10 Examples of Successful & Innovative Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives

10 Examples of Successful & Innovative Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives

The importance of relevant and impactful Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives cannot be understated. There are so many ways a company or organization can make a difference from recruitment to policy change to product inclusion, even a viral marketing campaign! In this blog, we highlight ten examples of DEI programs done well across different brands and industry sectors.

MassMutual Makes Workplace Leaves Inclusive of Chosen Family

For many team members, especially members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and Two-Spirit (LGBTQIA2+) community, their loved ones fall outside typical legal bonds or blood connections. This is, in part, because members of the LGBTQIA2+ community face higher rates of family rejection and varying levels of legal recognition of their relationships across jurisdictions. Moreover, research shows that reliance on “chosen family” is also more prevalent among people with disabilities and immigrants. Standard workplace leave policies also tend to unintentionally exclude people who live in multigenerational households which are more common among Asian, Black, and Latinx/Latine communities. In consideration of the diversity of family structures and circumstances, MassMutual updated its workplace leave policies to enable employees to define loved ones for themselves in sick and bereavement leaves. Alongside this change, MassMutual also released a study highlighting society’s changing ideas around the family.

Slack Shares Playbook for Hiring Formerly Incarcerated People

In partnership with The Last Mile, The Kellogg Foundation, and FREEAMERICA, Slack created a program that sought to destigmatize formerly incarcerated people and better enable them to return to work upon release. The Last Mile offers a full-time program that trains incarcerated students on marketable computer coding skills. Slack took on graduates from The Last Mile program through apprenticeships, hoping to create a blueprint for additional organizations to follow. Studies show that Black, Latinx/Latine, and Indigenous peoples face higher rates of bias from law enforcment, harsher sentencing, and higher rates of imprisonment so initiatives like these also promote greater racial equity in the workplace. Since the inception of Slack’s program, PayPal, Zoom, DropBox, Square, Asana, Stash, and more have also created programs in collaboration with The Last Mile. There is a full publication available, co-authored by Slack and the Apsen Institute, sharing strategic insights into building effective Rework-Reentry Programs

Google Becomes Leader in Product Inclusion

Product Inclusion is when organizations intentionally design, market, and improve their products or services with specific communities in mind. Oftentimes, when companies share their products with the world, they forget about the unique needs and experiences of non-dominant groups like Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) or people with disabilities. Examples of product exclusion might be when products are marketed in ways that are excessively gendered which can alienate gender nonconforming customers or how vehicles are often safety-tested with mannequins that mimic the average body of a cisgender man which then makes these products less safe for women, pregnant people, and children. In response to the growing need for more inclusive and thoughtful products, Google released a product inclusion guide and hired Annie Jean-Baptiste as their Head of Product Inclusion & Equity. They have open-sourced their own product inclusion journey in many ways by sharing stories: one about their photo sensors being less effective for BIPOC people and one about how they intentionally involved their internal team groups in the product development process to ensure a broad cross-section of backgrounds and identities engaged with the Google Assistant and gave feedback. Annie Jean-Baptiste has also released a book Building for Everyone which shares meaningful tips to make an entire product lifecycle more inclusive.  

Mastercard Launches True Name Initiative & Accessible Card Design   

Product Inclusion is not just about not excluding people, it’s about being deliberate and proactive about making your product as inclusive as possible. Mastercard did this with two recent updates to their cards. The True Name Initiative enables transgender, non-binary, genderfluid, and nonconforming people to display their chosen name on their card regardless of their legal name. In addition to this, Mastercard integrated unique notches into its product design so blind and low vision users can differentiate between their credit, debit, and pre-paid cards. The True Name Initiative will protect transgender, non-binary, genderfluid, and nonconforming people from having their status revealed when paying for something which would open them up to discrimination or needing to input a name or be referred to by a name that causes them distress and pain. For its new accessible card design, Mastercard worked with the Royal National Institute of Blind People in the U.K. and the nonprofit Visions/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired in the U.S. to discover growth opportunities in existing cards.

National Football League (NFL) Institutes “Rooney Rule”

Adopted in 2003, the Rooney Rule is an NFL policy requiring every team with a head coaching vacancy to interview at least one or more candidates from communities experiencing marginalization and underrepresentation. This was in response to the fact that so many NFL players were members of the Black community, yet very few Black people advanced to head coaching positions. In 2009, the Rooney Rule was expanded to include general manager jobs and equivalent front office positions. The Rooney Rule is named after the former Pittsburgh Steelers owner, Dan Rooney who helped incept the rule. As recently as 2022, the Rooney Rule was expanded to include women and vacant Quarterback (QB) Coaching positions. The policy has helped increase the representation of Black coaches in the NFL to 25%. Inspired by the Rooney Rule, various companies have embedded different versions of it in their own recruitment strategy to help create greater equity in their hiring processes. A more inclusive iteration of this rule increasingly adopted by organizations is the Mansfield Rule which requires that at least 30% of interviewees are women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA2+, and/or people with disabilities before a position is closed and a decision is made. 

Mozilla Shares Their Comprehensive Gender Transition Policy 

When a transgender, non-binary, genderfluid, or nonconforming team member begins their gender transition at work, it can be a really complicated and individualized process that organizations might not be entirely familiar with or ready for. Thankfully, Mozilla has shared their detailed Gender Transition policy which includes a wide-range of considerations such as: defining terminology, who to contact, how managers should respond, what will need to be updated across team platforms and records, how to report harassment, access to facilities, benefits, and more. Having a transparent and accessible Gender Transition Policy is critical to ensuring that team members of all gender identities and expressions feel welcomed and supported on their journeys, rather than stressed and disheartened. 

Spotify Introduces Flexible Holidays 

If you live in North America, it is likely that government and company holidays are largely structured around the Christian calendar like Christmas, for example. Or, that certain official holidays like Thanksgiving may actually invoke feelings of grief if you are a member of an Indigenous community. Every person is unique and has certain times that mean a lot more to them (e.g. A special family tradition, a birthday, a faith-related observance, etc.). Moreover, each person has different values and beliefs. In order to honor each team member’s relationship to certain holidays and times of significance, Spotify introduced a flexible holidays policy. At Spotify, all employees can make a day-off trade: work on a day that is a public holiday in the country where they are employed, and then take off another workday instead. This is ultimately more inclusive of people of different cultures, spiritualities, nationalities, and social groups. 

Microsoft Takes Accessibility to the Next Level 

As a company, Microsoft is one of the foremost entities in its industry for accessibility. Microsoft helped create one of the first recruitment databases specifically catered to neurodivergent candidates called the Neurodiversity Career Connector. Microsoft has a whole hub of resources online for companies to create more accessible recruitment, interviewing, and hiring processes. For over a decade, Microsoft has hosted an annual Ability Summit Conference where leaders convene to discuss leading practices in workplace accessibility and new accessibility features in Microsoft products. Microsoft has invested in an Inclusive Tech Lab that serves as an “inclusive design incubator where Microsoft and disability communities can ideate and evaluate product design and direction.” Microsoft has a Chief Accessibility Officer, Jenny Lay-Flurrie, who is deaf and has a mobility-related disability. Microsoft has even done an inclusive marketing campaign around its adaptive video game controllers: We All Win. 

Dove Challenges Agism in the Workplace 

Dove found an awesome opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) in its recent campaign: Keep the Grey. Just days after the popular, award-winning CTV news anchor, Lisa LaFlamme, was fired amid allegations of agism, Dove shared its #KeepTheGrey initiative. Dove changed its logo grey and urged other brands and people to do so as well as an act of solidarity and a call to end agism in the workplace, especially among women who are not given the same space culturally to age gracefully like men. Wendy’s followed suit and the campaign went viral gaining a lot of news coverage and positive reception online. The Keep the Grey Campaign is a perfect example of a brand responding thoughtfully to current events in a way that resonates with its consumers who want more inclusive visions for beauty, but also helps to raise awareness for a real concern unfairly affecting people’s careers.       

IBM Scales Voluntary Self-Identification Program Globally 

Without data, it’s difficult to identify and measure what inequities different communities are facing. Moreover, advocates will struggle to make a case to leadership without data that succinctly demonstrates what they are exposing and what they are asking for in response. Voluntary Self-Identification (Self-ID) is essentially when an organization gives current and potential team members the opportunity to confidentially share demographic information through their Applicant Tracking System (ATS), Human Resources Information System (HRIS), or company surveys. Voluntary Self-Identification can get even more complicated to implement on a global scale because of the web of legislation protecting different kinds of data and how it should be stored. IBM not only offers Voluntary Self-Identification on a global scale, but makes it possible for employees in 40 countries (covering 87% of the IBM workforce) to provide their own self-identified sexuality and gender identity on their IBM human resources record.