Dr. Shirley Knowles, Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer at Progress has delved deep with BW People journalist, explaining the importance of including neurodiverse employees for a more innovative and productive workforce.
Many companies are scaling back their DEI initiatives, consolidating ERGs, or eliminating Heritage Month celebrations. Why do you think this is happening, and what risks do these organizations face by pulling back?
Several well-known, global brands have pulled back their DEI initiatives for a variety of reasons, the main one being external resistance to the work. There will always be a shifting sentiment attached to this work - the murder of George Floyd in the United States was the catalyst for many companies to take notice of the importance of this work. However, the pendulum is now swinging in the reverse direction - companies who are not willing to integrate this work into their values and mission are finding it easier to take a step back and divest from this work. That type of decision can be catastrophic for companies - it can be perceived as the organization never truly being committed to the work in the first place. The risk attached to this is high - marginalized groups will feel the negative effects of the ‘pull back’ from this work. There will be a drop in this community sitting in leadership seats. This is already apparent in recent studies coming out around women in leadership roles.
Progress has maintained its commitment to fostering an inclusive culture. How does this align with your vision, and what advantages do you believe this provides in terms of attracting and retaining talent?
Integrating inclusion, diversity, and belonging is engrained in our ProgressPROUD values: RESPECT differences and diversity— We use our different viewpoints and backgrounds to improve our work and culture. While other companies may be pulling back on their commitment to DEI, we are holding strong. And it is with this commitment that we will continue to attract the best and brightest talent in the global market. Additionally, we’ve kept our talent – our continuous effort that focuses on I&D and employee experience has kept our attrition rate at 5-6%, unheard of at many companies.
How do you see AI reshaping DEI efforts? Can you share specific examples of how technology might address unconscious bias or facilitate global inclusivity?
According to the 6th Annual Women’s Leadership Impact study, almost 22% of organisations have incorporated AI in their DEI programs, as AI can be used to track, measure, and improve DEI efforts. Solutions may include bias detection in hiring, real-time diversity metrics, and initiatives to foster a more inclusive workplace for women and other marginalized groups.
AI can help DEI professionals understand what topics matter to employees based on the region they sit in and help companies identify which colleges have talent studying in areas that will benefit the company. AI can identify trends in hiring, promotion, and retention for people in various marginalised groups. AI can look at policies and practices in various parts of the world that DEI practitioners should be aware of when creating initiatives. AI can identify products and marketing campaigns that are most likely to connect with customers from various regions. The list goes on and on. As more companies look at global markets and ways to expand their offerings to a larger customer base, while also recruiting top talent, AI is likely to be a good ‘go-to’ for organizations to implement in the way they’re doing business.
While AI offers tools to identify bias or enhance decision-making, it also comes with risks like algorithmic bias or over-reliance on data. How can organizations strike a balance between leveraging AI and maintaining a human-centred approach?
Artificial intelligence is being applied to recruitment and promotion processes to eliminate bias and ensure a more equitable approach to hiring, ultimately helping companies focus on skills, qualifications, and performance data, rather than allowing unconscious biases to influence decisions. Having said that, in any case when AI is being used, it is up to humans to ensure the information being used is fair and accurate. DEI is one of those fields that are closely attached to people and their lived experience, so it’s critical to make sure the information used is correct. It’s also critical for the humans building the AI to recognize that data bias exists, so they should be open to acknowledging that fact and ensuring bias is not a major factor as they’re creating, building, and launching an AI product.
From hiring practices to product development, how can organisations ensure that DEI principles are woven into every aspect of their operations? What role can AI play in achieving this integration?
It all starts with leadership - a company can have all the technology in the world, but if leaders don’t utilize it, the technology is meaningless. Leaders should look at ways in which AI can help benefit their teams - from decreasing time to deciding to identify areas where diverse talent lives to recruit them - and decide if it’s something they’d like to commit to and implement.
An effective DEI plan will align with overall business goals and will incorporate targeted programs, smart resource allocation, and innovative technology. It will contain proactive feedback mechanisms and require accountability. Employees across the organization will contribute to the plan’s development in some way. In short, a comprehensive plan will set your organization on a path for sustained progress.
You’ve highlighted AI’s potential to bridge cultural gaps—like helping non-native speakers communicate effectively or tailoring interactions across global regions. What are some practical tools or scenarios where this can be applied?
Using technology, including AI, can help people build connections with one another much more rapidly. For example, AI can translate, transcribe, and process language easily and that will help to send messages across a non-native community effectively. Qualities like transcription of audio, and analysis of linguistic nuances, enable cross-cultural communication. Moreover, AI's adaptive capabilities have facilitated language learning, allowing individuals to grasp new languages and adapt their communication styles to diverse cultural contexts. I’ll give a few personal examples: I’ve used language translation apps when I’m travelling to various global office locations to build connections with employees. I’ve used AI to identify the tone in which I’m writing an email to someone, and then identifying if the tone I’m using comes off as too stern or too passive based on the intended global audience. I have found that when you intend to incorporate someone’s cultural considerations or nuances into the way you work, you’re able to bridge strong connections with others much faster.
AI itself can carry or perpetuate bias if not carefully monitored. What steps should companies take to ensure that their AI tools are equitable and inclusive?
Biases are often inherited by cultural and personal experiences. When data is collected and used in the training of machine learning models, the models inherit the bias of the people building them, producing unexpected and potentially harmful outcomes. To keep AI development sustainable, it's important to include a diverse range of people in the process. This means not only having gender diversity but also including people from different educational and professional backgrounds. Companies should also provide training on how to manage data sets to help experts find and fix biases in algorithms. All parts of the technology process need to consider data bias, from choosing and preparing data to developing business logic and analytic models. Regularly checking and removing biases is crucial to keep them from affecting the systems over time.
Younger employees increasingly prioritize purpose-driven workplaces. How can organisations better connect with these values while ensuring that DEI remains a business imperative?
I can appreciate younger employees wanting to work for companies that are purpose-driven and are also good corporate citizens - both are important. There’s also a balance between being a good company and being profitable, and the BEST companies can be both. Progress is certainly one of those organizations, but many other brands ingrain these important values into their identity as a company. Keeping purpose-driven, corporate citizenship work as a priority is a choice. How can companies ensure DEI remains a business imperative? They must continue to choose it, not just when it’s easy and the masses agree with it, but when it’s hard and the pushback starts to pop up.
Leaders should set a tone where employees should feel a sense of belonging, nurture trust, encouragement, empathy, psychological safety, and a shared sense of values and purpose. Most importantly, training should be given to employees about bias, diversity, and the real-life experiences of employees who are underrepresented.
Looking ahead, what do you predict will be the biggest changes in how AI supports DEI efforts by 2025? Are there any emerging trends or innovations that particularly excite you?
In 2025 and beyond, I believe many employers will seek to find top talent from all corners of the world - AI can help with that. AI can also help identify less controversial topics and resonate the most with employees from various regions. DEI topics in the US are different from those in India, which are different for those living in Europe. I’m excited about that - the ability to expand this topic in a way that resonates with employees and isn’t just ‘another’ DEI initiative that doesn’t connect with the intended audience. There are certainly several challenges that face every DEI practitioner moving into the new year, but with the right approach, the right topics, and the right technology, DEI leaders will be able to continue promoting the work that will help their employees feel seen, heard, and feel like they belong.
