Balance & Belonging

About the author:

Arianna Berry is a freelance writer for Water & Wastes Digest. Berry can be reached at [email protected] or 904.451.1565.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are evolving in the American workforce. In 2020, Tony Parrott, CEO of Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District, spoke to the need for utilities to assess whether their internal climates and cultures support equity and inclusion. He said he had “seen numerous calls for equity” and drew a direct correlation: “the nation’s need for equity relates specifically to the water sector.”

Prior to Parrott’s declaration, a Brookings report (Kane & Tomer, 2018) found that while some individual water utility companies may have a more diverse staff, the water workforce is still lacking diversity nationally. It also outlined how employers struggle to recruit and retain the younger and more varied workers necessary to counter the aging workforce’s “silver tide” of retirements.

Sourcing Diverse Talent

To source diverse new talent, utilities may need to start thinking outside the box according to Randy Hayman, Commissioner and CEO of the Philadelphia Water Department.

“We have to learn to fish in a different pond,” he said. “If we’ve been going to the same place, looking for the same people, you’re not going to find a difference.”

Samantha Williams, External Affairs Manager at Missouri American Water, agreed.

“If the NBA can find basketball players in the middle of nowhere,” she said, “we can source for water industry people.”

What is Balance & Belonging?

Identifying a new generation of workers is especially crucial to the water sector. Industry surveys find it under-represents women in many positions and over 72% of workers are white. And yet, “women” and “white” reflect only inherent or internal diversity (e.g., gender or race). In truth, there are many more dimensions of diversity that fall under categories such as external, organizational or functional, and worldview or cognitive.

“To continue making progress,” Equitable Design leader Aubrey Blanche said, “we’ve got to go beyond our sometimes limited associations with [the term] diversity.”

The limitations of the conventional interpretations of DEI have prompted many employers to reframe the work to additionally encompass a concept of “Balance and Belonging.” Aubrey said that pursuing diversity is not about how many people of a specific demographic are represented at the company level, but rather about creating teams with balanced perspectives, which prompts consideration of the experiences of those excluded from limited diversity definitions. Helping everyone feel like they have a stake in the conversation fosters a sense of belonging. Consultant Christianne Garofalo further explained.

“Diversity is a fact,” Garofalo said. “Inclusion is a behavior. But belonging is the emotional outcome that people want in their organization.”

Diversity, inclusion and belonging must coexist to create an authentic and supportive work culture. Companies are increasingly looking beyond business needs to focus on people and to encourage and accept diverse viewpoints.

A 2019 EY Belonging Barometer study of more than 1,000 employed adult Americans established that diversity and belonging are workplace expectations. Nearly half of respondents believe that diversity is best represented at work, and over one-third feel the greatest sense of belonging at work. According to noted diversity expert Howard J. Ross, when there is a sense of belonging in the workplace, “people have a shared identity, destiny, values and interdependence and feel comfortable being their true selves.”

Communicating Diversely & Inclusively

Creating the sense of physiological safety that fosters belonging in the workplace may ultimately boil down to planning and persistent communication. Williams suggests approaching DEI initiatives with the same intentionality and due diligence dedicated to planning water projects.

“Remember that your people are equally as important as the pipes that you lay in the ground,” Williams said. “There’s a remarkable amount of prep work to implement a pipe-laying project successfully.”

In addition to planning, a successful effort requires buy-in from leadership and a positive organizational narrative around belonging and the value of diversity. Are executives, upper and lower management, and crews all conveying the same messaging? Form an internally and externally cohesive communication strategy and make sure all tiers of all offices align. Consistent communication allows employees to internalize the narrative, and when diversity, inclusion and belonging are frequently discussed, they become a shared language.

To supplement pre-existing DEI initiatives, consider building organizational structures and systems that create inclusive communities. Acknowledge everyone’s contribution and encourage divergent thinkers, as cognitive diversity can counter blind spots, stagnation, and the risk of obsolescence.

Allowing employees space to present dissenting opinions and challenge entrenched thinking without threat to status promotes a sense of belonging.

“In our utility,” Parrott said, “we have created an equity core team, where every division has an equity liaison, that is helping us develop an equity action plan.”

The utility also implemented “courageous conversations” (currently virtual due to COVID) for employees to openly discuss race, civil unrest, and social justice issues.

How DEI and balance and belonging are approached and embodied internally affects external communications, and consumers will compare what organizations say with what they do. It is essential that a utility organization’s workforce reflects and supports community diversity. Refine communications to pull people in instead of excluding them, and make sure that customer education pieces positively reflect that narrative.