Digging below the surface
Inclusion & Diversity
Inclusion and Diversity (or I&D) may be the newest corporate buzzword, but it should be an incredibly powerful and important component of any organization’s resilience.
Numerous studies indicate that once incorporated into your business, I&D allows you to be more reflective of the market, reach a wider talent pool and unleash innovation by fostering different perspectives. Putting commercial imperatives aside, I&D also aligns with modern leadership values and wider societal expectations, and it is critical to helping us solve the complex problems we face. But we can’t be complacent. Good corporate intent and success with I&D awards doesn’t mean that the systemic and structural issues that led to the need for I&D initiatives in the first place are being addressed.
True resiliency requires us to be both inclusive and diverse. To be truly resilient, we have to be truly inclusive and diverse. So we need a plan that not only considers the “quick win” layers of a system related to how we do business (that is, commerce), but also layers like infrastructure and culture, which may be more challenging and take more time.
Layer 1 (fast) — Commerce: policies and practices
How we conduct our business (for example, policies, practices, branding and strategy) is one area where we can adapt quickly, as it responds well to rapid innovation and experimentation. According to recent studies, diverse and inclusive companies are 70% more likely to capture a new market and will make better business decisions 87% of the time.
At Jacobs, our global I&D strategy is called TogetherBeyondSM. It’s our approach to living inclusion every day and enabling diversity and equality globally. For us, this means creating a culture of belonging where we all thrive by embracing all perspectives. We’ve invested heavily in supporting I&D through initiatives such as
- Driving an elevated sense of belonging at Jacobs through our eight Jacobs Employee Networks.
- Providing annual conscious inclusion training (for all employees).
- Providing specific training and development programs that incorporate the principles of inclusive leadership into our definition of what a strong leader looks like at Jacobs.
- Driving accountability for all senior leaders to have annual performance evaluation elements related to inclusive leadership.
- Elevating our mentoring culture to ensure that senior leaders are mentoring and sponsoring emerging talent from diverse groups.
- Measuring improvements in our gender balance and ethnic diversity with the same rigor as our financial performance metrics.
We’re not afraid to take strong public positions supporting the advancement of social justice and equality. As a subset of what we do every day in our TogetherBeyond strategy to engage and empower all our people, we launched an Action Plan for Advancing Justice and Equality, which places specific focus around recruiting, retaining and promoting Black talent to senior levels within our organization, based on merit. Originated as a U.S.-centric action plan, TogetherBeyond is also being adapted within our global workforce as a framework to benefit other underrepresented minorities to remove barriers preventing them from thriving within Jacobs.
"Fully energizing our global workforce to drive more innovative solutions toward our clients’ challenges is what our TogetherBeyond I&D strategy is all about. We see it as an essential element of our future as a company and are driven to get this right. Serving as good corporate citizens by positively impacting the communities in which we live and work will not only create a sense of belonging at Jacobs, but also differentiates our firm so that we attract top talent with similar mindsets."
– Jeffery G. Dingle, P.E. Vice President, TogetherBeyond
Layer 2 (moderate) — Infrastructure
Making infrastructure more inclusive requires significant investment and means that we must challenge the assumptions and status quo about how we plan, design and operate all types of infrastructure. A powerful example of this in action is Norway’s introduction of universal design (in 2008) as an enforceable legal standard (chapter 3), with a goal of the entire country being universally designed by 2025 (through both retrofits and upgrades, as well as new builds).
In 2020, we released a Before and Beyond the Build, a blueprint for social value, as a starting point to collaborate with funders, contractors and other stakeholders on exploring new ways to embed greater inclusion in infrastructure projects. And even though it’s on a smaller scale, we recognize that we, as a company, have more work to do to increase inclusivity of our own workplace infrastructure — from providing toilets that are accessible to people of all genders and physical abilities, to providing work-from-home support and alternatives for those living in situations where this may not be feasible.
Layer 3 (slow) — Culture
Culture tends to adapt slowly to lessons learned (as opposed to the faster layers of the system) and, as a result, it’s often the slowest and most difficult to change. This challenge can create a jarring experience for many when it comes to I&D, as they see big organizational announcements and activities with strong intent to achieve better I&D, yet their day-to-day experience reflects the opposite. Just a few examples I can think of include women being told they are overreacting when they raise an issue of gender discrimination when a man receives a public award advocating for women, or a person of color being given advice that they need to behave more like the dominant culture if they want to advance in their career.
The contradictions that result from the differing pace of change at each layer means that we have to look at resilience on three levels when it comes to I&D
- Individual resilience — Pushing against social and cultural norms that prevent I&D at each layer of change requires significant resilience, particularly from those most personally affected.
- Organizational resilience — Achieving genuine I&D is essential to current and future organizations’ resilience, as diversity of thought and perspective is a valuable asset for operating in a more complex, volatile and unpredictable future.
- Societal and economic resilience — Learning more about the inter-dependencies and connectedness between systems and issues helps us realize the importance of strong networks, partnerships and collaborations, even among those that may not be like-minded. •
"In simple terms, diversity is the mix, and inclusion is getting the mix to work well together."
– Global Diversity Practice
More Reading
Jacobs Divisional Vice President and Director of New York Operations Julie Chang joins BizJournal to explore how vision, empathy and connection have been important to success in working through the pandemic — and how our Culture of Caring has remained at the heart of it all.
Jacobs Releases Blueprint for Creating Social Value Through Infrastructure Investments
Pace Layering: How Complex Systems Learn and Keep Learning (Stewart Brand)
In praise of patience: Resilience is the fashionable prescription for trauma. But bouncing back is not the only — or best — way to bear sorrow (Samira Thomas)
These seven shocking statistics show just how unequal the world is for women (SBS News, Australia)
Measuring social value in infrastructure: Lessons from the public sector (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors)
Wellbeing data for New Zealanders (New Zealand Government)
Diversity Training: What works and what doesn’t (Marlette Jackson and Jon Shafran, Forshay)