identity encompasses everything from disability status to family structure and beyond. Given this fact, and as companies continue to make little to no progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion despite billions of dollars in spending, it’s time to reframe our efforts to focus on intersectional identities rather than just high-level racial and gender categories.

Originally coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, at its core, intersectionality is simply the idea that people experience discrimination differently depending on their overlapping identities. While it has become a rather maligned term during our hyper-polarized times, few people actually disagree with the core tenet that a person’s lived experience will vary based on who they are, how they identify, and to which demographic groups they are perceived to belong. If even bitter political rivals can agree that the fundamental concept of intersectional identities is valid, why aren’t we prioritizing it to finally move the needle on inclusion in our workplaces?

Why intersectionality is so important to better support employees

The events of 2020 have greatly increased the focus on issues around DEI, employee wellbeing, and employee engagement. Particularly amidst the rapid transition to remote work, many companies are struggling to adapt and deliver in response to new as well as previously unaddressed employee needs. If companies truly want to improve their employee experience though, how can they do so without knowing the composition of their workforce?

While some employees may hesitate to share information about their personal lives and/or how they identify with their employer, if companies don’t ask they will continue to make decisions based on ‘intuition’ rather than data. In order to be strategic, employers need to learn about, respect, and appreciate their team members’ intersectional identities so they know, for instance, how to build a benefits package that actually suits employees’ lifestyles. If the only demographic data you have and are tracking is race and gender with minimal granularity, it will be difficult to truly understand what your employees may be facing, and therefore what you can do to better support them.

How to move your workplace towards intersectionality

The first step in moving your workplace towards greater inclusion grounded in intersectionality is to reframe the way you think about diversity. So much focus has been placed on race (often without much regard for ethnicity) and gender that other important measures of diversity rarely factor in. Your diversity program should seek to truly acknowledge and value your employees as whole people with a variety of different assets and attributes, rather than a member of a monolithic race or gender category.

Consider that diversity can come in the form of cognitive and/or physical disabilities, caregiver status, immigrant background, religion, sexual orientation, and more. With so much to consider, it quickly becomes unreasonable to base your entire program around just two, often visually discernable measures. There is a lot more to your employees, and if you want to optimize your employee experience, you’ll have to start learning about them.

The next step is to reorient your DEI goals. Moving away from tokenism and instead towards intersectionality will enable you to bring more perspectives into your meetings and projects, thereby accelerating innovation and amplifying your competitive advantage. While it is certainly crucial that many companies increase the proportion of BIPOC and womxn employees on their payrolls, it is also essential that these individuals are recognized as more than just token hires once they’ve joined.

If you’re considering ways to increase the focus on intersectionality within your workforce, check out Workrowd. Our platform is a one-stop shop that enables employees to join affinity groups based on their identities and interests, and provides you real-time analytics to see how each group is faring. To learn more, visit us at workrowd.com, or reach out directly to hello@workrowd.com.

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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging

A new effort to advance diversity, equity, & inclusion

Amidst all of the deeply negative news of 2020, one positive has been the renewed energy around combatting systemic racism. While the events that precipitated this mobilization are both tragic and unacceptable, the drive for change could not wait any longer. The need to build more inclusive environments is especially urgent in our workplaces, where demographic-based disparities and discrimination abound.

Currently, 80% of Fortune 500 senior executives are men, and 72% of them are white. Women still earn just $0.82 for every dollar a man earns, with the burden falling disproportionately on Black, Latinx, and Indigenous womxn, who earn $0.62, $0.54, and $0.57 respectively. Moreover, the Economic Policy Institute reports that the Black-White wage gap has actually increased over the past twenty years, highlighting the enormous amount of work we have to do. Ironically, at the same time estimates suggest that companies are spending $8 billion every year on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Clearly what we’re doing is not working.

And now for something completely different

Here at Workrowd, we believe that part of what is stymieing progress is that every company seems to be designing and executing on their diversity, equity, and inclusion goals in a silo. When we started doing market research for this venture, we were stunned by the lack of data and best practices available to companies looking to start or expand their DEI work. Accordingly, we set out to find (or build) a solution.

In the course of our research, we learned about employee resource groups, or ERGs. Many of you are likely familiar with ERGs, but this idea was actually new to the Workrowd team when we started this journey. We instantly latched on to ERGs as being incredible vehicles to build support and power for underrepresented folx in the workplace, but we ultimately found that these employee-led efforts weren’t nearly living up to their potential.

In many companies, ERG leaders are at extremely high risk of burnout and lack the support they need from the company to enable their groups to thrive. Furthermore, over time, the focus of ERGs can shift to become more social rather than strategic. Given the devastating effects of non-inclusive workplaces, we knew we had to intervene and do our part to expand the set of tools available to ERG members.

A fortuitous partnership

As we started to dig into how we could best equip ERG leaders and members with the resources to supercharge their groups, we reached out to a variety of organizations that were already active in the ERG space. After a pretty disheartening series of strikeouts, we eventually connected with the Association of ERGs and Councils (AEC). Originally launched way back in 2005, the AEC had been taken over in recent years by a new owner who hadn’t had the bandwidth to give it their all. The effort was seriously in need of a refresh, so we set about discussing how we might collaborate to give the AEC a makeover.

After months of discussion and buildup, we finally were able to get down work, targeting a mid-October announcement. Our partner organization had decided to combine their annual conference with the University of Southern California’s Center for Effective Organizations’ ERG Leadership Summit Week, which seemed like the perfect time and place to debut our new collaboration. The summit started yesterday, so it is with great excitement that we announce the relaunch of what used to be the Association of ERGs and Councils as a brand new, digital-first experience.

Welcome to the next generation ERG empowerment hub

This new network is the premier community for ERG and diversity council members to connect across the globe. With best-in-class resources, exclusive events, and on-demand analytics, the one-stop platform is building the future of diversity, equity, and inclusion by empowering underrepresented employees with the tools they need to succeed. We’ve got membership options to fit every organization type and budget, including opportunities for individuals to join, so there’s no reason to let your employees get left behind.

We’ll be revealing more in the coming weeks, but for now, if you’d like to learn more please visit erg.workrowd.com. Memberships include the 24/7 networking community along with access to best practice resources and trainings, and dashboards to help you track your progress. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us directly at erg@workrowd.com. We’ll be sharing more soon, so stay tuned!