The most innovative DEI initiatives over the last year
Diversio, a leading, global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) improvement platform, announces their Top 20 DEI Initiatives of 2022 (Top 20), and the inaugural cohort of Diversio’s DEI community to accelerate inclusivity in the workplace, the Changemakers. The criteria for an initiative to be selected in the Top 20 were to have both quantified or qualified impact within their organization and the ability to replicate or reference the initiative to make impact within other organizations. The awardees will be announced at an online event, A Panel to Accelerate DEI, on Feb 8, 2023 at 12:00 PM ET (5:00 PM BST, 9:00 AM PT).
Some of the awardees are A&M TAG US, Accenture, Anthemis, BDC, Beringea, BioCan RX, Bruce Power, Ceridian, Corbin Capital, Guusto, Inovia, McRock Capital, MioVision, OLG, OTPP, PNPTC, Shinydocs, and Toronto Zoo. A brief summary of these companies and their DEI initiatives is provided at the bottom of this release.
The leaders of the Top 20 DEI Initiatives will be the inaugural cohort of the Diversio Changemakers. The ambition of this group is to create the world’s most engaged DEI community. Diversio Changemakers is an invite-only global community of passionate and ambitious DEI practitioners established to bring together like-minded individuals in order to share their learnings and accelerate change in their organizations. Members are committed to sharing learnings and acting as a sounding board both virtually and in-person throughout the year.
“We started Diversio to help companies find the best and most creative solutions to their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion challenges. This year, we decided to recognize 20 companies that have implemented truly impactful programs. I can’t wait to see the continued impact these organizations have in DEI.” – Laura McGee, Diversio CEO
To be considered for membership of the Diversio Changemakers join our waitlist here.
Diversio is the DEI focused people platform that measures, tracks, and improves Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. By connecting artificial intelligence (AI) technology, sophisticated data analytics, and knowledgeable subject matter experts, Diversio is able to accurately diagnose your pain points, benchmark you against peers, and create a robust action plan that will meet your DEI goals. Through the unique combination of technology and human expertise, Diversio is driving meaningful impact for hundreds of organizations across over 35 countries globally.
Diversio – The Diversity Data Experts™
Listed below in alphabetical order are Diversio’s Top 20 DEI Initiatives of 2022:
A&M TAG US
Led by a group of employees, Alvarez and Marsal’s Equity Change Team (ECT) focuses on building cultural awareness, providing education, and advising on policy changes. In the short time since its implementation, A&M has seen an increase in employee psychological safety, supported by the 5% greater response rate in the most recent Diversio survey.
Accenture
The BOLD Student Mentorship Program (BSMP) is an early-career employee-led pairing of BIPOC post-secondary students with Accenture consultants. Over three cohorts, BSMP has seen 145 student participants, all of whom would recommend the program to other students, and of those who have received an offer to join Accenture, all have accepted.
Anthemis
Anthemis’ philosophy that DEI is their DNA is not a specific initiative but rather a philosophy ingrained in their organizational structure and investment thesis. The UK-based firm boasts numerous impressive statistics, including a team Trust Index rating of 94, an average eNPS of 47, and Women or POC founders representing 48% of their portfolio companies, a stark contrast to industry norms.
BDC
BDC Capital boasts two initiatives, a DEI Reporting Template for Canadian GPs and the new Thrive Platform. The DEI Reporting Template has allowed BDC Capital to collect and publish diversity statistics on its portfolio, which will serve as a benchmark to improve diversity in the Canadian VC ecosystem. The Thrive Platform, including the Thrive Venture Fund and Thrive Lab, is a $500M platform dedicated to supporting women-led businesses in Canada. Pioneer in its offering, scope and scale, Thrive brings a comprehensive approach to addressing barriers faced by women when it comes to raising capital.
Beringea
In 2021, Beringea co-founded ESG_VC to provide venture-backed businesses with a simple, standard framework for improving their ESG performance, with a significant focus on DEI practices. Portfolio companies using the framework have seen a general increase in five areas: talent retention, the acceptance rate of job offers, inclusion and engagement scores, productivity, and eNPS.
BiocanRX
The BioCanRx Indigenous Student Summer Internship program provides Indigenous undergraduate university or college students with meaningful hands-on research or policy experience through a full-time paid internship position. This program aims to promote and strengthen Indigenous students’ participation in cancer research and policy and careers by providing networking, mentorship, and hands-on, practical experience opportunities.
Bruce Power
Developed with the engagement of the local Indigenous communities, Bruce Power’s Indigenous Employment Program (IEP) aims to hire Indigenous individuals into the nuclear industry. Since its creation in 2015, the IEP has led to greater diversity within Bruce Power, its supplier community and the unions, and has helped the company further its relationship with local Indigenous communities. In addition, Bruce Power supports its Indigenous Employee Resource Group — the Indigenous Network — aimed at bringing cultural awareness and education to staff through events, lunch and learns and community engagements. These endeavours were integral to Bruce Power’s Gold certification from the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB), the highest level of recognition offered by the CCAB.
Ceridian
Ceridian’s Achieving Corporate Equity (ACE) is an internal professional development program where selected employees work with firm leaders and a life and career coach to balance cultural norms with career goals. ACE has led to increased talent retention, employee referrals, eNPS, and participant promotion rate. With the success of the single 2022 cohort, Ceridian has announced two cohorts for 2023 and four for 2024.
Corbin Capital
Corbin Capital’s “40% Rule” requires first-stage interview candidate pools to be at least 40% Women and 30% BIPOC. The rule has improved gender and ethnic diversity, accountability, and social environments, all evident in the 7% increase in their Diversio Inclusion score.
Guusto
In early 2021, Guusto redesigned its hiring process to boost candidate experience, increase transparency, and ensure that interviewers have clear guidelines for every interview. With this redesign, Guusto has seen significant impacts, including a ~40% increase in applications, reapplication of ~10% of unsuccessful candidates, and ~30% less total interview time.
Inovia
Invoia’s DE&I and Employee Experience committees collaborated to launch a speaker series where stakeholders within portfolio companies host DEI education-based sessions. The success of these “lunch and learns” has been evident as participation rates have been as high as 90% and anecdotal feedback suggests a greater sense of inclusion within the firm.
McRock Capital
McRock’s Responsible Investment Report serves as a vehicle for accountability within the financial services industry to prioritize DEI and ESG in the workplace. Despite being a small firm, McRock’s investment team is 40% women and 60% visible minorities, which, in part, has aided the rising employee satisfaction within the company.
OLG
Aiming to create a culture of inclusion for all employees, OLG has supported six volunteer-led Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). Since implementing the ERGs, OLG has seen a 20% increase in engagement, an increase in inclusion scores from 56 to 62, and an increase in OLG employee Net Promoter Score (NPS).
OTPP
Based on industry leading frameworks, OTPP’s DEI Playbook provides our portfolio companies with an actionable resource to support them in their DEI journeys. Supported by a maturity assessment tool, the playbook meets portfolio companies where they are at and provides tangible suggestions on how to move to the next level of maturity, while accommodating the needs of various stakeholders.
PNPTC
Diversity, Respect, Inclusion, Visibility, and Equity (DRIVE) aims to diversify tech worldwide through five main objectives: developing underrepresented founders, education, community building, accessible funding, and DEI-focused tech solutions. In the short period since DRIVE’s introduction, PNPTC has seen an increase in inclusion/engagement scores, productivity, and employee engagement.
Shinydocs
Shinydocs’ Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) action plan creates an inclusive environment where everyone feels they belong and are essential to the company. The DEIB has been more than well-received by employees and has had a drastic impact. Shinydocs has seen an 18-point increase in eNPS while also boasting an improvement in talent retention, rate of job offer acceptances, inclusion/engagement scores, productivity, and employee referrals.
Sick Kids Foundation
To seek staff input and better understand their concerns, the Sick Kids Foundation (SKF) began hosting internal ‘Listening Circles’ to create a more equitable and inclusive culture. The great demand for these informal conversations has led to the creation of ‘Listening Circle Facilitators’ training to equip more team members with the ability to moderate their own discussions. In 2022, SKF’s Diversio survey showed a 7.5 in Inclusive Culture, 7.2 in Workplace Safety, and improved employee psychological safety with difficult conversations. These results are due in part to the work completed by SKF’s EDI committee, including the introduction of ‘Listening Circles,’ and the enthusiastic involvement from their workforce.
Toronto Zoo
In collaboration with their Union partners, the Toronto Zoo successfully bargained a new provision to allow for two diversity hires per year to improve employee diversity in specific areas of the Zoo. With this provision in the hiring process, the zoo has seen a noticeable increase in candidate diversity, for equity-based hiring.
