Diversity
Equity
Inclusion
A Culture and Mindset Shift.
DEI isn’t just a principle or a target to integrate into recruitment and other HR processes - it’s a mindset and way of life.
It’s about believing that people shouldn’t face difficulties in their day-to-day simply because of an aspect of their identity.
It’s about understanding the systemic discrimination that the majority of people face, and the consequences that continue to this day. The different levels and layers of an individual’s experiences that come from intersectionality tie into this as well.
When it comes to a workplace, it’s about making employees feel safe and welcome to be themselves, and where barriers are eliminated or mitigated for everyone to participate in work activities. This creates an environment where people feel comfortable to share ideas, and it’s when ideas are shared from diverse perspectives that:
employees have a more fulfilling work experience (and become more productive)
a company’s profit increases from trying different strategies than their competitors
when these workplace standards spread across organizations, more of society at large becomes equitable, and
day-to-day lives outside of work become more enjoyable for everyone
My Previous Work.
I started engaging in DEI-related work by getting involved in Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) in my previous roles, such as Women or 2SLGBTQIA+ committees. One of the most important things in creating a DEI culture is socializing it:
In my time at the federal government, I led a group initiative that created an internal podcast called Let’s Be Real for our department’s Western Region employees. This came out of a collective interest in learning more about diverse lived experiences, and our group coordinated episode topics, the best employees to speak about them, and recording and releasing episodes. We had a steady increase in organic listeners and got a surprise shoutout from the lead of our department!
Building up on this experience, I became the Culture Director for January 2024’s JDC West case competition. This was a new role in the Organizing Committee, where I applied a DEI lens to the competition to make sure that the work of each subcommittee and their parts of the event were inclusive for everyone involved. I built resources and established a lasting framework for future Culture Directors to build upon for this event.