Hi, I'm Tammy Dickers and I am the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion North America Lead for Publicis Sapient. Today I will be answering questions from around the internet about DE&I.
So first, what is DE&I? Diversity is the what, and it really is diversity in all situations, so it's race and ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, also includes things like your background, your experience, age. And then we have equity, where you are really trying to create equal opportunities and equal programs for people. And for inclusion, which is the how, it's creating an environment where people have a sense of belonging and where they feel that they can thrive.
Someone on Reddit asked, how do I deal with a coworker who does not believe in diversity, equity and inclusion? This is a fair question because not everyone is at the same level when it comes to DE&I. So really, it's about meeting people where they are, having people understand that, you know, it is a journey. So it requires you to learn and be open to learning. So we continue to educate, be patient and have conversations. And we don't shy away from the conversations. We don't shy away from learning, but we meet people where they are.
Someone on Quora asked, how do you build a strong culture of DEI, diversity, equity, inclusion at a tech company? It really starts with your CEO. It's always better to have more perspective, right? You can never have enough perspective because you're always not going to see something that somebody else sees from that vantage point. So the leader of the organization needs to be a champion and ally with this work. The strategy has to be driven with the business in mind as well as the people. And so having strong leadership support is needed and having a dedicated team that is focused on DE&I. However, it has to be embedded in the overall business and culture because when you think about it, DE&I is culture work.
Someone on Twitter asked, why is diversity and inclusion needed? Wouldn't hiring and promoting by merit accomplish that same thing or no? I mean, we would hope so. However, we are not at that place yet where people from marginalized or underrepresented communities have the same opportunities as everyone else. So this is why it is important to have a focus on driving equitable practices in hiring, as well as making sure that your practices are inclusive and diverse. For instance, someone who has a disability, they may often be overlooked because people may make assumptions about the fact that they may or may not be able to do something without having a conversation and having the person tell you in the interview process what they can or cannot do. Then, you know, you're not creating biases and you're not actually disqualifying someone. You're giving them a true opportunity to talk about their experience and who they are. Because if you're not creating the right environment for all people to thrive, it won't work. You won't retain talent and you won't attract talent. So it is important that as you are attracting diverse backgrounds, that you're also creating a space where people feel supported regardless of their identity and their background.
Someone on Cora asked, who benefits from diversity, equity and inclusion? We all do. The fact of the matter is this work is for everyone. It's not just for any specific group, because when you think about it, we all come from diverse backgrounds. So we all have an identity group that we belong to and we belong to multiple identity groups. So if this work is done right, it will benefit everyone because we're able to bring in diverse perspectives. We're able to hear from different people with different experiences and we're able to celebrate those differences as well as we are able to benefit from them. So I think it's understanding that we're all part of this solution. It's not just meant to be benefiting one group, but it's meant to benefit multiple groups of people. So, yeah, this work is complex. And so it is important that we continue to sustain it, make sure that it's not a passive trend and that people don't see it as this thing that's, you know, 2020, it was the thing and now it's not. It has to be the fabric of organizations. And if they're building the structure properly with the D&I leadership and with teams in place to support it on the business side, then it's something that can scale. And then you're continuing to evolve that over time. But it's something that becomes embedded into your practices where people are asking questions around, you know, am I creating psychological safety on my team? So it's no longer just something that we have to remind people of. It becomes who they are. So they've created that mindset for themselves. Organizations have set those practices in place and then it will continue over time.