Insights
Published: 8.8.23
Br8kthru is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) because we’re committed to people. Not only is our brand promise that the true return on investment (ROI) of our work is relationships, but we put our Clients and team first as we make business decisions, large and small.
That said, we understand prioritizing DEI can feel time-consuming and challenging for many teams. But difficulty is not a reason to avoid this necessary work. As we began to prioritize DEI in our organization, from operations and internal learning to Client work, we began to better understand the benefits that investing in DEI can have, business-wide.
DEI in the Marketplace
Increasingly, Clients and prospects are looking for partners that prioritize DEI work as they make purchasing decisions. In fact, over half of consumers cite social responsibility as a deciding factor in establishing their loyalty and influencing their purchasing decisions.
Teams that demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to DEI demonstrate a deeper understanding of Client needs and perspectives, which can lead to more effective strategies overall. Not only that, but a deeper understanding of DEI builds trust and loyalty with Clients and their audiences alike.
Investing in DEI can help your team better meet Client expectations and needs, leading to better partnerships over time.
Better DEI, Better Outcomes
From both an individual and a business perspective, more diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams are more likely to outperform teams that lack diversity.
On a team that commits to DEI, individuals are more likely to feel supported and understood, which can lead to better performance and outcomes. In turn, this can decrease turnover and burnout, while increasing engagement. Employees who feel as though they belong in a work environment are more likely to remain in it, and top talent is increasingly attracted to environments that prioritize DEI initiatives.
Building a culture of DEI throughout your organization can lead to better employee engagement, which can have wide-reaching positive impacts organization-wide.
Taking Action: How to Incorporate DEI into Your Organization
Understanding the benefits of DEI in the workplace is the first step to making meaningful change, but many times, knowing where to start can be a blocker to progress.
DEI at Br8kthru
At Br8kthru, the first step was to start. One of our core values is Continuous Improvement, so we leaned into the systems processes we already had in place to support our team in personal and professional growth and development. We interrogated our current systems and processes for opportunities to be more intentionally inclusive and equitable and began addressing potential changes one at a time.
One actionable step we’ve taken for over a year now is to regularly host company-wide DEI training when our team comes together to consume a piece of DEI-related media and reflect on it. From there, team members are encouraged to incorporate the learnings and lessons into their work. When applicable, we also engage with outside facilitators and consultants to support our learning and growth.
“Br8kthru's DEI trainings have opened my eyes to new ways of looking at topics I thought I already understood. We did a training on disability and accessibility that spoke not only to web accessibility, which we work with often but also how we can embed accessibility into our Core Values and everyday actions. It was helpful to me to see how accessibility can play out in my daily life, personally and professionally, in ways I haven’t seen before.”
Reid Nesser, Creative Designer
While we know we still have work to do, we’re excited about the progress we’ve made so far. For more information on Br8kthru’s commitment to DEI and how we’re living this commitment, visit our DEI page.
DEI in Your Organization
Two steps any company can take to become more inclusive:
- Prioritize representation and reflection
- Measure your progress
Representation and reflection can help uplift the communities you would like to support, while measurement allows you to understand the difference your work is making over time.
By aligning your team to your values and your partners, you can work with suppliers who are more aligned with the diversity you’d like to promote. For example, you could work with BIPOC content creators to make more inclusive ads, then use inclusive and BIPOC-owned vendors to place those ads.
Setting clear, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals will allow you and your team to understand the effort you have made toward more diversity and inclusion in your organization, and to understand the difference it has had over time. For example, incorporating DEI into hiring practices may not be relevant for an organization in the midst of a hiring freeze.
The Best Time to Start is Now
There is no one way to engage with DEI as an individual or an organization. However, there are clear benefits to committing to DEI as an organization and as individuals. Rather than feel paralyzed by the opportunities and challenges of DEI work, we hope this has provided more insights into the possibilities that exist with DEI work, and how you and your organization can get started in making — and keeping — commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion.