IVC: A Look Inward
06.25.2020
IVC: A Look Inward
The fight for racial equality is a shared responsibility by all communities and cultures. The past few weeks have served as an awakening and an integral catalyst for reflection on how we as a company can do better. Eradicating the racial injustices in this country will not happen overnight but we are committed to doing our part with a deep self-examination on how we can establish a more inclusive, and diverse culture. Jill Tanner, Senior Vice President of Creative Design & Marketing at IVC has been leading our Diversity, Equality & Inclusion task force and has labeled out several objectives and actions that are currently under way.
Challenging our Culture
The BLM movement triggered an analysis of how we as an agency can improve. The first step was to establish an internal DEI task force to bring together diverse viewpoints and collectively define our priorities, gaps, and long-term and short-term objectives. While this organizes our efforts, we had to acknowledge the flaw in unpacking unconscious biases ourselves under a culture we’re looking to reexamine. To assist, we have engaged with a DEI agency partner who will help run several internal initiatives regarding racial injustice education, training, and awareness for all of our employees.
Setting up the Future
Going forward, two of our overall established goals are to 1) build a connected culture and 2) fill our talent pipeline with a diverse set of candidates. To address our first goal, we needed a more accurate understanding of the sentiment within our own organization. We will conduct a company-wide survey to complete our baseline understanding of how our employees are feeling about the diversity, equity, and inclusiveness of our culture as of today. This information will help guide future planning of our DEI program. Our agency partner will then run several Social Listening Circles where employees can vocalize their lived experiences both at work and outside of it. They will also take the entire company through a Managing Unconscious Bias Workshop. Addressing our second goal involves a rethinking of our recruitment strategy. From how we write job descriptions, to where we post them, to our referral process, we must look at our outreach to candidates and strive to be a company where diversity of opinion and culture are set up to thrive.
Committing to Action
In the short-term, we have rolled out company-wide initiatives that will contribute to the fight for racial equality happening now. In tandem with the workshop, we have allocated 4 hours of our employees’ give-back time to self-awareness and education on the history and presence of modern-day institutional racism, providing updated lists of literature, films, and events to learn from.
Our founders Rod Mickels and Drew Hagen have encouraged employee donation to organizations such as The Color of Change, Black Lives Matter, Feeding America, and For My Block by offering to double down on any amount contributed by InVisionites. So far, we have raised around $20,000 and look to continue our support. We recognize that these changes are only the start of what it will take to rebuild a system that’s equitable to all. We as a company will strive to do better and hold ourselves accountable, continuing to take steps to improve our culture.