This is the time to create a shift in how companies provide a sense of belonging with authenticity.
PG: How is Simpactful helping companies with diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) efforts?
JWH: The events of 2020 really put DEIB at the forefront; meaning, the issue really reached and resonated in the C-suites and in the boardrooms. So where are we today? I would say while we’re paying attention more than we used to, the scale of what we’re doing, the solutions that are being brought forward, broadly speaking, don’t yet match with the size of the problem or the scale of the problem. There’s still very much a gap there, No. 1. No. 2, even though the donations are continuing and we are paying more attention, there’s a little bit of trailing off as well with some of the companies. People will put their resources against it very often, and most often with good intentions. But it does tend to be one of those areas that, when cuts have to be made or resources have to be redeployed or whatever, it often comes from that space.
PG: How should retail and CPG companies be thinking about DEIB when it comes to hiring and retention in 2022, especially considering the current labor crisis?
JWH: It absolutely has to be a part of it, and in some ways, it’s been a part, but there has to be more focus. As I think about a couple of the companies I’m working with, that is one of the key areas that we’re starting with. We’re looking at the entire talent cycle, because it’s one thing to be invited to the party, but it’s a whole other thing to be asked to dance. The risk is even higher now, because of the whole Great Resignation, or great re-evaluation of life. You’ve got to pay more attention to the individual and speak to the individual. So when you’re talking about hiring, first thing is, let’s kind of “un-bias” — or “de-bias,” I guess, is a better word — the job description that you put out there. And not only does it speak to the diversity and the need to bring in diversity across the board, but it also starts to have companies think about what the individual needs.
PG: What are those “needs”?
JWH: How do we make people feel a sense of belonging? How do we make people feel safe when they’re at work? Because that will speak to this whole re-evaluation of life that’s happening as people are resigning and walking away. This is the time to really create a shift in how we hire and develop and provide a sense of belonging with authenticity. Because that’s the other thing I would say from 2020 to where we are now: For those folks who have become a bit more lukewarm in this space, it questions their authenticity. And we know that with this whole Great Resignation, and as we start to think about Gen Z and so forth, they’re looking for the authenticity piece of it, and they’re willing to walk away from companies that don’t demonstrate the investment in DEIB, who don’t demonstrate the investment, clear demonstration, measurement kind of demonstration, in social causes. We know that they will walk away from that. And so it’s always been important, but it’s so important with the environment that we’re in — even more so, I think.
PG: So you think this is a fundamental realignment in how people define work?
JWH: Yeah, I don’t think this is temporary. Like anything, there are pendulum swings, but I don’t believe it’s going to go back to the way it was. When we start to think about how we think and what causes human behavioral changes, this is one of those things that is that type of change that is long term. There has been a mind shift of re-evaluating what’s important, work/life balance and what are companies offering, and do their actions match their words?
PG: And this all goes back to environmental, social and governance goals, and companies staying accountable.
JWH: Companies are in a place now where not only is transparency critical, but they’re being evaluated more so by both the consumers that they serve as well as the employees that they’re hiring. So they’re a bit more under the microscope, and so the tables are shifting a little bit. And when I think about that from a diversity equity, inclusion and belonging standpoint, you have got to figure that out. We have got to figure out what is the working environment that, again, creates a sense of belonging.