Along with Perrine, Cognizant’s Tricia Stinton, AppDynamics’ Ridgy Lemarier, and Omobono’s Jen Hennings all joined for an insightful discussion on diversity. Here were some of the issues raised.
Diversity challenges in the workplace
One issue that was raised right away was the idea of intersectionality. Tricia, who is Cognizant’s head of field marketing, brought up the fact that she is a woman of colour, experiencing different types of challenges related to gender and race. As a mother, she had to start expressing her need for flexibility and couldn’t stay at the office as late as some of her male colleagues.
She also addressed microaggressions that she experienced relating to race and recalled a time when her colleague had returned from holiday.
She said: “He came up to me and held his arm out and said “oh, I almost caught up with you in skin complexion.” He didn’t mean anything offensive by it, but he hadn’t really thought about the implications of it.”
These microaggressions can manifest in different ways and make marketers feel uncomfortable in their own workplace. Omobono’s Jen Hennings mentioned that, from an LGBTQ perspective, Omobono found that, among the 18-24 demographic, over 50% identified as not straight, with about 60% feeling like they need to go back in the closet in the workplace due to the lack of representation and role models. That means 30% of the workforce don’t feel comfortable being themselves – and that’s just one aspect of diversity.
Effects of Covid-19
A 2020 Marketing Week survey demonstrated that 88% of marketing professionals identify as white. Perrine noted that this underrepresentation has worsened since Covid-19 first hit, claiming:“Recruiters tend to hire people that look like them. Also, minority groups have been pushed out more – minorities are already on low income jobs, and more likely to be put on furlough and being laid off during Covid-19.”
In addition to this, distance bias has also impacted minorities. Distance bias is the idea that professionals tend to hire people who look similar to us. As a result, diversity in the workplace has been affected.
Get the data and benchmarks
Jen is one of the founding members of the Diversity and Inclusion team at Omobono, which encourages employees to bring their whole selves to work. The team currently focuses on gender, race, mental health and disability. Jen advised not to take on too many strands of diversity all at once because it simply won’t work.
As a starting point, she suggests gathering as much information about how employees genuinely want to move forward with diversity initiatives. While diversity training might be helpful, having it be a mandatory course might feel like it’s a chore for people to complete.
Jen said: “The first step was to survey the business and use that to benchmark our own diversity scores. We also took the opportunity to ask our people what they wanted to learn about these initiatives, and nobody suggested we have some kind of formal training.”
Once you discover your diversity scores, these can then be examined for the recruitment process moving forward.
Strive for change in recruitment
Another proactive step taken by the team at Ombono was recruiting the content team to remove any gendered language or images on applications. This helps to remove unconscious bias that might already exist within a company.
Tricia said: “In B2B marketing, the higher you go, the more male the leadership goes, whether that’s in a marketing role or senior marketing roles in an organisation, so I think it starts with representation with all levels of an organisation.”
Tricia said companies need to really break down their recruitment process and analyse the following: where are you advertising? What do the ads look like? Are you promoting largely white institutions or areas? These are all aspects that can help incite changes for the next generation of B2B marketers.
She also suggested giving the BAME community opportunities early on, whether it’s in the form of an internship, or visiting schools to provide education on what B2B marketing is.
Why should marketers strive for more diversity?
When Ridgy was younger, his father told him he would have to work twice as hard as a white person. It wasn’t until he had moved to France that he realised his father was right. While he credited having a great supportive team, he reiterated how important it is to have a diverse team. Here are three reasons why:
More creativity and innovation: Having a diverse team with people of all different backgrounds will bring diverse ideas as well. Providing an inclusive atmosphere will allow for everyone to feel safe enough to express their unique ideas.Better performance: When your team members feel supported, in turn, they will be motivated to have higher levels of engagement. However, without support, members might feel obligated to go with the status quo and shy away from bringing their 100%.A better company image: If you’re looking to create diverse teams merely for the sake of image, it won’t work. However, bringing genuine initiatives to the table will be recognised by those in recruitment as well as other brands. You get to boost your reputation as well as creating a safer space for all employees.
