At GEHA, we recognize that to support employees and our community, we must cultivate a trusting workplace built on complex and sometimes difficult conversations. We know this type of culture is essential for inclusivity and equity.

In 2020, we held our first Race in the Workplace series to create a forum for difficult but necessary conversations. It was well received and gave employees a forum to discuss their own experiences, which is one of the first steps to creating a trusted workplace. This effort occurred just a few months following the start of our holistic DE&I program. Since that series, we have continued discussions around race in the workplace, LGBTQ+ experiences, AAPI allyship, intersectionality and Latinx and Native American identities. We have also established Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to allow employees a way to promote diversity and inclusion. Each ERG provides training, information and insights to educate other employees about how they approach work and life.

We have launched a variety of DE&I programming around race at work and gender identity as well as hosted monthly micro-learning discussion series, on topics such as privilege, microaggressions, neurodiversity, racial equity, and disabilities in the workplace and gaslighting to cultivate a trusting workplace.

Since developing our DE&I programming, we have launched four ERGs for employees to join, with plans to launch additional groups in the coming years. So far, we have had 3 micro-learning sessions with an average of 250 attendees in each one. These events have fostered ongoing dialogue between employees and greater empathy within the organization.

Vicki Webster