Dr. Ella Speaks

Happy Women’s History Month! 

     I hope that in the first half of this month you have had opportunities to reflect on the contributions of women, the resilience of generations of activists, and the brilliance of so many underestimated individuals. We have enjoyed participating in many of the Women’s history celebrations of our clients this month. I also hope that you are taking opportunities to educate yourself on the very real experiences of inequity faced by women in the workforce. 

     I am excited to announce that I will be facilitating an exciting and engaging panel discussion at this year’s Women of Power Summit powered by Black Enterprise this Friday, March 25, 2022. I will be on stage alongside 3 distinguished women panelists as we discuss how to manage your remote teams like a BOSS. It’s so hard to believe that what was once designed to be a few weeks of us working from home 2 years ago has now become permanent for many. If you’re scheduled to be in attendance, I’d love to connect with you during the session.

     My career in DEI began in graduate school when I focused my dissertation research on women’s ascension to leadership roles, specifically exploring “When leaning in is not enough”. It has always been clear to me that organizations must create a supportive environment for women to thrive. The challenges for gender equity are still pervasive today as shown by a recent article published by my colleague Ashleigh Rosette and colleagues at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. They found that there are still stigmas and biases against female leaders that impact perceptions of their leadership in the workplace. When agentic women were viewed as independent, diligent or competent, they were seen as promotable but when they possessed or displayed dominance- they were viewed as less promotable. In fact, women perceived as dominant were penalized more strongly than men who showed dominance. 

     It is disheartening to think that as far as we have come, the biases that plague our workplaces are still present. As you plan ahead for talent review and promotion conversations, I encourage you to keep this in mind and support your staff in how they can manage bias in these reports and conversations. As Dr. Rosette shared in the article,

     As you plan or host your Women’s History Month acknowledgment, consider how you can integrate awareness to reduce gender bias in your workplace and across your teams. How can your organization lean into gender equity this month and every month? 

With DEI in Mind,

Dr. Ella

The Necessary Journey

The most important part of what I strive to do is implement real change. It was inspiring to see how Denny’s bounced back from their lawsuit and truly did a 180 to implement diversity & equity in the workplace. That’s the ultimate goal of my work, which is highlighted in my book, The Necessary Journey: Making Real Progress on Equity and Inclusion.

Ellavated Learning

Ellavated Learning: Gender Equity Beyond the Pay Gap
By: Hildana Haileyesus 

When we think about equality and equity for women, we must think beyond the gender pay gap and further educate ourselves about other hurdles and inequities that may exist. In 2020, women earned 84 cents on the dollar compared to men. This is a gap that has only shrunk by 8 cents in the last 25 years. Despite the attention the gender pay gap receives, the reality is that it has shifted very little and it is not the only roadblock to advancement for women. Other challenges that women face in the workplace are inequity in promotions, bias in hiring, incidents of sexual harassment, and lack of flexibility when compared to men. In fact, men even outpace women in their use of employee benefits. This is evident in a 2017 study, which found that men use their benefits for childcare, sick leave, and vacation more often than women; inherently creating a benefits gap. 

As a result, and due to the stigma women feel about taking time off or asking for flexibility, women tend to experience higher levels of burnout. The pandemic nearly doubled the gender burnout gap, which resulted in more women opting to leave the workforce or chose to seek out part-time roles. These alarming results are inclusive of the experience of transwomen as well. Transgender people are twice as likely to be unemployed and 2.4 times more likely to work in food and retail industries, where they are often subject to job insecurity. When you also consider the disproportionate rates of violence and harassment trans women experience, especially black and brown trans women, there is a lot of work needed to increase equity in the workplace. 

Improving the gender equity gap in your specific organization or workplace culture starts with awareness. I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on the women that you have witnessed in your organization:

• What are the positions and types of roles that they hold? 

• Would you consider the culture as inclusive to these women? How do you know? 

• Who in your organization is accountable for ensuring that there is gender equity? 

These questions may be difficult to answer, but by taking these first steps we can hope to start moving the needle in a positive direction. The evolution of society has created one layer of accountability that is prominent in today’s culture, which is the use of social accountability. An interesting execution of this was seen on International Women's Day. This was a day filled with celebratory remarks and exaltations of women all over the world with an innumerable amount of organizations across social media platforms. In an effort to promote social accountability, we also witness the widespread popularity of a “controversial” bot twitter account that retweeted organizations who made Women’s Day tweets and shared data about that specific organizations' current gender pay gap. While there is plenty to be said about the tactics of the usage of Twitter, this effort did illuminate how despite the culmination of beautiful words and social media posts that the fact remains that there still is a gender gap problem.

So this Women’s History Month, I encourage you to push beyond and do more than thank your mothers, sisters, and partners for how they support you every day. I encourage you to also consider who they are beyond their personal relationship to you and how you can be an active participant in driving equity in your organization or workplace.

Best Practice: 5 Guiding Principles for Inclusive Workplace Dress Codes

“Work from home fashions” over the past two years have been a topic of discussion, memes, and commercials. As we see organizations gradually returning to work, or finding hybrid alternatives, it’s important to refocus our attention on what dress codes mean in your organization. Although it may seem trivial, an inclusive dress code can go a long way in cultivating an inclusive workplace. Below are some best practices for inclusive dress code expectations: 

1. Be clear with your language. Make sure that you explicitly explain how you define terms like “appropriate” “professional” and similar phrases. 

2. Create guidelines that focus on the articles of clothing expected or required rather than the gender perception of those items or employees. Have a list of appropriate clothing items rather than differentiating them by gender. 

3. Encourage authenticity and comfort for all employees. Clothes are a way for people to express themselves authentically. Your dress code should be as inclusive as possible in order to allow people to bring more of themselves to the workplace. 

4. Take a look at traditional taboos. Evaluate your dress code and identify what components are no longer relevant, culturally in tune or inclusive. Air New Zealand made headlines when they got rid of their “no tattoos policy” stating that they wanted their employees to feel empowered in “expressing their individuality and cultural heritage”.

5. Provide support and alternatives. Provide a style guide of examples of what your dress code entails. Dress code terms and expectations are not always common knowledge. If a uniform is required, make sure that you provide attire options or offer appropriate compensation. 

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DEI in Action

April acknowledges many different DEI observances. In this newsletter, we will highlight and explore how companies have put their DEI in Action through programming for two of them: Autism Awareness and Ramadan.

• Microsoft introduced a pilot program in 2015 that was designed to hire people with autism and to create career opportunities. The success of this pilot has evolved into the Microsoft Neurodiversity Hiring Program, which reflects and prioritizes how Microsoft is expanding inclusive hiring practices and increasing the diversity of its workforce.

• American Airlines headquarters office holds a special dinner organized by its Muslim Business Employee Resource Group every year on or around Ramadan. This event is attended by Muslim and non-Muslim employees. American Airlines goes beyond this one-time event and compliments this effort with some of the following activities:

  • Providing nondenominational prayer rooms used by Muslim employees on a daily basis, especially during the month of Ramadan. 

  • Offering floating holidays for employees so that they can take days off for religious holidays.

• Cisco Systems, Apple, Google, and Oracle have all held iftars for Muslim employees. Iftars are meals to break the fast at the end of each day during the month of Ramadan.

We’d love to hear what your organization is planning to do for April DEI observances! Please share these experiences with us by completing this quick form!

Cultural Competence Podcast

Check out Dr. Ella F. Washington’s episode entitled Pay Transparency: To Share or Not to Share 

Talking about money, including one’s pay, is taboo for many -- but there may be a generational shift occurring in attitudes on talking about pay. How should we talk about pay? Why is there a need for pay transparency? And what is the difference between “equal pay for equal work” and pay equity? Ruth Thomas, pay equity strategist at Payscale, joins the podcast to discuss some effective strategies employers can implement in addressing pay inequity. What missteps can organizations avoid in opening up the discussion about pay?

Be sure to subscribe to the Cultural Competence Podcast today!

Service Spotlight: Focus Groups

     Ellavate Solutions is experienced and equipped in facilitating and conducting personalized Focus Groups. Focus Groups provide a safe space for employees to express their sentiments and feedback on relevant topics around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at your organization. This qualitative approach will assist your organization in measuring various dimensions of culture and inclusion. Having Ellavate Solutions as a third-party entity to facilitate these 60-minute sessions can provide insights and be paired with other custom evaluation tools to assess and understand your organization. Ellavate Solutions will not only facilitate these sessions but will also provide recommendations for next steps in your DEI journey.

     If you are interested in learning more about the sentiments of your employees or are looking to garner feedback on a specific DEI-related topic, reach out to us today!