A Call to Leadership for America’s Employers as the Supreme Court Considers Affirmative Action in College Admissions

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Pamela Coukos and Cyrus Mehri, Co-Founders of Working IDEAL

Updated June 30: Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled against Harvard and the University of North Carolina in the case about affirmative action in college admissions. This is a deeply disappointing decision that goes against decades of precedent — and despite long standing support from the employer community for the kinds of inclusive admissions practices at stake in that case. We are confident that our nation’s higher education institutions and our nation’s employers will continue to ensure the doors of opportunity remain open for all. This ruling does not change any legal standards that apply to the workplace.  We continue to call on our nation’s employers to practice courageous leadership, align with their values and recognize the importance of their equity and inclusion work for their workers, their business and our democracy.

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In the next few days, we expect the Supreme Court to rule on two cases about affirmative action in college admissions. No matter what the Court decides, we know this is a time for your leadership and institutional courage — to carry forward equal opportunity for all, and to build a nation where anyone can succeed. Nothing at stake in these legal rulings calls into question the values and experience you bring to your existing work on equality and inclusion, or the right and duty to fairly hire, promote, pay and support workers of all backgrounds and experiences. You can and should hold fast to your commitments to creating a vibrant and effective workforce by removing barriers to opportunity, and ensuring every worker has the freedom and support to bring their full perspectives, experiences and talents to the job.

We recognize that this is a challenging time to hold true to a robust vision of inclusion and belonging. Extremist political leaders are sowing conflict and division. They seek to cast doubt on the need for programs that bring employees together and enhance opportunity, when that is needed now more than ever.  A few are even attempting to erase our nation’s complex history of exclusion, and our collective power to overcome it. We want to share a path forward to overcome polarized politics and misguided assumptions about the potential impact of this ruling, and sustain your longstanding programs on diversity, equity and inclusion at work.

Together we have worked for decades to help workers facing racial barriers, pay inequity, unfair hiring practices, and sexual harassment in the workplace, and to help big and small companies, nonprofits, and government agencies seeking to expand equal opportunity.  We have been there for workers when employers flout the law, and we have partnered with business leaders and executives who are creating innovative ways to level the playing field. This experience shows what we believe every employer should do this week and going forward – lead with your values, invest in your workforce, and carry forward your commitments.

You can best meet this moment by reaffirming the key values that ground your equity and inclusion work. Values like respect, opportunity and connectedness are not tied to legal rules, and they can and should continue to guide your actions to promote opportunity and foster inclusion and belonging. You can and should commit to practice respect and learn from each other, through sharing our many identities, experiences and histories. You can and should pledge to ensure that everyone has a fair chance to compete and to participate in our nation’s economic life. You can and should pledge to foster culture that connects rather than divides and creates real experiences of belonging. Diversity, equity, belonging and inclusion are more than just buzzwords or checklists. In the best programs they establish sound processes that benefit entire organizations, deeply anchored in your values and transcending matters of compliance.

Keeping your promises to provide a respectful, fair and inclusive workplace is bedrock law, good for all workers and good for your business.  We know from research and experience that when employers promote equal opportunity along with inclusion, and foster respect, openness, trust, learning and engagement, and connection and belonging, we all benefit from workplaces that are stronger, more innovative, and more productive.

The best DEI initiatives are never about asking for specific outcomes, but about ensuring a fair process and a respectful and inclusive workplace for all. Flawed practices can hurt everyone regardless of their identity, job or level. Letting in-group favoritism drive hiring or promotion decisions, or being inconsistent about how you pay people, or letting toxic individuals disrupt the workplace, often falls hardest on those who have historically faced discrimination and systemic hardship. But failing to address these problems can make it hard for anyone to do their job, and it can cost you the opportunity to hire and advance the best talent, or drive costly attrition. If you can change your process to get new people in the door and show you what they can offer, you can overcome biases and increase your chance of picking the true right person for the job.  Institutions that practice greater inclusion are the ones that thrive over the long term.

We know that our clients may be feeling as though this work and their DEI plans are now at increasing risk. We also believe that true risk management includes accounting for the risk of withdrawing from critical commitments and the harm that comes from failing to act. Over the past few years, many employers have made important promises to their workers, shareholders and communities to strengthen racial equity, forcefully address sexual harassment, provide equal pay and share their DEI goals and progress more transparently. Nothing has changed about the need for these promises. Indeed, keeping them is more important than ever.

Seize this chance to practice the courageous leadership that can overcome division and repair our democracy.  You have a critical opportunity to bolster our “small d” democratic and “small r” republican principles. Recent efforts to stoke identity conflict over race, gender, and LGBTQ status go hand in hand with efforts to roll back democracy and limit freedom. We must resist any effort to limit our freedom to learn or engage with each other, from bans on what children can read to restrictions on what anyone can wear, say or teach. Voting restrictions, and lawsuits and legislation trying to upend longstanding civil rights, undermine our ability to be one democratic nation. We have seen a rise in hate crimes, violence, and even insurrectionist behavior, alongside a growing understanding that continuing segregation and inequality is incompatible with true democracy. We cannot give in to the climate of fear and hate.

Over and over in the past few years we have seen the power of Americans from all walks of life making their voices heard in response to exclusion and threats to fundamental democratic values – an example we urge you to follow. Overcoming these divisions creates the opportunity to repair our democracy and build a truly inclusive economy both at home and abroad.

Courageous and thoughtful leaders will recognize there is no need to respond in fear or to make snap judgments to withdraw prematurely from the DEI work that is so essential to this moment. Instead, we encourage you to recommit to freedom and democracy, respect, connection, fairness and opportunity, and to embrace the future.

 

Working IDEAL provides trusted and innovative advice on inclusive workplaces, diverse talent, and fair pay. Our audits and assessments apply the best thinking on how to promote gender, race and other forms of equity in your pay practices. Our robust quantitative and qualitative reviews go beyond basic compliance to align effective compensation strategy. Let’s connect.  

Working IDEAL: 2020-2021 in Review

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Looking back over the past two years, our team at Working IDEAL has navigated a global pandemic and seen a new sense of urgency around our work for racial justice and workplace equity. As we wrote in the summer of 2020, we support the call to dismantle systemic racism and over the last year we have acted on our belief that a just and inclusive workplace is essential to sustain our democracy.

In this post, we share some highlights of how our clients are engaging on racial equity & global DEIJ across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Indeed many of them had already started this journey before July of 2020. In these first months of 2022, we see newly empowered workers and labor movements, new understandings around workplace safety, flexibility and economic justice, and opportunities to innovate to better serve workers, missions, customers and society. We encourage companies, nonprofits and government agencies to continue this work.

Strengthening DEI in Local Governments. In the summer of 2021, we completed a deep multi-year engagement with the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, conducting an independent external assessment of recruitment, hiring and promotion through a diversity, equity and inclusion lens. Through a survey of all City employees, analysis of workforce data and interviews and documents, we evaluated the City’s structure, practices, policies, and culture as they relate to fostering a diverse workforce. Our recommendations, which were included in a publicly-available report on our website, included expanding the ability to promote opportunities and connect with a broader pool of talent by strategic outreach, building relationships, strengthening tools and resources, leveraging the current workforce and city residents, and better utilizing technology.  

Nonprofit Pay Equity Projects to Align with Mission and Values.  One of the signature services Working IDEAL provides is ensuring fair pay and we conduct pay equity analyses for public, private and nonprofit organizations. Since the summer of 2020, and particularly in light of the impact of the pandemic on workers, progressive organizations have sought to raise pay and also ensure their compensation programs align with values of equity and transparency. Over the last 18 months we have completed new compensation policies and structures for a number of national nonprofits, assessing race and gender equity, employee perceptions and experiences, workplace culture and market analysis. 

Strengthening Equity and Inclusion in Tech. In 2021, Working IDEAL partnered with Atlassian to provide resources and ideas to improve experiences for Atlassians from underrepresented groups and apply research on increasing equity and inclusion in the tech industry.

#CampaignEquity for Political Workplaces. During the summer and fall of 2020, federal, state and local candidates — and many organizations — built major campaigns to persuade and turnout voters in a critical election, as well as responding on the ground to addressing police brutality, sexual harassment, climate action, and immigrant justice. Working IDEAL collected its experiences advising political and advocacy campaigns and candidates with Redwood Enterprise and the Melanin Collective in the #CampaignEquity handbook (2020). The handbook includes tools and checklists of best practices for campaign workplaces in seeking to achieve seven campaign equity goals — like Great Hires, Pay Equity, and Safe and Inclusive Culture. It’s a useful strategic and tactical guide for ensuring your campaign or organizing workspace lives up to your values.  https://www.workingideal.com/news-resources/campaign-equity-toolkit/.

Building Best in Class DEI Programs for Small Businesses. 

We work with employers of all sizes, and frequently conduct evaluations and assessments of workplace culture and climate, equity and inclusion.  Because our work is customized and includes significant qualitative elements, it can be an effective tool for smaller businesses.

Our assessment methodology uses a consistent approach. We apply a broad lens grounded in social science data collection and analysis, seeking to understand how organizational culture, process, structures and practices relate to outcomes and experiences for different groups in the workplace.

One example of this work is the DEI assessment Working IDEAL conducted in 2021 for Linea Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in pension, health, and insurance markets with offices in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Toronto. This project was led by the company’s internal DEI committee and strongly supported by leadership, two elements that we find can result in more successful projects.

Our review encompassed a quantitative and qualitative analysis of data relating to employee demographics, workplace culture, perceptions and experiences of fairness and equity, and equity in policies and practices — including recruitment, hiring, retention, promotion, career development, and training. Because many employees are consultants embedded in client workspaces, we also explored ways for Linea to provide connection and consistency – an emerging challenge for many workplaces developing stronger remote work policies. We identified strengths, challenges, and opportunities, and we recommended best practices supported by research literature and tailored to the organization. We will proceed with the implementation phase in 2022.

How the Rooney Rule Can Advance Equal Opportunity

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Author: Cyrus Mehri

As football fans gear up to watch the Rams and the Bengals clash in the Super Bowl this weekend, there’s another showdown happening off the field: the debate on how to best combat racial discrimination in the NFL. 

It’s a debate that has implications that extend beyond the football field and into board rooms across corporate America. Football, like many other industries, faces a glaring problem: despite diversity and inclusion efforts, many companies have failed to adequately increase racial diversity in their senior ranks.

The NFL’s hiring practices have come under intense scrutiny after a racial discrimnation lawsuit by Coach Brian Flores. Specifically, some advocates have called on the NFL to abolish the Rooney Rule, a rule that requires NFL teams to conduct in-person interviews with a diverse slate of candidates when hiring head coaches and general managers. 

Versions of the Rooney Rule have been adopted across many industries, so this discourse has significant implications and represents an ongoing debate: how do companies best establish equitable and inclusive practices that will increase diversity? 

As one of the creators of the Rooney Rule, I’m intimately familiar with this debate. I, along with late Johnnie L. Cochran Jr, advocated for the creation of the Rooney Rule starting in 2002 in response to the dearth of Black coaches in the NFL. And the Rooney Rule has had success.

Before the Rooney Rule, there were only a handful of Black head coaches in the NFL’s 80 year history. In the 19 years since the creation of the Rooney Rule, a person of color has been selected as an NFL head coach 27 times, including twice this month. That’s infinitely better than it was before, but it’s also significantly below where it should be. 

Clearly, the NFL still has a lot of progress to make. But abolishing the Rooney Rule would be a huge backslide. The Rooney Rule has taken the NFL from an abysmal situation to a better one, and it has the potential to truly transform the NFL — and other industries — if utilized in the right way. 

In my work across companies and across industries as a civil rights litigator, consultant and a reformer, I have learned a number of lessons on how the NFL, and other industries, can do the Rooney Rule the right way: 

Accountability Matters: First and foremost, accountability is key. This is the NFL’s current biggest area for improvement. In the early years of the Rooney Rule, the NFL strongly enforced the rule, but recently, it has turned a blind eye to blatant violations. No policy can be successful without enforcement.

Diverse Slates of Finalists, Not Diverse Pools of Applicants: Saying you have a “Rooney Rule” isn’t enough. Several major companies such as Facebook have established weak or symbolic versions of the Rooney Rule, like having a diverse pool of applicants while saying nothing about the finalists. The Rooney Rule requires interviewing a diverse slate of candidates for the final round. Don’t be fooled by what some companies say — if it’s not a finalist interview slate, it’s not likely to move the needle.

Address Bias in the Pipeline: There’s a bias in the pattern of NFL teams excluding coaches of color from the QB position coach and offensive coordinator, which results in those coaches also being excluded from the head coach pipeline. Programs dedicated to developing a diverse talent pipeline, such as the Arizona Cardinals QB Coach fellowship, and strong recruitment programs can help avoid a situation where companies claim there aren’t any outstanding candidates of color. 

Use Multiple Candidates from Underrepresented Groups: A study in the Harvard Business Review showed that when there are two or more candidates of color, a candidate of color is over 190 times more likely to be hired. The Rooney Rule has been updated to include multiple underrepresented candidates in the final interview pool, and with that modification, there are signs of success with women and people of color gaining ground as team presidents and other key positions. Any company using a Rooney Rule type policy should do the same. 

Start with Leadership, Then Expand: Companies should be strategic about which jobs should have a diverse interview slate requirement – starting with the key leadership positions where they are less likely to have diversity now and where the impact of each hire is greatest. At first, the NFL kept it just to Head Coach, then added General Manager. Now it extends throughout the League office and the Club levels to all senior leaders and now coordinators and it is reaping the benefits in many key areas. Changing how a company selects its leaders — and who they select – creates critical buy-in at the top and establishes this as part of organizational values.   

Use Diverse Interview Panels: Many companies use diverse interview panels as part of the decision making process with great success. The NFL has not done so and should.

Use Better Selection Criteria: Diversity is stymied unless decision-makers expand their talent pool by expanding the criteria used for a key position. There are a lot of skill sets and experiences that can lead to success, even if they’re not the ones traditionally used to fill a position. Continuing to select the talents a company already has actually reduces the overall quality of its hires, especially if the criteria have not been reconsidered recently. Use an open mind and open up the process. 

Use Common Sense Guidelines: The first year of the Rooney Rule, Jerry Jones interviewed a white candidate for two days in person and a Black candidate by phone for just half an hour. We called on the League to develop common sense guidelines and they did. There is still room for improvement to ensure that interviews are being held as genuine interviews, not just to tick boxes. 

Whether in the NFL, or in companies large or small, we can achieve a level playing field and an inclusive economy if we stick to the principles of fair competition and implement the Rooney Rule the right way. 

 

Photo credit: REUTERS / Alamy

 

Best Practices to Increase Engagement, Productivity, Retention, and Innovation | Excerpts from Diversity, Inc.

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It’s been over a year since noted journalist and scholar Pamela Newkirk published Diversity, Inc., an essential account of the promises many companies made to strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion, the billions spent on programs and initiatives over five decades, and the huge gap that still remains in fulfilling those promises. This acclaimed book, which Time Magazine declared a “must-read”, is a deep study of how the most popular responses to calls for justice and equity at work have not only failed to make progress, but even led to declining numbers of Black leaders in Corporate America, a continued racial wealth gap and pay gap, and persistent discrimination in the workplace. Her book also highlights the rare examples of successful progress and the lessons from social science about what actually works to move the needle on workplace equality. 

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder last summer, companies again, as they have many times in the past, made statements and pledges to do more. While some of the responses are more symbolic, others have greater potential for meaningful impact – from shifts in corporate giving and community support to belatedly addressing longstanding criticisms of images, names and branding, recognizing the need to invest in changing systems and practices, and making concrete commitments to hiring benchmarks or other specific and potentially meaningful policy changes. But as Professor Newkirk shows, Corporate America’s track record on racial justice is not promising. Just as longstanding approaches to sexual harassment were more symbolic compliance than meaningful intervention, the world of diversity consulting is a story of as much as $8 billion a year spent with little to show for it.  So what can companies do that can actually make a difference?

In the new paperback edition of Diversity Inc., Professor Newkirk included a series of best practices provided by Working IDEAL — ways that companies can make good on their promises by applying best practices based on social science research and our experience with organizations large and small across multiple industries. 

Here are a few of those recommended practices that Working IDEAL recommends to our clients to hire and retain great people and increase engagement, productivity, retention, and innovation.  Want the whole list?  Get the book!

Expand Recruitment Through Intentional Outreach. For example, work to build relationships with programs in your field, industry and community to access talent, and then tailor recruitment plans to identify the best sources of diverse candidates for specific jobs or groups of jobs. 

Identify and Remove Barriers in Hiring, starting with how you identify and evaluate skills and criteria. Education and specialized training requirements can serve as unnecessary barriers to increasing diversity in key entry-level and higher-level positions, especially when there are equivalent or alternative skills and experience that may add value, or the potential to invest in on-the-job training.

Institute a “Rooney Rule” diverse slate policy but also take steps to ensure its success. This means defining diverse slates to require consideration of multiple women and people of color, and providing the training and tools for hiring managers and holding them accountable to follow the policy. 

Make information on pay practices transparent and accessible to employees.  Instead of guessing about what candidates will accept, or trying to underpay those with less market power or information, affirmatively provide starting salary information to job candidates.  Ensure employees can freely share information about pay — in most cases it’s legally required.

Measure your results like any business process, auditing your hiring, pay and promotion practices — and your culture and developing metrics to track them going forward. You can use anonymous tools like surveys, and internal discussions across functions and levels, to identify issues and source responses. Track attrition and understand why some groups of employees are more likely to leave. And make sure to regularly share all that information with leaders and decision-makers and use it to hold them accountable. 

Don’t ignore problem behavior. Have safe and accessible options to report, address, and resolve workplace problems, and make sure you act quickly to address toxic or harmful workplace culture at any level of the organization. 

Give people in your organization the power to make change.  If you have named an internal DEI leader or officer, make sure they have the information, access, and power needed to successfully carry out their responsibilities. If you are using an internal committee, resource group or affinity group to support and engage employees, provide the resources and processes that empower them to deliver meaningful value and support to leadership.

Working IDEAL provides trusted and innovative advice on inclusive workplaces, diverse talent, and fair pay. Contact us to learn more about the services we offer.

Author: Pam Coukos

How the SEC Can Harness Shareholder Power to Support Racial and Gender Equity Through a DEI Index

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On its very first day, the Biden-Harris Administration made racial justice and equity, and principles of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity, top priorities on its agenda.  The first of the 17 Day One Executive Orders committed to advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities across the federal government.  The EO requires a review of federal programs and regulatory processes to incorporate equity principles – while rescinding the Trump Administration’s anti-DEI Executive Order. It also includes improvements to data collection, which is a key practice of accountability. Other actions include:

The Administration could bolster this by leveraging the SEC’s  power to regulate publicly traded companies. A Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Index could harness shareholder power to ensure our publicly-traded companies make good on their their commitments to equality. A standard set of disclosures about hiring, representation, leadership and pay would empower customers and investors to make informed choices about where to spend their money. Workers could use this information to find jobs at places that offer true opportunity for all. Companies would compete to show their progress and we could all have a clearer sense of who is living up to their stated values. Competition would be the engine behind genuine, long overdue progress.

All large publicly traded companies should disclose standard information on key measures of DEI performance.

First, demonstrate Board Accountability for DEI, by sharing Board representation, whether the Board uses key best practices to foster diverse membership, and whether the Board provides effective oversight of People and Culture programs to address workplace harassment and promote inclusive culture.

Next, provide data on Leadership Diversity, including how the top 200 highest compensated individuals identify (by gender, race, ethnicity, and if available, by disability and sexual orientation).

Third, disclose Workforce Diversity and Pay Equity metrics, including companywide EEO-1 representation data and standard pay equity benchmarks similar to those already reported in the UK, and corporate performance on its own diversity metrics over time. 

Lastly, share progress on Inclusive Workplace Practices, including whether the company has developed and implemented key best practices to address workplace harassment and promote inclusive culture.

We already recommended that the SEC impose this type of requirement, but there are plenty of other ways this could come about. Indexes could make this a listing requirement. Institutional investors could use it as a factor for their portfolio decisions and federal, state and local agencies could use it as a benchmark in awarding contracts. And companies could voluntarily commit to these disclosures as a way to demonstrate leadership. 

The biggest winners will be the companies themselves. The research we shared with the SEC supports the view that diverse teams can provide key benefits, like increasing productivity and innovation. Strengthening DEI can lead to stronger and more sustainable financial performance.

Indeed, that is exactly the reason that this information is material to shareholders. The traditional view of shareholder disclosure is only aimed at information relevant to short-term shareholder gain. But the modern view includes any matters material to other stakeholder long term interests including investing in employees and fostering diversity, inclusion, dignity and respect, an approach championed by the Business Roundtable.

Despite the benefits, too many companies have not made DEI enough of a priority. Reviewing a typical corporate annual report or 10-K will show frequent touting of corporate physical assets, new product lines, mergers and acquisitions, but see very few, if any, words touting new investments in people and culture, or new efforts to develop, retain and strengthen the workforce. Most annual reports to shareholders virtually ignore the companies’ most important asset: its workforce.

We learned that to create change in a company, someone has to own and drive the change, which means the Board should have a specific subcommittee focused on oversight of People and Culture programs, with regular reporting from management on goals and measures. Through increased transparency of key measures of leadership and workforce DEI, we can use the market to move stalled progress on glass ceilings and wage gaps for people of color as well as for women. 

We want to motivate companies to invest in diversity and inclusion, people and culture, growth and retention. It’s good business that can yield an enormous competitive advantage and allow companies to make good on their commitments to equity.

Working IDEAL provides trusted and innovative advice on inclusive workplaces, diverse talent, and fair pay. Contact us to learn more about the services we offer.

Authors: Pam Coukos and Cyrus Mehri

A Just and Inclusive Workplace is Essential to Sustain Our Democracy

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In 2017, the increased public visibility of the #MeToo movement made clear we were not doing enough to make the workplace safe from sexual harassment. In 2020, #BlackLivesMatter organizing similarly forced a broader and overdue reckoning with how deeply racial inequity runs in many institutions — including our nation’s workplaces, which need to be more inclusive.

The images of the first week of 2021 – a Confederate flag carried through the halls of Congress, people in the crowd breaking into the Capitol wearing shirts emblazoned with slogans about genocide of the Jewish people, a Black police officer against a mostly white crowd of insurrectionists – reinforce the urgency of our work to build a just and inclusive society.

As Cyrus said in December, in a recently-published interview in the Wall Street Journal, “Our democracy is not sustainable if don’t embrace equal opportunity.” 

But to do that we need truly innovative approaches. We must expand our thinking about what the barriers are and how to break through them.  As we welcome a new Administration that has committed to make racial justice and economic empowerment top priorities, and a new Congress that can move this agenda forward, we want to highlight some key innovations in government policy and workplace practices that can have the biggest impact.

1. Have the Security and Exchange Commission require transparency on diversity and inclusion. All large, publicly traded companies should make standard disclosures about hiring, representation, leadership and pay. As Cyrus explained to the Journal:

Merge SEC disclosures—annual reports, 10Ks—with advancing equal opportunity. For example, require companies to disclose race and gender data for their top 200 highest-paid employees. It’s a way to understand where the glass ceiling is. Do it by total compensation so it includes stock options. It’ll tell you who’s in the decision-making pool of the company. 

And as we explained in our 2016 proposal to the SEC, this empowers investors, workers, customers and community stakeholders  to make informed choices about where to spend their money.

2. Make your default hiring practices more inclusive, by ensuring you interview multiple women and people of color.  Cyrus explains why this disrupts default assumptions:

If you have one woman versus two women on a slate, when you go to two women, it’s 79 times more likely that a woman will be selected [than if there was only one woman in the pool]. When you go from one to two people of color, the number goes up like 190 times. If there are multiple diverse candidates, they’re multiple times more likely to be hired. Why is that? When you have isolated, coveted jobs, you need to do something to change the norms because the presumptions and stereotypes are so deeply rooted. 

Congress can lead the way by adopting the Rankin-Chisholm rule for its own hiring (a “Rooney Rule” for the Representatives), and by encouraging members to practice #CampaignEquity when they run for re-election.  

3. Make our nation’s first civil rights law a more effective tool for racial justice, so it can work to close the racial wealth gap, ensure real equal access to credit, capital, employment and economic participation. Amending Section 1981 would enable it to live up to its promise.

4. Understand how building racial justice at work includes ensuring fair pay. As Pam shared in an online presentation last fall:

Make equity a top priority when you make decisions, take actions, design programs and measure results. Gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, or any aspect of your identity should not determine your outcomes in the workplace – including pay.

The Administration can do its part by reinstating and expanding pay data collection and reinvigorating equal pay enforcement – and by ensuring that we do not just talk about the gender pay gap. We must recognize and address pay gaps based on race and ethnicity and the particular impact of both on women of color.

5. Promote an inclusive workplace culture free of harassment, bias and discrimination – starting with the people who do the people’s work in our federal and state governments.  Assessing culture, ensuring inclusive policies and practices, and acting quickly to address disrespectful behavior before it becomes toxic should be standard practice. President Biden should consider an Executive Order directing all federal agencies to adopt effective initiatives to promote equal employment opportunity and inclusive workplaces, and revoking a series of anti-DEI actions from the fall.

At the end of the day, Cyrus’ observation from December of 2020 seems even more true in January of 2021: 

There is a moral case for diversity and inclusion. And there’s a business case: long-term value is tied to diversity and diversity is tied to innovation. But the last few years have told us there is a democracy case, too.

 

Working IDEAL provides trusted and innovative advice on inclusive workplaces, diverse talent, and fair pay. Contact us to learn more about the services we offer.

Authors: Pam Coukos and Cyrus Mehri

2019 Highlights

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  • John Jay College Campus Climate Review.  Working IDEAL was selected after a competitive process to lead a Campus Climate Review to provide the John Jay community and leadership with a better understanding of its current culture and climate as it relates to diversity and inclusion and the prevention of harassment and sexual violence. The Review included focus groups, leadership conversations, and review of existing climate and diversity data and reports. To read the final report, visit the college’s public web page for the project: Learn More.
  • City of Cambridge Recruitment, Hiring and Promotion Project.  Working IDEAL successfully won the bid to conduct a DEI assessment of recruitment, hiring and promotion practices.  Over the past eight months, we have conducted department level interviews, begun to review data and completed a survey of all City employees.  In early 2020 we will begin a focus group process and prepare a report and recommendations.
  • DataCamp, Inc. Independent Third-Party Review. Working IDEAL conducted a third-party assessment for DataCamp, an educational technology start-up, in the wake of an alleged incident involving its CEO. The Working IDEAL team investigated the incident and the company’s response, evaluated culture and climate and recommended improvements to strengthen the company going forward. The Working IDEAL final report is available here: Learn More.
  • Nonprofit Advising on DEI and Compensation. Working IDEAL has completed several projects for national nonprofit organizations, including the Center for American Progress (a DEI assessment and a series of in-person trainings for all staff), the Humane Society of the United States (a pay equity study and recommendations on compensation program design) and the National Women’s Law Center (a pay equity review and development of a new compensation framework and policy). These organizations sought Working IDEAL out because of our approach and values.  We have been approached by three other similar organizations over the past several months as a result.
  • Friends of Bernie Sanders. In the wake of high-profile concerns raised by 2016 campaign staff about sexual harassment and workplace culture, Jenny, Rene and Pam facilitated a dialogue with former campaign staff and management, developing a process to collect feedback and use to it identify best practices for safe, inclusive and equitable campaign work. This work resulted in an innovative Blueprint for Campaign Equity, released by the Sanders campaign and available here: Learn More.

Making California’s New Gender Inclusion Law for Boards of Directors A Success

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By Cyrus Mehri

Governor Brown and the California Legislature took a major step to advance the U.S. economy by requiring publicly traded companies based in California to have at least two female members on their boards of directors by 2021. The wisdom of this new law is beyond reproach.

As the former Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission — Mary Jo White — declared two years ago, “I have seen first-hand what the research is telling us — boards with diverse members function better and are correlated with better company performance. This is why investors have — and should have — an interest in diversity disclosure about board members and nominees.“

By expanding the gender diversity of their boards, California companies will have a competitive advantage over companies based elsewhere. Several studies have linked gender diversity and increased innovation. A key 2014 study by Credit Suisse found that women on boards improved business performance on key metrics such as stock performance and earnings.

Yet despite these unmistakable advantages, female membership on boards of directors remains stagnant. Throughout this decade approximately 2/3 of U.S. boards of directors have had either no female members or only one female member of the board. This is an irrational outcome.

Companies are acting against their interest in terms of stock performance, innovation and earnings, because too many companies simply don’t know how to achieve a gender diverse board — nor, for that matter, do they know how to achieve a racially diverse board.

Based on my first-hand experience working with organizations to address organization and board diversity through the Rooney Rule and other key reforms, I know that there is a road map for success.

California companies can take concrete steps today to meet and exceed the new state benchmarks for gender board diversity, first by starting to ensure criteria for board membership is flexible enough to cover all the skills and attributes that succeeds in a competitive global economy. Board members should collectively represent a broad range of skills, experience and perspectives, which will help cast a wider net. Companies should also consider expanding the size of its board of directors.

When there is a vacancy on the board of directors, it’s important to commit to interviewing in-person a diverse set of candidates that includes at least two women and one person of color for each vacancy. This process should be included in a well- thought out nominations policy and guidelines tailored for the company. As we learned through experience with the Rooney Rule, a diverse pool of highly qualified women and people of color isn’t enough to move the needle. It matters who gets in the room to meet with the final decisionmakers.

Work through affinity groups and community and industry partners and develop a Ready List of potential board candidates who can strengthen a board of directors by bringing diverse life and work experiences and valuable perspectives. This includes going beyond the C-suite and considering experienced and talented leaders in the non-profit, public and education sectors. It also includes considering younger individuals earlier in the careers.

Companies need to also make sure that board nominating and governance committees are fully trained on interviewing a diverse slate of candidates and carrying out the policies, mission and goals for building equity and inclusion across the organization.

Finally, establish an effective communications strategy for rolling out a commitment to seriously interview and consider diverse candidates for the board of directors. This creates public accountability and make it easier to attract great candidates who bring new perspectives and experiences.

This road map for success is achievable right now. There are existing resources to draw on. There is no reason to wait until 2021 to advance innovation and earnings through the power of diversity.

Originally posted on Medium.

The IDEAL Workplace – Now More Than Ever

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We are living through uncertain times.  The shape and role of our government is changing. How to protect core American principles of equal opportunity, free expression, and religious liberty is a pressing national question. And many Americans are worried about the potential erosion of laws and social norms that represent decades of social progress on civil rights.

This might be a strange moment to launch a business dedicated to advancing the IDEAL workplace – to seek out clients who already do or will invest in the ideas that drive our mission. These are the workplaces where an inclusive culture fosters and promotes diverse talent and can pay off in strong and sustainable financial performance.  These are the employers who know that a commitment to pay equity and equal access to opportunities yields a meaningful competitive advantage.  These are the leaders who make strategic human capital a top organizational priority.

Perhaps now, more than ever, we need to collectively and publicly embrace these values. Now, more than ever, the private sector and civic society must lead.

Consider the role corporate America has played in challenging recent state laws rolling back LGBT protections in Indiana and North Carolina. Or the many businesses that asked the Supreme Court to preserve diversity in college admissions because of the benefits for the workplace and national economy. A recent post-election article asking “who will stand up for diversity and inclusion” discussed how competing for talent at home and abroad increasingly means supporting workplace diversity and inclusion independent of government policies.

We believe that many employers remain committed to promoting the IDEAL workplace and we are ready to support them. If you share this mission, let us help you build your strategy to get there.  And while we bring our own knowledge and experience, and we can link you with the best experts and resources, we are only adding to what you already have. Our experience representing workers and turning conflicts and challenges into constructive long-term change shows that the people with the most expertise at identifying barriers to equality and potential solutions are already in your workplace. We will leverage and complement that knowledge to help you meet your goals.