2023 Workplace Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Summit

7:15am – 8:00am

Conference Registration & Networking Breakfast

8:00am – 8:15am

Chairperson’s Opening Remarks

8:15am – 9:00am

How to Become a More Inclusive Leader

Inclusive leadership is emerging as a unique and critical capability helping organizations adapt to diverse customers, markets, ideas and talent. For those working around a leader, such as a manager, direct report or peer, the single most important trait generating a sense of inclusiveness is a leader’s visible awareness of bias. But to fully capitalize on their cognizance of bias, leaders also must express both humility and empathy. This session will explore organizational practices that can help leaders become more inclusive and enhance the performance of their teams.

9:00am – 9:45am

How to Create Sustainable Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, around 80 percent of companies are simply “going through the motions” of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs without holding themselves accountable. For those companies, DEI initiatives are yet another tick list, items to cross off the perpetual company to-do, or worse, companies who look solely to profit from any investment in DEI initiatives via positive public perception or those who only create a program just to say they have one are all approaching the matter entirely incorrectly. Any resulting good a DEI program will do for your company will be purely incidental as your team will see through any quick, under-thought-out approaches to DEI, increasing the damage in what is often already a precarious situation. Good DEI policies need to be well-planned with several stakeholders involved, including those that the program will impact. This session will explore how to create sustainable DEI initiatives – the right way – and in a way that will benefit your company and your employees long term.

9:45am – 10:15am

Networking & Refreshments Break

10:15am – 11:00am

Setting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Goals for Your Organization

Understanding what diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) means at your company is a hard task; taking that one step further by creating DEI goals can feel impossible. Without goals, your company could be floating around in the nebulous cloud of “needs improvement” without a real idea of what needs to change. Creating specific goals for DEI can mean a variety of things – they can be a demographic that you are looking to increase or a change in process. Or these DEI goals can mean a complete overhaul of your values or a change in hiring strategies. This session will explore strategies on how to set – and meet – your organization’s DEI goals.

11:00am – 11:45am

How to Manage Generational Differences in the Workplace

Generational differences in the workplace are plentiful, ranging from differences in beliefs to differences in working styles and more. Additionally, today's workplace is incredibly diverse generationally, comprising up to five generations working together: Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation. This session will explore:

• How today’s organizations can manage multi-generational workforces
• How to lead different generations in the workplace
• Why it is important to understand generational differences and what the benefits are of generational diversity

11:45am – 12:30pm

Identifying Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Priorities in Your Organization

This session will explore the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and process for determining DEI priorities. Walk away with tips that will help you better understand your priorities and drive DEI in your organization. Topics to be discuss include:

• Taking an inventory your business
• Using data to assess your level of diversity and inclusion at work
• Building a workplace diversity and inclusion budget
• Creating more inclusion in the workplace by upgrading your hiring practices
• Create process groups and diversity councils
• Improve transparency to improve inclusion in the workplace

12:30pm – 1:30pm

Lunch Break

1:30pm – 2:15pm

How to Synchronize Your Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Wellbeing Strategies

Diversity, equity and inclusion and wellbeing are top priorities as leaders navigate the disclosure economy, the "great resignation" and a competitive talent market. But many leaders are treating DEI and wellbeing as two distinct initiatives, even though they are fundamentally connected. You can't improve either in isolation, and leaders who attempt to do so are probably getting both wrong. Organizations need wellbeing strategies that are equitable and inclusive of diverse employees, as well as comprehensive DEI initiatives that deliver a consistent employee experience for everyone. At the same time, leaders need to recognize that diverse employees' experiences and needs related to wellbeing can differ dramatically. No employee can do their best work if they are struggling in their health and wellbeing -- and their needs vary. This session will explore why leaders need to synchronize their DEI and wellbeing efforts.

2:15pm – 3:15pm

Panel: Incorporating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion into Communications Strategy

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has risen on the agenda across all industries, leading to a significant increase in internal communications. Organizations simply having a DEI program is not enough to foster an inclusive workplace; there should also be leadership buy-in and continuous reinforcement of D&I. To ensure that a D&I program is successful, leaders must incorporate diversity and inclusion into their communications—both internally to employees and externally to stakeholders. This session will explore strategies on how to effectively communicate DEI in the modern workplace.

3:15pm – 3:45pm

Networking & Refreshments Break

3:45pm – 4:30pm

The Role of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is defined as how committed employees feel about their jobs and organizations and how passionate they are about them. Clearly, engaged employees not just have better productivity but also higher retention; engaged employees are also more customer-focused and also contribute positively to innovation and profitability. With so many benefits, employee engagement is always a key priority for organizations – both for business and HR. Diversity and inclusion have emerged as key drivers for employee engagement in recent times. This session will explore the roles that diversity, equity and inclusion play in keeping employees engaged.

4:30pm –5:15pm

Ways To Create a More Inclusive Remote Company Culture

When a company transitions from a traditional onsite office setting to a remote-first workplace, it's sometimes difficult to maintain the same level of social engagement and the company culture that once kept its staff members highly engaged with the colleagues they connected with each day and during annual special events.

To address these issues, HR leaders can start by updating the company mission statement to include a specific remote-work policy that begins to expand on how they will conduct and implement multiple channels to facilitate daily communication. Employees who feel included in conversations, live events and are encouraged by their department heads to share their voice across multiple platforms, will foster more collaboration among peers and develop a stronger growth pattern. This session will explore ways to create a more inclusive remote company culture.

5:15pm

End of Day One

7:15am – 8:00am

Networking Breakfast

8:00am – 8:15am

Chairperson’s Recap

8:15am – 9:00am

Driving Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is the reinvention of businesses around digital, which has increased the importance of digital across every aspect of the business. Employers are investing in technology that better connects and supports a remote or hybrid workforce, so there’s a great opportunity to ensure that these tools include features to promote a more inclusive culture. Companies that were slow-rolling digital transformation or diversity, equity and inclusion programs before everything went remote now suddenly need to figure out how to achieve both objectives remotely and simultaneously. This session will explore how digital transformation addresses issues around diversity, equity and inclusion.

9:00am – 9:45am

Gender and Identity Expression in the Workplace: A Primer for Employers

Discrimination based on gender identity is unlawful in several states and many cities.

While the antidiscrimination laws that protect transgendered individuals are not new, the subject of gender identity may be new to your managers. This session will provide a basic understanding of transgender issues to get employers off on the right foot for appropriately, sensitively and lawfully handling gender expression issues in the workplace.

9:45am – 10:15am

Networking & Refreshments Break

10:15am – 11:00am

Disability Inclusion in the Workplace: Why it Matters

Disability inclusion is a critical part of any business. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one adult in four in the United States has a disability. That includes invisible disabilities as well as visible ones. It’s likely that your workforce already includes many people with disabilities. Without disability inclusion, your business isn’t doing all it can to support its current employees. Disability inclusion is also crucial to your hiring process. Companies that aren’t proactive about disability inclusion are losing out on qualified talent. If candidates face barriers during the application and interview process, or if they sense that your business is not inclusive, they’re likely to look elsewhere. Companies with strong disability inclusion programs have better access to talent and better employee retention. They have the tools they need to help their employees thrive. This session will explore tips to create a disability inclusive workplace and ways to transform any workplace to better serve people with disabilities.

11:00am – 11:45am

How HR Can Use Technology to Build a More Inclusive Workplace

The pandemic has presented new and unanticipated challenges impacting leaders’ ability to connect with and support their teams. Although technology is enabling organizations to build more inclusive workplaces, organizations don’t have reliable data about diversity and inclusion. Employees must have confidence that their leadership is equipped to use that data effectively and make meaningful decisions. This session will explore, how through data analysis, businesses can gain further insight into their employees and improve workplace inclusion based on this data, and how organizations can leverage a wide range of technologies to build an inclusive workplace quickly and easily.

11:45am – 12:30pm

Creating an Inclusive and Affirming Workplace for Transgender Employees

Despite a growing global awareness of the struggles trans people face, many employers remain ill-equipped to create the policies and workplace cultures that would support trans employees. Part of the problem is a lack of knowledge about these challenges. Indeed, even companies that are LGBTQ+-friendly usually focus more on the “LGB” than on the “TQ+.” This session will explore ways that employers can more effectively attract, retain, and promote the well-being and success of their trans employees is growing. Topics to be discussed will include:

• Adopting inclusive company policies
• Using inclusive language
• Building community support
• Positioning leaders as allies to influence real change

12:30pm

Conference Concludes

12:45pm – 2:45pm

Workshop: Building an Inclusive Recruitment Process

Building a diverse, inclusive workforce and culture starts with your recruitment process. Prioritizing candidate diversity and an equitable experience offers a variety of benefits and starts with revisiting your existing processes. This session will explore inclusive recruitment strategies to implement, including:

• Setting measurable goals to track progress
• Establishing a reconciliation action plan
• Providing education and training
• Building a diverse pool of candidates
• Involving diverse perspectives in the recruitment process