Here’s a unique twist on workplace belonging: a veterans Employee Resource Group (ERG) collaborated with a local Nashville nonprofit, where the veterans shared their personal stories, which musicians then turned into songs.

“This initiative was incredibly successful,” said Michal Alter, co-founder and CEO of Visit.org, which facilitated the ERG experience. Alter spoke on a panel moderated by Lydia Dishman of Fast Company during From Day One’s Manhattan conference. 

The veterans’ songs resonated so deeply within their company that the CEO invited the musicians to perform at a major town hall event. “These employees were celebrated and thanked for their service. The emotional connection is what we aim to create, and we love seeing these heartwarming stories,” said Alter.

Visit.org partners with companies like Amazon, AT&T, KPMG, and Comcast to bring intersectional topics to life through team-based activities with local nonprofits. Alter says that ERGs provide employees with the opportunity to have meaningful conversations in safe spaces, and are an effective way to foster workplace belonging.

After conducting experiences for companies, Visit.org surveys participants about the impact on their sense of belonging. In a survey involving 40,000 participants, 60% responded, with 73% of those reporting a significant positive impact on their workplace experience. “We see that 99% of respondents ask their employers for more of these types of activities,” Alter said. 

Alter emphasized that these activities help employees feel connected to their community and their colleagues, fostering a strong sense of belonging.

Help Employees Develop Empathy

Panelist Derek Gordon, chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer for Colgate-Palmolive, is a black man who grew up in predominantly white neighborhoods. He shared an experience that took place years ago but has stuck with him ever since.

When Gordon took his high school best friend, who is white, to a predominantly black space, his friend looked around at all the people who didn’t look like him and said to Gordon: “This is how you feel every day?”

“His empathy clearly came through. He recognized from that experience that this wasn’t about how he was feeling,” Gordon said. “He provided a real sense of understanding.” One way to cultivate inclusive culture in a company, says Gordon, is to help employees develop empathy for each other’s unique experiences.

Another way companies can ensure they are being inclusive, and helping employees to develop empathy for their colleagues, is to be intentional about hiring. “Put in extra effort to make sure that you are going to where those population pools are, so that you can find the great talent that you would not otherwise consider,” he said. It’s important to lay that foundation from hiring onward to increase inclusion and representation. 

Adding to that is tracking the numbers. Senior management will want to know if what you’re doing is working, so try to quantify your efforts. “At the end of the day, if you're not showing progress, it means you are not moving forward against the path,” Gordon said. “It also provides for accountability for the leadership and the organization.”

Recognize Layered Experiences

Panelist Lukeisha Paul, head of diversity, equity and inclusion for GroupM, experienced what it feels like not to belong. Born and raised in New York with roots in Trinidad and Venezuela, the layers of her unique experience were branded as not fitting in during college. 

“I found myself at a cross section of, ‘where do I fit in?’ And it was very uncomfortable,” she said. That led to her work in DEI.

“I have a deep appreciation of intersectionality and the different layers of diverse dimensions that we all exhibit based on our unique lived experiences,” Paul said. “Today, that helps me because I understand that any individual can experience being the only one or the underrepresented.”

One way they cultivate an inclusive culture at GroupM is to waive the four-year degree requirement and add on a program called Launchpad which teaches new hires how to be successful in the company. That helps to level the playing field, no matter what the person’s background is. 

Even with a good start in a company, some may find it hard to grow if you look different than other leadership or if you don’t know how to advocate for yourself. “Once you continue up the corporate ladder, you’ll see that there’s a major decrease in disparity between people of color, the more senior that you get,” she said. 

That’s why they offer the GroupM Career Advocacy Program, which includes masterclasses to help build understanding and skills. “We focus on how to set big goals and how to move forward,” Paul said. Another focus of the program is pairing them with senior leadership who can truly advocate for them. 

From these classes, they’ve seen raises and promotions and from the advocacy program they’ve seen leadership become courageous as they speak up. “They have a greater understanding of some of the hindrances that people of color actually go through,” she added.

Pay Attention to Age Diversity

Every age group can bring unique and helpful perspectives to organization, says Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior advisor of financial resilience at AARP.

In a previous role, she was the youngest person on a big team of leadership, lawyers, and consultants looking to negotiate a big contract renewal. 

“I just felt so intimidated,” she said. “Most of them were men, and they just looked right past me.” One of her takeaways from that experience was to acknowledge everyone at the table, no matter their age or how they are different from everyone else. 

Representation is important, including age diversity. Many companies have websites with pictures of young people, which can make it hard for older people to feel like they belong. There is some messaging out there that certain ages are “too old” for companies to hire, when that is not only not true, it’s ageism. 

People of all ages want to contribute and be in a job they enjoy, and as Tinsley-Fix says, every age wants to keep learning and developing soft skills that help no matter the job you’re in. “Just paying attention to that, in addition to this sort of hard skills, can really diversify your hiring pool from a perspective of age,” she said.

The Pillars of DEI

Panelist Marie Carasco, vice president of organization development culture and diversity at Github, was one of very few black women enrolled during her doctoral degree program. It made an already challenging experience even tougher. Representation is a baseline in belonging, she says. 

Then came a full circle moment. She had the opportunity to teach at the ground level. “There were a number of students that came up to me so happy that I was there. And it made me feel that I was making a difference for them.” 

That’s why she works in the DEI space, and at GitHub, she is helping to shepherd work around organization development, culture and diversity. The company has four pillars of DEI, says Carasco, who supports each of them. 

One is understanding psychological contracts, or employee expectations. If those are broken, it’s hard for the person to reach their potential in the workplace. Second is psychological safety, because if they don’t feel safe they won’t take risks. Third, having those deliberate cross-company collaborations to foster an inclusive culture. And the fourth and final pillar is leveraging employee engagement and understanding, so they can take part in helping move DEI forward. 

“I know we have a lot of listening systems around employee engagement,” Carasco said. “But quite rarely do we even ask an employee, do you want to participate in service to drive this work?” If companies could have those conversations and bring them in, they can help drive the very programs that can help everyone.

Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.