The Future of Work movement would not be what it is without Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) playing a significant part in the paradigm. A decade ago, diversity was associated more with supplier initiatives focused on Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses. The term has evolved and expanded into DE&I where the human element is now the priority.
A recent Future of Work Exchange Podcast hosted by Christopher Dwyer, managing director for FOWX, featured Rocki Howard, chief equity and impact officer for The Mom Project, who discussed the role and impact of DE&I on the Future of Work movement.
The Mom Project is a digital talent and community platform serving 1.2 million users (the majority being moms as well as over 3,000 companies from small- to medium-sized businesses to Fortune 500).
This article recaps some of that discussion. Note that this excerpt has been edited for readability.
Christopher Dwyer: While the Future of Work relies on technology and innovation, it also brings focus to the humanity of the worker. Workers crave flexibility — not just work-life balance — but also work-life integration. Describe what the renewed interest in workers being people not just commodities means to you.
Rocki Howard: Often when I’m speaking and coaching about diversity initiatives and what makes them sustainable, there are two core components to consider. You have to consider diversity as a business imperative and as a human imperative. When I made the purposeful pivot in my career to focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), one of the things I found was that many companies were focused on the systemic issues that take place or that need to be fixed and then take place. And that is critical and important, and we have to do it.
But one of the things that I was extremely disappointed by was the lack of conversations that were happening around people. Not talking about what is the experience for Rocki Howard as she works for company XYZ and how that should impact how we are recalibrating our systems at work and how we treat people. Because there has been a power shift in terms of the world of work. Employers used to hold all the power. That’s no longer the case. There needs to be a partnership.
Quite frankly, that’s one of the reasons I came to work for The Mom Project. Our mission is always about people. We’re always talking about mom and how we can support mom. Even when we think internally at The Mom Project, we listen to the voices of the people who work for us. We’re not trying to create systems or programs in a checkbox or in a performative way.
Even as we partner with organizations, we are looking for those who have respectful workplaces and respect the voices of moms and their dual working status. It can’t just be the business imperative. The human imperative has to be there as well. For companies that are going to get this right, it can’t be just about the human imperative either. There has to be a balance between the business imperative and the human imperative.
CD: There are many organizations that have their hearts in the right place, but they don’t know where to start with a DE&I initiative. They want to be more diverse in the way they think as well as have more diverse voices in their organization, while also being more inclusive. Based on your vast experience, knowledge, and expertise, how should businesses recalibrate the way they think about DE&I?
RH: I could talk for hours on this topic. First, you need to start with an honest assessment of what diversity means within your particular culture. Begin with the end in mind. When you define success in your organization, what does that look like? What pillars of diversity do you want to focus on? Have you talked with your employees? When I started at The Mom Project, I spent significant time doing focus groups with various employees asking questions about how authentic they thought our initiatives were. What did they want to see? What was important to them? What would make them proud as we move forward? I don’t think we spend enough time doing this. Often, we fall into comparison syndrome where if X company is approaching diversity a certain way, then we should be doing that. But that may not be what works for your specific environment.
Second, I think we need to start moving towards integrated DEIB solutioning. There’s been a tremendous amount of focus on DEIB during the recruiting cycle, but we haven’t moved beyond that through the talent management lifecycle. That’s important for us to do. One of my clients once said they couldn’t recruit their way out of the problem. However, if they’re not thinking about the experience throughout the lifecycle, then they’re not going to reach equity, inclusion, and belonging. They won’t see successful sustainable initiatives as a result.
Lastly, DEIB is not a singular “problem to solve.” We need to be more collaborative. It is not something that can be solved by one person or one company as a competitive advantage. Coming together as a global community as we work together to solve this is going to be important as will leaning on partnerships with organizations like The Mom Project. Everyone has a role to play. And no one can be removed from the conversation. When I think of companies that are at the starting line, those are the conversations to get started. And then you drive everything else from there.
CD: When we look at the landscape (i.e., workforce solutions and the talent acquisition industry) a year from now, where do you feel DE&I and diversity as a whole will be?
RH: That question is one that keeps me up at night. We’re starting to see an erosion of diversity resources, whether it’s people, money, or time resources. But what I’m really hopeful of is that we’re not going to take steps back. Collectively, I think society and our communities are going to hold us accountable for the promises that we’ve made to continue to move forward. If there’s one hope I have for DEIB initiatives moving forward, is that we crack the frozen middle. Many times where diversity initiatives go to die within our organizations is at middle management. What I’d like to see is for us to crack that frozen middle and get our middle managers involved and integrated into being inclusive leaders. I think the leadership framework must change. And we must crack that frozen middle in order to have real impact. That’s what I’m hoping we will see moving forward.
