To encourage ongoing dialogue and engage middle management in DE&I conversations, we asked people-managers to host a one-hour DE&I discussion with their teams during our second annual, week-long Days of Understanding. The purpose of these conversations was to authentically engage employees through effective conversations about embracing differences, addressing potential bias in the workplace and fostering a culture of inclusion and understanding within teams through guided discussions. The event was shared with employees through targeted messaging about cultivating belonging, fostering inclusion within teams and creating a workplace where employees feel comfortable to discuss DE&I and are empowered to make an impact on their community.

Teams could choose one of four topics for their discussion: intersectionality, understanding our heritage/culture, empathy or belonging. Training on how to support managers during the conversations was offered to all HR employees and managers were provided training on how to lead the conversations with their teams. Topics covered during the training were: how to prepare a personal statement about why DE&I is important to them, how to kick off their meeting, how to conduct the discussion, how to end the discussion and how to troubleshoot during the discussion.

Over 1,800 managers across the global organization led a Days of Understanding conversation with their teams. Additionally, over 70% of managers who held a conversation also led one the previous year, and over 60% of managers were open to holding another DE&I conversation with their teams in the future. Feedback from the conversations were generally favorable and, because of the offered trainings, managers felt more prepared to lead their team discussions. Data on which topics were discussed most helped us create resources and awareness around specific topics, like empathy and our DE&I progress as a company.