Practical takeaways for your DEI program: videos from the Atos & SAP DEI Summit

Atos and SAP hosted a DEI Summit in January where more than two thousand participants from 37 countries gathered virtually to start making our future more inclusive. The key to our shared goal is to be intentional about creating a culture where every individual can thrive and flourish, with DEI at its center.

Becoming whole

I came away from the summit with three main takeaways that can unify an organization’s parts to create a diverse, equitable, inclusive whole:

1. To foster a sense of belonging at work, we must create an environment where open and honest dialogue is encouraged. Employees should feel empowered to share thoughts, ideas and feedback without fear of judgment or negative consequences. This creates the sense of belonging that’s key to helping organizations positively transform their cultures.

2. Inclusive leadership must be at the heart of every organization. Managers can influence company culture to build trust and transparency within teams.

3. Organizations should prioritize creating a space for employees to be their authentic selves. It’s also vital to consider that everybody has intersectional differences that impact their work experience.

When employees are thus empowered, included by leadership and given space for authenticity, our organizations are truly greater than the sums of their parts. They reflect the humans at their centers.

A human-centered approach to DEI: What is it and how does it work?

Workplaces can quickly become impersonal and fail to foster a sense of belonging if a human-centered approach isn’t taken. Best practices for human-centered workplaces include hearing and understanding others, and committing to meeting their unmet needs.

When people are put first, productivity and engagement inevitably follow.

So, how do organizations put people first? Something I read from Coqual (formerly The Center for Talent and Innovation) comes to mind. Part 1 of their Belonging series defines “belonging” in quantifiable terms. Essentially, we belong at work when we are:

• Seen for our unique contributions
• Connected to our co-workers
• Supported in our daily work and career development
• Proud of our organization’s values and purpose.

Bear this definition in mind when creating your organization’s DEI policies, or influencing them. After all, every organizational evolution starts with one small change. The DEI Summit had far more expert discussions on this topic.

Now, over to you

Recordings are available at https://atosdeisummit.com/. See how much DEI insight you can apply to your spheres of influence. Session recordings will be available for the next 90 days.

Some sessions to choose from:

Driving better DEI decisions through data - The power of active allyship - Quietly quitting - Creating an inclusive workforce - changing the race ratio - LGBTQ + wellbeing at work - The role of culture and belonging in digital transformation - Fostering inclusive leadership and psychological safety - My life is a crossroad - individuality, reality and aspirations in the Atos employee experience - The great breakup - DEI in the metaverse - Accessibility: from compliance to belonging - Sport as a driver for belonging - The path to belonging – ‘It rocks to be you’.

See for yourself, it has truly been an extraordinary summit.

Topics

Essentials
Ethics & Digital Society
CSR
Workplace