Where to focus your diversity, equity and inclusion strategy for 2022

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is not a stagnant initiative for Reward Gateway – we know that it is a journey and a journey that we are very much committed to. Our aim has been to sew DEI programs into the fabric of our organization, ensuring that it is in everything that we do, rather than just being viewed as an additional task. 

In order for that to happen, we needed to decide on how we would measure and track our progress. To do this, we pinpointed three areas of the business that we needed to focus on – recruitment, progression and leadership. 

To truly understand where you’re heading, you need to know where you’re starting from. Let’s uncover the strategy behind our focuses to hopefully inspire your own DEI journey.

How did we land on our DEI pillars?

Our most important asset is our people, so when it came to honing in on our focus areas for our DEI strategy, it made sense to go directly to the source. We set up discussions that consisted of a series of one-on-one and group sessions for employee feedback. These conversations were full of rich and valuable suggestions and insight that provided us with the ability to learn about our blind spots.

These important conversations triggered a number of improvements at Reward Gateway and helped us to define the areas of the business that needed the most attention. 

Our pillars

Each focus contains an overarching goal and a number of tangible improvements identified to help us make progress. None of the focuses are more important than any of the others, and our aim will be to make progress on each of them in order for our DEI Strategy to be a success.

1. Recruitment

Goal: To foster inclusive recruitment practices into our workforce, support our ambition to be a truly inclusive organization and enable us to engage with a broader and more diverse talent pool that consistently represents the communities that we serve and operate in.

2. Progression

Goal: To adopt inclusive career progression and workplace practices to ensure that everybody has the chance to succeed and benefit from equal and professional opportunity, regardless of their background, helping to maintain an inclusive workplace culture.

3. Leadership

Goal: To implement inclusive leadership to enhance performance, promote diversity of thought and enhance the Reward Gateway employer brand in everything we do.

Bringing our pillars to life with our DEI champions

Our goal is to ensure that our global equality, diversity and inclusion framework is firmly embedded in our culture, and in order to achieve that, we knew we needed to pinpoint champions located across the globe who we could rely on to drive change. 

Luckily for us, we had a great example of how well our people embed our values into our culture. Our culture journey began with a team of employees committed to developing and supporting Reward Gateway efforts to create a culture that would better everyone. The team was led by our values and behaviors and championed every aspect of our culture. So we decided to take this same approach when it came to embracing our DEI focuses.

Our champions, in partnership with our Leadership Team, have embraced the power of working together in our culture journey where we focus on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – creating a place where we all feel we belong.

How we encourage involvement from the business

Not everyone embraces DEI initiatives but we believe that if you work at RG it’s for you. That’s because RG people are passionate, committed and they inspire colleagues and clients every day with their work. 

Our Leadership Team is fully committed to making equality, diversity and inclusion a key to the success of our business, and the wider team is all committed to working collaboratively across our focusses to ensure we progress in every area. 

We have provided many opportunities for our people to get involved in our DEI initiatives. Below you will find some examples:

1. DEI Networks 

The network program is made up of our Accessibility Network, Intergen Network, LGBTQIA+ and Allies, Multicultural Network and the Women and Allies Network. Together they focus on encouraging positive improvements through regular meetings, open and honest communication and sharing insight and guidance for our leadership team.

2. DEI Events

Last year we hosted "No Labels Workshops" in Bulgaria, a global Boobette Breast Cancer Awareness event, an educational Stonewall Webinar and a U.S. Women & Finance Webinar. These employee-led events are all here to help empower and educate our people to succeed in all aspects of life.

3. DEI Surveys

Our annual DEI survey provides a crucial view of our people and progress. While participation is optional, we encourage our people to be part of the survey and be part of the movement, encouraging Reward Gateway to continue improving our individual and collective employee experience and making a better RG workplace for all.  

4. DEI eCards

We created eCards to recognize and appreciate everyone who steps forward to take part and be part of the change they want to see at RG. These eCards live on a social recognition wall to increase visibility and conversations across the organization, while bringing our people closer to one another and our company’s mission.

This is an example of an eCard we created specifically to shine a spotlight on DEI and all of our people who make Reward Gateway "epic."

No matter where you start, I would encourage you to develop your focus based on honest and constructive feedback from your employees. Seek contributions from your Leadership Team and managers to not only support your focusses, but significantly influence and contribute to them. That way it will be easy to find your champions and embed your strategy into your organization’s everyday culture.

I’d love to hear more about the ways you’re improving DEI at your organization. Feel free to send me a message on LinkedIn!