Exploring Diversity & Inclusion: SHRM Diversity & Inclusion Conference

Diversity and inclusion is a passion that I have been cultivating through my experience working at the National Urban League. As the Senior Manager for Talent Management, I have the opportunity to work on diversity initiatives and spearhead employment branding campaigns. During the BIC program, my goal was to understand the ins and outs of agencies and figure out how to best infuse diversity and inclusion within the internal management of an agency. My role at National Urban League afforded me the opportunity to attend the SHRM Diversity Conference in Indianapolis. While this conference was primarily filled with Human Resource professionals, I was able to look at the information provided through a “BIC” lens.

Facilitators led powerful sessions on the LGBTQ+ community, veterans, gender inequality, racial equity and workplace unfairness for people with disabilities. The sessions provided insight on understanding different types of people and the how so many communities feel left out, harassed and unsafe in the workplace. The conference gave me a new perspective on Diversity & Inclusion and allowed me to clear my own misconceptions of certain communities while thinking about diversity and inclusion in a new way. The three session which stuck out to me the most discussed the challenges within the LGBTQ+ community, veterans and for people with disabilities. As a black women I often gravitate toward discussions about people of color and women but these sessions allowed me to take a look at the issues that exist within other disadvantaged communities in the workplace and what I need to do to be sure all communities feel valued.

While attendees were steady sharing their view from an HR perspective, there was one key issue that they were missing, how do will we communicate a new organizational culture?  This made me see why having communications professionals work in the Diversity & Inclusion space is so important. Instead of Diversity & inclusion being a just policy it needs to be well communicated as a pillar of the organization.

The session which discussed the LGBTQ+ community went beyond policy and touched on the matter of communicating a new organizational culture. The speaker, Jeremey York, President InvigorateHR, discussed the issues that currently exist within organizational culture and how all companies need to take responsibility for these problems then make an honest effort to correct these issues. Within the LGBTQ+ community a common workplace issue is gender neutral bathrooms. While now it has become a law for companies to have gender neutral bathrooms this was often a reason why transgender people did not get hired. Workplace cultures did not support a transgender person using the bathroom of their choice. Instead of tackling the issue and reshaping the organizational culture many companies took the easy way out and went with another candidate no matter how qualified that transgender candidate may have been. Fortunately, laws have forced some companies to decrease their biases, however, a law isn’t enough to change the way people think. That is where communication and showcasing what a new organizational culture looks like comes to play.

The session on Veterans was also interesting because it touched on a different type of branding than what is usually discussed, employment branding. One phrase that many of the HR professionals kept repeated was “We don’t know where to find qualified veterans.” Employment  branding allows companies to develop brand awareness among the groups the company wishes to source talent from. Potential employees want to feel like they will be valued as an employee and as a person. Employment branding allows you to showcase the inclusiveness of your company. It helps to promote your commitment to hiring diverse job seekers, showcase your talent development strategy and even highlight competitive employee benefits. One of the speakers, Jamie Wright, Manager of Talent Acquisition, Roche, shared that proper employment branding can help attract diverse talent and strategically source talent in places that you may not always look. Wright said “It’s not that qualified veterans are not applying or not available for hire, it’s that they are being overlooked because companies are looking in the same places for talent.” Often time companies will go to colleges to recruit talent or now rely heavily on LinkedIn. Whether it is creating a profile in a veterans group on LinkedIn or going to the VA for a job fair, groups like Veterans need to know that companies are specifically making an effort to connect with them and they need to see that these companies are also making an effort to keep them.

Eric Ellet led a powerful discussion on “Leading with Disabilities” which to me was one of the best sessions. Ellet discussed how the word disability automatically has a negative connotation. For most, it means “you can’t.” However, while having a disability might present a challenge it does not mean they can not lead and manage effectively. It was inspiring to see multiple people on the panel with disabilities including people who were blind and hearing impaired who have overcome what so many people thought would hold them back.

The conference closed with Chief of Staff at SHRM National, Emily M. Dickens, as the luncheon speaker. She gave a powerful keynote that made everyone in the room think about what else we as individuals can do to transform workplaces and make DIversity & Inclusion more than a buzz word but a pillar of our organizational culture.