Civil Rights activist and Black queer feminist Audre Lorde once said, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we don’t lead single-issue lives.” Her words speak directly to the theory of intersectionality.
Intersectionality was first mentioned by critical race theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, in a paper that focused on how overlapping identities can create complex levels of discrimination. Crenshaw wrote that, “Because the intersectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated.”
Though Crenshaw’s original paper examined intersectionality from the lens of Black women, her analytical framework is applicable to a wide variety of social and political identities, from gender and race to sexual orientation, nationality and disability. In the modern workplace, it is important to understand how these overlapping identities create different levels of discrimination and privilege — and what we can do to help.
Though the overarching goal is inclusion, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The complex concerns of intersectionality require a complex — or at least multifaceted — approach. To learn more about how companies can help, Built In Seattle sat down with two informative and passionate DEI directors: Lynnetta Smith of ServiceNow and Alice Thompson of Trupanion.
ServiceNow
Understanding and recognizing the overlapping, compounding nature of a person’s identities is a critical part of creating an inclusive and equitable workplace. How does your company approach intersectionality in the workplace and how does that help shape your broader DEI initiatives?
Our work toward equity for all means that we believe everyone deserves to be treated fairly and respectfully, and that there should be equity across the entire talent ecosystem — from hiring to career advancement. To achieve that, we build and scale equitable people practices that result in inclusive and fair outcomes for all employees.
Intersectionality is a key piece of that. In early 2020, we formed our DIBs (Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging) Community — with an intentional focus on intersectionality — and a goal to unify collective voices and opinions to drive culture change and action at ServiceNow. Within our DIBs Community, we have created eight Belonging Groups, which are safe spaces for the unique employee identities at ServiceNow. The DIBs Community is designed to foster connection and collaboration across each of our Belonging Groups.
When employees feel they are safe to be their authentic selves, and that their voices will be welcomed and respected, they create magic.”
What has been the most impactful action your company has taken to create a more inclusive and equitable work environment for ALL employees, and why?
We have a collective leadership commitment to drive change. It’s one of the elements that sets us apart. In fact, for each of the four years that we have published our annual DEI report, our entire leadership team has signed the opening letter as a signal of this commitment to action.
The events of 2020 — the COVID-19 pandemic, systemic racial injustice, civil unrest — deepened our commitment to do more and inspired us to co-create, along with our employees, an extension of our existing DIBs strategy. We introduced our five-point plan, which aims to accelerate our efforts with a focus on certain actions.
ServiceNow's Five-Point Plan
- Workforce training: Building inclusive skills and mindsets for our employees
- Equity for all: Creating and evolving our equitable processes, policies, and practices
- Giving employees a voice: Fostering a sense of belonging and space for dialogue
- Lobbying for good: Advocating for change with support and direct action, both locally and systematically
- Recruiting and career advancement: Increasing representation and inclusion across all levels
What role do your employees play in driving DEI efforts? And what have you done to ensure even the most marginalized voices on your team are represented, heard, valued and respected?
At ServiceNow, we believe diversity and inclusion are table stakes. Belonging is the breakthrough. When employees feel they are safe to be their authentic selves, and that their voices will be welcomed and respected, they create magic.
We make sure employees know that their opinions matter — that they’ll be listened to and that their feedback will inspire real change. For example, after the murder of George Floyd, one of our employees emailed ServiceNow’s executive leadership team, challenging us as a company to say more and do more. Instead of speaking for him, we gave him the mic. During a global company meeting, he spoke live to ServiceNow employees and described the hurt, desperation and anger he and so many others felt. This type of trust and ongoing dialogue has empowered employees to break their silence, giving the whole organization greater awareness and understanding — and uniting us in action.
We enable and empower our employees to partner with us on driving our efforts. They help provide input to execute our DIBs strategy. They do this by helping in our efforts to create community, promote growth, build our talent brand and participate in areas.
Trupanion
How does your company approach intersectionality in the workplace and how does that help shape your broader DEI initiatives?
Intersectional identity is always at the core of our work because people are multifaceted. People with intersectional marginalized identities face compounding impacts in the workplace. We’re very early in our DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging) journey. We have offerings for a variety of different identity groups and are currently working on evolving our strategies and programs for the intersectional identities of these groups. To support different religious affiliations, we give our employees the flexibility to choose their own paid holidays. For parents, we offer free daycare for kids 4 and under. For our LGBTQIA community, we have a robust ERG and support system.
To understand the nuanced experiences of the intersectional identities within this group we’ve recently launched a survey to better understand their different experiences. We’ve also begun workshops to discuss intersectional identities and have recently launched a Courageous Conversation forum to enable space for learning, sharing and community. The first Courageous Conversation discussed the intersectionality of the LGBTQIA and Black and African American communities.
To support different religious affiliations, we give our employees the flexibility to choose their own paid holidays.”
What has been the most impactful action your company has taken to create a more inclusive and equitable work environment for ALL employees, and why?
Recently, the creation and filling of my role — a dedicated senior leadership role — is a hugely impactful step in accelerating momentum to create a more equitable and inclusive environment. Historically, people from marginalized groups have been tasked with unpaid work to improve the inequitable opportunities and impacts, often with limited leadership support, visibility or acknowledgment. Having a dedicated role helps eliminate the need for marginalized groups to take on the responsibility, while also creating pathways for employees’ input and support without requiring people to spend significant time away from their roles. The organization is still learning what it means to create a sustainably inclusive and equitable work environment for people from all identities, experiences and backgrounds, and the openness to these discussions, a commitment of resources, willingness to learn and adjust are important components to driving actions that enable a more equitable future.
What role do your employees play in driving DEI efforts? And what have you done to ensure even the most marginalized voices on your team are represented, heard, valued and respected?
Our employees are integral to driving our DEIB efforts. Before my role was created and I was hired, employees were the engine that drove impact in this work. I believe in servant leadership. I am here to serve our employees and other stakeholders by hearing their needs, suggestions for improvement, and anticipating unintended consequences to prevent inequities with employee input and approval.
To ensure all voices can be heard, we’re developing more structured ways for employees to participate, engage, share and communicate since not everyone is comfortable engaging or communicating in the same way. Communicating early and often about how to engage and what is being done in DEIB is just as crucial as the strategy itself. Trupanion has done amazing work supporting specific identity groups and we’re reevaluating not only how to expand upon that work but also how to evaluate the way our company operates its processes and systems, to ensure equitable and inclusive opportunities for all.
