What we’re trying to achieve around diversity
By Rob Cahill, Jhana CEO
One of our four company values at Jhana is inclusivity. For us, this means promoting inclusivity and diversity within our company, to the managers we support, and to the broader business community. While we don’t have everything figured out, we are making progress.
It also means regularly sharing how we’re doing and giving suggestions for others — so, here we go!
Some of the representation and diversity we have at Jhana:
- 86% of our managers are women
- 70% of our employees are women (though only 20% of our Board of Directors)
- 33% of our employees are non-white
- 19% of our employees are remote
- 15% of our employees are immigrants
- At least 15% of our employees are LGBTQ
- 15% of our employees are aged 40 or older (we still skew young — 40 is less than halfway through a typical working life)
- 11% of our employees are parents
Note that diversity isn’t just ethnicity and gender. This list is only part of what makes us different and powerful. And we still have a long way to go.
What we’re doing for our clients and the 30,000+ managers & leaders we support: Our research team is creating a detailed new topic on how managers can address unconscious bias. We plan to release this in the coming months.
How we’re getting out in the community:
- Monthly service opportunities for all employees
- Ta’Darrell’s moving article: Is My Name Too Black
- A company statement on immigration in the United States
- The article Diversity is a Moral Imperative, Not Just a Business Imperative
- The article Don’t Wait for the Diversity Committee: How Managers and Leaders Can Get Radical on Inclusivity Now
- The article Managers, Here’s How You Can Help Drive Diversity
- The article Rethink Your Hiring Approach To Drive Inclusivity, published by TalentCulture
- The article 3 Things Leaders Should Know About Diversity — What We Learned from Pinterest’s Head of Diversity and Inclusion
- New research on Managing Remote Teams: See the article 9 Mistakes Managers Make With Remote Teams
- Attendance at the Lesbians Who Tech conference
- I spoke to my high school alumni about privilege and unconscious bias
A few tips for you and your organization:
- Start early, if you can. It’s harder to build a diverse workforce when your leadership team and board are already a bunch of white guys.
- Educate your leaders and managers on inclusivity and unconscious bias. There are a lot of ways to do this. Make it part of your culture. As a small way to get started, we offer free flashcards on “10 Ways Managers Can Increase Inclusivity” at www.jhana.com/inclusion.
- Acknowledge the less visible aspects of diversity. For example, a brave employee who has faced severe bouts of anxiety gave a company-wide presentation to build awareness.
- Do something NOW to promote inclusivity at work. Don’t wait for the diversity committee. Can you take a chance by hiring someone without the typical pedigree? How can you make a colleague with less privilege feel more welcome and more supported? How can you make Diversity & Inclusivity fundamental to your workplace? Here are a few tips on rethinking the hiring process to drive diversity.
Thanks for taking this topic seriously.
What has worked / not worked at your organization? What works in larger organizations? What ideas do you have for Jhana or other organizations?
This was also posted on Rob’s personal Medium and his LinkedIn. If you’d like to know more about Jhana as a company and how it helps managers, here you are.
