CROSS-ERG INITIATIVES
ERG Mentorship Program: One main initiative that is lifted by each ERG is the mentorship program. Twice a year, we canvass the ERG memberships to identify those seeking mentorship, and pair them with a mentor specific to their needs and interests.
Email Signature Refresh Campaign: As part of our continued focus on inclusion and more specifically, inclusive communication, we piloted an email signature refresh starting with ERG members to include their ERG logo, phonetic name spelling, audio clip of their name and gender pronouns following in their email signatures for those who felt comfortable doing so. This initiative was later rolled out to the whole organization following feedback from ERG members. Using someone’s correct gender pronouns and pronouncing their name correctly sends a message that they are valued and respected in that environment. When everyone highlights their name pronunciations and gender pronouns, it becomes a normal part of our business and provides an inclusive space for all to participate.
New Employee Onboarding: We have recently added an introduction to our ERGs in our onboarding process, to ensure new hires are immediately aware of the support available. Refer to page 34 for more information on our onboarding process.
The Invisible Backpack Initiative: ERG members shared anonymously what they were carrying in their invisible backpack that they were not comfortable sharing at work, and we saw five key themes emerge: discrimination, depression and anxiety, caregiving, burnout, and life change. To address the insights gained from this exercise, we hosted a panel session to discuss what we can each do to continue to create safe spaces for one another and how to best support CWB team members. A playbook was developed from this session with the top five suggestions from each ERG, resources on the top five themes, and thoughts on how we can each be inclusive with the language we use. Inclusive Communication Panel Session: As an organization, being more inclusive with our communication can help accelerate innovation, productivity, employee experience and retention, and fuel financial performance. Towards this goal, in 2023, we hosted a panel session facilitated by the chair of our Sharing Circle ERG focused on Inclusive Communication, where the panelists from four different ERGs (VIDA, NOBLE, Women and Pride) shared their real-life and deeply personal stories around inclusive communication in the workplace, the impacts non-inclusive communication can have, and what they are doing to be more inclusive in their communication day to day. Delivering Inclusive Presentations: As part of our focus on inclusive communication, the Inclusion and Diversity team created a toolkit for delivering Inclusive Presentations with insights from our 11 ERGs and the broader People and Culture team. The toolkit contains information, tools, suggestions, and resources on making presentations inclusive and accessible to every member of the audience. In 2023, ERGs were an anchor for culture and connections. They create a sense of belonging for our team members through events, storytelling, resource sharing, education and more. Each ERG provides a sense of community and offers support to each member and further fosters our overall employee experience and our culture.
46 2023 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT AND PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY STATEMENT
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