Category: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging

The last several years of social and political upheaval have been met with an explosion of grassroots fundraising and activism. As communities, leaders, and activists rise to meet the challenges of our rapidly changing social fabric with newly formed nonprofits, they often run into barriers to expansion, and their charitable or activist efforts become kneecapped.

The issues these organizations face can be logistical, as rapid expansion requires an increase in staff and funding that may not be readily available, and institutional, such as clashes with older and more established support systems. One such organization is Make Us Visible, co-founded by Council member Mike Keo.

Make Us Visible seeks to have AAPI history included in K-12 curricula across the country. They have seen rapid success, with bills being passed in Connecticut and New Jersey and others being considered in New York, Florida and Rhode Island. Make Us Visible currently has chapters in 10 states, and has received requests to open chapters in several other states just in the last month. But with this success come questions of scale, and how to best go about expanding at such a rapid pace.

To answer these questions, NationSwell convened a group of experts from the nonprofit, business, finance and activism sectors to help create a roadmap that Make Us VIsible and other new organizations can follow to ensure success as they build out their operations. 

Here are some of the key takeaways from the discussion:

Flesh out your longer term institutional goals:

While pursuing your organization’s stated goal, it is beneficial to devise a plan for what the organization itself should look like and be doing within the next three to five years. Bringing on a consultant to go over your staffing, fundraising, and structural plans is a relatively quick way to achieve this goal and prevent your organization from having to come up with staffing and leadership solutions on the fly.

Decide early on how to financially structure your organization:

There are numerous financial structures available to new organizations. Registering as a 501c3 or securing a fiscal sponsorship are two of the most common. There are advantages and disadvantages to both arrangements, but it is important to make a decision early on to help facilitate funding and avoid liability issues resulting from improper donations. If looking for a fiscal sponsor, be sure to find one that is aligned with your organization’s goals, as problems can arise when they are not. 

Try to secure cash early:

Money can solve a lot of problems, especially for a fledgling organization. It’s always beneficial to have some cash on hand, rather than be constantly chasing donations at the start. In a situation where an organization is not capable of accepting donations, it’s important to maintain relationships with entities that have offered gifts or financial investments. If possible, secure pledges for donations in writing, so that when the organization reaches a point where it can accept these gifts, the offers are still there.

Create a clear organizational structure that can be copied across multiple chapters:

As an organization grows, it’s critical to have an operating structure that is clear and can be implemented across the board as new chapters form. Create a clear hierarchy and communication structure between local chapters and national leadership so that there are no surprises on either end. It is also important to be clear up front about what your organization does and does not do, to avoid a situation where a new chapter forms and the local leadership pursues goals that are not in line with the overall organization’s.

Be patient:

It’s important to remember that this can be a trying and difficult process. Rapid expansion can bring unanticipated consequences like burnt out colleagues and volunteers and ruined friendships. This is especially true in the current moment, as we slowly emerge from the pandemic with the wright of the past two years still firmly on our shoulders. Leaders of these organizations should do their best to mitigate these negative aspects, while understanding that the road will inevitably get rough.

The NationSwell Council community brings together a diverse, curated community of bold individuals and organizations leading the way in social, economic, and environmental problem-solving. Learn more about the Council here.

Far too often, women and people of color find themselves in the familiar position of glancing around the boardroom or C-suite to notice that they are vastly outnumbered. But that phenomenon is even more prevalent at the intersection of the two groups, with women of color finding themselves to be “the first, the few, and the only,” with concerning regularity.

Despite comprising one of the fastest growing segments in the modern workforce, research shows that women of color still only account for roughly 4% of corporate leadership — a statistic that can lend itself to a host of unpleasant side-effects, including imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and a propensity to overcommit to mentoring opportunities in the hopes of eventually elevating other women into similar positions.

NationSwell recently hosted a Mainstage Event — hosted by president, Uyen Tieu and moderated by Deepa Purushothaman, the first woman of color partner at Deloitte, and Vernā Myers, VP of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix — that was designed with the express intention of examining some of the historic obstacles woman of color have faced in the workplace and unpacking some of the most promising strategies for reclaiming their power and pushing back against predominantly white corporate cultures.

The event marked a great jumping off point for some key learnings about what we can continue to do to foster cultures of inclusion in our work lives and redefine power in corporate America. Here are some of the most important things we learned:

When it comes to choosing a workplace that will value them and their work, women of color can afford to be discerning. Because their professional experience and perspective is in high demand right now, women of color can afford to take the time to shop around for the role that will allow them to do their best work and appreciate their talents — even if it means dispatching with the old wisdom about “just being grateful” for an old job that’s coming up short on both fronts.

Asking the hard questions up front can save you time and grief in the long run. Finding the right role can involve a lot of courage, particularly when it requires going against the grain to suss out potential pain points early on. Purushothaman advised that asking key questions like, “What are you experiencing?” “Do you feel safe?” and “Are you being paid what you deserve?” can help women of color to do a gut check about the treatment they’re receiving — and if something doesn’t feel right, it’s not right.

George Floyd’s murder provided a critical catalyst for discussions of race in the workplace. Along with conversations about the role of work in our lives instigated by the Covid-19 pandemic, George Floyd’s murder also helped to catalyze a new movement to examine the role race plays at work, and provided a pathway towards understanding what work still needs to be done. “It’s really important for us to recognize that where we are today is a collective movement that’s been happening for a very long time, with so many people making sacrifices,” Myers said. “Things are changing all the time, just not as quickly as we want them to, but it’s important to remember what got us here. We still need people mentoring, pushing, because it’s not guaranteed. We need people to stay super focused, because there’s usually a backlash.”

Women of color still need to do work to examine their own inherent biases. If we can hope to create a true culture of compassion, it’s critical that women of color are also reflexively engaging in work to examine their own biases. According to Myers, one way to do this is to recognize hegemony and hierarchies where they exist, even among groups of women of color. Recognizing the fact that we all have multiple identities will help us to be more aware of where our biases exist so that we can support more women more often.

Companies are trying in earnest to get DEIA initiatives right — but still falling short. Per research by Deepa, 97% of women we interviewed who were interviewed last fall said DEI initiatives weren’t working at their companies. Although there are currently observable trends that show companies weighing diversity initiatives more heavily as part of their cultural DNA, it’s also evident that many of them still haven’t grasped just how much work there is to be done — and have resorted to lazy tactics like copying other companies or trying to reach diversity percentages as if they’re “checking boxes” rather than advocating for real structural shifts.

The NationSwell Mainstage is the premier convening for change makers of all stripes to learn clear, actionable ways that anyone can be a key part of solving the nation’s most urgent problems. Learn more about the NationSwell community here.

According to the Harvard Business Review, menopause generally occurs when people with ovaries are between 45 and 55 years old — right around the time in their careers when they’re most likely to be moving into a more senior leadership role. But despite the fact that it affects such a large portion of the American workforce at such a critical moment in their careers, frank and unnecessary discussions about menopause are still taboo in the workplace; and when those discussions do happen, they carry the inherent risk of exacerbating existing sexist and agist stereotypes about women at work.

In honor of National Women’s Health Week, NationSwell’s Gender Equity Group, in collaboration with Beth Bengtson, CEO of Working for Women, Ann Garnier, CEO of Lisa Health, Senior Vice President of AARP, Kamili Wilson, and Dr. Stephanie Fabioun, Medical Director of The North American Menopause Society and physician at the Mayo Clinic’s Women’s Health Center, convened for a panel discussion on what needs to be done to ensure that the physical and mental effects of menopause and perimenopause are being adequately addressed in the workplace.

Here are some of the key learnings from the event:

Digital technologies is a promising tool when it comes to addressing gaps in care

In just the last couple of years, new technologies — including AI, machine learning, wearables, and telehealth resources — have sprouted up as enticing options for making healthcare more accessible to more people. These new technologies have particular promise for their ability to give women experiencing menopause a highly unique and personalized view of their health, which many say is lacking in their relationships with their primary care physicians.

The case for increased support for professional women experiencing menopause has to be made from an economic perspective.

Research supports the idea that when women are hit hard by menopause, they experience increased rates of absenteeism and are hit harder on productivity. In demanding that their workplaces offer benefits parity and reimbursement models that offer affordable access, women will need to frame the possibility of not getting these things as an economic issue — one that will affect companies’ bottom lines if it leads to women abandoning the workforce in droves.

Women and allies will necessarily have to advocate for increased support at the federal level.

The United Kingdom and other countries provide positive models of the types of public-private partnerships that are needed in order to ensure that women experiencing menopause get the support they need. While lobbying for benefits parity and compassionate office policies is crucial, those lobbying efforts will also need to extend to the federal government if women can hope for wide-ranging policy shifts to the current healthcare model.

Critical gaps in education exist for both healthcare providers and women experiencing menopause

A decades-long lack of resources and training during residency programs has made it so that healthcare providers are sometimes ill-equipped to deal with women experiencing menopause symptoms — creating a frustrating lack of education and awareness that affects patients. Just as technology offers promise in increasing accessibility to health care, it also holds the potential to create new pathways for women to access compassionate and informed professionals who specialize in treating the symptoms of menopause.

Treatment options outside of hormonal therapy need to be part of the conversation.

There are a host of treatment options that can be used to address the symptoms of menopause and perimenopause, and not all of them are medication-based. While hormonal therapy is one of the most commonly recommended treatment options, not all women are eligible, increasing the importance of science-backed, non-medical alternatives like cognitive behavioral therapy, healthy lifestyle changes, hypnosis, and more.

The NationSwell Council community brings together a diverse, curated community of bold individuals and organizations leading the way in social, economic, and environmental problem-solving. Learn more about the Council here.

According to an AARP report, more than 78% of older workers have seen or directly experienced age discrimination in the workplace. On top of that, 64% of workers 50 years of age and older believe employers see their age as a disadvantage in getting hired, and 79% of those 65 and older feel their age hurts their chances to get the job.

Age bias makes it difficult for older workers to make headway in the labor market. Such attitudes make little economic sense given the strong business case for hiring and retaining older workers. Knowledge and expertise — the main predictors of job performance — increase in perpetuity the longer one works, advantaging older workers who are more likely to have spent more years working than their younger counterparts. They frequently outperform their younger counterparts on many other key metrics of worker success, such as less absenteeism, less turnover, and stronger interpersonal skills.

Besides being strong individual contributors, older adults bring cognitive diversity to their teams, which increases organizational performance.  One study found that the relative productivity of both older and younger workers is higher in companies that utilize mixed-age work teams. Another found that age diversity within a team was positively related to performance for groups involved in complex decision-making tasks. Age diversity within a company can also lower employee turnover. 

For companies convinced that age must be included as a dimension of their overall DEI strategy, there are several steps they can take to increase age diversity within their workforce.

Offer “returnships”

Returnships are full-time paid internships for adults who have been out of the workforce for several years or more. People who are returning to the workforce might have retired and now want or need to return to work to restart or change careers.  Perhaps they have taken time off to care for an elderly parent or raise a family. Returnships help people get back to paid work, all while giving employers a chance to diversify their workforce so that it looks more like the communities their organizations are serving.

Partner with organizations that can help recruit talent across all ages

To achieve an age diverse workforce, a company must put generational diversity at the core of its equity strategies and goaling. Partnering with organizations that help older adults acquire the skills they need to get hired in today’s labor market is one way to supercharge an organization’s efforts to achieve an age diverse workforce.  Such partnerships can provide ready access to a talent pool of older workers.    

AARP Foundation has several workforce programs that give older, low-income adults the job skills and confidence they need to succeed in today’s workplace. AARP Foundation’s new $10 million grant from Google.org will help fund the Digital Skills Ready@50+ initiative to train vulnerable older adults — especially women and people of color in underserved communities — in the digital skills they need to succeed in today’s tech-focused workplace, so they are job-ready when companies need workers. 

Partnering with organizations like AARP Foundation can provide companies seeking older adult workers with a pipeline of candidates to consider, greatly enlarging their recruiting pool.

Provide incentives to help workers remain on the job longer

There are a variety of incentives companies can provide to help older workers stay on the job longer. Some older workers may wish to phase into retirement rather than leave the workplace abruptly, or they may want to retrain for a new challenge.  Providing flexible work schedules, sabbaticals, or caregiving options can make staying in the workplace longer more appealing.  Other employers have found that allowing full-time workers to shift to part-time, but still investing in their benefits, has provided those workers with extra incentive to postpone retirement.

Remove age limits on apprenticeship programs

Apprenticeships are a key part of employee development at some companies and there can be age limits on who is eligible to apply.  One way to develop an age-inclusive workforce is to remove all age limits from such programs. From there, organizations should not only encourage older applicants to apply for these programs, but recruit them in order to continually invest in developing their skills.

By following these strategies, companies and organizations can reap the many benefits of an age-diverse, multigenerational workforce and help fill job openings that have gone wanting far too long in the current economy.

Although it most frequently impacts people of color, and Black people in particular, an invisible tax can be “paid” based on any race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or intersection of those identities that deviates from the white, cishet norm.

Although the term was first coined by former US Education Secretary John King Jr. to describe the additional strain that school systems place on African American teachers, the phrase has since expanded to include the disproportionate emotional and mental weight carried by marginalized members of any workforce. Unsurprisingly, the toll exacted by the invisible tax often leads to employee burnout.

During a NationSwell Council hybrid workshop moderated by Jaylan Fisher (co-founder, Black In HR Indy), Dr. Warren Dukes (vice president of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, United Way of Central Indiana), Angel Henry (author and founder of AngelSpeaking), Amber Fields (chief culture officer, TrueU), and Rico Francis (Pacers Foundation Social Impact Director), and hosted by TJ Wright (principal & chief executive officer of Whelhaus Co.), participants reflected on the ways the invisible tax might show up in their own workplaces — and how to better identify implicit, biased behaviors in themselves and others.

Here are some key takeaways from the event:

Employers need to recognize — and pay — employees for the time they spend working to improve a company’s DEI metrics

Although companies are getting savvier when it comes to identifying the hallmarks of an invisible tax, including by establishing identity-based affinity groups for employees, leaders are too often oblivious to the extra work these groups can create for their members. Doing support work, putting together agendas, and running the show in general are all forms of labor, and team members who go the extra mile to build and strengthen coalitions should be compensated for their time accordingly.

Know your limits and establish firm boundaries

Knowing when to walk away — and when a company is not supporting your experience in the workplace — can be a vital skill when dealing with an invisible tax. Having your boundaries frequently crossed or challenged, whether it’s through insensitive comments, unfair expectations, or unacknowledged work, is unacceptable, and sometimes the best thing to do is to leave a dangerous or toxic environment.

Normalizing mental health discussions and education in the workplace is a critical step

Having brave and vulnerable conversations is key to creating psychological safety in the workplace and establishing greater understanding of how identity impacts how people show up to do their jobs. By normalizing frank conversations around mental health, employers can in turn create a safe and inclusive workspace where team members trust that their experiences and struggles will be seen and understood.

Call out the invisible tax when you spot it

Sometimes the best strategy for dealing with unfair treatment is to initiate tough and frank conversations about where and how an invisible tax is showing up. Such conversations are also a great opportunity for white, cisgender and heteronormative colleagues to step up and advocate for their colleagues, who shouldn’t be expected to bear the burden of always blowing the whistle on bad policies or behaviors.

If your company isn’t attracting diverse talent organically, there might be good reason to be suspicious

The absence of diverse applicants in a company’s hiring pipeline is often a good sign that the company in question isn’t doing enough to attract or retain diverse talent. Common sins of companies struggling to champion inclusivity are the absence of diverse representation in leadership; soliciting thought partnership without reward, recognition or follow through; and using language that contradicts the actual policies in place (i.e., saying “we support moms” while simultaneously offering inadequate parental leave).

Normalize not expecting people of color to “react” to violent news cycles that white team members might have the privilege to ignore

Not only should marginalized employees not be asked to serve as “spokespersons” on their respective cultures, but they also shouldn’t be expected to react to violent or traumatizing news cycles involving members of the group(s) they identify with. Asking coworkers of color “how they’re doing” during a tough news cycle might seem well-intentioned, but the implication is that the emotional burden is theirs to bear — yet another form of emotional labor that non-minority employees are exempt from.

The NationSwell Council community brings together a diverse, curated community of bold individuals and organizations leading the way in social, economic, and environmental problem-solving. Learn more about the Council here.

The gender wage gap has not been closed; women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ employees are still underrepresented in leadership roles; and many workplaces still adhere to outdated policies that can stifle the freedom, creativity, and productivity of a diverse workforce.

In a conversation hosted by the NationSwell Council community, three women leaders in the media industry explored what it means to build a fair, equitable, and just workplace, what steps businesses should be taking to foster inclusiveness and bring equity to the forefront of every decision, and how business leaders should think about their role in advancing gender justice in the workplace.

Here are some of the key learnings from the event.

We must be able to define what it truly means to be a fair and inclusive workspace

Creating such a workplace cannot be achieved if we lack a basic understanding of what the ultimate goal truly is. Fair and inclusive does not stop at merely having a diverse workforce. It’s not enough to simply have women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ employees and leaders. These groups and individuals must also be put in a position where they can be elevated, both in terms of advancement in the workplace and in having their voices and concerns heard and taken seriously.

It starts with diverse hiring

Of course, the first step is to hire more women, more people of color, and more members of the LGBTQ+ community. But that is truly just the first step. Research has shown that bias against women can still persist even in workspaces that are majority women, so issues of inequity will not suddenly disappear when some specific diversity ratio is achieved.

Take stock of your own communications

Companies should look at both their internal and outward facing communications to assess whose voices are usually featured. If, for example, a company’s website is filled with images of mostly white men, this could deter diverse candidates from applying for or accepting a job. Similarly, if internal comms are always led by white cishet men, other employees may feel alienated in the workplace.

Workers should feel comfortable in their own skin

Employees must feel their workplace is a safe space where they are free to be themselves. This includes respecting people’s identity — ie, using a person’s preferred pronouns and name — making sure all employees have equitable access to the health care they require, and making sure that they are not being harassed in any way by colleagues or clients. 

Free and open communication is a must

The culture of a workplace cannot change if people do not feel empowered to address their problems or concerns. One way to foster this type of communication is through employee surveys, but surveys can have issues as well. A survey could be written in a biased manner and can also flatten the experience of individuals by putting employees into groups. So managers must be able to have open and direct communication with individuals so that they can speak about their specific experiences and concerns.

The NationSwell Council community brings together a diverse, curated community of bold individuals and organizations leading the way in social, economic, and environmental problem-solving. Learn more about the Council here.