The Next Normal Of Employer Brand
In episode three, Dave and Bryan entered the realm of diversity and inclusion within organizations and as we can all agree it’s not a topic to touch on lightly; with that in mind, it was time to bring in the expert.
We were thrilled to welcome our first ever guest to The Next Normal video series, Torin Ellis!
Torin is a Diversity Strategist, and as he says, he’s non-judgmental but definitely prescriptive. He’s unapologetic and full of passion, this episode is definitely a Ph favorite.
Here’s what they got talking about...
The Short-Term and Long-Term
Diversity and inclusion is critical, it’s not just the right thing to do.
The Embankment report for Inclusive Capitalism from EY said, “we need to look at inclusive capitalism in a different way”, it looks at how an organization’s value will come from innovation, culture and trust, and social capital; for Torin and probably most of us within the employer brand space, this ties into the people.
Short-term companies are considering or already have made the decision that D&I is not important right now. We need companies from all around to admit the year 2020 has derailed plans, projections and thrown a lot of things out of sync but no matter what, we’re not to shudder away from diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging because long-term it will be harder and more time consuming to restart that engine.
Over the past 30 years you’ve seen organizations putting out press releases of doing good or putting forward money to nonprofits, but do we see them being undoubtedly committed to D&I across all areas and departments of their business?
Long-term we want to see more and more organizations not put off any D&I efforts but we want to see them add more into the value of who the organization becomes.
Right now there is an opportunity to be vulnerable, we’ve seen a lot of companies modify their advertising for their consumer brand to tailor the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic like addressing social distancing and staying at home, with simplistic adversity, they say you can continue to enjoy yourself still with us under the current circumstances! Acts like this shows organizations can do a great job of telling real and authentic stories around what now truly looked like, they can show the women and the caregivers within their organisation and tell their stories to show they had a human element throughout what we all experienced.
Torin explains further, “frontline organizations can profile people and show them in non-scripted scenarios that say, ‘we know you put your life on the line by getting on that bus or delivering those packages. We’re going to tell those stories because when we come out of this pandemic we want people to join our organization who understand that we care about you!”. It’s the people that are important.
'Why Not?'
Organizations have shown they can turn it all around for their people and onto their people and make things happen within just 60 days, such things that we as employer brand advocates and enthusiasts have wanted for the future of work for a long time.
We need to keep that conversation around people and D&I moving as extremely important. From an inclusion standpoint why not look at our benefits? Why not look at how we’re taking care of the people who are the caregivers, or the people with children at home while working remotely full-time? Just look at the possibilities to make things easier on your employees, now isn’t the time for rigid processes for things that can change.
Put some solutions in place that address diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging, typically the conversation goes straight to gender or race which is still important but don’t just limit the conversation to these two.
Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging
Inclusion at the moment has a bit of momentum behind it, particularly because organizations are seeing the marketing possibilities that are forming and the prospect of a more credible reputation.
We as a society and an economy have that sentiment of short-term memory but what’s happened this year, what’s happening now we cannot allow it to be short term. We have to build it into our data we always refer to and capitalize on how far we’ve come. Organizations need to remember for years to come how they changed and the humanity they showed, and continue it so it’s in people’s conscious but it becomes unconscious.
For those individuals who are focusing on the D&I within their organization, they need to promote that we need more people to be more aligned, sing from the rooftops for those essential workers, come together and come up with ways to make D&I a priority and focus. Exercise your voice internally and externally because that agitation is what leadership, shareholders, stakeholders and investors will listen to.
Recognise where you are, D&I is extremely important for going forward not just now in the midst of a pandemic, evaluate where you are now in terms of D&I but also equity and belonging. All four are different but remain together, you can’t do one without the other if you’re truly committed to your efforts.
When you know where you are with these four components and you have the people behind you who are saying “THIS IS IMPORTANT!”, then you can start to put a practical plan in place.
“You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to do something”. - Torin Ellis
You’re going to mess up and make mistakes but that’s how you learn and it shows that you care. Put your plan in place, acknowledge any issues but be a part of the change.
Vulnerability Is Important
People are hurting. People, not companies, people have had to adapt. Allow people the opportunity to feel vulnerable.
Companies can’t pull back now on any efforts or plans for their D&I. If you are genuine and care for your employees it creates a genuine connection; show them you’re creating space and supporting them, that's the inclusion and belonging.
“Vulnerability is value”. - Torin Ellis
There are companies who are fearful. Your people don’t care who’s perfect, they just want to know and feel they can trust you, so it’s important to consider this before operating out of fear.
We can see going forward that the likes of Glassdoor and Comparably, platforms who work to make workplaces transparent and where past and present employees can review a company, will erupt. People when choosing where they want to start their career and work will remember this time where employees were treated well by their employers and will want to find that too.
Watch the full episode below, and don’t forget to sign-up to our newsletter to receive notifications on The Next Normal of Employer Branding.
If you as an individual or organization need advice, consultancy or just a frank conversation then get in touch with Torin and he will be by your side!
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