In the latest episode of the AHA! Moments for Diversity & Inclusion video series, ���Ĵ�ý Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Supriya Jha talks to Houghton about how her first job started a lifelong advocacy for people with disabilities and how accommodations can make all the difference.

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Seventy percent of the world’s population – 1 billion people – has an invisible disability, including anxiety, depression, hearing issues, or autism, to name but a few. Houghton, who has a learning disability, is one of them.

Houghton was lucky; accommodations at school meant that she had the extra time needed to process information in exams. But when she took her law school entrance exams, her luck ran out. With no extra time or accommodation, she fell behind. This changed the trajectory of her life. Instead of legal studies, an internship followed. Instead of a career in law, her first job was in Indianapolis, Indiana, placing people born with disabilities into employment.

The AHA! Moment

During her time in Indianapolis, Houghton recalls one client in particular, Erica, and how the job for her “wasn’t just about a paycheck, but that it was about respect and it was about being included in her community and having friends.” And, says Houghton, it “was at that moment that I knew why I existed, and I never turned back.” She has been a disability inclusion activist ever since.

As president of Disability:IN, Houghton has been a driving force in promoting disability inclusion in companies and with the Disability Equality Index (DEI), a tool for measuring and offering best practices for disability inclusion. The DEI analyzes disability inclusion practices and processes in leadership and culture, employment practices, community engagement, and supplier diversity. It also offers advice on how to better disability inclusion.

In 2023, more than 480 companies participated in the DEI, including 69 Fortune 100 companies with more than 14 million U.S.-based employees and nearly 9 million non-U.S.-based employees. ���Ĵ�ý was awarded the top score in the 2023 DEI rankings.

Workplace Accommodations and Leadership Culture

Only 5% of employees with a disability choose to disclose, and ���Ĵ�ý’s Jha was keen to get Houghton’s insights on how to create a culture where disabled employees feel that they can articulate their needs and reach their full potential.

Houghton says the solution is twofold. First, leaders must use their platforms to be a disability inclusion ally or have the cultural space to own their identity – disabled or not. And second, workplace accommodations must be the norm.

Processes for requesting accommodations must be transparent and easy to follow. Managers must clearly understand how to arrange accommodations and, more importantly, budget must be available. If these processes aren’t easy, there is a risk that talent will be lost and that disabled employees will not have a sense of belonging.

Avoiding Microaggressions and Discrimination

To avoid microaggressions and discrimination against disabled employees, Houghton advocates using the best resource possible – your own employees, in particular disability employee groups. At ���Ĵ�ý, there are Employee Network Groups such as ���Ĵ�ý HEAR and Friends and Enabled@���Ĵ�ý.

Disability is a true cross-collaborative task. After all, Houghton concludes, becoming disabled is the “one team that anybody can join at any time in their life.”

This is what I heard during my discussion with the first cohort of ���Ĵ�ý’s , a program that helps equip underrepresented and underserved groups for a career in the tech industry through participation in a free ���Ĵ�ý Certification course.

How could it be that in a time when companies need to find talent quickly to fill the need for technically skilled roles – a need that is becoming more urgent by the day – there is an entire population of determined, driven people who feel as though they do not belong in the tech industry?

The Current State of Diversity in Technology

The numbers speak volumes: only . Only 3% of those jobs are held by Black women and 1% are held by Latina women. For me, it has always been impossible to ignore the lack of representation in the tech industry. I am acutely aware of when I am the only woman in the room – let alone the only Black woman.

But this is changing. Companies have begun implementing diversity-forward hiring practices to try to minimize barriers for populations that have historically been overlooked. The percentage of rose from 56% in 2016 to 88% in 2021. Though there is now targeted backlash, numerous employers remain committed to their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) goals for the workforce.

These initiatives have proven to be important to younger generations. In a few years, millennials and Gen Z will make up the majority of our workforce – and they want to work for companies that align with their values. A 2022 survey from the found that 76% of recent graduates indicated that diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts were “very important” or “extremely important” when considering their future employers.

Helping Underserved Groups Break into Tech

If we want diverse workforces, we must support and create targeted channels to source diverse talent. It is imperative that these groups – including women, people of color, veterans, and others – are given the resources to excel in high tech. I have seen firsthand how our digital skills initiative is making an impact on individuals and their communities, working to ensure that talent from all backgrounds can participate in this exciting era of technological innovation. At ���Ĵ�ý, we offer training on products like and , whether through programs like the digital skills initiative or on , helping anyone interested in jump-starting their career in tech. 

Without diverse perspectives, we leave out too many pieces of the puzzle to see the big picture. This deficit is particularly obvious in technology, given its influence on everything from how we shop to how we govern. It is unsustainable to expect lasting market viability from products that are developed by and marketed to one type of person. Put simply, employing diverse talent is essential to long-term success.

How Companies Can Recruit Diverse Talent

For companies that are looking for the next pool of employees to solve today’s business challenges, it is time to consider non-traditional avenues of talent, like graduates from ���Ĵ�ý’s digital skills initiative. Each cohort comes equipped with ���Ĵ�ý Certification, self-motivation, and a strong work ethic. This is a special opportunity to pull from a curated group of strong candidates, not just because of their new skills but because of demonstrated curiosity and drive that is not easy to find.

���Ĵ�ý makes these trained and certified candidates available to recruiters at no charge. Want to get access to ���Ĵ�ý-certified, ready-to-hire talent? Interested in adopting a cohort? to see how you can start hiring and get involved.

Register for the Digital Skills Initiative as a Participant

If you are interested in expanding your career opportunities by learning in-demand skills and achieving an ���Ĵ�ý Certification free of charge, apply for the digital skills initiative using the . This is a fantastic opportunity for those who want to make a career switch to tech.

To those who never pictured themselves in the tech industry, picture it. There is a place for you. Take this as a sign to invest in yourself and create a new path to success. 

Making an Impact on Future Generations

When I talked with this first cohort of the digital skills initiative, I saw how they take great pride in their certification. For some, these new skills will prove to be life-changing.

My goal is to support initiatives that aim to ensure that everyone, from all backgrounds, can pursue their interests in finding a career in tech. When we leave these doors closed, we not only rob those shut out of the opportunity, but all of us from the creativity, perspectives, and outcomes they could deliver.

I am incredibly proud of ���Ĵ�ý’s work in empowering people to pursue a career in technology. I believe that we are developing the future of innovation through programs like the digital skills initiative, and I cannot wait to see how similar programs will evolve in the future.

If you are an NGO, university, or an ���Ĵ�ý partner or customer, contact us at partners.digitalskills@sap.com to learn more. If you are interested in applying to the digital skills initiative, to start your journey.

Etosha Thurman is chief marketing and solutions officer for Intelligent Spend and Business Network at ���Ĵ�ý.

“One of the biggest challenges I faced was the age-old problem of gender discrimination,” Thomé recalled years later. She is one of many women driven to lead businesses that reflect their life passions.

Like other entrepreneurial women, she needed support. But where are the networks to help women turn their passions into successful businesses? Thomé found her network in an ���Ĵ�ý customer. connects women-owned businesses to qualified buyers around the world. As a result of becoming WEConnect International certified – and a lot of hard work by Thomé and her team – Projex Engenharia’s revenue grew by a staggering 200% in just two years.

Many Challenges, Huge Potential Impact

Women who start and lead businesses face unique challenges. Cultural and social norms, or simply being underestimated by investors, can impede their entrepreneurial efforts. observes that “women are massively under-represented among both venture-backed entrepreneurs and VC investors.” It adds that companies founded solely by women receive  of all venture capital investments.

Also, the pandemic exacerbated the imbalance in unpaid care work – managing the household or caring for children and aging parents – which disproportionally affects women in business.

Women must also deal with the challenges other businesses face, including access to markets, information technology gaps, and the red tape involved with government programs designed to help new businesses.

Yet despite these challenges, women-owned and women-led businesses offer the potential to make a significant impact on the global economy. The observed that “societies with greater gender equality not only offer better socioeconomic opportunities for women, but also tend to grow faster and more equitably.”

The WEF also reports that advancing women’s employment .

Yet despite a clear business case, the WEF sees global progress stagnating.

Who Has the Power to Drive Change? All of Us.

Traditionally, the procurement function within larger organizations has held the power to fill supply chain gaps and build networks of suppliers. Yet today, other voices are making themselves heard. Consumers are expressing preferences to buy from women and other diverse businesses. Around the world – for example in the United States, Australia, and Canada – government regulations are requiring increased diversity and inclusion.

Additionally, the C-suite is reframing corporate policy to reflect more sophisticated approaches to selecting suppliers. In my role as customer officer, ���Ĵ�ý Intelligent Spend & Business Network, I see business leaders prioritizing inclusive sourcing metrics within their procurement strategies to help ensure they have access to all the world’s best suppliers, not just the ones they always buy from.

Concerned about supply chain risks, procurement leaders are increasingly adopting localization strategies. While seeking new local suppliers, they also focus on inclusive sourcing. Of course, finding diverse suppliers is not easy – even local ones. Many women-owned businesses are small entities, not well-known in the business community. They often lack access to communication technology that would help them create greater visibility for the business.

How can we make it easier to connect enterprise buyers and women-owned businesses?

Creating Connections with ���Ĵ�ý Technology

As president, CEO, and co-founder of , Elizabeth Vazquez is a leader in women’s economic empowerment and global supplier diversity and inclusion. Through WEConnect International, she helps women around the world grow their businesses to create wealth, hire more people, and contribute to the prosperity of their communities.

Last week, she participated in panel discussions during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The discussions focused on opportunities to direct more corporate spend to women-owned businesses, not only to do good but to close supply chain gaps.

“Women-owned businesses are a valuable and under-utilized resource,” she said. “The women who run these businesses understand what their communities need most, and they are in a unique position to help solve them. In the process, they are creating entirely new industries.”

WEConnect International recognizes that to compete in the global marketplace, women-owned businesses must be visible to potential customers. It developed the WECommunity platform, a global register of women-owned businesses that makes it easier for buyers to find women-owned suppliers.

Unfortunately, the initial version of WECommunity relied on technology that delivered a poor user experience, making searching the register cumbersome. WEConnect International needed a scalable, global solution that offered smooth user experiences in multiple languages for buyers and suppliers.

The solution and more than met these criteria. As an added advantage, many of the WECommunity member buyers were already transacting on ���Ĵ�ý Business Network. ���Ĵ�ý partner Premikati Inc., a women-owned business, was engaged to help deploy the ���Ĵ�ý solutions.

In its first year, the improved functionality of WECommunity produced dramatic outcomes:

• Buyer membership increased by 91%, a $2 trillion increase in purchasing power.
• Over 6,000 women-owned businesses experienced revenue growth, creating 24,000 new jobs.
• Over 7,800 new registered women-owned businesses joined the database, a 95% growth.

“By making it easier for women to register their businesses and for large buyers to find them, our online portal based on the ���Ĵ�ý Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance solution, ���Ĵ�ý Business Network, and ���Ĵ�ý Business Technology Platform helps women compete in a global marketplace,” Vazquez explained.

Breaking Through the Barriers

Remember Thomé, the teenage girl who wanted to work in her father’s construction business? Today, she is owner-director of Projex Engenharia, the business her father founded.

, Projex Engenharia earned the WEConnect International Women’s Business Enterprise Certification. Thomé leveraged the global network of women suppliers and large buyers to become a more confident and assertive leader.

The relationship has also helped produce significant benefits for her business. In just six years, Projex Engenharia landed six large corporations as clients. This enabled the company to hire more people, ensure their safety and well-being, and support social, health, and environmental campaigns.

���Ĵ�ý is committed to helping all customers achieve their diversity and equity goals. And it is gratifying to know that our technology has become a valuable tool in making this happen.

Megan O’Connor is customer officer for ���Ĵ�ý Intelligent Spend & Business Network.

As ���Ĵ�ý’s vice president and head of Diversity & Inclusion in North America, I’m proud to oversee numerous talent development and career advancement programs for women and other marginalized, underrepresented groups, programs that will help them excel today and prepare for advancement tomorrow.

Having been an entrepreneur myself, I remember the challenge of not having access to information that would have opened up my business to a range of possibilities. Systemic change drives impact over time and ���Ĵ�ý is committed to changes fostering gender parity and equitable opportunities for all. We are very proud of that!

From a deeply personal standpoint, I understand that women have to excel at what we do in the world and must contribute back to society, leaving it better for the next generation.

This was the general theme of ���Ĵ�ý’s recent Live Chat on the Tomorrow’s Tech Today platform. I was honored to be a guest, along with Elizabeth Vazquez, president, CEO, and co-founder of WEConnect International. We’d met earlier this year at ���Ĵ�ý Sapphire, but ���Ĵ�ý and WEConnect International have been partners far longer, as our Global Sourcing & Procurement organization leverages the organization for supplier diversity purposes to drive global spend with women-owned businesses. Additionally, most recently it developed a platform assisting women-owned businesses across 135 countries. Together, we discussed how inclusion is more than just the right thing to do, but a business imperative for the sustainability of our society.

The Revolution Will Be Inclusive

���Ĵ�ý’s Live Chat on Tomorrow’s Tech Today platform is a new, limited series hosted by thought leader Sally Eaves, highlighting the latest innovations in emergent technology integration across a range of sectors and themes. In each episode, ���Ĵ�ý innovators come together with experts from a variety of backgrounds, sharing stories that can inspire all of us. While each organization may differ, each interviewee shares their version of the same story – overcoming a unique challenge with the type of innovation we all aspire to achieve.

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The Great Equalizer

In the United States alone, 42% of all businesses are owned by women. These employ more than 1 million workers.

Not only are women half of the population, but we make or influence 85% of all consumer purchasing decisions. With that scope and buying power, having a platform to enable success is critical to the economy as well as society. But there are so many challenges. On average, corporations, governments, and other large organizations “spend only 1% with women-owned businesses, and that’s a massive market failure,” Vazquez pointed out.

Legacy platforms helped aggravate the situation. WEConnect International’s member-buyers found it difficult to search for women-owned suppliers, while the businesses struggled to navigate their systems to register and apply for certification. Language barriers created the predictable complications. On a business-to-business (B2B) level, many women-owned businesses were small and midsize and not even on the radar of the larger corporations. The platform would serve as an equalizer for buyers “to go online and search for these competitive solutions that, frankly, our buyers just didn’t even know existed,” Vazquez said.

Like-Minded, Like-Kinded

One advantage WEConnect International enjoyed in launching its platform was the list of influential partners, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), ExxonMobil, Accenture, IBM, and Procter & Gamble (P&G). And not only was ���Ĵ�ý playing a key role in building the platform, we are also member-buyers.

In other words, we were “like-minded, like-kinded,” walking the walk, talking the talk, truly committed to leveraging our purchasing power to realize this goal.

The solution, dubbed WECommunity, would stand as a great example of inclusion by design.

Art of the Possible

By connecting member-buyers to a database of more than 16,000 registered or certified businesses, WEConnect International broke through the barriers that previously existed. The streamlined process enabled an additional 7,900 women-owned suppliers to register with the organization. These included businesses from 12 new countries, a 28% increase in global reach. The revenue growth of the suppliers has led to the creation of 24,000 new jobs.

Since deployment, WEConnect International went from tracking US$4 billion in spend with women-owned businesses based outside of the United States to $8 billion.

“Together we’re actually moving money into the hands of women who, in turn, employ more people and support their families and communities,” Vazquez said.

With those types of results, it’s clear to see why WEConnect International embodies the spirit of ���Ĵ�ý Innovation Awards. Through its use of ���Ĵ�ý’s tools, the group has created not just a platform, but a vision of the art of the possible.

To learn more about ���Ĵ�ý Innovation Awards and discover the incredible stories of innovation, visit .

Margot Goodson is vice president & head of North America Diversity Inclusion at ���Ĵ�ý.

I spoke with her about the success of the project and where there is still room for improvement.

Q: What are your greatest successes so far on your mission to make ���Ĵ�ý events more sustainable?

Bittmann: First of all, it’s a real success to have advanced this topic to the top of the agenda. When event managers from Google and Amazon approach us at the , one of the largest trade shows for business events, and ask us how we launched and implemented our strategy for sustainable events, it shows that we’re pioneers in this extremely important area.

I’m also proud that we’ve started measuring our social and ecological footprint with actual figures, because that’s an important step towards real improvement. It lets us compare, readjust, and define even more ambitious targets. Our analysis of the last ���Ĵ�ý Sapphire conference, which was organized as a decentralized event in the U.S., Spain, Brazil, and online, showed that we reduced CO₂ emissions by nearly 24,000 tons compared to when we had just one central event in Orlando, Florida, due primarily to the shorter distances traveled. In mathematical terms, that corresponds to around 2,200 around-the-world flights!

I’m also happy about a lot of little things, for instance, that we did without single-use plastics completely at ���Ĵ�ý TechEd in 2019 in Barcelona, Spain, preventing three tons of waste – enough to fill a 10 by 10 meter room one meter high – at just this one event!

To be successful, we all have to pull together. Our Global Events team, together with the teams in the regions, has proven that we have a huge amount of leverage together and are motivated to get even better.

What are the biggest challenges you face?

The global strategy and our specific action recommendations can’t always be implemented uniformly because they depend on each country’s economic and cultural context. In Brazil, for example, good hospitality means putting the best meats on the table – which made it a real headache for the local event team members to create a menu that was 40% vegetarian. They found a good compromise, however, by making sure to choose meat varieties that had a smaller ecological footprint than others.

In some parts of Asia, in contrast, it would be considered rude if we didn’t give small gifts to speakers as a sign of gratitude. In this case, we and the event team considered potential alternatives to the usual giveaways, for instance tree-planting certificates as an unusual gift.

These examples underscore how we often have to think outside the box together and identify new solutions, but can also unleash creativity in the process and sometimes even change people’s mindsets.

What are your targets for the coming year?

We want to improve our waste prevention even further and increase our recycling quota. We want to avoid non-reusable plastics completely and use sustainable materials for our branding items as much as possible. As far as emissions are concerned, we want to reduce travel activities even more, and we’ve been purchasing carbon offsets for unavoidable trips for some time now. When it comes to catering, we want to offer more vegetarian dishes and locally source at least half of the food served.

In addition, we are striving to recruit more female speakers to the stage, gain more social enterprises as suppliers, and strengthen social partnerships. Even if it means extra work for the local teams, I’m very impressed that so many of my colleagues spare no effort to achieve measurable improvements – and I hope their numbers will continue to grow! 

Do you have any advice for people who want to do their part in making company events more sustainable?

We should have the courage to do things differently – and better! One example: the most recent shareholders’ meeting was the first one to do away with ���Ĵ�ý plastic bags, notepads, and pens, and the outcry was much less than expected. We simply decided to scrutinize this established practice because when both the integrated report and the ballot papers are exclusively virtual, shareholders don’t need these things anymore.

There are many examples of things “that we’ve always done that way” – call them into question! When we banned disposable beverage bottles at ���Ĵ�ý TechEd, no one shed a tear. The visitors were thrilled by our concept of giving out high-quality bottles and offering endless refills at the water stations. At the same time, this also supported a water project, which was very well received. 

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Peter Lengler, member of the ���Ĵ�ý Supervisory Board, People and Culture Committee, talks about the process of learning to see the barriers that others face.

In the latest episode of the AHA! Moments for Diversity & Inclusion video series, ���Ĵ�ý Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Supriya Jha and Lengler discuss what inclusion awareness means to him.

Read the article to learn more.

In the latest episode of the AHA! Moments in Diversity & Inclusion video series, ���Ĵ�ý Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Supriya Jha and Lengler discuss what inclusion awareness means to him.

On the Trail

The World Economic Forum estimates that more than 150 million people are homeless globally and, for Lengler, meeting one of them further cemented his passion for diversity and inclusion.

During his 162 days on the Appalachian Trail, Lengler discovered that another hiker he met had been homeless for more than 10 years. Initially, he was a little apprehensive about this fact – and the hiker. However, he quickly discovered that sharing a common goal – in this case to complete the trail – meant that any preconceptions or concerns about this formerly homeless individual ceased to be relevant. They were to spend the next four weeks hiking the trail together.

“On the trail,” Lengler explains, “you have the same goal, and you are open to all people there.”

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Unlearning Ingrained Behavior Patterns

Lengler reflects on those groups of individuals he refers to as “old white men clubs” who have never consciously suffered exclusion and have no understanding of the barriers that others face. Identifying unconscious biases and unlearning ingrained behavior patterns is critical to sustaining the success of diversity and inclusion initiatives.

For Lengler, the important aspect of inclusion is not just to increase the number of employees from diverse backgrounds but to create a culture of true inclusion. Passionately, he explains that for him true inclusion means 100% acceptance for all team members, regardless of their backgrounds. Only team members who are 100% accepted and truly included in all aspects of team life will be able to bring their best selves to work and can be “open in their voice and their mind.” 

The AHA! Moment

On the Appalachian Trail, Lengler experienced first-hand how a common goal and common hardship can bring people together. Above all else, someone who has different life experience or is in some way different from the rest of the team will bring another point of view and, says Lengler, “will look at the same problem in a different manner,” crystallizing his conviction that when you share your goal, “you can reach it together more easily instead of making it alone.”

Diversity and Inclusion at ���Ĵ�ý

In its , ���Ĵ�ý states its mission to become “the most inclusive company in the world.” In the U.S., for example, more than 40% of employees are from underrepresented groups. ���Ĵ�ý is on track to achieve long-term gender goals and has a five-generation workforce. 

One of the initiatives that the Global Diversity and Inclusion Office has launched to help further ���Ĵ�ý’s progress towards becoming the most inclusive company in the world is the Inclusive Mindset Challenge. This challenge allows employees to learn about inclusion topics and the importance of becoming an ally for marginalized groups at their own pace. The challenge comprises a broad range of micro-learnings, such as menopause, transphobia, or sexism to name a few. In 2022, more than 11,000 employees completed this challenge. New challenges are added regularly; recent additions include indigenous inclusion and infuse D&I with AI.

���Ĵ�ý Inclusion Month

���Ĵ�ý has designated October 2023 as ���Ĵ�ý Inclusion Month. All employees are invited to join the inclusion journey and to get involved in an Employee Network Group (ENG) journey, allyship journey, and, for leaders, the intentional inclusion journey.

With more that 40,000 employees, ENGs are voluntary, employee-led diversity and inclusion initiatives representing groups such as visually impaired employees, caregivers, or Latinos.

With the allyship inclusion journey, employees are invited to use their privilege and power to support marginalized groups. With the intentional inclusion journey, leaders learn about intentional inclusion practices that can help further advance ���Ĵ�ý’s journey to become a truly inclusive workplace.

Top photo courtesy of ���Ĵ�ý employee Celia Carillo.

According to a , women representation in C-suite supply chain roles has risen from 19% in 2022 to 26% in 2023. Encouragingly, there has also been an increase in the percentage of women in the supply chain workforce, from 39% to 41%. While these are considered positive shifts in the industry, there is a notable lag in the percentage of frontline roles held by women in this space, ranging from 26% to 34% across various leadership levels.

In a recent panel discussion hosted by the ���Ĵ�ý North America Business Women’s Network and EY Women in ���Ĵ�ý, women supply chain leaders shed light on some important trends, challenges, and strategies for advancing women in supply chain.

The discussion was moderated by Lori Foster, managing director for EY ���Ĵ�ý Consulting. On the panel, I was joined by Etosha Thurman, chief marketing and solutions officer for ���Ĵ�ý Intelligent Spend & Business Network, Regenia Sanders, partner at EY Business Consulting, and Angelee Tango, manager for EY ���Ĵ�ý Extended Warehouse Management. Opening remarks were provided by Yolanda Kirksey, ���Ĵ�ý Alliance leader and director for ���Ĵ�ý Ariba U.S. Go-to-Market for EY.

A few key strategies emerged from the discussion for how organizations can help to elevate women in supply chain:

1. Support the choice to stay with flexibility

A consequence of the global pandemic was a moment of reassessment for women juggling full-time careers with responsibilities at home. In that moment, many women (and men) chose to shift their priorities outside of work or simply had to make that shift to address the needs at home. What we as business leaders can learn from observing this trend is the need to create environments that support women and accommodate work-life balance.

An important point called out in this panel discussion is that work-life balance looks different for everyone. Organizations must set an expectation of respect and boundaries that allow for all employees to manage the many responsibilities they have outside of work — regardless of marital status, if they have children or grandchildren, or if they are a caregiver in another capacity. A culture supportive of pursuing career aspirations while maintaining a healthy balance in personal life empowers women to effectively set and maintain boundaries as well as seek help when needed.

2. Recruit for top skills to succeed in supply chain roles

The panel named skills like curiosity, customer focus, relationship building, change management, crisis management, and communication as both crucial factors for success in this field and areas in which women tend to excel, citing the . Collaboration was underscored by several panelists as essential. Tango shared, “From determining the technology we want to use to the final stage of implementation, the need to continuously evaluate requires everyone to be on board.”

The panel suggested that having more women engaged in these transformative projects helping facilitate collaboration is a strategic way to support innovation that sticks. As Sanders stated, “Making sure [internal stakeholders’] input is being heard when gathering requirements is a critical difference-maker to having an organization that actually embraces technology versus being intimidated by it.”

3. Provide forums that encourage open discussion

At any stage in your career, it can be helpful to hear of the challenges other women supply chain professionals have faced and how they overcame them. What Foster shared on this topic stood out to me: “It’s easy for people to see where you are today, but not what you went through to get there.” That sense of mutual respect and understanding helps to build confidence.

Role models also play an important role. Thurman spoke to the importance of representation: “Seeing people who look like you and can manage a life like you is important to how we move forward.”

Of the many valuable individual takeaways from this discussion, a few specific pieces of advice resonated with me for women looking to elevate their careers in supply chain:

1. Set and hold boundaries where they make sense for you

You must be willing to reshape your own conceptions of how you need to be perceived and what your role needs to be. Instead of trying to meet this picture-perfect standard, work from an understanding of what you want and need so you can set and maintain reasonable boundaries with a career that requires significant flexibility.

2. Know that you belong and operate in that way

As a woman working in a male-dominated field, it is likely that you will experience moments where you or your contributions are slighted, discounted, or ignored. While we are working to change that behavior, when this happens it’s important to remember to focus on what you want to achieve. If you feel that you are not yet at a point in your career to remedy the situation directly, ask for help. 

3. Use your voice

There is an advantage to being different. If you are one woman in a room of 50 men and you can clearly articulate your point well, you will be remembered. As you build your brand, opportunities will follow. And when you have the chance to support other women in your field, lend your voice to advocate, guide, and champion the next generation of leaders.

There is a lot that we can learn from each other, in and across industries. These leaders conveyed inspiring journeys in their supply chain careers where they have encountered and continue to navigate a wide spectrum of challenges, but also have found fulfillment in this line of work. This open discussion represented a significant stride toward acknowledging the challenges, opportunities, and collective efforts needed to empower and elevate women in supply chain.

As these forums continue, my hope is that they will not only support and inspire women through a vast network of supply chain professionals, but also drive toward a more equitable and inclusive supply chain landscape.

Darcy MacClaren is chief revenue officer for ���Ĵ�ý Digital Supply Chain.

Our team of conducts ongoing research on the evolving landscape of work, workplaces, and technology. This research, along with customer feedback and our commitment to accessibility for all users, helps us design solutions that can meet your employees’ needs and enhance your organization’s DEI&B efforts.

Let’s explore five key ways in which ���Ĵ�ý’s focus on UX helps organizations advance their DEI&B strategies by offering employees an interface that can address their needs in the flow of work.

1. Experiences Designed for Employee Preferences

A core principle of UX is designing with a user-centered approach. ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors solutions allow personalization for users with different backgrounds, abilities, and preferences, helping to ensure everyone can benefit. For example, offers individualized, AI-generated learning recommendations that can prioritize courses based on individual goals, skills, and organizational objectives and categorize them into “need,” “want,” and “must” sections. The solution can enable individuals to identify skill gaps against target roles within their career path and take ownership of their career development planning.

2. Cultural Sensitivity and Awareness

We recognize that many organizations operate on a global scale, with diverse cultural norms and practices. Our solutions can accommodate diverse cultural contexts, helping to promote inclusivity and reduce the risk of exclusion and discrimination in a global context. With localization options, users can have experiences tailored to their needs. For example, can enable your employees to record their name pronunciation and post it to their profile for others to access. This helps ensure colleagues can address them accurately and confidently in meetings. includes cultural competency as a performance parameter, promoting awareness and sensitivity to cultural differences in interactions and work.

3. Systemic Bias Mitigation

���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors solutions help combat biases in hiring, promotions, and decision-making. Our UX focus helps promote inclusivity by using non-discriminatory language and content, aligning with organizational efforts to help eliminate bias. Our technology can support your organization in creating job postings equitably with gender bias detection and providing AI-generated, recommended interview questions based on details from the job description to help ensure the interview process is more objective and focused on assessing candidates’ skills and qualifications only. Employees can also add their preferred pronouns to their profile for respectful and identity-aligned addressing by colleagues.

4. Designing for Accessibility

We prioritize to help ensure inclusivity for all users. Our products are designed to accommodate your employees’ diverse needs, with features such as screen readers, keyboard support, text resize to 200%, and text spacing with no loss of meaningful information. These inclusive experiences can empower every user to navigate the application without compromising the integrity of content, functionality, or efficiency.

5. Data Collection and Privacy

Ensuring absolute transparency and unwavering privacy is essential when it comes to data collection and protection. Our commitment to these principles includes incorporating AI explainability into our policies, which means that your employees not only have control over their data but also can understand how our AI systems make decisions, helping to prevent unintentional discrimination. Our help ensure data privacy by anonymizing and aggregating information in compliance with regulations. This includes masking individual data, combining it with other information, and incorporating features like consent management, data access controls, and data retention policies. Furthermore, with , you can analyze diversity and inclusion patterns and trends without compromising individual privacy, fostering a climate of trust and data integrity.

���Ĵ�ý is committed to UX and DEI&B alignment to create inclusive workplaces. With ongoing research, adaptability, and cutting-edge design, ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors solutions can empower organizations to drive DEI&B success and foster a culture of belonging. Explore and take a step toward building a more inclusive and equitable future for all.

Mayara Tabone is a solution marketing specialist at ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors.

Today, both employees and consumers hold organizations to higher standards. Just as consumers want to spend their money with companies they trust and believe in, employees want to earn theirs from an organization that aligns with their values. In fact, almost of people report that they wouldn’t work for a company that doesn’t have a strong purpose.

Business success is no longer measured by profit alone – instead, it’s defined by the impact an organization has on every part of its ecosystem. People sustainability – the intersection of employee engagement and corporate responsibility – is critical to building a future-ready workforce and requires an organization to consider the policies and experiences of people across their entire value chain. A comprehensive people sustainability strategy can help increase overall environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics, drive business outcomes, and build a better, brighter future. 

Good for People, Good for Business

People create new business models, lead critical initiatives, and effect change. With a people-first approach, organizations are more resilient, more capable, more innovative, and more motivated to deliver on sustainability goals.

As the “people” experts, HR plays an important role in driving people sustainability. And with the right technology in place, it can start to take a more unified approach to people-centered initiatives. This looks like: tapping into new and diverse talent pools, empowering employees to learn and grow throughout the employee lifecycle, and creating a fair and equal workplace culture where everyone feels a sense of belonging. This not only benefits employees – it benefits business.

Forward-thinking organizations like are already moving the needle on people sustainability. MOD’s mission goes far beyond serving delicious pizza – it believes that companies can and should be a force for good in their communities. “Our purpose is to create a place that includes everyone,” Dayna Eberhardt, chief people officer of MOD, tells ���Ĵ�ý Chief Marketing & Solutions Officer Julia White in a recent interview for .

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The key ingredient to MOD’s success is its people. MOD is not only committed to investing in its current employees through continuous learning, development, and career advancement, but it also strives to provide opportunities to those who typically face barriers to employment. This includes, for example, individuals who have formerly been incarcerated or have intellectual or developmental disabilities. Today, 99% of company-owned MOD stores have hired people with employment barriers. These hiring practices have led to a more engaged, empowered, and equitable workforce. “Our MOD Squad with barriers have a higher sense of belonging, a faster rate of promotion, and a higher retention rate,” Eberhardt says.

Opening the door to opportunity is just the first step to workplace equity, which is why MOD makes the employee experience a top priority. When outdated HR processes were slowing down its recruiting and onboarding, MOD chose to help redefine the value of HR data and processes, empowering the company to put its 10,000 – and growing – employees who make up the MOD Squad at the heart of its business.

And this is a difference MOD’s customers can taste. “When we take care of our people, our people take care of our customers, and the business takes care of itself,” Eberhardt says.

As we move into an uncertain future, companies like MOD that are actively prioritizing people, making positive impacts on the communities they serve, and taking real steps towards zero inequality will be best positioned to meet the business needs of today and tomorrow. And by putting people at the center of business – in purpose, culture, and technology – these organizations can create a more sustainable workforce and world.

Aaron Green is chief marketing and solutions officer for ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors.

Recently, a group of psychologists at the annual Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology conference met to present emerging research on the broken rung. Caitlynn Sendra, Ph.D., experience product scientist at ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors, who hosted the session, explained that because of the roles men and women historically held in society, our stereotypes around men and women can carry over into today’s workplace, even if not intentionally. “Men are stereotypically thought to be agentic, direct, and task-focused – traits historically associated with leaders. On the other hand, women are stereotyped to be nurturing, communal, and community-focused,” explained Sendra. Although this has led women to be seen as less leader-like, Sendra presented original research on how this may actually give women leaders an advantage when it comes to influencing organizational culture.

Throughout the session, the researchers presented data on several different sources of potential bias around women leaders, including 360-degree reviews, “high-potential” programs, and feedback. For example, Dr. Martin Lanik, CEO of Pinsight, demonstrated that men are three times more likely than women to be identified as “high potential.” Additionally, Dr. Stefanie Mockler, co-founder of The Violet Group, showed data indicating that managers tended to “soften” their feedback to women. The message of the session was clear: businesses need to be proactive in removing this bias from people processes in order to level the playing field for women leaders.

The session ended with a discussion about what HR leaders can do to help reduce bias towards women leaders. Providing training on bias awareness and reduction was one solution provided by the researchers. HR technology was also called out as a key piece of the puzzle.

At ���Ĵ�ý, we’re working with organizations of all sizes to help drive more equitable and inclusive HR strategies that empower equitable experiences for every employee, including women. With embedded features throughout , our customers are provided with the tools they need to help detect and prevent unconscious bias while also gaining the insights required to make decisions that can cultivate a diverse and inclusive workforce. 

Here are three examples of how organizations are using ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors solutions to help solve for the broken rung and other systemic biases in the workplace:

Sanlam

is one of the largest financial services groups in South Africa and believes building a diverse, future-ready workforce is key to becoming the unrivaled industry leader in Africa and to strengthening its position abroad. With 105,000 team members, including both permanent employees and contingent staff, Sanlam is committed to ensuring access and opportunity across its total workforce. 

With ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors solutions, Sanlam is bridging the gap between permanent and contingent workers by providing a consistent experience for all workers. With visibility into the total workforce, management can identify skill gaps and offer all workers development opportunities that match future priorities. And with group-wide analytics, Sanlam’s leadership can set and actively track targets around race, gender, and disability.

“We have all the information we need at the drop of a hat,” said Ronel Pfotenhauer, ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors portfolio product owner, Sanlam Life Insurance Limited. “For instance, we can report on the number of Black, African females with five years of experience and an MBA as potential candidates for a leadership role, with ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors solutions acting as a type of internal recruitment portal.”

The University of Toronto

The University of Toronto’s mission is to build a community where academic and learning opportunities are given to every member of its community, including 12,000 full-time and 14,000 part-time employees across three campuses. Its recent work on the anti-Black racism task force and similar initiatives to do with anti-semitism and anti-Asian racism demonstrates the organization’s commitment to ensuring the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion are deeply embedded in the fabric of everything it does.

With ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors solutions, the University of Toronto is bringing a consistent look and feel to the employee experience, providing comprehensive learning programs and empowering people leaders to create the conditions for all talent to thrive. .

MOD Pizza

is dedicated to making positive social impacts in the lives of its employees and the communities it serves. The company strives to create a more equitable world full of opportunities for those who face barriers to steady employment, such as people formerly incarcerated as well as individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities. It calls its community of employees the MOD Squad, and the MOD Squad is 10,000 employees strong and growing along with the company.

With ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors solutions, MOD Pizza has redefined the value of HR data, processes, and experiences – putting the MOD Squad at the heart of its business success. All candidates and new hires are provided with a welcoming experience to help them feel supported and prepared. All employees are provided with on-demand digital training to encourage continuous learning and growth. And with multiple touchpoints to gather sentiment feedback, MOD Pizza can quickly identify areas for potential improvement.

“���Ĵ�ý’s dedication to people sustainability struck a chord with us. This focus continues to show us that ���Ĵ�ý solutions are the right choice for MOD Pizza because they’re designed to create a fair future full of opportunities for our employees,” said Tara Gambill, senior director of Enterprise Systems, MOD Pizza LLC.

Carrie Klauss is global director of Solution Marketing at ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors.

At ���Ĵ�ý Concur, AI technology underpins our core travel, expense, and invoice solutions. It’s also what powers Verify, our self-serve audit service within Concur Expense that can automatically check 100% of expense reports to help identify potential compliance issues. It uses AI and machine learning from ���Ĵ�ý Concur to tap decades of expense user data that helps identify hard-to-detect spend issues and anomalies.

Verify is a great example of how humans remain an important part of today’s workforce and of how humans plus AI technology can deliver better results than either could independently. Even the most advanced AI systems have gaps. For those, at ���Ĵ�ý Concur, we augment the technology with a 24/7 team of human auditors to keep accuracy high and false positives low.

Verify Auditors

In the past year, Verify performed over 38 million audit checks on expense reports submitted through Concur Expense. Each month, on average, one-third of expense reports analyzed by Verify are flagged for organizations to review potential errors and policy violations.

Before errors are flagged to organizations, the AI results are validated by a team of Verify auditors. The team represents a special part of our workforce because most of them have some form of hearing loss. Not only has AI created their roles, but as technology becomes more and more accessible, it’s provided valuable career opportunities to the deaf community. We rely on these workers to help ���Ĵ�ý Concur drive a strategic part of our innovation strategy to help make auditing easier for Concur Expense customers.

“The Verify auditors are very special to us,” said Tom Olsen, VP of Managed Business Services at ���Ĵ�ý Concur, who works directly with the team. “We partner with Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) to create a diverse, inclusive, and accessible workplace that includes a sign language interpreter to develop training and work materials, even down to fire safety and emergency plans.”

New Audit Checks

We’re thankful for our team of Verify auditors as well as our customers, whose feedback makes us run our best. As we continue to learn from Verify customers, we’ve recently added 10 checks that can alert customers of potential issues prior to reports being paid. Scenarios include duplicate receipts – even across employees – old dates, personal use of a company card, unreasonable amount, improper merchant category, and more.

These additional checks, inspired by the companies using Verify, help increase the amount of policy variation that can be enforced by the service. It can also help improve the speed to reimbursement by allowing common issues to be identified early in the workflow. Additionally, it can create efficiency for auditors by reducing the need to manually check reports for noncompliance.

That’s not all that’s new. Verify is now generally available for enterprise customers as well.

Tim Lebel is vice president and head of Spend Products at ���Ĵ�ý Concur.

Making our work environment accessible and creating a culture of inclusion and belonging is everyone’s responsibility and benefits everyone. As content owners, it is on us to ensure that all content is consumable by every viewer, regardless of ability.

Why Is Accessibility Important in Communications? 

Inclusive and accessible communications play a pivotal role in ensuring that messages are available and comprehensible to all, including those with disabilities or limitations. The significance of accessibility in communications cannot be overstated, as it fosters equal participation and engagement.

People with disabilities currently represent about 15% of the world’s population.

Being mindful of the continuum from permanent disabilities to situational impairments helps rethink how designs can scale to more people in new ways. In the United States, 26,000 people a year suffer from loss of upper extremities. But when we include people with temporary and situational impairments, the number is greater than 20 million.*

Ask yourself, what is this experience like for people who can’t see, can’t hear, can’t use a mouse, can’t remember what they were doing, or can’t speak clearly, and is it usable?

Practical Tips to Enhance Web Accessibility for a Diverse Audience

Provide alternative text for images. Use to convey the image’s semantic meaning – not to explain what the image visually shows – and the context of the images to individuals who have limited vision, have only a limited field of sight, or use screen readers. This ensures they understand the semantic context even if they can’t see the images.

Use descriptive anchor text. Instead of using generic phrases like “click here” or “read more,” make link text descriptive and meaningful. It should clearly indicate the destination or purpose of the link, such as an action and to which object or instance the action takes effect. For example, use “download the accessibility guide” instead of “click here” or “download,” as it might not be obvious what will be downloaded. Learn more about .

Avoid lengthy URLs. Long and complex URLs can be confusing and difficult to read. This is especially important when links are generated and the reference contains so-called , which contain extremely long mixtures of digits and letters. Consider using link-shortening services or customizing the hyperlink text to make it more concise and user-friendly.

Format hyperlinks differently. Visually distinguish hyperlinks from regular text by underlining, bolding, or using a different color. This helps users easily identify and recognize clickable links. Different colors might not be helpful for individuals who have problems in perceiving colors or being able to distinguish a color from another. However, screen reader users can get the information that a link is a link, independent from its visualization. The screen reader can determine the link’s technical type. Additionally, a screen reader retrieves information if a link redirects to a spot on the same site or if the link has been visited before, indicating it as a visited link, when using a specific link navigation mode.

Ensure sufficient color contrast. Make sure there is enough contrast between the hyperlink color and the surrounding text to ensure readability for people with visual impairments. Avoid relying solely on color to convey the presence of a link. Use the to check the readability of your design and content.

Include context and purpose. When linking to external content, provide a brief description or context within the surrounding text. This helps users understand the purpose or relevance of the link before clicking on it.

Test accessibility with screen readers. Use screen reader software or tools to test the accessibility of hyperlinks. Screen readers should be able to accurately identify and read out the hyperlink text to ensure it is understandable and meaningful. Improve content for screen readers by using .

Avoid excessive use of hyperlinks. While hyperlinks are useful for providing additional information or references, avoid overloading your content with links. Too many links can be distracting and overwhelming for some readers, especially those with cognitive disabilities.

Test on different devices and platforms. Ensure that hyperlinks function correctly and are accessible across various devices, browsers, and operating systems. This helps guarantee a consistent and inclusive user experience.

Caption and transcribe multimedia content. Provide captions for videos and transcripts for audio content. This is vital for users who are deaf or hard of hearing. It is also useful for international comprehension and for those who cannot play audio or video.

Sign it. Provide sign-language interpretation services for all live events and include this in the replay where possible. By default, ���Ĵ�ý uses American Sign Language (ASL), but may use other sign languages depending on the location of the audience.

By following these practices, you can make your content more accessible and ensure that all users can understand and interact with your content effectively.

*Source: United States Census Bureau, Limbs for Life Foundation, Amputee Coalition, MedicineHealth.com, CDC.gov, Disability Statistics Center at the UCSF

Alexander Kuban is UX designer and IT technology consultant for Accessibility at ���Ĵ�ý.

The Global Acceptance Index, a survey conducted in 2020 across 167 countries, revealed that acceptance of LGBTQIA+ individuals has been steadily increasing. The global average acceptance score increased from 44% in 2017 to 52% in 2020. Pride month serves as a powerful reminder of the progress made in advancing equality for the LGBTQIA+ community while also highlighting the ongoing challenges that still need to be addressed.

At ���Ĵ�ý, Pride is a commitment to our employees, partners, and customers. Around the world, LGBTQIA+ leaders, colleagues, and allies champion equality, shine bright, and achieve success no matter who they are. Diversity and inclusion are business priorities, and, as a brand, we are proud to stand up for LGBTQIA+ inclusion.

Celebrating Pride Month at ���Ĵ�ý

Pride@���Ĵ�ý kicked off Pride month celebrations with an insightful discussion on the topic of intersectional allyship with , the premier organization working exclusively on LGBTQIA+ workplace equality. Julia White, chief marketing and solutions officer, member of the Executive Board of ���Ĵ�ý SE, and sponsor of Pride@���Ĵ�ý, Supriya Jha, chief diversity and inclusion officer at ���Ĵ�ý, and the global leadership of Pride@���Ĵ�ý explored the strength of embracing diverse identities, understanding intersectionality, and expanding our capacity for allyship. The audience gained insights into the impact of discrimination on individuals and organizations while developing vital skills to foster diversity and inclusion from Rebecca York, manager, Leadership, Learning & Development, Out and Equal.

This engaging event set the tone for a series of global and regional activities that spanned over 15 locations. On June 21, the team hosted Chris Rollins, founder & CEO, Ripple Effect Leadership, in an internal event on strengthening our path to allyship using small moments of vulnerability, kindness, empathy, curiosity, and humility to create ripple effects on your team, no matter where you sit in the organization, and impact your efforts toward inclusion.

From Pride parades to community festivals and networking, these events offered opportunities for employees, partners, and allies to come together, celebrate diversity, and foster a sense of unity.

Pride@���Ĵ�ý: Building Breakthroughs Since 2001

Pride@���Ĵ�ý, the first Employee Network Group (ENG) established by ���Ĵ�ý, was founded on June 1, 2001, with the mission of representing the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies. Over the course of 22 years, this group has experienced remarkable growth, evolving into a truly global network boasting more than 7,500 members across 45 chapters worldwide. With the unwavering support of ���Ĵ�ý executives, community members, and allies, Pride@���Ĵ�ý serves as a volunteer network that actively encourages colleagues to raise their voices in support of the LGBTQIA+ community.

At ���Ĵ�ý, the employees themselves shape the company culture, ensuring that no one is left behind in the face of intolerance. The group is proudly sponsored by White and benefits from the guidance of an Executive Advisory Council comprising eight of ���Ĵ�ý’s top leaders.

Here are some of Pride@���Ĵ�ý’s accomplishments:

• 2010: ���Ĵ�ý is included on Corporate Equality Index (CEI)
• 2012: ���Ĵ�ý participates in the project
• 2015: ���Ĵ�ý walks Pride parade and signs
• 2016: ���Ĵ�ý becomes and is listed on
• 2017: ���Ĵ�ý signs fighting LGBT+ discrimination
• 2018: ���Ĵ�ý supports with leadership programs for LGBT+
• 2018/19/20: ���Ĵ�ý is on
• 2018/19/20: ���Ĵ�ý is named Top Global Employer for LGBT inclusion by Stonewall
• 2018/19/20: ���Ĵ�ý is selected for Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index
• 2019/20: ���Ĵ�ý is recognized as No.1 Top Employer in
• 2020: ���Ĵ�ý is called LGBT+ Diversity Champion
• 2022: ���Ĵ�ý is selected as HRC’s
• 2022/23: ���Ĵ�ý becomes an Partner

At ���Ĵ�ý, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and welcoming workplace where all our employees feel valued and respected.

Transgender and nonbinary individuals have long faced social stigma and outright discrimination at work, and in the first half of 2023, ���Ĵ�ý launched the new “pronouns” functionality, enabling all employees to define how they would like to be addressed at work. This feature is a key step for us to create a more inclusive, respectful, and supportive workplace for gender diversity.

“Allyship for Inclusion” is another key initiative that marks ���Ĵ�ý’s aspiration to be the most inclusive company in the world. With the support of Pride@���Ĵ�ý and 12 other ENGs, ���Ĵ�ý’s Diversity and Inclusion Office launched this global initiative to amplify what allyship looks like in action, build a common language of inclusion, and share practical ways to apply allyship in our daily lives.

When it comes to diversity and inclusion, there’s no resting on one’s laurels. The fight for equality is crucial and still relevant. There is always more we can do, and we at ���Ĵ�ý are proud to amplify our efforts and continue driving positive change.

Learn more in our  or visit our .

Aparna Jairaj is a diversity & inclusion communication specialist for the ���Ĵ�ý Global Diversity & Inclusion Office.

Arroyo uses she/her/hers pronouns, identifies as a woman, and regards being transgender as a process and not an identity. As a woman, a Latina, and a member of the security and compliance community at large, ���Ĵ�ý Concur, Intelligent Spend Management, and ���Ĵ�ý, she discusses how intersectionality – the overlap of distinct identities – is key for understanding that LGBTQIA+ individuals are more than their sexual orientation or gender identity. At ���Ĵ�ý, intersectionality is part of our culture and allows Arroyo to bring all these identities together and be her authentic self at work.

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The AHA! Moments

For Arroyo, there was not one but two defining AHA! moments in her life when she realized that she can be her authentic self at work – the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court Bostock v. Clayton County ruling and reviewing the ���Ĵ�ý gender transition guidelines.

In June 2020, 19 years after the birth of Pride@���Ĵ�ý and nine years after ���Ĵ�ý pledged in its to prohibit “discrimination and harassment based on personal factors including but not limited to […] gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression,” the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it was illegal to fire employees because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Prior to this ruling, employees could be fired for being gay, bisexual, or transgender in more than half the states in the U.S. “Seeing that ruling,” recalls Arroyo, “was very encouraging for me to come forth in the workplace to be myself.”

The ���Ĵ�ý gender transition guidelines also signaled clearly to her that ���Ĵ�ý is a safe place to transition.

For many transgender people, including Arroyo, there comes a point when they start to align their lives and physical identities to their gender identity, generally with the goal of living consistently in their gender identity full time. Employers are key to facilitating this process to make it as smooth as possible. For many ���Ĵ�ý employees, teams, and managers, working with a transitioning or transitioned colleague will be a new situation; there may be anxiety about expected behavior or questions and uncertainty about how to support a colleague during the gender transition process.

The Employee View

The ���Ĵ�ý gender transition guidelines set out clearly how an employee can start this process – from the notification of gender transition to clarification on appearance. All ���Ĵ�ý employees are bound to the ���Ĵ�ý dress code and have the right to express themselves according to their gender identity. Issues like restroom and health facilities access based on an employee’s gender identity are also, for example, addressed in the guidelines.

The HR and Manager View

The correct support of HR and the manager of the transitioning employee is a top priority to safeguard employee well-being.

The guidelines explain how HR designates a people relations partner to support the transgender or transitioning employee and explains the manager’s obligation to respect employee privacy. It also provides guidance on how a manager can address concerns of other team members as questions may arise. Managers are urged to be open, to listen, and to work closely with the people relations partner.

HR is also responsible for changing names and pronouns on all non-regulatory documentation such as e-mail, access badge, and so on.

No More Deadnaming

Deadnaming happens when a person’s previous name, which does not correspond to their gender identity, is used. Using this previous name stops others from seeing and getting a sense of the person’s true identity.

Arroyo explains that updating her name, pronouns, and gender marker in company applications, such as ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors solutions, e-mail, MS Teams, and other communication systems, was extremely important to convey to others who she is. Although this was not a simple process because of the coordination required between the IT and HR departments, these updates are crucial to successfully transitioning at ���Ĵ�ý.

Updating her name to Robyn was a critical component in coming out at ���Ĵ�ý. It allowed her to be her authentic self and, as she says with a broad smile, “When I saw my name, I saw myself. And when others see my name, they know who I am.”

“Our ambition is to become the place to be for all, where everyone has a voice and belongs, regardless of abilities, nationality, background, gender, age, and any other factor,” said Caroline Sehn, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion lead at Merck. “We truly believe that it will help our success in innovation, technology, and creativity as diverse minds, as well as to become digital enablers for the business, building a workplace accessible and inclusive for all.

The rest of the panel agreed with the sentiment, and unanimously agreed that one of the best ways to ensure that D&I does not fall by the wayside is with data and key performance indicators (KPIs), as is standard practice with other business goals.

360-Degree Approach to D&I at Airbus

Airbus is the largest aeronautics and space company in Europe and a worldwide leader in the aviation industry with more than 130,000 employees. Within the Digital organization, the percentage of women is 25%, a bit higher than the market average of 24%. A strong commitment to raise awareness of younger women and encourage them to pursue digital careers through activities such as special events and mentorship is coordinated in partnership with various associations such as Elles bougent in France.

Célia Frey, vice president and head of Information Management for Programs, Customer Engagement & Services at Airbus, explained that the company thinks of diversity from five key perspectives: gender parity, LGBTI+ inclusion, equal opportunities for people with disabilities, accommodating generational gaps, and contributing to the economic and social development of underprivileged neighborhoods.

On gender parity, for example, Airbus is committed to the United Nations objective of developing women in business and having women in 25% of executive positions in 2025, where the starting situation was 14%.

Airbus also has a program called Generation A, which aims to bridge the gap between the multiple generations its employees span and a “support an employee” network called Balance for Business, which helps all employees balance work with life commitments and promote gender equity.

Digitall: Inclusive and Diverse Place for All at Merck

Merck KGaA, a leading science and technology company operating across healthcare, life science, and electronics sectors, recently announced a strategic partnership with ���Ĵ�ý to jointly drive sustainable business practice innovation and digitalization. The company has a goal of gender parity by 2030. To reach this ambition, Merck IT has launched a campaign to help break down stereotypes around gender, nationality, age, family situations, and personal goals.

Sehn says that Merck CIO Alessandro de Luca is refreshingly honest in acknowledging that IT used to be a male-dominated industry, but now and in the future will need all talents to drive innovation and digitalize the business. Merck IT offers agile work processes and good work life-balance with flexible working hours. There are also mentoring campaigns, talent development, and career training opportunities that enable employees to establish share learnings and establish support networks.

Schneider Electric’s Strategy for Inclusion and Care by Design

As a leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, Schneider Electric also aims to be the most inclusive and caring company in the world. To execute on that vision, the company has created Inclusion and Care by Design, the philosophy to build inclusion and care into all process and elements of company culture.

Julie Ashton-Howorth, group chief accounting officer at Schneider Electric, explained that all company processes — whether they involve employees or customers or both — feature end-to-end accountability that helps ensure every individual feels respected and safe to be their unique self.

One of the things Schneider Electric has done to promote diversity in leadership is move away from a single headquarters model to a multi-hub structure that better serves the communities where the company operates. It also transparently shares its journey, progress, processes, and commitments, and co-creates with employees, customers, suppliers, and NGOs to be a truly responsible corporate citizen.

D&I Center of Excellence at ���Ĵ�ý

���Ĵ�ý Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Supriya Jha explained that the company has invested internally and externally in programs that help existing and potential female employees grow and thrive in their careers. For example, there is a D&I center of excellence that reports to the ���Ĵ�ý Executive Board monthly, and houses a data analytics team that monitors the internal and external KPIs related to female progression and provides insightful data to hiring, learning and development teams, and the ���Ĵ�ý leadership team, so that they can take intentional steps to retain and advance women at ���Ĵ�ý.

While its ultimate goal is to attain gender parity, ���Ĵ�ý is proud to have achieved a milestone goal of 35% women in its workforce and is seeing an increase in the number of women in managerial ranks from 25.5% in 2017 to 29.4% at the close of 2022. In addition, in 2023, ���Ĵ�ý was reinstated to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, which recognizes a commitment to advancing women in the workplace.

All panelists acknowledged that there is more to be done to achieve gender parity and other diversity goals, but they felt positive. Sehn summarized the sentiment: “As the old Buddhist saying goes, ‘One candle can light thousands.’ We need to keep this in mind when we’re working together.”

The is here to help. Each year, this team of PhD-level organizational psychologists and HR technology market intelligence experts aggregate and synthesize data from a wide range of reputable business press resources that put forward HR trends and predictions and conduct a content analysis to derive key themes or “meta-trends.” For 2023, the analysis involved 73 resources, leading to a list of 346 individual trends, which were then categorized into seven broader meta-trends.

Below is a quick recap of the 2023 HR meta-trends and a few examples of how organizations of all sizes are using ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors solutions to get ahead – and stay ahead – of the curve.

From Trend to Foundational: Employee Experience

If you do a quick comparison from past years’ meta-trends analyses, you’ll notice an elevated shift for the employee experience. To no surprise, this topic continues to dominate the conversation and has become a cornerstone for HR and business strategies. With the recognition that all HR meta-trends are shaped by and shapers of the employee experience, our team of experts have “graduated” employee experience from trend to a foundational principle.

“HR digitalization was a key objective in our transformation to address our work culture challenges. Our necessary to develop and engage our people was an important aspect enabling the execution of our business strategy.”

– Arun Serikar, Director Global HR Technology,

1. Winning the Race for Skills

With the combination of employees maintaining the upper hand in the job market and many parts of the world continuing to face relatively tight labor markets, the focus on skills-based hiring and employer brand has skyrocketed the race for skills into the number one slot for 2023.

“We knew that to continue to be an employer of choice, we wanted to satisfy the needs of our employees and applicants who were demanding an enhanced experience.”

– Cherilyn Nobleza, Executive Director HR Transformation and Analytics,

2. Mobilizing the Workforce for the Future

Organizations are continuing to lean into learning and development to keep employees engaged and properly skilled – and with economic uncertainty likely leading to a shift between external hiring and internal mobility, this topic remains top of mind.

“Thanks to , we have transformed into an organization that prioritizes learning and growth and our employee engagement has significantly increased. We are now composed of people with a habit of learning not once a month but a little bit every day.”

– Adela Giral Lopez, CHRO,

3. Adopting Emerging Technologies with Purpose

As artificial intelligence (AI) use cases within HR begin to span across the employee journey, employees are beginning to see the added value for help in completing basic tasks and receiving personalized recommendations. But for that comfort level to grow, it’s imperative that HR teams remain vigilant in ensuring the use of intelligent technology is fair and transparent.

“With support from ���Ĵ�ý, we have been able to extend the functionality in ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors solutions to create an innovative solution that helps employees identify and develop the skills that will be vital in the digital world and the future of our company.”

– Gabriel de Diego, HR Strategy and Transformation Director,

4. Making Flexible Work, Work

Who wouldn’t love a four-day work week? This is just one of the many options being considered – and, in some cases, implemented – as organizations continue to experiment with new flexible work options designed for where, when, and how work happens.

“ is helping us truly empower and engage our employees by creating one space where employees can find everything they need and get virtual support to get their work done – no matter where they are.”

– Yoav Ventura, Cofounder and Managing Partner,

5. Embedding Holistic Well-Being Everywhere

Although many have settled into the “next normal” from a working perspective, there are still a significant number of stressors at play that emphasize the need for organizations to continue their understanding, support, and prioritization of employees’ holistic well-being – including their mental, physical, emotional, and financial health.

“Regularly engaging with employees is critical to ensure everyone’s voice is heard, their needs are addressed, and there is a positive work environment that makes people want to stay with us.”

– Tennyson Devoe, Senior Director of Safety and Organizational Excellence,

6. Embracing the Complexity of DEI&B

In 2023 we’ll begin to see organizations take a “lifecycle approach,” meaning diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B) will be embedded across all people-related activities, with particular focus on practices related to talent acquisition and retention.

“���Ĵ�ý solutions are helping us achieve our diversity and inclusion goals. Greater visibility into the total workforce and transparent, improved reporting capabilities allow us to set recruitment and succession targets around race, gender, and disability.”

– Jeanett Modise, Group HR Director,

7. Preparing People Leaders for Today and Tomorrow

Your next generation of leaders will play a significant role in the success of your organization and in 2023, it’s all about developing leadership and management skills across the workforce. Keep in mind – not every high-performing individual is a good fit for managing a team so alternative paths outside of the traditional career ladder should be made available.

“Our talent strategy brings stronger engagement through clear objective setting, , and development conversations. We have the opportunity to improve internal mobility through succession planning capability, creating a diverse talent pipeline at all levels.”

– Fiona Brunskill, Director of People and Cultural Change,

For additional insights on the meta-trends and how you can prepare for what’s next, read the full report, .

Carrie Klauss is global director of Solution Marketing at ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors.

���Ĵ�ý will work with the Tent Partnership for Refugees, a , the CEO and Chairman of Chobani. As a Turkish immigrant, Ulukaya saw firsthand the power of immigrants finding appropriate employment and how it benefits the refugee and the businesses who hire them.

I’m excited to be a part of this for several reasons.

For me, working with Tent is a deeply personal cause. As a soldier in the US Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment, I deployed twice to Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. I saw a beautiful country full of incredible people torn apart and ravaged by war.

In August 2021, I was also one of the thousands of people worldwide who worked feverishly to help evacuate as many Afghans from Kabul as we could. In those two frantic weeks, we did everything possible to save our friends. These men and women were not strangers, but people we had forged deep relationships with. They were some of the bravest and hardest-working men and women I have ever met.

The men and women this program will mentor are incredibly intelligent and hard-working professionals. Their command of the English language is excellent. They bring technical skills and professional expertise to the table.  Like so many before them, they are eager to embrace the American dream.

But they are in the challenging position of rapidly learning a new culture after being ripped out of their homes — some literally in the middle of the night — while trying to do whatever they can to support their families, both here and, in many cases, back home in Afghanistan.

Tent Trains Corporate Mentors to Help Refugees Find the Right Employment

Led by Veterans@���Ĵ�ý and in partnership with Autism Inclusion Network, Black Employees Network, Business Women’s Network, ���Ĵ�ý Interfaith Alliance, Latinos@���Ĵ�ý, and Pan-Asians@���Ĵ�ý, this initiative will be working to help these Afghan mentees starting in May.

Volunteers will provide mentorship, interview prep, resume review, coaching, and access to a more robust professional network as the refugees work to find new employment in the U.S. that is better matched to their skills and expertise. ���Ĵ�ý is excited and honored to be a part of this important initiative.

Help Tent by Joining the Cause

This is an opportunity to help these amazing human beings integrate into the American workforce, to enrich this nation through their talents and experiences. That is why Tent’s work is important. It’s why we are so excited to work with them.

If you are so moved, consider as they continue their mission to help refugees and immigrants more easily transition into the American work force.

Tom Amenta is a field marketing specialist for Cloud ERP at ���Ĵ�ý North America.

Innovative brands have realized this.

Zwift – a massive multiplayer online cycling and running program that enables users to train, interact, and compete in a virtual world – recently embraced inclusion by adding a hand-cycling that allows physically challenged athletes to race in the metaverse alongside able-bodied athletes. And it’s not alone. Earlier last year, Degree Deodorant hosted the world’s first on the Decentraland metaverse with a 26.2-mile picturesque course along the platform’s Vegas City Sports Quarter district, which reflected a more inclusive landscape with structures such as ramps for wheelchair users.

But How Does This Help Businesses?

Research shows that inclusion strengthens social networks, reduces barriers, and increases trust to generate economic benefits. Businesses that incorporate inclusivity are more likely to make bolder and better decisions. Meanwhile, sports possess the ability to transcend linguistic, cultural, social, and, now, physical barriers. With the metaverse looming large over the foreseeable horizon, a convergence of sports and inclusivity could serve as a lighthouse for business and society – a truly mouthwatering prospect of things to come. But is there an addressable market for this to make business sense?

There are 5.07 billion active Internet users in the world today – 50,000 already Web 3.0 virtual worlds and 12% of U.S. Internet users are interested in using the metaverse. Digital avatars contribute immensely to the virtual experience and are increasing becoming ubiquitous.

Per the U.S. Census Bureau, 12.8% of the U.S. population in 2019 registered as people with disabilities. The European equivalent that year was 39 million – Great Britain alone accounted for 11 million – while Asia had an estimated 135 million people with disabilities. The global fitness platform market for the disabled alone is expected to hit US$1.41 billion this year, a CAGR of 23.9%.

So, there is clearly an audience for this type of inclusivity. But why bother the metaverse with it?

Answering the Community’s Call

Digital avatars contribute immensely to the virtual experience and are increasing becoming abundant. In fact, online communities are demanding greater inclusivity. A revealed a general underrepresentation of people with disabilities and women, alongside an inaccurate representation of online identities. With 57% of Gen Z metaverse-gamers their penchant for in-game self-expression as higher than in real life, developers are taking note. Last June, Meta the launch of wheelchairs, over-the-ear hearing aids, and cochlear implants for its avatars. As the metaverse takes shape, inclusivity features prominently on the social media giant’s development agenda.

And it is just not Meta. Companies developing gaming consoles are building for inclusivity as well. From Xbox Adaptive Controllers to community-built modified controllers, features to assist those with mobility, hearing, and impaired vision are gaining prominence. Gaming companies are also modifying popular games for impaired gamers. For instance, The Last of Us II – the game from the company Naughty Dog – now has play modes for deaf, blind, and mobility-impaired gamers. Likewise, colorblind players can now enjoy the hugely popular Call of Duty: Black Ops thanks to a new mode that customizes the game’s display to create a spectrum of options to suit a player’s specific need.

Clearly, the metaverse can be a great enabler of inclusivity and open new doors.

A New Vista of Inclusion Opportunities Powered by the Metaverse

Imagine a metaverse loaded with features that welcome all to coexist in the surrounds of a safe virtual haven. Events like the marathon and my annual cycling event can become regular features in the metaverse, much like those in the real world today.

Add cutting-edge sports performance analytics from to this and challenged participants can receive a significant boost for their efforts of being recognized as competitive athletes. In fact, in the highly competitive world of Paralympics where every inch matters, teams that can get their hands on ���Ĵ�ý Sports One can integrate data from various sources and study consolidated insights from all the athletes on their team with real-time analytics. At the highest levels, where the gold medal is decided by seconds, even challenged athletes deserve the very best and can benefit from what cutting-edge performance analytics can offer. In the esports world today, organizations like readily use ���Ĵ�ý data and analytics solutions such as and to help make split second decisions and heighten their performances on the professional circuit.

With such precedents in place, the metaverse becomes a prime greenfield of opportunities and facilitates the development of an environment where inclusivity can genuinely thrive. This, coupled with gamification and play-to-earn models, can lead to the creation of an ecosystem in the metaverse that nurtures a virtual economy with limitless horizons. Brands and technology companies that are building an inclusive metaverse will enjoy numerous revenue-generating avenues and enhanced social agendas.

We are at the dawn of exciting times for sure.

To learn how software helps clubs and organizations digitalize sports performance management, visit .

Richard Whittington is senior vice president of Sports, Media, & Entertainment at ���Ĵ�ý.

“Everyone’s autism is slightly different,” Dietsch explains. Before the terms neurodiversity and neurodivergent became common currency to describe these differences in brain functions and behavior, autism was often classified as a disability.

Today, most individuals on the autism spectrum reject the “disability” label. Neurodivergent means just that: different, not disabled.

More often than not, says Dietsch, neurotypical individuals who view neurodivergence “as a disability and a hindrance” are the ones applying a disability label to an autistic individual’s differences in behavior, interaction, or communication.

Unfortunately, these differences can sometimes make it difficult for autistic individuals to shine in conventional job interviews, contributing to the higher rates of unemployment or under-employment in this group.

To make recruiting practices fairer and to promote an autistic-inclusive workplace, ���Ĵ�ý founded the program in 2013.

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Autism at Work Program

With a team dedicated to fostering an inclusive workplace experience for autistic colleagues, the Autism at Work program offers tailored accommodations including, for example, the sharing of interview topics in advance and an Autism at Work buddy for new hires.

This global program not only signals a commitment to autism inclusion but provides robust tools and processes to deliver it. More than 215 colleagues have been hired in association with this program or have self-disclosed.

The program has been vital in hiring autistic employees who, in turn, often become role models and an inspiration to others.

The AHA! Moment: The Role Model

Dietsch recalls very clearly the moment when he realized that ���Ĵ�ý could be the right fit for him and a workplace where he could thrive.

At an Autism at Work event in 2018, Dietsch met someone on the autism spectrum working in cybersecurity at ���Ĵ�ý. Seeing this positive role model made him believe in himself and that he, too, could work in cybersecurity. He felt inspired to apply.

With a hiring format designed to set him up for success – no open questions, no group tasks, no relying on eye contact, for example – Dietsch secured an internship at ���Ĵ�ý before applying to his current permanent position.

“I Do Not Have to Mask Myself”

Only 5% of disabled and neurodivergent employees choose to disclose. A culture that makes employees feel uncomfortable or vulnerable about being their true selves puts great pressure on the individual, increases the chances that employees will not reach their full potential, and increases the chances that companies will lose out on valuable talent.

By the time Dietsch joined ���Ĵ�ý, he had experienced firsthand the strength of ���Ĵ�ý’s commitment to welcome neurodivergent employees. He had first heard of Autism at Work in 2013, attended another Autism at Work event in 2016, and experienced a life-changing moment in 2018 when, at another Autism at Work event, he met the colleague who worked at ���Ĵ�ý in cybersecurity.

By 2019, Dietsch had also experienced the Autism at Work hiring process that played to his strengths and had secured an internship.

Disclosing his neurodivergence was not an issue – there was no risk. ���Ĵ�ý’s commitment to autism inclusion was already clear to him. He could be his true self with no need to adapt his behavior or endure the mental strain of trying to be someone else to fit in. He felt included and had a clear sense of belonging.

A Culture of Autism Inclusion

���Ĵ�ý has two important pillars for fostering inclusion of individuals on the autism spectrum:

• Autism at Work: This program was Dietsch’s initial touchpoints with ���Ĵ�ý. It acts as the external-facing arm focused on hiring and onboarding autistic employees as well as creating an inclusive workplace.
• Autism Inclusion Network (AIN): This is an Employee Network Group from ���Ĵ�ý with Chief Technology Officer and Executive Board Member Juergen Mueller as the sponsor. AIN acts as the internal platform promoting belonging for ���Ĵ�ý employees and driving workplace diversity and inclusion.

Working with Our Strengths

Dietsch is clear about the strengths of autistic colleagues. For example, if you are looking for a frank, honest opinion, then your autistic colleagues will give you one each and every time – especially at ���Ĵ�ý, where autistic colleagues are empowered to be their true selves. The important thing to remember, says Dietsch, is that even when the honesty feels brutal, it’s not personal.

Leave out the irony, the sayings, and any form of communication that requires “reading between the lines” to get the best out of your interactions with autistic colleagues. It is, says Dietsch, quite simple: “Let’s meet in the middle.”

When Coldplay started their Music Of The Spheres World Tour in 2022, the goal was clear: to make it their most sustainable and environmentally friendly tour yet by cutting their CO2 emissions by 50% compared to the 2016/17 world tour. ���Ĵ�ý supported this goal with the development of the Music Of The Spheres World Tour app which allows fans to not only enjoy exclusive tour content but also helps them visualize how their actions attending shows contribute to their carbon footprint so they can choose more sustainable transportation options.

The calculates the impact of fan travel to and from shows, providing rewards for fans who commit to low-carbon transportation options and enables Coldplay to understand the fans carbon footprint to offset emissions. As Coldplay launches year two of its tour, more than 350,000 fans in over 150 countries have downloaded the app, proving Coldplay’s vision right: armed with information and intent, every concert-going fan can make more sustainable travel choices.

Next Step: Making the App Accessible for Blind and Visually Impaired People

During the development process, both Coldplay and the ���Ĵ�ý team set the goal to make the app accessible for users with disabilities who rely on assistive technology like screen readers or magnifiers. As the ���Ĵ�ý team started to work on accessibility functionalities, a Coldplay fan from Mexico reached out to share her challenges as a blind person using the app.

The fan, who asked to remain anonymous, explains: “I’m blind since birth and I need screen readers for productivity and entertainment in my daily life. As a huge Coldplay fan, I tried to use the tour app and quickly noticed that the app was difficult to use for one who is blind or visually impaired. I’m very much driven to advocate for blind people to get equal opportunity, and to enjoy interactive content. That’s why I contacted ���Ĵ�ý to support in the areas of sound design, testing and providing ideas for software development to make the app more usable for blind fans.”

The Coldplay fan connected with Nicole Windmann, vice president for Accessibility and Inclusive Design at ���Ĵ�ý. “With our ���Ĵ�ý products we aim to create a more sustainable and inclusive environment for people. Accessibility is a key driver of this vision. When we include insights from people with different backgrounds and acknowledge different ways of working, perception, and interaction with our designs, we can create the most enjoyable and efficient software.”

Working with three ���Ĵ�ý employees who are also blind, the development team worked to optimize accessibility functionalities for the Music Of The Spheres World Tour app. The team labeled items like screen buttons and described images, to enable screen readers to read out the functionality and provide helpful hints. Additionally, gestures such as swiping or double tapping are often used by blind people to navigate an app without having to look at the screen. To use this functionality, the team re-structured the code of the Coldplay app, providing a more suitable navigation for blind users.

In close contact with the ���Ĵ�ý team, the Coldplay fan volunteered to test the app usability for blind users and give her feedback. “Working with ���Ĵ�ý has been great!” she says. “My feedback helped the developers understand the blindness point of view. In a world where the capabilities of people with disabilities are often underestimated or assumed without getting to know the person first, I’m inspired every day to work on a more inclusive world.”

“At ���Ĵ�ý, we believe that diversity drives innovation and better experiences for our employees, customers, and partners alike,” Christian Klein, CEO and member of the Executive Board of ���Ĵ�ý SE, says. “The fans feedback on the Coldplay app is a great example of the vital role user feedback plays in shaping our applications and the importance of having products and services that are inclusive and accessible to all.”

After an extensive testing and development phase, we’re now ready to provide blind and visually impaired people an even greater app experience – just in time for Coldplay’s 2023 Music Of The Spheres World Tour stops in Latin America, Europe, and North America.

To experience it all for yourself, the Coldplay #MusicOfTheSpheresWorldTour app is available for download on �����Ի���.

“Our fans worldwide are our biggest inspiration. They have enabled us with their feedback to make the Music Of The Spheres World Tour app as useful and accessible as possible. We’re proud of the collaboration with our partner ���Ĵ�ý, who has created an impactful app that can now also be used by fans who are blind or visually impaired,” Coldplay states.

The Coldplay fan from Mexico is wishfully looking forward to the 2023 tour. “I will be attending Coldplay’s San Diego show and I am already thrilled about it. And of course I will make sure to check the app for sustainable travel options,” she says with a smile on her face.

Isabelle Schuhmacher is senior director of Global Sponsorships at ���Ĵ�ý.

Top image via Robert Mallows

Yet we know that the principle is not enough. Talking about it is not enough. Good intentions are not enough. Doing the actual work to define and measure equity across the organization — and to correct if and where necessary: that is what’s required.

At ���Ĵ�ý, we are constantly looking at ways to do that work, and we have spent a lot of time focusing specifically on fair pay. ���Ĵ�ý Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Supriya Jha has written about our multi-year journey tackling this issue, as well as how we’re ensuring the results of our efforts are transparent. That visibility is critical to empowering all of our employees worldwide.

As part of that journey and our commitment to visibility, our organization recently took steps to measure our progress on fair pay. Here is what we found.

An Inside Look Into Pay at ���Ĵ�ý

As Supriya outlined, our organization undertook a global statistical analysis in mid-2022 — an analysis that will now be conducted annually — to examine pay against comparable roles.  The analysis found that our employees are paid fairly for equal work in more than 99% of cases.

But our team wanted to go deeper. So, we commissioned an additional U.S.-focused study, which refined the lens to focus on groups where we knew industry-wide systemic barriers to equal pay were more likely to exist. We were thrilled to find similar results.

This research aimed to determine whether there were any statistically significant inequalities among employees performing comparable work, specifically with respect to both gender and race. It found that nearly 99% of ���Ĵ�ý employees in the U.S. are paid fairly. We adjusted the compensation of employees who found themselves in that narrow minority.

Fair pay is part of ���Ĵ�ý’s moral and structural integrity for the long term. We do not just want employees to feel appreciated, we want them to feel empowered, and part of career growth conversations means having open dialogue about salary and compensation. Employees expect — and deserve — to have confidence in the measures in place that will reward strong performance while also paying equitably.

Simply put, we must consistently and regularly review our pay practices to ensure there is equity across the entire system.

An Outside-In Analysis of DE&I Efforts

And yet, we also know that the full picture is much bigger than just pay equity. Organizations must address the systemic and cultural factors that create, or potentially limit, access to career opportunity — those key moments in the hiring, career development, and promotion process that influence how it is someone finds themselves with a certain opportunity in the first place. Take this study for example: a statistical analysis on fair pay across similar roles starts with the assumption that to begin with everyone is already in the best job for their skills and potential.

As we outlined last week, this broader focus is where some of the more complex and difficult change must occur, given its connection to social relationships, networking, mentoring, potential bias, and other nuances that can be deeply ingrained in existing work structures and cultural norms. Some of the areas we are continuing to investigate within ���Ĵ�ý North America include:

• Succession planning, which literally foretells the future of the entire organization. It starts with elevating potentially “lesser known” folks, with intention. Are we painting a picture of what we want our leadership — and, by extension, our team — to look like?
• Talent funnel, where proactive measures build out diverse pipelines, so “less traditional” talent sources are no longer seen as risky choices, but instead understood for their inherent value. A tip for hiring managers: the level of diversity in your network is key to building high-performing teams in your future!
• Working parents and caretakers, who must be well-supported and cared for at work and at home. Ensuring policies and benefits are designed to support those dedicated to care taking and family-friendly needs.
• Access to opportunity, because too often it is not just what you know, but who you know, that connects you to an opportunity. Mentorship is important, but sponsorship is fundamental.

As we continue to synchronize this holistic view at ���Ĵ�ý, we are intentional about fully realizing the power of the diverse communities we want to foster. Though this journey continues, we are proud to humbly continue getting better at making diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) at ���Ĵ�ý.

Lloyd Adams is president of ���Ĵ�ý North America.
Megan Smith is head of HR for ���Ĵ�ý North America.

It is important to us because our business is built on trust with our colleagues. That trust leads to high performance and gives us a competitive edge for both talent retention and attraction.

In January 2022, we published a fair pay statement, explaining our philosophy and principles around fair pay. It outlined our efforts to create a culture of equity and inclusion, and a promise to ensure our compensation practices are transparent. Our fair pay motto is “aggregate, don’t segregate.”

In April, we reported that 99.8% of our employees around the world had transparency on their pay range. We also launched a new annual global statistical analysis and made pay equity adjustments.

Even with such positive results, however, it’s still not a time for chest thumping. Among professionals who have a career focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), we know how easy it is to regress. And we have no interest in going backwards. We must continue to raise the bar and push ourselves.

Our current compensation results are not a coincidence and did not happen overnight. We have prioritized fair pay through implementing a global job architecture and global grades framework. We have pushed pay range transparency for employees. We’ve targeted salary adjustments to pay range minimums for those employees whose compensation was below the range. And since last year, we committed to annually reviewing internal pay leveraging statistics to ensure employees are paid appropriately.

At ���Ĵ�ý, “fair pay” is more than reducing the gender and ethnicity pay gap. For us, it means focusing on the processes, programs, and guidelines across the organization. We are pushing ourselves to examine the tools leaders use to ensure talent is treated fairly, and that employees with an exceptional work performance are rewarded accordingly.

Fair pay also is about rewarding individuals based on their unique contribution and impact in their teams and the overall company.

We are so committed to promoting pay equity that we’re sharing our insights with others.

Business Beyond Bias features in our ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors solutions work to help eliminate the inherent biases around age, race, ethnicity, differently abled, and LGBTQ+ communities in HR processes. Our software helps companies uncover unconscious bias in calibration and compensation decisions. It shows where an employee’s pay stands relative to the rest of their job family or group within the company. In addition, it allows you to pull in external market pay information into the compensation worksheet to provide additional data points for ensuring fair and equitable pay decisions.

We’re moving toward a day when equitable pay for all people will no longer be an issue but a basic right for every individual. Until then, we’ll keep working on it.

Supriya Jha is chief diversity and inclusion officer at ���Ĵ�ý.
Chetna Singh is senior vice president and global head of Total Rewards at ���Ĵ�ý.

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Software presales is a profession that has historically been dominated by men.

One presales team at ���Ĵ�ý, however, has an equal number of women and men. ���Ĵ�ý’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, Supriya Jha, interviews the Head of ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors Solution Advisory, Chris McLellan, to understand how he became an ally for diversity and inclusion in general and women in particular.

Globally, women are becoming and holding public office for longer than in the past. increased from 33.3% in 2016 to 36.9% in 2022, while between 2006 and 2022 women in ministerial positions increased from 9.9% to 16.1%. Although no country has achieved full gender parity, Iceland leads the top 10 economies in closing that gap at 90.8%.

But there is so much more to do.

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Video by John Hunt

It is estimated that at the current rate of progress, achieving gender parity before the year 2155 is increasingly unlikely. This shocking statistic should concern everyone, not just those interested in women’s advancement. Investing in diversity is not just a nice thing to do; it is a business imperative. Companies that are focused on diversity outperform their non-diverse competitors, earning per employee. And it’s no wonder, when we know that diversity helps companies build better products, develop deeper solutions, create valuable experiences for employees, and deliver more lasting results that mirror our diverse world.

Supporting a Diverse STEM Workforce

���Ĵ�ý is keenly aware of the unique challenges women and girls face worldwide, but particularly women in tech. Women continue to struggle for representation in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, making up approximately 28% of the STEM workforce today. ���Ĵ�ý has invested internally and externally in programs that help existing and potential female employees grow and thrive in their careers. Some examples include our Business Women’s Network, which has more than 90 chapters and 17,000 members worldwide; our internal development programs that help women gain visibility to senior leadership in their career journeys; the in North America, which allows us to remove barriers for mid-career professionals returning to workforce through a 20-week “returnship”; and finally our many partnerships, including supporting the , aimed at growing the number of women and non-binary people in technology.

This year’s International Women’s Day theme, “,” closely aligns with ���Ĵ�ý’s corporate and business objectives. ​We’re proud that in the last five years, we have made sustained and incremental progress in workforce diversity. We achieved our goal of 35% women in our workforce and increased the number of women in management from 25.5% in 2017 to 29.4% at the close of 2022. In addition, in 2023, ���Ĵ�ý was reinstated to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, which recognizes a commitment to advancing women in the workplace.

Reaching these goals reflects real progress in our recruitment, hiring, and retention practices, as well as in the hearts and minds of our employees and leadership. We’re dedicated to leading the change when it comes to diversity. And yet we’re not finished. To get to 50/50 parity, we must continually push for change and encourage other companies, organizations, and governments to do the same.

The Next Frontier

This is an exciting and challenging time for tech. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT from OpenAI are spurring conversations about the future of work and are being leveraged to make business-critical decisions. As these tools become more readily accessible, their usage, as well as potential misuse, will increase. We know is a result of those who develop it but by working together to combat this, we can actually advance D&I goals. Companies like Eightfold.ai, a talent platform and ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors customer, saw a 19% increase in hiring of external female candidates by eliminating bias through AI to help companies meet their diversity goals. This positive outcome is just one exciting example of how we can use tech for good to advance D&I initiatives.

We have 365 days until the next International Women’s Day. This time next year, what will you have done in your company, community, and even your own family to advance diverse and inclusive behaviors? How can you be the change you want to see? I look forward to hearing your story.

Supriya Jha is chief diversity and inclusion officer at ���Ĵ�ý.

We are, in effect, hardwired for , a word that originated in Latin to mean fairness or equalness, with the element of justice. Deeply embedded in our conscious, equity is a must-have for survival.

How we respond to inequity, or injustice and unfairness, is a matter of power: our personal power, the power of authority, and the power of our organizations to affect change.

Equity Is Complex

The words “equity” and “equality” are sometimes used interchangeably. There is a distinctive difference, however. In the workplace, equality can mean giving everyone the same tools and resources for their work; for example, inviting all employees to join the annual strategy call. Equity digs deeper to address systemic barriers, so that everyone has access to the tools and resources matched to what they need to succeed; for example, inviting employees to the strategy call, plus choosing a meeting time that is reasonable for working parents and making the content accessible.

To build a foundation for a better future, some say we need to ensure equity before we can reach equality.

Equality is giving everyone a shoe.
Equity is giving everyone a shoe that fits.

– Dr. Naheed Dosani, founder of
Palliative Education and Care for the Homeless

Equity is complex. For leaders who want to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in their organizations, moving the needle on equity can be challenging. It requires hard work, careful listening, and authentic empathy that goes beyond the hiring algorithms and talent metrics that help to create more diverse organizations.

Diversity is inviting everyone to a party.
Equity is how you treat them when they get there.

– , speaker and
leadership coach

Embrace Equity

Observed on March 8, International Women’s Day 2023 is an opportunity to look more closely at how to positively impact equity in the workplace. Empathy is our human superpower to embrace equity. To understand the viewpoints of others requires that we “put on the glasses” of another person to see the world as they do. Read on to hear ���Ĵ�ý employees share the stories of their lived experiences and how they foster empathy to increase equity during key phases of a woman’s career.

Entering the Workforce

The economic benefits of gender parity for paid work are irrefutable. A study by found that countries would increase their GDP by 5-20% if women participated in the workforce at a similar rate as men. What’s more, increases in GDP reduce societal inequality and deliver improvements at an individual level in of well-being: better health, reduced infant mortality, education, upward mobility, and quality of life.

Many women, however, encounter barriers when they try to find a job. show that gender-related biases and stereotypes can impact the hiring process and limit diversity. By ensuring diversity in the talent pool, however, hiring managers can mitigate even their own biases. Researchers at the University of Colorado found that women are more likely to be hired when there are at least two female candidates in the finalist pool, compared to a zero percent likelihood when there is just one female candidate.

“Don’t forget we all have : it is the enemy behind our own lines,” says Eduard Vilar, cloud technology manager for Cloud Technology EMEA South at ���Ĵ�ý, who supports greater awareness of the hidden influence of bias in employment decisions. “Every person tends to inadvertently favor others, from hiring to simply accepting their opinion, when they share interests, abilities, age, gender, color of skin, or any other factor.”

Hiring and Development for More Equality 

Bias can continue to impact a woman’s career, limiting her chances for advancement. Daniela Paula Dumitru, a senior specialists for sales ops business enablement for RISE with ���Ĵ�ý and lead of the Business Women’s Network at ���Ĵ�ý in Barcelona, recalls the frustration of encountering bias as she worked to build her career.

“In a previous company, I was blocked at every step of the way when pursuing a promotion by a former manager, coincidentally a man, who ‘did not want to lose a valuable employee.’” She finally left the company. In 2019 she joined ���Ĵ�ý where she found a supportive manager who encouraged her to develop her talents through learning and growth opportunities. “Having this manager helped me rebuild my confidence as a professional and grow into a better person. Now I give back to people and enable others to do the same.”

In her 25 years in the tech industry, Leticia Cavagna, regional vice president of ���Ĵ�ý Experience Management for ���Ĵ�ý EMEA South, says she has seen progress in gender parity because of DE&I initiatives. She believes that increasing the number of women role models in leadership positions improves retention of female talent.

“In the end, it all sums up to answering two questions: Who do I hire? And who do I develop?” Cavagna says. “This is why gender parity programs are vital to achieving long-term parity in leadership positions. The investments companies are doing in this direction are the seed to a more equal future.”

Gender equity is also a powerful catalyst for high-performing teams, says Peter Roberts, vice president of Global Strategic Partners for ���Ĵ�ý EMEA South. “Gender equity in ���Ĵ�ý has produced high-caliber females who we have been able to bring into the team,” he says. On a recent employee survey, his team scored full marks for equal opportunities. “The female/male ratio is consistently 55% or more and this team overperforms, year after year.”

Inclusive Leadership Makes the Difference

People managers have a powerful influence on an employee’s sense of , and that can make the difference in an employee’s decision to remain with an organization. A by Qualtrics found a strong correlation between belonging and employee engagement. Most employees (73%) feel that they belong at their organization, according to the survey. Of those, 91% say they feel engaged in their work, compared to just 20% of employees who do not feel a sense of belonging at work.

María Fernández-Blanco, customer success partner at ���Ĵ�ý EMEA South for ���Ĵ�ý Customer Experience, understands the importance of belonging. Based on her experience as a mother balancing career and family, she tries to pay attention to colleagues who are going through special moments in their lives, like pregnancy or maternity leave. “I know that these are still taboo subjects for women in the workplace,” she says. “I really believe that small details can make big differences and there is so much opportunity to be more inclusive.”

Creating a safe environment is the key to an inclusive workplace, according to Rich Phillips, vice president of EMEA South Partner Ecosystem Success at ���Ĵ�ý. This means bad behavior, whether masquerading as playful banter or outright sexist, must be addressed immediately.

“We all have the right to a safe workspace and leaders must stand up for that,” Phillips says. “As a leader you should proactively educate your team but never accept such behavior, irrespective of the excuse, and exit individuals guilty of it immediately. You must set the tone for your team and your leadership culture. Make sure everybody truly believes your team is a safe space.”

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Shared Success

���Ĵ�ý is committed to becoming the most inclusive workplace in the world, a business where everyone belongs, where human differences are celebrated, and where all people thrive in a culture that empowers each one to help run the world better and improve people’s lives.

In the last five years, ���Ĵ�ý has made great strides in workforce diversity. We hit our goal of 35% women in the workplace and moved from 25.5% women in management in 2017 to 29.4% at the close of the fourth quarter of 2022, despite the changed socio-political conditions, most drastically seen during the pandemic. We are proud of these achievements and we will continue to thrive in our commitment to achieving gender parity.

“I dream a world without borders and any special characteristic definition for individuals, where everyone is only human and respectfully communicates with each other,” says Ozlem Karapanli, Business Transformation Services at ���Ĵ�ý. “The result is freedom and shared success.”

The event was moderated by Monica Gassmann, a chapter lead for the Business Women’s Network (BWN) from ���Ĵ�ý and sustainability program lead for ���Ĵ�ý’s Discrete and Energy and Natural Resources Industries. On the panel were Marjan Olthof, head of Customer Services at Tata Steel, and Mari Pulkkinen, director of ���Ĵ�ý and M&A Center of Excellence at LyondellBasell. Both women are helping lead innovations at their respective companies that are also ���Ĵ�ý customers. During the illuminating conversation, they opened up about taking career risks, rising above gender-based stereotypes, and forging new paths to leadership in historically male-dominated industries.

Women’s Voices Can Head Off Stereotyping

research has found that initiatives like “promoting diversity in succession planning and holding celebratory events to highlight underrepresented groups” are highly effective at creating cultures of belonging. Indeed, the luncheon’s relaxed, friendly setting united all of us in a shared passion for diversity and inclusion. Rising above narrow stereotypes that can trap women was a common theme. Olthof talked about her learnings from working in sales, production, and engineering at Tata Steel, a multinational steel supplier and manufacturer based in India.

“With fewer women in the workplace, there can be role expectations that don’t necessarily align with who you are,” said Olthof. “My advice to women is to be yourself because what you have to offer is really valuable. Stay with your own personality while pursuing your ambitions.”

Pulkkinen shared lessons from her early career experiences. She currently works at LyondellBasell, a multinational chemical company headquartered in the Netherlands.

“Men have traditionally dominated leadership positions in the chemical industry but when women use their voice, they can continue to offer new perspectives,” said Pulkkinen. “During my first role on the supply chain team at a chemicals company, the first thing that my male colleagues wanted me to do was take notes. I told him that with my qualifications, I had been hired to do something else.”

Preventing Unconscious Bias

Everyone on the panel agreed that addressing unconscious bias starts with clear goals that increase opportunities for women. It’s just as important to change daily behaviors that define corporate culture.

“Addressing unconscious bias is something that I’m passionate about, and we have been accelerating our diversity and inclusion commitment,” said Pulkkinen. “For example, we have 47 nationalities in our Rotterdam office and want to make sure that people appreciate everyone’s unique background in a positive way. Small jokes based on stereotypes can affect how people are treated and perceived in the workplace.”

Building a Workforce Culture of Diversity

Tata Steel is also building a people culture that celebrates and encourages diversity and inclusion. Its five-pillar approach includes recruitment, sensitization, retention and development, infrastructure, and celebration.

“We’ve made diversity a No.1 priority by putting more women in senior roles,” said Olthof. “People are inherently biased towards their definition of normal and what they see in their environments and experiences. Unconscious bias also extends beyond gender to assumptions based on someone’s age. To make mindset changes, we need to be aware of these challenges and address them.”

Sponsors Help Women Progress

What became clear from the discussion was that women want to contribute their talents but need the space to be heard. Managers – women and men – have the clout to help. While recognizing the value of mentoring, Gassmann said that more women need sponsors who advocate for them.

“Mentors are great, but sponsors lift you up, connecting you with the people who can help advance your career,” she said. “These are men and women in management who provide you with visibility in meetings or informal settings to develop your career.”

Corporate women’s networks are growing. Olthof said that Tata Steel has a group of people who identify women candidates for promotion as vacancies occur. The BWN from ���Ĵ�ý is an employee-driven group with over 90 global chapters that share professional insights, education, and experience to help women advance their careers. At LyondellBasell, mentors regularly help women with introductions and other support.

After 90 minutes of a fascinating dialogue, I walked out of this session at the conference fully energized. Yes, in leadership positions across some industries, including chemicals and steel. But as leaders at industry associations and companies like ���Ĵ�ý, Tata Steel, and LyondellBasell speak up and act on diversity and inclusion commitments, there’s hope that more change will surely follow.

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At ���Ĵ�ý, we are committed to creating inclusive products that all people love to use for work. This requires active collaboration and communication among user researchers, designers, engineers, and product managers throughout the entire design and development process. I want to share some of the ways we have transformed how our teams work to inspire others to do the same.

Here are four simple things that your teams can do today to improve the user experience for all and create a culture of inclusion.

Adopt an Inclusive Approach to How Teams Work Together from the Very Beginning

To ensure everyone on the team gains a holistic understanding of the needs and motivations of the people they are creating products for, we need to get everyone involved right from the start. This means enabling user researchers, designers, engineers, and product managers to work together throughout the end-to-end process. It also means that each member of the team will be involved in the research itself.

At ���Ĵ�ý, we are committed to making part of our everyday practice. For this to happen, user researchers take a participatory approach to the research itself – and intentionally include people from different cultural backgrounds, regions of the world, with a range of disabilities, working environments, and more. This has proven to be a game changer for our teams and has led to some surprising and impactful insights. Involving the core team in the research process also makes it possible for engineers to quickly build and test prototypes to ensure they function as intended, and for product managers to prioritize and integrate features into the final product.

Be Intentional about How the Work Happens

Active collaboration can only happen with the proper infrastructure in place to ensure designers, researchers, engineering, product management, and other key roles are continuously sharing work, getting feedback, and troubleshooting issues together as part of the day-to-day process. Collaboration rituals must be intentionally designed and inclusive of all roles on the team. By actively collaborating and communicating throughout the process, the team can proactively identify and address potential barriers to accessibility and usability.

Daily standups, frequent work sessions, and weekly retros are examples of the kind of rituals that make it easy for designers and engineers to work through issues they find together; for user researchers to continuously evaluate the designs and prototypes as the team comes up with different iterations of the experience they are developing; and so that product managers can make data-driven decisions throughout the end-to-end process.

Promote Diversity within the Team

This is often overlooked but plays a critical role in creating inclusive outcomes. It’s about being intentional about the diversity within the team itself. Diverse perspectives lead to better products. A team with diverse backgrounds and experiences brings a range of perspectives and insights to the design and development process.

When choosing who to assign to a project, focusing on diversity will allow the team to benefit from the unique perspectives within the group and contribute to the creation of products that are more inclusive and usable for a wider range of users. It’s at the intersection of our differences that we can truly foster and envision breakthrough ideas.

Start Developing a Problem-Seeking Mindset

In order to find solutions, you must first understand the problem. Creating products for a diverse global population requires us to proactively identify gaps in the current experience. Identifying the issues early on is something that needs to be celebrated and seen as an opportunity to improve the experience before it launches to customers.

The team must be open to challenging their own assumptions and biases and seek to understand how to make accessible and usable experiences for everyone. We have to continuously remind ourselves that we are not our users and hence need to have complete and unwavering focus on not only understanding the users but aligning as a team on the problem we are trying to solve.

���Ĵ�ý Design has made it a goal to come together as one intentionally diverse team with a shared purpose for creating inclusive experiences that improve people’s lives every day. By working together to understand and meet the needs of diverse users, team members can develop a shared understanding of the importance of inclusivity and a commitment to building products that are accessible and usable for all.

Experience matters. Follow our journey as we transform the way we build products for enterprises on .

Arin Bhowmick is chief design officer at ���Ĵ�ý.

For some people, this outlook is especially bitter. , women hold only 26% of computing-related jobs today. And the number for people from ethnic minorities drops even lower. Accessing digital skills and securing a fulfilling, well-paid job in the tech industry often seems out of reach for them. “When I was young, I didn’t really know what I was passionate about,” says Karen Rodrigues from Brazil in a recent blog post on . “The only thing I knew was that I wanted to get a job and earn money. My parents also had a specific idea of what my career should look like. So, I started my studies in business administration and accounting, got my degrees, and got my first job in this area.” For women like Rodrigues, a career in tech had never been up for debate.

Gender Stereotypes Are Often the Root

One of the reasons why women – or people of color for that matter – often don’t have a career in the IT industry in mind are gender stereotypes. When people think of the technology industry, they usually associate young White males with developer roles. These stereotypes often originate in the experiences and ideologies we encountered in our childhood and school years. And many of them are here to stay. The fact that the IT industry is much more diverse, both in terms of the workforce and the roles that exist within it, is often overlooked or not explored further. In Rodrigues’ case, it took an opportunity to turn her life around.

“I received an opportunity that would send me on a completely different path: ,” the ���Ĵ�ý mentor explains. “I asked myself, ‘Should I quit my job in accounting and do something different altogether?’ It was a hard decision.”

Rodrigues was brave enough to do it. “I decided to take the leap, but the transition into tech wasn’t easy. Back then, the industry was still very much dominated by men. I was the only woman, and I was judged because of that. I was told I talk too much, have a different style, and maybe wasn’t even suited to be in this area. But I was confident that this was the place for me. I wanted to be a woman in tech.”

She worked hard to show that she was competent and had the skills to succeed. “It is my belief that knowledge is power and the key to success. You must study and you have to take action to change your life,” she adds. “I am glad that there are opportunities to upskill.”

Many Make Use of ���Ĵ�ý’s Digital Skills Initiative

One opportunity to gain the digital skills needed to succeed in what’s to come is ���Ĵ�ý’s latest . Launched in November 2022 with the goal of further lowering the barrier to accessing digital skills and reaching those who are currently underrepresented in tech, the initiative has been met with great interest. Around 4,000 women, people from ethnic minorities, or individuals from rural areas, for instance, have already applied online and started with . Following the completion of a course and thanks to ���Ĵ�ý’s sponsorship of 10,000 free exam vouchers, they will be able to get a sought-after to help acquire a secure and well-paid job within the industry. And .

With 655,000 learners in 2021 and more than 1 million in 2022, hopes to bring a world-class learning experience to even more people with this initiative. But it doesn’t stop there. To take efforts further, ���Ĵ�ý is actively seeking partners and customers to explore sponsorship and internship options for some candidates who pass this certification exam. This can also lead to a full-time employment opportunity. Many of those will also be made available on the new , where 3 million members exchange on career advice and paths on a regular basis.

Employers Seek Tens of Thousands of Technology Consultants

As businesses rely on technology consultants to advise and manage the implementation of IT systems and provide guidance when training staff, the demand is set to increase in the coming years in this area. In the U.S. alone, there were more than 50,000 technology consultant job postings in the last year.*

To make a valuable contribution to upskilling future technology consultants, ���Ĵ�ý has also launched a partnership with Coursera at the end of 2022. One hundred and ten million subscribers of all backgrounds can prepare for an entry-level on Coursera’s Web site – no college degree or prior experience required. The certificate comprises seven courses, four of which are available today with the rest rolling out over the coming months. Altogether, the certificate can be completed in about five to six months and more than 9,000 Coursera subscribers have already enrolled in the courses.

“Never Too Late to Learn Something New”

“I have seen a lot of people who were waiting for the right moment to steer their lives in a new direction,” Rodrigues explains. “They were not ready for something new, or they were simply afraid. But living in the past is not good. Yesterday can’t do anything for you; today can. But I wish I had known that back then. I wish I had been more disciplined in the past. Time is valuable.”

Rodrigues was and still is curious. She set out to learn something new and built a successful work life as a woman in tech. She has navigated an industry that is still very much dominated by men and has fought against gender stereotypes with discipline and trust in her abilities. She never settles for less and that makes her a role model for many women worldwide. Her advice is loud and clear: “It’s never too late to learn something new. I can only encourage you to learn and to go for the next challenge. Strive for something higher, and you will grow – professionally but, most importantly, personally.”

You can read Rodrigues’ full blog post on her .

*Lightcast™ (2022, US-only), Job Postings report (September 2021 – September 2022). Retrieved October 2022.

Sabine Benz is global VP and head of Product Engagement at ���Ĵ�ý Learning.

Milliken was relying on an outdated, on-premise human capital management (HCM) system that struggled to keep up with the changing demands of its workforce. A poor user experience led to limited adoption and a slew of frustrations for admins and users alike. In addition, obtaining accurate reports was nearly impossible due to the number of disparate HR processes in use around the globe. It was clear that a new approach was needed. To fully support its workers, Milliken decided that it was time to move to the cloud.

Taking a phased approach, Milliken began by implementing cloud solutions to support its recruiting, succession planning, performance management, and analytics processes. By leveraging , it was able to offer mobile-friendly job applications in a number of languages and to create a more accessible and user-friendly experience for applicants. In addition, an expanded presence across more than 40 job sites helped Milliken make significant strides towards creating a diversified talent pool with quality candidates. Within one year, applicant volume increased by more than 300%. To further align its recruiting and succession processes with business diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) goals, Milliken leveraged advanced analytics to capture data on headcount, turnover, and hiring. Comprehensive graphs and reporting capabilities enabled Milliken to visualize data across the workforce, from compensation and benefit trends to key diversity metrics.

Building upon its initial successes, Milliken began to transition its core HR processes from on premise to the cloud. To improve data quality and overall transparency, it leveraged to manage employee and organizational data across the globe. Moving towards a single platform has helped better support HR compliance and allowed Milliken to respond more proactively to legal and regulatory changes. Mobile capabilities were deployed to deskless associates, supporting the company’s sustainability goal to reduce paper consumption.

Looking forward, Milliken intends to continue its cloud transformation by moving benefits and compensation administration processes to the cloud. Improving the access and overall experience of key HR functions is an integral part of Milliken’s mission to support its people and ultimately create a sustainable workforce. With less time spent on operational tactics, Milliken’s associates can focus on delivering positive outcomes for their customers and communities.

Jeff Glauber is global solution marketing lead for ���Ĵ�ý SuccessFactors Employee Central at ���Ĵ�ý.