Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | August 3, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 11 Hanover's ongoing D&I work e Hanover Insurance Group in Worcester has two positions focusing on D&I: vice president of talent, inclusion and diversity, and director of inclusion and diversity. ey were both created in 2017. e vice president of talent, inclusion, and diver- sity at Hanover focuses on setting and implementing employment and D&I strategies for Hanover, said Carrie Farrell, the current individual in this role. "I lead teams focused on talent ac- quisition, training and development, inclusion and diversity, and perfor- mance management," said Farrell. Farrell's role not only works with management teams to discuss issues of employment and development, but helps to further cultivate an inclusive environment by requiring that all Hanover employees attend implicit bias training. "We are focused on continuing to imbed inclusion and diversity into our hiring, performance manage- ment, assessment, and development practices so it is further woven into the DNA of our culture," said Farrell. Although the Hanover's commitment to D&I has been ongoing, the public company is working to make even greater strides now, she said. "While we have made progress, we recognize there is much to be done," said Farrell, "We are committed to advancing diversity in our workforce." One of the ways Farrell looks to do this in the future is through having conversations throughout the com- pany on various uncomfortable topics to help grow the culture of belonging and community in Hanover. "I am proud of how my role has influenced our thinking, helped establish and lead the inclusion and diversity strategy here at Hanover," said Farrell. Infusing D&I into all Holy Cross departments Holy Cross has a department, the Office of Diversi- ty, Equity and Inclusion, dedicated to increasing D&I efforts by making changes in its employee recruitment and hiring process, and student admissions process. Taneja's role as associate provost within seeks to understand how policies and practices are either pro- moting or are a barrier to diversity at Holy Cross. His work centers on not just moral standards within Holy Cross, but also on tangible action. "ere can be a gap even between our values and our actions," said Tanjea. One of the actions Holy Cross has taken is adding questions on job applications about how candidates are committed to D&I and what they have done in the past to promote these values. is way "every single person is then devoted to diversity, equity, and inclusion," said Taneja. Part of the work is to "infus[e] diversity, equity and inclusion in every single department, office, and program, so that it doesn't become that if it's a diversity thing it only belongs in the diversity office." Another part of Taneja's job is to create focused training opportunities to have comfortable diversity. "How can we create conditions for people to be able to work past those barriers or discomfort in working with or interacting with someone who is different from them and to make meaningful deeper connec- tions?" said Taneja. In July, Holy Cross announced its 40-point An- ti-Racist Action Plan to work on D&I issues and action specific to race. is plan along with its previous D&I plan from 2019 come together to harness the surge of anti-racist energy from the renewed Black Lives Matter protests to make structural changes. ough Holy Cross had already begun conversa- Diversity & inclusion positions at large Central Mass. businesses Yes ...................................................... 14 No ......................................................... 3 Declined to answer .............................. 13 tions about a plan, the nationwide protesting and focus on anti-racism gave the school an opportunity to capture the energy of that moment, said Taneja. e anti-racism plan is a starting point of the conversation, he said, but his role and department will continue to develop transparent and coordinated action plans to increase D&I and safe, diverse spaces for students and faculty. "I won't claim that we have gotten it all fixed, but we're looking structurally on how we elevated this as an institutional commitment," said Taneja. Price Chopper's inward evaluation In the WBJ survey, Price Chopper Supermarkets, headquartered in New York, said it did not currently have a position devoted to diversity and inclusion, but has begun examining the ways to serve their employees and communities better. Price Chopper has always focused on diversity and inclusion through its equal opportunity employment policies, and is strongly looking at creating an administrative position dedicated to D&I, said Mike Miller, vice president of human resources operations at Price Chopper. is position would be respon- sible for employee engagement and training around issues of D&I, em- ployment practices, and community outreach. It would partner with leaders in the company to execute companywide programs. "Now critically looking inward to see what we can do better," Miller said. Historically, Miller said Price Chopper has always worked to provide training, scholarships, and develop- ment opportunities to have staff accurately represent the communities it serves. "State by state, region by region, we try to have our workforce mirror the community as best as possible," said Miller. ough this has been its work in the past, Price Chopper recognizes it has to do better, said Miller. erefore, the company is engaging with employ- ees through conversations about what social injustice means to them and our Price Chopper fits within it. "Our current action," said Miller, "is looking inward and engaging with our own people." The evolving nature of D&I Positions specifically devoted to issues of diversity & inclusion allow companies to be constantly moving forward, creating more equitable workforces and environments, Luster said. ese positions themselves, though, shi in focus as times change. "e elements are vast, and the emphasis does change depending upon what is going on in the climate … like right now since the murder of George Floyd and the resurgence of the BLM," she said. e focus of positions dedicated to diversity and inclusion have begun to shi. "e emphasis has [now] shied from diversity and inclusion to social justice" said Luster. is shi pushes officers to not just think about inclusion, but why there is not inclusion in the first place, said Luster. "Now we're getting to the root cause…[asking] what are we going to do about that," she said. Yet, the work must go beyond just positions dedi- cated to this work, Taneja said. "How do we create a more diverse workforce, but also how every single person is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion work," said Taneja. "To be anti-racist is to mean you're actually com- mitted to it in action," he said. WBJ surveryed the top 30 business organizations from our Central Mass 150 largest employers to see whether they had positions dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion throughout the organization. Notes: Of the "No" responses, one is in the process of creating the po- sition currently. Of the "Yes" responses, all are currently filled positions; three of the "Yes" had the filled positions listed on their websites but didn't respond directly to the WBJ survey. Source: WBJ survey of businesses, July 2020 Carrie Farrell, Hanover VP for talent, inclusion & diversity Mike Miller, Price Chopper vice president of HR operations Stacey Luster at WSU said diversity & inclusion positions need to evolve as times change. PHOTO/EDD COTE W

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