Shaneé Turnbull
Diversity Recruitment & Relationship Consultant
Voya Financial
www.voya.com
Why is D&I important to Voya?
Diversity and inclusion is important to Voya because it is the richness of backgrounds, ideas and perspectives that helps create an environment where innovation flourishes and our clients are better served.
We believe that a strategic focus on diversity and inclusion leads to better performance, increased innovation, an enhanced ability to address customer needs, higher employee engagement and lower employee turnover rates, and helps to strengthen our communities.
How does Voya demonstrate its commitment to D&I?
One way that Voya demonstrates its commitment to diversity and inclusion is through programs and initiatives that help to govern decisions related to employment: selection, development, compensation and including an employee’s request for reasonable accommodation. We believe that employees must be treated fairly, with respect, and in a manner free from discrimination and harassment. In addition, we leverage our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) in order to provide a professional community that provides support and information to advance diversity and inclusion.
Our commitment is underscored by our progress:
- 38% of women and 13% people of color at senior levels within the company (as of 3/31/20);
- An environment of inclusion as evidenced by our ERG participation rate growing from 4% of our employees to 26% in the past two years;
- Voluntary self-identification of disability status is 3%; and
- More transparency of our demographics, contributions to strengthening diverse communities and overall D&I performance as shared in our 2019/2020 Impact Report.
In light of the unrest we’ve witnessed this year, have you changed anything about your approach to D&I?
To address the unrest, we amplified our efforts to create a safe space for our employees to discuss their feelings surrounding race, injustice and equity through open forums.
In addition, we also held focus groups to find out firsthand what our employees were feeling and what we needed to do to support them. Our employees’ insight and engagement helped us to develop resources such as toolkits for discussing racial issues and 10-minute trainings on unconscious bias.
These topics and conversations can be difficult, but they are imperative to have.
What are your recruitment strategies?
On the ground level, we focus on building relationships with diverse organizations that serve as a pipeline for underrepresented communities. Once we have established our presence, we tap into the organization as well as leverage their external network to source diverse talent.
6th Annual Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Event
The sixth annual Diversity, Equity & Inclusion event (virtual, this year), hosted by BestCompaniesAZ and Career Connectors, will take place on Wednesday, November 18, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The purpose of the event is to connect Arizona job seekers with more than 20 award-winning employers who are revolutionizing workplace diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within their company — and are seeking diverse talent today.
The event includes a panel presentation, and In Business Dailies offers this article as part of a series introducing some of the panelists.
BestCompaniesAZ and Career Connectors’ 6th Annual Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (virtual) event is FREE to job seekers. Registration is required.
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