Employee resource groups (ERGs) can be used for many different purposes: to help people with shared backgrounds connect, to create networking opportunities, to advance career and business goals, and more. But one of the most intriguing and important functions of ERGs in recent years has been creating safe spaces for important conversations.
Radancy’s Equity & Openness Affinity Group is a prime example of an ERG doing just that. Through this group, the global talent technology leader celebrates team members of different backgrounds and educates everyone on the intricacies of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace.
Hear from one leader at this women-led company, Vice President of Client Strategy Marielle Davis, how Radancy brings diversity programming to life, what it means to employees, and how they plan to evolve in the future.
Marielle Davis
Vice President, Client Strategy at Radancy for 14 years
Her top three must-haves at work:
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Maternity and Adoptive Leave
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The People You Work With
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Support for Diversity
Before we talk about the Radancy Equity & Openness Affinity Group, tell us about you and how you’ve spent your time at Radancy.
I started my career at Radancy and learned from the ground up how to work in a corporate environment, how to establish my knowledge of talent acquisition technology, and most importantly how to build and grow relationships with people both within the organization and on the client side. Throughout my years here, I’ve moved up every few years by having supportive managers who helped me along the way and recognized my achievements and potential.
In my current role, I have various responsibilities that keep each day interesting and different. I manage various client teams while also supporting my regional vice president in running the operations of our branch. Two years ago, I was asked to help start our Radancy Equity & Openness Affinity Group, which was a new and exciting journey for us as an organization.
By 2030, Radancy aims to have 50/50 gender parity in leadership and 22% of tech roles filled by women. Those are impressive goals, and they’re backed up by the programming this global talent technology leader has in place to support women employees: Their Women in Leadership Group develops their next generation of leaders, and their Equity and Openness Affinity Group uplifts employee voices and experiences. Radancy’s top metrics are Ability to Telecommute, The People You Work With, and Sense of Belonging. Click to explore the company's profile and open jobs!
Now for the Equity & Openness Affinity Group: How did it get started, who attends, and what kind of programming does the group offer?
Our E&O Affinity Group began with a small group of 8–10 Radancy folks from various levels who established initiatives built around our mission of fostering a company culture where everyone feels like they have a voice, has the tools and support for career development, and contributes to Radancy’s commitment to equitable business practices.
Today we have a board of 10–12 employees from different departments and offices around the world who lead various initiatives throughout the year. We meet monthly to share ideas and discuss projects and events that we are each leading. Having this monthly huddle is important as we all approach things from different perspectives.
As far as programming, we have content sharing, panel discussions, movie screenings, and various social events throughout the year to recognize heritage months and cover different topics affecting marginalized groups—all open to the workforce.
Of the discussions or programs you’ve had with the group, describe two or three that you think have been most powerful and explain why.
Hands down, the most powerful programs we’ve had are our quarterly Dialogues panels. Each quarter, we have a panel around a specific topic like code-switching, inclusive language, etc. that consists of five to six employees who share their individual experiences and perspectives. There’s nothing more impactful than hearing from each other, especially when our employees are brave enough to be vulnerable in front of our workforce. We have adopted a hybrid work schedule so having these employee-driven panels helps us connect with each other and brings to light the similarities we have that sometimes aren’t known or shared during our day-to-day virtual meetings that are focused on specific projects/tasks.
Our Black History Month event this year was one of our most attended events to date. We invited the workforce to share Black/African American artists who have had a meaningful impact on their lives. We also had a trivia contest about Black history, and the winner received a gift card to support a business from our Black-owned business list, which was developed by submissions from our own workforce.
During our quarterly panel, we discussed topics such as Retrospection & Growth: DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) Initiatives and Learnings during the Pandemic.
The pandemic has forced many of us to work remotely and, therefore, look for new ways to connect with our peers—DEIB being one of those ways. We had very open and honest conversations around personal DEIB learnings, experiences, goals, and so much more. This event really resonated well with the workforce and received a lot of great feedback:
“Thank you all for openly sharing your experiences and perspectives. Your open vulnerability makes this conversation more meaningful. You all are a gift to Radancy. I feel fortunate to work with y'all.” —Sherrie
“Inspiring is the word that keeps coming to mind for me. Seeing and hearing these stories makes me even more proud to work for this company. Thank you, everyone.” —Dustin, CPO
What kind of feedback have you received about the Equity & Openness Affinity Group, and how will that shape the group’s future programming?
One piece of feedback we always hear is that our events are fantastic and we should be doing more of them for specific groups or topics. Our long-term goal is to broaden representation by establishing more employee resource groups that serve specific backgrounds and/or interests so that more programming can be established for specific needs and conversations. While we’ve developed a strong foundation and have accomplished a lot in our two short years, we recognize the opportunity of scaling our efforts to reach and serve more of our workforce.
“The fact that these conversations are consistently encouraged and supported all the way from the top is hugely indicative of a healthy company culture that wants to keep learning, in my opinion. This is awesome.” —Kyle
What advice would you give other companies that are considering starting a group like this one?
I think starting an employee resource group can seem overwhelming at first, but having a very clear mission with core pillars really helped us find a starting place to build up our programming and establish priorities early on. Also, having an ongoing feedback loop from employees is important so that you can hone in on the topics that really matter to the people who you’re ultimately serving.
