As we approach the end of a renewed and dedicated year for our Inclusion, Diversity & Belonging (IDB) at Entuitive strategy, we’re proud of how far we’ve come and recognize how far we still need to go. As we reflected on where we were halfway through the year, we acknowledged that we had already made great strides. In this article, we’ll review our progress from the start of our efforts to how we’ll move towards our promising future.

Before 2021

Our dedicated IDB efforts began with humble roots when a group of women got together to learn, grow, and support each other. Entuitive’s Gender Balance Pillar, with executive support, was born from the passion of our people who were driven to realize their potential. Early efforts included attending external women’s networking events, hosting internal women’s career panels, and starting the conversation with our senior leaders around becoming a gender balanced workplace. A special thank you to all the women and men at Entuitive who paved the way for what was to come and seeing the bright future ahead.

Reflecting On and Evaluating Our Progress in 2021

Creating Our IDB Pillars and Making Great Strides

This year, we set up our four pillars (employee resource groups) to formalize our commitment to diversity and inclusion. The pillars are ENable (Barrier Free), Gender Balance, ENpride, and Multicultural & Indigenous (MC&I). The pillars are co-chaired by two individuals and have a volunteer group of staff to help execute a range of initiatives, events, and priorities. At the beginning of the year, each pillar defined a detailed plan for the year ahead as well as a vision to build toward 2030.

Priorities for 2021

Our pillars were successful on several fronts this year and we look forward to measuring the success of this year’s efforts through our annual Diversity & Inclusion survey which is now live for our team members.

Accomplishments in 2021

To support attracting a diverse talent pool, we worked with the pillars to name and then engage with organizations like Access Employment and Women in Transportation to leverage their access and membership. Once the talent is identified, we work to ensure that both a female and a male interviewer are present to shift any gender bias in the interviewing process.

To develop our staff, we partnered with Catalyst, a global nonprofit, to provide virtual facilitated leadership sessions focused on developing Inclusive Leadership and engaging in Inclusive Conversations. In addition, we shared a monthly newsletter called “Learning Bursts” to our entire Entuitive team, each featuring a different theme. For example, we circulated a Learning Burst on Allyship and included self-directed learning, articles, and podcasts as resources that speak to the importance of allyship and accelerating belonging in the workplace.

These learning, awareness, and education elements have been a fundamental part of our IDB strategy. Our employees and leaders are taking advantage of both directed and self-directed learning. An example of this new awareness is when we hosted our first “Real Talk” session facilitated by one of our senior leaders. The session had an impressive attendance from across Entuitive and attendees were encouraged to share stories and experiences related to their past experience in having inclusive conversations.

To include our global team in our efforts we hosted a live 10km run/walk/participate to raise dollars and awareness for the Rick Hansen Foundation and the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund. We recognized and celebrated religious and cultural holidays. We gave our folks an extra day off for Mental Health and provided several resources to support our people. We also proudly facilitated panels internal to our people, like our Mental Health Panel in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. Further we hosted industry leaders to share their perspectives in areas like LGBTQ2+ in our industry and Gender Balance in our industry.

Moving Forward

As we move on to another year of IDB efforts, we reflect on our successes to-date. In our 2021 engagement survey, 80% of our people believe IDB is a top priority for our Leadership Team. 74% feel like they belong at Entuitive and 72% feel like their team members understand who they really are.

We are pleased with these results and will continue to build on our successes and move the needle forward in 2022. We have new learnings to be launched, we have new tools to share, and we have more clients and industry partners to engage in speaking engagements and panel discussions.

Join the Conversation and Help Move Our Industry Forward

What are you doing to support Inclusion, Diversity & Belonging at your organization? We are always looking to our peers in the architecture, engineering and construction industry to share their experiences to learn and grow together. If you’d like to collaborate or share your expertise, please reach out to us here.