4 ways to boost the ROI of your DEI programs

Published Updated 1 Min Read

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How does your organization approach diversity, equity and inclusion?

The answer to that question likely varies greatly depending on a number of factors, from what industry you work in and your seniority level to what gender, race and ethnicity you identify with. Decades of corporate efforts to improve company culture and equity have yielded varying results, but one takeaway is universal: Inclusion takes work, and it takes honesty.

Image”We are moving away from formal programs and baking our DEI efforts into strategy. Programs have a start and an end. And that is not necessarily part of your culture. Your DEI strategy should not, in my opinion, be a collection of programs. Our professional networks provide our people with opportunities to form a community and to connect inside and outside of work. It helps them create informal mentoring relationships and strengthen their leadership skills. It’s grassroots, and it creates a real back-and-forth between our communities and leadership.” —Leslie Patterson, Americas and US DEI leader, EY

Image”Our focus is gender equality. We joined the UN Global Compact Target Gender Equality initiative, which will assist us in structuring our strategic plans. We introduced a coaching program, Balance, to support gender equality in leadership. Recent research indicates that 87% of Fortune 500 companies with a female CEO record above-average profits, so there’s no excuse for ‘business as usual.’ The UK side of our business ranked among the top companies for DEI on Glassdoor; we’re holding ourselves to this standard in the U.S. as well.” —Caroline Fox, global ED&I strategy lead, Frank Recruitment Group

Stephanie Schomer
Editor-in-chief

Stephanie Schomer is the editor-in-chief of Employee Benefit News. She was most recently the deputy editor of Entrepreneur magazine and previously held positions at Entertainment Weekly, … Read full bio


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