Building Belonging: 5 D&I Tactics That Make a Real Impact - Custom content for Oracle by studioID
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Building Belonging:
5 D&I Tactics That
Make a Real Impact
Custom content for
Oracle by studioID
F or years, Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) has been
closely linked to increased innovation and
financial performance.1 It’s also a subject of intense
demand in recruiting, engagement and retention.2
But as it turns out, D&I metrics just scratch the surface of
the conversation. In pursuit of quick wins in D&I analytics
and benchmarks, many organizations lose track of
the ultimate goal: creating a diverse and inclusive
environment where everyone feels they belong.
As more organizations make D&I milestones a priority,
leaders and HR executives will need to initiate a new
conversation: What resources and support are we
providing to foster belonging across our increasingly
diverse workforce?
Here’s why this conversation is important: “Individuals
want to be seen, valued, respected and heard when
they come into an organization,” says David Ortiz, senior
diversity and inclusion consultant at Oracle. “The lines
between work and life have blurred, and team members
expect to bring all that they are into the workplace. The
organizations that are not ready for that will lose their
competitive edge in both talent and strategy.”
2
Belonging, or the experience of security and support when Because of these challenges, organizations must make
there is a sense of acceptance, inclusion, and identity for a building belonging a daily and long-term commitment,
member of a certain group or place, is critical to fostering
3
focusing on creating clear pathways for employees to
innovation and growth. It is also often overlooked as a D&I make connections, participate in company culture, and
priority.4 While diversity is an area of focus, action, and confidently bring their authentic selves to the workplace.
measurement for organizations, belonging is less obvious Organizations must also peel back demographic data to
to recognize and more challenging to quantify. This is look at tangible ways to quantify belonging.
because belonging exists when it is felt—when employees
feel respected, free to innovate, and celebrated for
bringing all that they are to work.
3
Here are five foundational ways to bring more
attention—and impact—to this D&I imperative:
Five steps to building belonging D&I has a very real impact for us as a brand
because the customer experience will never
exceed the team member experience. And
Build connection
if our team members are experiencing the
very real pain of feeling like they do not
Enable mentorship
belong, they will actually be physically and
mentally unable to give our guests the
Encourage personal branding experience we’re committed to delivering.
Creating space for discussions about
Make internal opportunities more visible diversity, inclusion and belonging invites
people in and helps our people come to
Measure progress work as the best versions of themselves.”
JAMES FRIPP
4 Chief Equity & Inclusion Officer at Yum! Brands Inc.
Build Connection
It might seem like employees would be connected by the
simple fact that they work at the same organization, but
that’s not always the case. While connection can happen
organically, it’s important to orchestrate moments of
connection for employees to build bonds around shared
purpose, interests or skills.
Without a sense of connection to other team members,
employees can struggle to build trust or feel that they
need to suppress parts of themselves when they’re
at work—a sure precursor to disengagement, lower
productivity and attrition.
“Organizations are looking at D&I and belonging in a
A culture of belonging means that much more thoughtful and intentional way now than
the workplace is a psychologically ever before,” says Dr. Tana M. Session, organizational
safe environment where employees development strategist, international speaker, and media
can come to work and be their true contributor on inclusion & diversity. “Many are facing the
and authentic selves.” hard realization that the culture they thought was inclusive
and welcoming actually isn’t, along with all of the cultural
DR. TANA M. SESSION
changes that come along with this new realization.”
Organizational Development Strategist,
International Speaker, and Media
Contributor on Inclusion & Diversity
5
Ortiz and James Fripp, chief equity and inclusion officer at
Yum! Brands Inc., home of popular food chains like Taco
Bell, KFC, and The Habit Burger Grill, shared a few notable
examples of how their organizations build connection and
invite employees to belong:
• Yum! Brands executives invested time in regular
employee outreach through internal social
media platforms and email newsletters that
focused on topics like patience and flexibility
during the pandemic.
• Leadership at Yum! Brands hosts town hall calls
where all voices can be heard, prompting many in Some aspects of building connection
the organization to come face-to-face with the lived are more challenging now that many
experiences of those who did not feel included. organizations are remote, but some aspects
are actually easier. We might be able to
• The Oracle Pride Employee Network, an internal
get time on a leader’s calendar faster now
employee resource group, sponsored a 24-hour
because there are fewer meetings outside
virtual global pride event that followed the
the office with little to no traveling. In these
sun around the world with all employees
virtual meetings, we are now bringing
invited to participate.
people into our homes and our personal
spaces. It’s a very human experience that
can’t help but connect people.”
DR. TANA M. SESSION
Organizational Development Strategist,
International Speaker, and Media
6 Contributor on Inclusion & Diversity
Enable
organization also benefits from successful mentorship
as employees become engaged, committed and
Mentorship
knowledgeable about how to succeed within the company.
“Many people don’t know what they’re capable of
until someone else sees something they don’t see in
Mentorship is a powerful tool for building belonging
themselves,” says Session. “That’s why mentorship and
because it takes interpersonal connections and adds a
sponsorship are such powerful tools for underrepresented
layer of professional growth and career development. It
talent to advance within an organization. It also lets
also benefits both the mentor and the mentee: The
leadership identify high performers with potential, not just
mentee receives advice and insights, and the mentor
a proven track record—perhaps people they didn’t notice
shares hard-earned wisdom and feels more valued. The
before, who were right on the cusp of standing out but just
needed a push from a trusted adviser to step forward.”
7
For example, Oracle has built a culture of mentorship that
is almost entirely self-moderated by enabling mentors and
mentees to match and connect virtually. Ortiz shared a few
ground rules that guide Oracle’s mentorship approach:
Identify a clear purpose, which for Oracle is to
make sure employees are aware of the resources
available to them.
Choose a clear formal, informal or situational
structure, which depends on a number of
organizational factors such as the size and maturity
of the company and interest among employees.
Build in an exit strategy that allows either individual
to dissolve the mentorship for any reason. Traditional mentorship is powerful,
and so is reverse mentorship. Many
Be conscious of pairings to ensure the most of our executives have embraced the
equitable access to available mentors. opportunity to learn from employees
who are just getting started in their
careers, especially when that employee’s
experience is so different from the
executive’s due to race, ethnicity,
gender and perspective. It’s a powerful
experience for both people involved.”
JAMES FRIPP
8 Chief Equity & Inclusion Officer at Yum! Brands Inc.
Encourage
Personal
Branding
While belonging exists only when it is felt by the
employee, organizations, teams, and managers must
take an active role in enabling it. That’s why one of
the imperatives of creating pathways for inclusion is
to help team members explore and build their own
personal brands within the company. Reflecting on
their professional identity and making choices about
how they want to represent themselves at work builds
a sense of confidence, empowerment and excitement
for the work they do and the team they work with.
A personal brand can also help employees navigate
through the sense that they don’t belong. In Harvard
Business Review, Michael Slepian, the Sanford C.
Bernstein & Co. Associate Professor of Leadership
and Ethics at Columbia Business School, wrote,
“Employees may feel they don’t belong for any
number of reasons, but in each case, the result is the
same: what researchers term an ‘identity threat.’”5
9
Slepian shared that an identity threat is any situation that For example, Yum! Brands uses personal recognition
makes it clear an employee is different from everyone else. awards to celebrate the individual contributions employees
He surveyed 1,500 individuals with a range of identities offer to the organization. Awards are not based on
about their experience at work and found that many felt performance in a particular role, but rather include ones
threats to their identity multiple times a week.6 like the X-Factor award, given to employees who exhibit an
abundant amount of caring for others. These awards allow
Companies can create identity-safe environments by employees at all levels of seniority to be recognized, and
actively helping employees establish strong personal broadcast that Yum! Brands has a culture that celebrates
brands closely aligned with their individual values employees who bring their authentic selves to work.
and experiences, empowering a diverse workforce
to confidently respond to signals of inclusion.
10Make Internal
Opportunities
More Visible
An important way to show employees they belong is by
making it clear how they can grow and advance within
an organization. But all too often, opportunities for formal
and informal advancement are passed along what Ortiz
calls “the whisper network,” available only to those in the
know—which can bypass groups who are disengaged or
historically not included in the social network.
“So often the story for women, people of color and
minorities is that if you work hard and keep your head
down, you’ll get that promotion,” Session says. “But
then we look up and see that everyone’s moved past
us and we don’t know why. Making opportunities for
advancement more visible and accessible within an
organization is a clear and direct way to end this cycle
and remove the barriers to entry that have prevented
these groups from advancing in the workplace.”
11A key tactic for organizations is to ensure new
positions and opportunities for advancement are
shared in widely visible arenas where anyone can
Just think of how your impact can be multiplied and
see what’s available and consider applying. Two
what perspectives will be added to your point of view
examples of this may include leveraging employee
to create better outcomes if you expand your network
resource groups to work with internal talent to
of go-to people. Every industry will benefit from
identify high-potential individuals, and having
having an active D&I strategy because we need those
hiring teams regularly posts available positions to
new perspectives if we want to remain relevant.”
D&I channels, such as a Slack group or newsletter,
ensuring underrepresented groups and allies DAVID ORTIZ
don’t miss opportunities as they become available. Senior Diversity & Inclusion Consultant at Oracle
12Measure Progress to
Understand What’s Working
Metrics do not tell the full story of D&I, but they can help D&I metrics can vary by organization, but here are a few
an organization gauge the overall health of the workforce, important data points that can help uncover opportunities
identify trends, and reveal opportunities to better support for action when broken down by employee demographics:
initiatives that further build belonging.
•S
eniority level, new hires, promotions
“You can’t have a good dialogue around D&I without data and retention
points,” Ortiz explains. “Particularly when meeting with
senior leaders, data must be part of that conversation. And, •C
ommunity participation and event attendance
if possible, you’re sharing that data with the world to show
that you’re serious about doing better with D&I.” •E
mployee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)
13While accurate data gathering can require a high level
of coordination, a broad company-wide tool like an
eNPS survey can help an organization understand how
successfully it’s fostering belonging. By asking employees
to score their level of satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10,
eNPS surveys can help gauge whether employees feel
championed in the workforce, whether they feel they can
be authentic, and how engaged they are.7
Movement in D&I cannot be made in isolation.
Understanding your progress and making space
for uncomfortable conversations is a critical part
of creating change within an organization. It gives
you insight into the fact that D&I doesn’t just
affect the underrepresented members of your
workforce—it’s something fully in demand by the
many allies within your organization as well.”
DAVID ORTIZ
Senior Diversity & Inclusion Consultant at Oracle
14Every organization is operating in a global environment today, which
means you will have global perspectives on your team. What would
it be like if your organization embraced the opportunity to leverage
those insights while you built strategy? How much more capable
would you be in resonating with a diverse population?”
DAVID ORTIZ
Senior Diversity & Inclusion Consultant at Oracle
Creating long-term impact
with long-term effort
Whether your organization’s D&I strategy is already in That’s when it becomes important to remember that the
motion or just getting started, you’re in good company. goal is not to check the box of D&I and move on; the goal is
There’s a lot of work to do, because as organizations to go beyond benchmarks to a place where all individuals
become more diverse and embed D&I practices into their have the power to bring their whole selves to the
businesses, the bar for equity, inclusivity and belonging will workplace and apply their best efforts to the mission of the
rise, unlocking a whole new chapter and challenge in the organization. This is an evolution, not a task: It will require
discussion taking place in the people field. long-term efforts to see long-term impact—but the results
for the organization and the individual will be worth it.
15Sources
Hunt, V., Layton, D., & Prince, S. (2015). Why diversity Slepian, M. (2020). Are your D&I efforts helping
matters. McKinsey & Company. https://www. employees feel like they belong?. Harvard Business
mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our- Review. https://hbr.org/2020/08/are-your-di-efforts-
insights/why-diversity-matters helping-employees-feel-like-they-belong
Kidwai, A. (2021). 2021 may signal a new recruiting Slepian, M. (2020). Are your D&I efforts helping
era. HR Dive. https://www.hrdive.com/news/2021- employees feel like they belong?. Harvard Business
may-signal-a-new-recruiting-era/593222/ Review. https://hbr.org/2020/08/are-your-di-efforts-
helping-employees-feel-like-they-belong
Huang, S. Why does belonging matter at work?.
SHRM. https://blog.shrm.org/blog/why-does- Oracle webinar. (2021). Embedding D, E & I in your
belonging-matter-at-work#:~:text=Belonging%20 daily business practice. https://videohub.oracle.com/
is%20defined%20as%20the,a%20diverse%20 media/Embedding+D%2C+E+%26+I+in+Your+Daily+
and%20inclusive%20place Business+Practice/1_ixi2jyqi
Carr, E.W., Reece, A., Rosen Kellerman, G., &
Robichaux, A. The value of belonging at work.
Harvard Business Re-view. https://hbr.org/2019/12/
the-value-of-belonging-at-work
16Oracle helps HR unlock human possibilities by building cloud applications that let your workforce feel safe and supported, understand their purpose, adapt to change, and trust the team around them. With Oracle Cloud HCM, you gain an employee experience platform that drives your D&I initiatives with the insights and tools to understand, support, and lead your organization forward to a more inclusive culture. To learn more about Oracle Cloud HCM, visit www.oracle.com/hcm Learn more
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