With holidays of gratitude, connecting with family and friends, feasts of light and new beginnings all coming up, we wanted to take a pause and connect the work we do to the people we work with and to the broader communities where we work and interact. What better time to acknowledge the connectedness of our team than at the start of the global holiday season?
Throughout this year we’ve challenged ourselves not only to stay connected to each other, our clients and our customers but also to the bigger issues and opportunities that will define our future.
While our values and way of working embrace inclusion and accountability, like many other companies, we realize we also need to be more explicit about our goals, intentions and actions in areas of social responsibility and environmental sustainability. Our associates, on a worldwide scale, have jumped into this opportunity. Aligning under a general framework of ESG (environmental, social and governance) initiatives, together we’re acting on more purposeful diversity and inclusion in our people and community engagement and greater environmental action in our operations. ESG is not just an initiative at Dwellworks, it is an opportunity for us to advance actions that are fundamental to our company culture and values.
We’re proud that nearly 40% of our 2021 hires in the US have been people of color and diverse backgrounds. We’re thrilled that our associates overwhelmingly believe Dwellworks is committed in word and deed to diversity, equity and inclusion (even as we expand those efforts). An Inclusion Committee of 20 volunteer associates across the organization is inspiring us with Education, Talent Development and Community Engagement advocacy. And we love that 60% of our leadership team is women. We’ll keep building on diverse representation as we emerge stronger together from the global pandemic
Similarly, we’re building on our global sustainability actions. The pandemic had the unintended positive impact of an 80% reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions as we moved seamlessly to a nearly complete work from home environment and virtual service delivery. Our content not only became more responsive to the increasingly diverse workforce we serve, it also is now capable of being 100% digitally delivered. We’re not going back to paper…which means our zero-carbon commitment continues to get acted on.
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Local Engagement Committees are a key part of our culture, and that culture respects and encourages inspiration from our associates for getting involved in our communities in practical ways with ongoing impact. In being visible in our communities, especially our headquarters location in Cleveland, OH we are also expanding our network of influencers, educators and leaders who partner with us in talent recruitment and development in our intern programs and ongoing hiring efforts.
One theme pulls us together, as it has throughout the pandemic and in our dealing with stakeholders worldwide. Empathy. Developing empathy and emotional intelligence is crucial for establishing healthy relationships and behaving compassionately. As we consider and interact with our co-workers, clients, customers, suppliers, and all external contacts – we remember before anything they are also people whose daily lives require our attention, engagement, and support. This greater understanding fuels our passion for ESG initiatives, creates a better customer experience and contributes to the Dwellworks Experience, where the individuals involved in any transaction co-create the balance that makes success possible and sustainable.
In this season of giving and gratitude, we’re connected by this message from our CEO, Bob Rosing:
Echoing our own commitment to connection, we like this quote from Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, “Our core business is connected with the customers’ needs and we will not be able to satisfy them if we don’t have a deep sense of empathy.”
Together, we’re advancing in innovation, service and success, we’re paying attention to people and the planet, and we are happy to once again be connecting more tangibly with each other and our communities. We’d love to know the connection story at your company and your team.
