Resources:

Timeline, Criteria, and Application for the Catalyst Award
Past Catalyst Award Winners
Learn more about the Catalyst Awards Conference & Dinner

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After the murder of George Floyd in 2020 led to calls for racial equity at work, organizations eager to demonstrate their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion hired more Black women into leadership positions. After decades of facing barriers to advancement and leadership — a concrete ceiling — it seemed like Black women were finally making progress. But many of them were set up to fail and placed in unstable positions in organizations that were floundering. These experiences are characteristic of the glass cliff, a phenomenon where women and people of color are more likely to be appointed to leadership positions during periods of organizational crisis compared to those of stability and growth.

Leading an organization through a time of crisis is a difficult job for any leader, but Black women face additional burdens navigating (in)visibility, the pressure to perform and intersectional stereotypes,

Black women in leadership roles contend with both hypervisibility and invisibility. As studies show, they are penalized more harshly for failures, and their performance is scrutinized more than others. This is especially true when Black women are the first of their race and/or gender to be in a leadership role. There is an increased pressure to perform because of how it could reflect on other people like them. At the same time, Black women leaders deal with invisibility and must work harder to be seen and taken seriously as a leader because they do not match the prototype of the white male leader. This can make it more difficult for them to gain respect, buy-in, and support from their peers and subordinates.

Additionally, because of racial and gender stereotypes such as the “strong Black woman” and phrases like “Black girl magic,” two tropes that portray Black women as uncharacteristically strong and resilient, they may be expected to take on impossible tasks without the support and resources they need to succeed. Given the additional barriers that Black women leaders face, many work twice as hard to be successful, sacrificing their mental health and experiencing increased stress and burnout.

What causes the glass cliff?

The causes of the glass cliff are complex and varied, but these are two reasons that stand out: status quo bias and stereotypes about gender and leadership.

Status quo bias. When an organization is in crisis, leaders want to signal a change from the status quo and use the appointment of a “new kind” of leader (e.g. a non-white man) as a symbolic demonstration of that change. In support of this theory, researchers conducted an experiment and found that the glass cliff effect only surfaced when a company was described as historically male-led. When the company was described as historically led by women, the glass cliff disappeared.

Stereotypes about gender and leadership. It’s been well documented that people tend to associate stereotypically masculine traits, such as assertiveness and independence, with leadership more so than stereotypically feminine traits like cooperation and caring — a phenomenon called “think manager-think male.” Interestingly, research also shows a “think crisis-think female” phenomenon where leaders with stereotypically feminine traits are seen as more suitable to lead an organization in crisis. This sets women up to be appointed to glass cliff positions.

How can organizations prevent the glass cliff?

Organizations can mitigate the glass cliff phenomenon and give Black women and employees from other marginalized groups a fair chance to succeed in leadership positions. They must be willing to do three things: make a long-term commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion through succession planning, address barriers and biases in hiring, development and promotion, and create accountability structures within the organization.

Develop inclusive succession planning. Future-thinking companies create a strategy to identify and develop high-potential talent to take on leadership positions when they become vacant. Organizations that do not have a succession plan are most at risk for perpetuating the glass cliff because they must make a quick decision to fill a role with little planning and preparation — a perfect recipe for bias.

Even when companies have succession plans, failure to incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion into the process can perpetuate barriers and inequality that keep women and people of color from advancing into leadership positions. An inclusive succession plan recognizes the need for a diverse and dynamic workforce and actively works to identify and develop high-potential talent from marginalized groups. It seeks to remove barriers to advancement and provide support through leadership development programs and access to sponsors and mentors.

Ultimately, this planning builds an intentionally diverse pipeline of talent to choose from when a leadership position becomes available, helping organizations avoid subjecting Black women to the glass cliff, make consistent progress toward their diversity, equity and inclusion goals, and create smoother transitions between leadership.

Root out bias from hiring, performance appraisals and promotion processes. Evaluation processes such as hiring, performance appraisals and promotion are susceptible to bias that can disadvantage people from marginalized backgrounds. So, it is important to create clear guidelines for how to evaluate others. The more subjectivity there is in the evaluation process, the greater chance there is of bias, so it’s key to base decisions on objective, measurable and job-relevant competencies and criteria.

For hiring, evaluators can use structured interviewing, a human resources tool where candidates are all asked the same competency-based questions and then rated using a rubric to assess their performance on each competency. Bias can also be present during the performance appraisal process. Studies show differences in the amount and quality of performance feedback that employees from marginalized groups receive. Black women in particular receive the least amount of quality feedback compared to other groups.

Equip managers with the skills they need to be objective by hosting training on how to evaluate performance and give high-quality feedback that is clear, actionable and focused on behaviors instead of personality traits. Creating bias-free evaluation processes can help organizations mitigate the glass cliff by shutting down stereotypes and bias.

Measure and track progress. As the saying goes, what gets measured gets managed. Collecting data and tracking progress is also a great way to create accountability and transparency for diversity, equity and inclusion goals, both of which are essential for success.

It’s important to assess the disparity between demographic groups across all facets of the employee life cycle so you can evaluate what is working and what is not. For example, in analyzing performance appraisal and promotion data, it is important to consider whether rates of promotion are similar across demographic groups and whether the quality and amount of feedback is similar. Take it a step further and take an intersectional approach to the data, considering whether there may be disparities across more than one axis of identity.  Measuring and tracking progress can help to proactively identify challenges that could lead to a glass cliff scenario.

The bottom line

Restricting Black women’s advancement opportunities to times of poor organizational performance is not a sustainable business or diversity, equity and inclusion strategy. Organizations play a crucial role in ensuring that Black women have access to the same opportunities for development, advancement and leadership as white men. The glass cliff is not inevitable. We can make it an outdated notion.

The post Black women still face a glass cliff, but fixing workplace systems can change that appeared first on Catalyst.

These changes are reshaping employer practices to meet the transparency expectations of younger generations. But companies also must overcome myriad forms of discrimination and bias if they wish to attract and retain top talent.

Moderated by Tuesday Hagiwara, Vice President, Content Strategy and Creative Services at Catalyst, the webinar panel featured Sung Yeon Choimorrow, Executive Director, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF); Lelaine Bigelow, Executive Director, Georgetown Center on Poverty & Inequality (GCPI); and Joi Chaney, Founder & Principal, Joi Strategies; along with Raghu.

Data from the National Women’s Law Center shows that AANHPI women working full-time year-round are paid $0.93 for every dollar compared to their non-Hispanic White male counterparts—with figures varying widely by community: Bhutanese women make 49 cents while Indian women make $1.26 for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. The lifetime financial loss for AANHPI women can add up to thousands of dollars, said Raghu, contributing to the wealth gap.

So, what specifically should companies do beyond heeding legal requirements regarding compensation transparency? The panelists discussed seven additional actions that HR and DEI leaders should take to transform their organizational culture.

1. Bake diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into the organizational culture. “It’s crucial not to view diversity and inclusion as a mere box-ticking exercise based on racial and ethnic representation,” said Choimorrow. ”Instead of fixating on specific demographics to fill quotas, the emphasis should be on transforming the organizational culture organically. It’s essential for companies to prioritize cultural transformation and integrate it into performance evaluations, especially for managers and leaders.” Panelists shared that companies should strengthen diversity among leadership and address underlying structural issues to prevent high attrition rates among AANHPI demographics.
2. Shift DEI responsibility from AANHPI employees to their managers. “The responsibility for promoting diversity and inclusion should not fall solely on AANHPI workers but on managers,” said Chaney, “with their performance in these areas tied to compensation and bonuses.”
3. Acknowledge the wide diversity within AANHPI. Chaney noted that AANHPI “is not a homogenous group, and disparities exist even within this demographic. Cultural biases and ‘othering’ in the workplace need to be addressed.” Biases exist within communities of color, including within the AANHPI community.
4. Learn from the example of UK companies. “Global companies should learn from their UK counterparts,” said Bigelow, “who have seen positive results from mandatory pay data transparency, such as a reduced wage gap and more women tied to higher-paying roles.” They also should scrutinize global supply chains and business partnerships for their pay transparency practices.
5. Leverage Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). “ERGs can be instrumental, providing a platform for explaining policies, addressing concerns, and nurturing a sense of involvement and fairness,” said Raghu. They can aid retention and recruitment by ensuring employees feel valued and understood.
6. Build institutional trust. “A lack of transparency in how pay is set can create perceptions of inequity, leading to resentment and talent loss,” said Raghu. “Proactively encouraging transparency about compensation policies helps mitigate this.” Companies should be prepared to explain wage disparities among people with the same position or job title, such as those based on differences in education or experience.
7. Support the AANHPI community. “Companies should ensure diversity in their contracting practices by tapping into AANHPI small business owners and using resources like employee resource groups and Chambers of Commerce,” suggested Chaney. They should seek out AANHPI contractors, consultants, lawyers, and service providers to promote diversity throughout the company’s supply chain and support AANHPI-owned businesses. Implementing these strategies can help companies create a more inclusive and equitable workplace for AANHPI women, with the goal of driving long-term cultural and structural change.

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The post 7 Actions Your Company Should Take to Overcome Bias Against AANHPI Women (Blog Post) appeared first on Catalyst.

A new landmark workplace law will reshape pay practices in the EU—and it’s about time. The gender pay gap persists across the EU, remaining 13% on average as of 2022. ¹ Despite the European Union’s 1957 law enshrining equal pay for equal work, efforts to deliver on this promise have fallen short.² But that is going to change.

Recognising the role that pay transparency plays in reducing the pay gap, the European Parliament and Council adopted the EU Pay Transparency Directive in 2023. All EU countries must implement the Directive into their national laws by June 2026.³ This means that employers across the world with workforces in Europe have a short runway, just two annual pay cycles, to prepare for much higher standards of pay equity and transparency than ever before.

A Directive With Teeth

The EU Directive calls on employers to conduct thorough assessments of their compensation—including in-kind benefits, basic pay, bonuses and other incentive pay—and report their results publicly, provide salary transparency to job candidates, and comply with several enforcement mechanisms. At the centre of the Directive is the expectation that workplaces must analyse and refine their job architecture to be able to categorise employees who are performing the same work or work of equal value, and to ensure discriminatory talent management decisions are detected, remedied, and transparent.

Is your organization ahead of the game? The components of the Directive are more complex than you may think.

Gender pay gap reporting. Once fully in effect, all employers with 100 or more employees ⁴ must provide detailed information related to the gender pay gap to employees, employee representatives, local authorities responsible for gathering and publishing the data, and publish this data on their website. The Directive must be implemented by June 2026, with the first reporting cycle concluding in 2027.⁵

Given the specificity of the information they must report,⁶ organisations will must spend considerable time and effort in advance to ensure that their job architecture is fit for purpose to facilitate comparison of roles to assess equal value. This assessment of roles across an organisation, determining whether they are of equal value, will be new to most employers, introducing new methodologies or analytical tools and comparing roles that may not have otherwise been assessed together in the same way.⁷

Ultimately, employers must demonstrate that objective, consistent, and gender-neutral criteria are applied in compensation decisions. This places a significant responsibility on employers to systematically review their criteria, which may have led to longstanding pay disparities that they must now remedy.⁸

Pay transparency. The Directive also requires all employers to communicate salary ranges or starting salaries of all advertised positions to job seekers, either by including them in job postings or informing candidates before the interview stage. Employers are prohibited from asking applicants about their salary history, which has long disadvantaged women and candidates from marginalised racial and ethnic groups and contributed to gender and racial gaps in lifetime earnings.⁹

Enforcement mechanisms. Simply reporting data on the gender pay gap is not enough. Employers bear the burden of proof in establishing that employee rights are not being breached. When the gender pay gap disclosure reveals a gap of at least 5% in any category of employees, and the gap is not explained by objective, gender-neutral, and non-discriminatory factors and has not been corrected within six months, the employer must perform an extensive pay audit, referred to as a joint pay assessment, with oversight by employees’ representatives.¹⁰

Employers that fail to give adequate attention to preparations ahead of the Directive may bear significant costs as they will be forced to rapidly scale up operations to comply with the law, not to mention loss of employee trust. Investing in the time and effort to evaluate your job architecture, pay structure, and any existing pay gaps now, before the Directive comes into effect, may save your organisation from paying even more in remediation and employee damages. EU member states will be required to establish procedures to compensate employees with full back pay, benefits, incentive pay, and damages from lost opportunities when information from the joint pay assessment reveals that their equal pay rights have been violated. Even outside of detecting and remediating pay disparities, organisations must keep employees informed of pay information, including a breakdown of pay by levels and categories of employees performing the same work or work of equal value, and respond to employees’ pay-related inquiries.¹¹

Start Preparing for the Directive Today

Don’t wait until the Directive becomes law in 2026. Take advantage of the next two years to ensure your organisation is fully ready to comply with the Directive in the EU countries in which you operate.

Analyse your job architecture. This step is critical for ensuring that your organisation can comply with the requirements of the Directive. Reviewing and updating your job architecture—and clearly articulating how roles and responsibilities connect with value, skills, and effort—will lay the foundation for a clear and fair pay system.¹²

Conduct pay equity reviews and proactively address disparities. Leading-edge organisations like the Catalyst CEO Champions For Change already conduct regular pay equity reviews and correct employees’ pay when gaps arise.¹³ Build a consistent cadence of pay equity reviews using statistical and technological tools to run complex analyses efficiently. Align your efforts with your broader talent and DEI goals by examining how talent decisions are made, where bias may create barriers for some employee populations, and which solutions you can employ to create systems of accountability and fairness.¹⁴

Guard against silos. Are others in your organization already preparing for the Directive? Find out who those individuals are and build a cross-functional task force or working group, including those with expertise across legal, human resources, total rewards, talent and workforce analytics, DEI, ESG, communications, and information technology.

Compose a communications plan. The Directive will undoubtedly impact many of your organisation’s internal and external stakeholders. Staff may feel overwhelmed with the demands of meeting the new requirements, while employees may have questions about their rights under the upcoming law. Building effective communication strategies will enable your organisation to manage these concerns and address inquiries.

Tailor your efforts by country. Multinational organisations may experience a range of readiness levels when it comes to job architecture, pay equity, and pay transparency practices in each EU country. While some may be accustomed to conducting complex pay analyses and feel “ready” to take on the Directive, they may need to adjust their methodologies to meet the Directive’s detailed reporting requirements or take further action to address the 5% pay disparity threshold that triggers the joint pay assessment. Others may be taking on these tasks for the first time. Evaluate the maturity stage of your operations when it comes to readiness for the Directive in each EU country in which you operate and develop a tailored strategy to set all locations up for success.

The Directive marks an unprecedented shift toward holding employers accountable for equitable pay. Meet the moment by mobilizing your organisation toward action. Leverage this opportunity to build thorough and efficient talent systems, strengthen employee trust, and play your part in closing the gender pay gap.

Want to learn more about how to prepare your organisation for the Directive? Join Catalyst’s upcoming Measuring for Change community conversations by filling out this form.

Read previous posts on the importance of pay transparency and practical tips on how your organisation can get started.

Catalyst Supporters can watch How to Navigate the EU Pay Transparency Directive featuring an expert panel on the law and pay transparency.

Thank you to Deloitte UK, a member of the Catalyst Measuring for Change Community, for sharing their expertise on the Directive with us.

ENDNOTES

1. Gender pay gap statistics. (2024). Eurostat: Statistics Explained.
2. Kurnatowska, M. & Marsh, R. (2023). Pay transparency directive: Lifting the veil. Global Compliance News.
3. Pay transparency in the EU. European Council, Council of the European Union.
4. When the Directives comes into effect, the reporting threshold will be employers with 150 or more employees. By 2030, this will drop to 100 or more employees. EU member states may impose stricter reporting thresholds in their national legislations, making in possible in some countries to require employers with fewer than 100 employees to report on the gender pay gap. Employers with 250 or more employees must report gender pay gap information annually, while other organizations are required to report every three years. Kurnatowska, M. & Marsh, R. (2023). Pay transparency directive: Lifting the veil. Global Compliance News; Heys, T., Lorimer, D., & Rush, S. (2023). Pay transparency directive FAQs. Lewis Silkin
5. Kurnatowska, M. & Marsh, R. (2023). Pay transparency directive: Lifting the veil. Global Compliance News
6. According to Article 9(1) of the Directive, employers must provide the following information: the gender pay gap, the gender pay gap in complementary or variable components, the median gender pay gap, the median gender pay gap in complementary or variable components, the proportion of female and male workers receiving complementary or variable components, the proportion of female and male workers in each quartile pay band, and the gender pay gap between workers by categories of workers broken down by ordinary basic wage or salary and complementary or variable components. Directive (EU) 2023/970 (2023). European Union.
7. Kurnatowska, M. & Marsh, R. (2023). Pay transparency directive: Lifting the veil. Global Compliance News
8. Kurnatowska, M. & Marsh, R. (2023). Pay transparency directive: Lifting the veil. Global Compliance News
9. Gender pay gap: Council adopts new rules on pay transparency. (2023). European Council, Council of the European Union; Nadeau, S. & Shepherd, M. (2021). Why salary history bans matter to securing equal pay. Center for American Progress.
10. Kurnatowska, M. & Marsh, R. (2023). Pay transparency directive: Lifting the veil. Global Compliance News; Directive (EU) 2023/970 (2023). European Union.
11. Kurnatowska, M. & Marsh, R. (2023). Pay transparency directive: Lifting the veil. Global Compliance News
12. Thoma, C. (2023). How to best prepare for the recently adopted EU Directive on Pay Transparency? EY.
13. This CEO community is keeping and advancing their best talent. Are you? (2024). Catalyst.
14. Shaffer, E. & Torrez, B. (2023). Promises vs. progress: 2 keys to keeping employees feeling good and staying put. Catalyst.

The post Time Is Ticking for the EU Pay Transparency Directive appeared first on Catalyst.

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed by Men by Caroline Criado Perez is a wake-up call that women are systematically discriminated against—but that much of the time, we don’t even know it. A lack of data about women—our priorities, experiences, even our biology—has consequences that are affecting and will continue to affect us in predictable and unpredictable ways.

Catalyst has long prioritized data collection to support creating workplaces that work for women—most recently with our global quantitative research on women in frontline roles, Team Dynamics on the Front Line: How Managers and Organizations Impact This Overlooked Key to Retention. As Criado Perez maintains, you can’t make change unless you have the data showing what needs to be changed in the first place. The good news is that this book shows us the way forward so that we can make change with data and metrics.

Criado Perez demonstrates that there’s way more information about women that we don’t know than we do know. Regardless of the industry, country, or area of concern, gender data gaps can be ultimately traced back to patriarchal governments and cultures enacting legislation and creating social norms that excluded women.

As for the scant data that does exist, Criado Perez has gathered and organized it in a straightforward way. Each chapter tackles a distinct aspect of women’s lives. I found that reading one chapter at a time and then taking a day to digest it helped me to further comprehend and retain the information. There is a lot to consider, but her style is engaging.

The best part of this book is that for women feeling gaslit by society at large, it validates our experiences. Were you told to take some aspirin and go home when you went to the emergency room? Have you found out you made less than a coworker with the same job and responsibilities? Did you have to choose between working a full-time job to pay for daycare and having no job but still working full-time? Your individual experience may feel isolating and be brushed off as anecdotal. But taken together, the data is illuminating (and a little infuriating).

Anecdotes like “Brigid Jones, a Birmingham City councilor, was told that she would have to step down from her role as cabinet member for children’s services [italics added] if she became pregnant” may make you particularly angry. You may feel called to do something, to start making positive change in the world for women.

And if you’ve been gaslit by a world designed to work best for men, you may also feel quite stuck. Where to begin? Where to go? What to do? It can all be overwhelming. Think of this book as a map for changemakers. If you don’t already think of yourself as a changemaker, this book will help you see what is possible.

Want to make change at work? Here’s what Invisible Women teaches:

Metrics matter. If you want to make the case for change, numbers will help prove your case. And if your organization has never gathered data before on retention or attrition or pay disparity, etc., you now know what to ask for first. Many companies are embracing pay transparency and are publicly disclosing all sorts of data. Gather examples to show what’s possible.

Data is power. Regardless of intentions, biases still permeate the systems and processes humanity has built. Criado Perez cites studies that show when people even think that they are objective and not sexist, you actually become more prone to subjective and sexist behavior. And with new systems including AI being built on top of the same old biased ones, we risk carrying the same problems forward. How do you shake up the status quo? Show those big companies how much better things could be, show employees the value of their work, and show customers how much buying power they have. Biases and assumptions mean much less compared to verified data.

We’re stronger together. There’s no such thing as a movement of one. The data Criado Perez gathered for Invisible Women came from the tireless work of data scientists and changemakers around the world. Check out Catalyst’s latest research to learn more about women at work and be inspired to help change your workplace and workplaces to come.

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The post Fed Up With the Patriarchy? Don’t Get Mad, Get Data. (Book Review) appeared first on Catalyst.

With pay transparency laws changing across the US and UK, pay equity is now becoming a standard practice among leading organizations. More importantly, it is a key competitive differentiator for those looking to attract and retain key talent.

What causes this gender pay gap among women of color, and how can HR leaders and DEI practitioners work together to close it?

At the 2024 Catalyst Awards, Erin Souza-Rezendes, VP, Global Communications at Catalyst sat down with Google leaders Melonie Parker, Chief Diversity Officer and Rachel Spivey, Director of Retention & Progression (Stay & Thrive) Team to talk about how Google is creating pathways to pay equity for women of color.

Here are five lessons we learned:

1. Make compensation analysis business-critical. Equity starts at the top, and ensuring that comp analysis is fundamental to your strategic priorities gives pay transparency the gravitas it deserves.
2. Look at fairness holistically. Companies must invest in pay transparency to better understand the pay equity gap and do it continuously. Pay transparency is also just one component. Companies must also consider the role a person plays, their location, benefits, and other factors that could impact their pay.
3. Identify moments where inequity may be reinforced—and do something about them. Melonie’s team looks at each step of the employee’s journey to identify moments or places that might create or compound inequity. For example, at each level, Google does a salary reset so that when team members enter the organization at different levels, that inequity doesn’t compound once they are promoted. Similarly, her team schedules its compensation analysis so it aligns with annual merit and promotion increases.
4. Help team members understand the system. Many people take it for granted that employees understand performance evaluation systems and how salary bands and role expectations are structured. HR leaders and managers need to communicate how these systems work so employees can invest in the progression path that best suits their needs and lifestyle. Google takes this a step further with their Stay & Thrive program, which provides one-on-one guidance to employees, creating a process where an employee can feel heard and supported.
5. Don’t just guide, advocate. Having a mentor to help guide you through critical career moments is important, but people also need advocates who have access to the right rooms and conversations. At Google, the Stay & Thrive team works across the organization to advocate for the employees in the program.

Endnote:

1. Kochhar, R. (2023, March 1). The enduring grip of the gender pay gap. Pew Research Center.

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The post Unlock Equity for Women of Color: 5 Strategies from Google appeared first on Catalyst.

We know that taking part in DEI efforts is not only the right thing to do, it’s also good for business.

Catalyst research demonstrates overwhelmingly that when DEI is done right, it works. DEI is the way we create workplaces that work for everyone. Not only do we have evidence, but we have tools and solutions to set up companies implementing DEI efforts for success.

DEI practitioners and organizational leaders should use a multi-pronged approach:

1. Strengthen your messaging and ensure it resonates authentically.
2. Share the facts.
3. Use data to demonstrate how DEI initiatives get results.
4. Stay ahead of the game by keeping an eye on the corporate implications stemming from the 2023 US Supreme Court decision on affirmative action.

No matter where your company is on its DEI journey, these resources enable everyone—from the C-suite to the front line—to thrive.

How to communicate about DEI:

• How to Talk About Diversity With Employees to Achieve Your Company’s Objectives (Report)
• The Business Case for DEI (Resource List)
• Still Making the Case for DEI? Drop the Spreadsheet (Webinar Recording)
• Performative DEI Policies: Flip the Script (Infographic) Supporter-Exclusive
• Words Aren’t Enough: The Risks of Performative Policies (Report)

How to do DEI right:

• Six Actions to Create Genuine DEI Policies (Report)
• 5 Myths Debunked About Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (Blog Post)
• DEI Efficacy: Preempting Pitfalls for Sustained Impact and Value (Webinar Recording) Supporter-Exclusive
• Embedding DEI Into Your Business Strategy: Key Insights From Industry Leaders (Blog Post)

How to be an inclusive leader:

• Getting Real About Inclusive Leadership (Report)
• 5 Strategies to Promote Inclusion: A Manager’s Playbook (Tool) Supporter-Exclusive
• Leading With Empathy (10-Minute Microlearning) Supporter-Exclusive

How employee resource group (ERG) leaders can navigate employee resistance:

• Catalyst Guide to Employee Resource Groups (Tool) Supporter-Exclusive See Chapter 7
• ERG Discussion Guides (Tool) Supporter-Exlusive See guide to “Navigating Resistance”

How to measure results:

• DEI Measurement (Resource List)
• Beginning a Measurement Process: A Tool for DEI Leaders (Tool)
• How to Create Transparency in DEI Measurement: A Guide for Senior Leaders (Tool)

How company DEI initiatives succeed (Supporter-exclusive):

• Barilla
• Boston Scientific
• Enbridge
• Google
• The Hartford
• Parexel
• RBC
• TD
• Uber
• Ulta Beauty
• UPMC
• More examples

US Supreme Court decision on affirmative action:

• How Your Company Can Priortize DEI After the Supreme Court Ruling (Blog Post)
• Takeaways From the Catalyst Affirmative Action Webinar: 8 Steps Companies Can Take to Protect Their DEI Programs (Blog Post)
• US Supreme Court Affirmative Action Ruling and the Future of DEI in Corporate America (Webinar Recording)
• Does the US Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action Affect Your Company’s Diversity Initiatives?

The post 33 Ways to Address the Backlash Against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) appeared first on Catalyst.

Unlike champions of innovation, resiliency, or integrity, champions of diversity are often asked by their organizations for a business case to justify investing time and resources. When implemented intentionally, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies can lead to increased revenue, reduced costs, greater innovation, and increased employee engagement, productivity, and commitment. While these benefits make for a strong business case, doing the right thing for employees and customers shouldn’t require a bottom-line justification.

Watch this webinar as we examine the diversity rationale and how through inclusion, it can strengthen any workplace culture. Together we:

• Uncover employee attitudes about DEI rationales and messaging for enhanced engagement and retention
• Learn how correctly leveraging the “fairness case” for DEI can benefit your organization and employees
• Understand the unique positive and negative impacts of different DEI rationales and how you can use them to drive DEI objectives
• Strengthen workplace culture through practical strategies for aligning your company’s DEI programs and ambitions with organizational values and mission

Read key takeaways from this webinar in How to Get DEI Buy-In: 5 Actions Leaders Should Take.

Speakers

Karima Hashmani, Chief Inclusion Officer, Metrolinx

Michael Cherny, Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

Shannon Carstens, Audit Partner and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leader, KPMG

Moderator

Emily Shaffer, Senior Director, Inclusive Work Cultures Research at Catalyst

The post Webinar Recording: Still Making the Case for DEI? Drop the Spreadsheet appeared first on Catalyst.

The year after Sephora debuted its 2019 manifesto, “We Belong to Something Beautiful,” the North American prestige beauty retailer launched its first comprehensive DE&I strategy, Sephora DE&I Heart Journey. This work focuses on three pillars: the company’s employees, its consumers, and the communities it serves. It stands out in the way it develops both employees and future employees through scholarships, training, and mentorship programs; builds DE&I goals into performance indicators; and prioritizes its offerings from brands owned by Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color. As Sephora itself says, “We believe that beauty thrives in diversity and discovery.”

The DE&I Heart Journey aimed to identify gaps in leadership, and Sephora found that Black and Latine employees were largely underrepresented, especially in the San Francisco headquarters. The company’s DE&I team and 11 Task Forces also conducted listening sessions—including 800 Black employees—and brainstorming sessions—including 500 employees—to share experiences across stores, distribution centers, and offices.

Sephora’s DE&I team, a part of the HR business area, leads the direction of the initiative. George-Axelle Broussillon Matschinga, VP, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, heads the team and works directly with Sephora leadership to align and inform their ongoing strategies.

Eleven DE&I Task Forces execute the strategy, each of which supports one aspect of the initiative. Sephora’s ERGs, called INCommunities, provide feedback to leadership and across the organization to share ideas and spur new initiatives.

Highlights of Sephora’s Initiative:

• Sephora Scholarship, an annual six-month-long program launched in 2021, provides participants from underrepresented races and ethnicities with tuition for cosmetology and esthetician school, a paid internship at Sephora, firsthand industry experience, mentorship, and access to open roles following graduation. To date, 217 scholars (75% people of color) have participated in the program.
• All Abilities Hiring is a nine-week structured training program within distribution centers that includes five days in the classroom and eight weeks on the job. After successfully completing the training, graduates receive an offer to join Sephora. As a result of the program, the company hired 317 participants with disabilities. The program’s goal is to expand so that 30% of all distribution center employees are people with disabilities, up from 10% to date.
• Sephora Talent Incubator Program (STIP) is a six-month development program focused on underrepresented talent with three areas of focus: 1) group coaching (bringing mentors and mentees together on specific topics to build leadership activities); 2) mentorship by leaders based on competencies; and 3) culturally oriented individual coaching (including a 360 assessment). Since the program’s launch in 2021, 200 mentees and 110 mentors have participated and 50% of the mentees were promoted to next-level roles.
• The Accelerate program is Sephora’s long-standing brand incubator program, which shifted priorities to focus exclusively on BIPOC beauty founders in 2021. Sephora was also the first major retailer to sign the Fifteen Percent Pledge in 2020, which signifies its commitment to dedicating 15% of its assortment to prestige Black-owned brands. Sephora has doubled its overall brand offering since signing and has already achieved 15% in the haircare category.
• DE&I accountability is built into KPIs. Every employee at Sephora, from the C-Suite to the front line, is held accountable to four goals per year. One of these goals must be a DE&I-related goal, thus building in DE&I success as at least 25% of every employee’s KPIs.

Since the launch of the initiative, the representation of women of color has increased across every band at the organization:

• Band 1 (VPs and above): from 20% to 33% (13 percentage points)
• Band 2 (Manager and Director): from 30% to 39% (9 percentage points)
• Band 3 (Individual Contributors): from 53% to 60% (7 percentage points)

These gains were most pronounced for Latine and Black women via increased hires and promotions.

About Sephora

Since its debut in North America 25 years ago, Sephora has been a leader in prestige omni-retail with the mission of creating an inviting beauty shopping experience and inspiring fearlessness in our community. With the goal of delivering unbiased shopping support and a personalized experience, Sephora invites clients to discover thousands of products from more than 360 carefully curated brands, explore online and through our mobile app, enjoy services at the Beauty Studio and engage with expertly trained Beauty Advisors in more than 600 stores across the Americas. And with its long-term strategic partnerships with Kohl’s, customers can now shop a fully immersive, premium beauty destination, with over 850 locations nationwide. Clients can access the free-to-join Beauty Insider program and digital community, which together enhance the experience of Sephora’s passionate clients.

Sephora has been an industry-leading champion of diversity, inclusivity, and empowerment, guided by our longstanding company values. In 2019, Sephora announced a new tagline and manifesto, “We Belong to Something Beautiful,” to reinforce its dedication to fostering belonging amongst all clients and employees and to publicly strive for a more inclusive vision for retail in the Americas. Sephora continues to give back to our communities and advance inclusion in our industry through its social impact and equity programming, called the Sephora DE&I Heart Journey.

For more information, visit: https://www.sephora.com/about-us and @Sephora on social media. For media inquiries, please visit our Sephora Newsroom or email ExternalComms@sephora.com.

The post Sephora: Sephora DE&I Heart Journey (Practices) appeared first on Catalyst.

Are you an ERG Leader, ERG member, or work closely with ERGs in your organization, and are wondering how Catalyst can support you in your journey?

Catalyst offers a wealth of resources for Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): voluntary, employee-led groups based on shared characteristics or experiences, providing a platform for employees to connect, share ideas, and work together to address workplace issues.

In this interactive session, we invite you to join us for an overview of our ERG resources and live Q&A, where you will have the chance to interact with Catalyst experts who will be on hand to address your questions about ERGs and how we can best support you.

We invite ERG leads and members as well as ERG sponsors to attend.

Note: Please log in to the website with your Catalyst Supporter organization email to access registration.

The post Virtual Roundtable: Catalyst ERG Resources Overview appeared first on Catalyst.