RAW FILE

DISABILITY:IN
FEBRUARY 27, 2025

INCLUSION WORKS SEMI-ANNUAL VIRTUAL MEETING
SESSION 5
CATALYSTS FOR CHANGE: 
HOW EXECUTIVE SPONSORS FUEL DISABILITY INCLUSION
1:00 PM ET

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>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: Hello, everyone, welcome to Session 5, Catalysts for Change: How Executive Sponsors Fuel Disability Inclusion. My name is Michelle Maybaum. I am one of the Inclusion Works Consultants, as well as the Disability:IN Lead for the E/BRG Leadership Committee, and I will be serving as your Moderator today. I am a white woman with long, blond hair, wearing glasses and a blue polo shirt with a Disability:IN logo on it.
We all know Disability Inclusion initiatives thrive when we have great leaderships involved. We are excited to have two Executive Sponsors with us today to share their Insights.
Joining us today is Roz Burke, SVP, Global Quality and Regulatory, Boston Scientific, and we should have David Sneddon, Vice President, gTech Ads, EMEA, Google, hopping on.
>> DAVID SNEDDON: I am in.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: Wonderful, David. He is the Vice President for EMEA Google. Before Roz and David introduce themselves, there are a few housekeeping items to cover, so if we can get that slide up.
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We will be making time for Q&A at the end of the session, so, throughout the session, feel free to ask questions you may have in the Q&A Box. My colleague, Lee Rubin and I, will be attending to those questions that come in, and co‑facilitating the Q&A portion at the end of the session.
This session is being recorded. We will be sending access and viewing instructions following today's event.
Now I would like to welcome our panelists and how they view themselves as an E/BRG sponsor. Roz, can you start us off.
>> ROZ BURKE: Hello, yes. I love working with Disability:IN. My name is Roz Burke and I sit on their Executive Committee. I was going to say I am a white middle‑aged lady with shoulder‑length hair, but I am only middle‑aged if the longevity goes to 100 years, so it is nice to meet everybody virtually. (Chuckles)
My role, I am an Executive Sponsor for LEAD and all of our ERG/BRGs are Executive Sponsors. About a month after I became the Executive Sponsor of LEAD, I was diagnosed with a disability.
I actually got quite ill and I was out of work for a while.
LEAD became hugely important to me, as an inflection point. I was always committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, but I think it gave me a different personal perspective on how I would show up as an Executive Sponsor for LEAD.
I do think that Executive Sponsorship and leadership from the very stop is hugely important in making our ERGs successful, and even more so in the current environment.
I think it is important that we are leading very much from the forefront of the organization, and encouraging inclusion right across the organization.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: Thank you, Roz. And David, thank you for being here today. If you can introduce yourself and your role.
>> DAVID SNEDDON: I am well. I joined about 10 seconds before the start of the call. I had technical difficulties, so I am delighted to be here on the call and be here in the first place.
Great to see you again, Michelle and Roz, and in particular, a great opportunity to share hopefully relevant thoughts with this group. My name is David Sneddon. I am living in Ireland of English extraction, if you can hear my accent.
I am on the European Leadership Team for Google. The area I look after, I work a lot with our biggest customers to help them profit by their relationship with Google and grow their businesses.
I have been at Google for about a decade and half. Prior to that I was working in advertising.
I think the thing that gives me the most pleasure though is my Euro‑Middle East‑Africa sponsorship with our internal ERG. I've been an executive sponsor for five years. And something that gives me even more pleasure is, I have had the chance to be the Disability:IN Board Chair for about five years, so I feel the professional interest is turning really more into a personal and professional interest.
I love the work that Disability:IN is doing, particularly at this current time, when we say, let's say, the borders and maps are being redefined in every sense of the word, not just Google Maps.
The navigation and ability of Disability:IN is certainly something to behold, so a huge thank you to everybody.
I think you should try to bring your passionate self to work every single day. That is one thing Google believes in and I believe in it personally really, really passionately.
I think, similar to Roz, a lot of our European leaders lead ‑‑ and globally ‑‑ lead a lot of our gatherings. I think it is really, really important that leaders show up, particularly at the moment, with a passion and advocacy. So, that is, Michelle and everybody here on the call, what I hope to share with you today. So, thank you.
Back to you, Michelle.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: Thank you for being here. David, I was on the Board previously also. We will never let you go. We stay here forever. Thank you, both for your leaderships at the organizations and for being here today.
So, let's continue our discussion by having each of you tell us how your company utilizes your ERG to drive value in your organization. David, do you want to start this time?
>> DAVID SNEDDON: Yeah, sure. Briefly, we have 16 ERGs at Google, across all of the areas, I think folks here on the call would be familiar with.
And these ERGs would have been sort of set up, some a very long time ago, after 20 years ago, and others relatively recently. I will give you an example of a recent ERG is actually parents and caregivers, which is something that actually is Google's population matures, this has become an area of tremendous interest.
We used to be a very young organization. Probably matching the overall age curve now.
At Disability:IN we have about 60 chapters around the world. About half are in the European, Middle East and Africa region. Each chapter has an Executive Sponsor with a chapter lead. I think around the world last time we had about 2.5 thousand people as members of ERG.
And to finish the information about ERG, we are very focused on Disability and Accessibility, which, of course, are Google values, particularly Accessibilities written into our Mission Statement, and increasingly, we have been thinking of how to bring various Neurodiversities into this, as well. And we have had lot of traction there.
We believe we need to have a voice internally. That is what the ERGs do. We strongly encourage our ERGs to have a voice externally, too. People cannot go rogue. They have to stay in particular Google guidelines, and we find that particularly motivating for people that don't just want to be members of an egger, but step up and contribute.
So, that is job of maybe all ERGs to turn the individual passion into something that can systematically help the organization internally. And Google, and Boston Scientific and others make products that help people go about their daily lives and do that externally, as well.
I am proud of what we do at Google and Google Maps to get people around the world in a way that works for them. You can talk into your phone and things of that nature that are incredibly helpful.
So that is a little of how we think about it.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: So, your families and caregivers group, I am curious because we are putting together a caregiver resource, the E/BRG Leadership Committee. So, is that family and caregivers focused on parents of children or adults with disabilities, or is it really more of a parent group?
>> DAVID SNEDDON: I think it is actually both. I think, you know, busy parents always need a helping hand, but I think busy parents who need more accommodations, in particular are a focus for us. That may be combinations that meet themselves and advice for parents as well as with children. And it also may be, like, very practical ways of, for example, accessing the Health Care System, insurance system, et cetera.
So, it is a very broad church there. It is actually being, you know, resonating with our Google population. Partly because they are getting slightly older, they are maturing and kind of realizing they need a little helping hand across the board.
>> MICHELLE ALFORD-WILLIAMS: It is great to have that board. I find there are more complexities to being the caregiver when it is related to disability and the other things that you need to be thinking about that you may not need to, just as a parent.
Roz, over to you. Can you tell us how your company is using the Resource Group to build value?
>> ROZ BURKE: Yes, and I echo David. We have 10 ERGs globally and have ten chapters, again, in every region across our organizations.
We have a central chapter. I am the Executive Sponsor for LEAD, the leadership, education and allies for disability. Each ERG has a Global group that oversees all the Local Chapters and help with that standardization and with the strategy around those ERGs.
What we do in a lot of ways is similar to Google. It is actually about driving our culture, and driving our culture of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
That is really how we try to engage and interact with our ERGs. It gives people, as David said, the personal and professional passion, how those marry together when you bring those in a great way to work and work for you.
Again, some of the practical examples. Last year we had a huge effort to standardize our behaviors and values across the company, and we have 50,000 employees, so there were different initiatives kicking off either established and mature sites, or newer sites because we are a growing company. We are doing their own. We really utilize the ERGs to bring together all of the feedback and input, and standardize our behaviors and values across the organization.
That has been hugely successful. We have gotten, you know, over 80% of our employees are actively engaged in using those behaviors and values every day, and how they show up at work, and how they interact with each other, collaborate and collaborate as teams.
And clearly inclusion, caring and diversity are embedded in those value, as well. So, I think it has a big impact on creating a very healthy and positive culture within the organization. As well as tactically delivering on specific needs or requirements, or inclusive opportunities for those very specific ERGs, as well.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: Thank you. That is so important in an organization. Resource Groups play such an important part. But executives like to know the ROI, like, what are you really doing? Do either of your Resource Groups track metrics? If so, do they share those? How do you share them with other executives to show their ROI?
>> ROZ BURKE: I can go. We do. So, we do track metrics around, you know, participation and inclusion in the ERGs, and David mentioned a number of employees involved.
We also really have been trying to make sure that isn't just around our indirect employees, be you our direct employees in manufacturing and operations.
I think the biggest measure of our ERG success is every year we run an Engagement Survey. And right across the organization that includes everybody. Some of those questions are specific to inclusion and the ability to be part of the culture to ERGs. I think that is hugely helpful.
Specific to leaved, obviously we take a lot of examples from Disability:IN in terms of trying to encourage people to, in an anonymous way, self‑disclose whether or not they have disability, so we can actually, practically use those metrics to make sure we are putting in a lot of help and assistance as it requires to work.
>> DAVID CSATARI: I will build on what Roz said. ERGs can do incredibly well acting as a feedback mechanism back into the company.
Because ERGs are often the sharp edge of stuff happening, good and bad. Opportunity‑spotting, as well as challenge‑identification.
I will give you a small example. We have been repeatedly engaged in overhauling a lot of Google Maps to make it a much more Accessibility‑friendly. It was already Accessibility‑oriented, not perfect but already somewhat oriented into that space.
But we have introduced an interactive system for getting around with Google Maps, subway systems, underground which includes the number of steps, and how to actually move around in a way that will suit whatever accommodation or whatever way you like to move around.
And, actually, that came from Googlists engaged in our New York Disability Alliance. And actually just wanted to find a better way of accessing the New York subway.
So, I think it is a simple example, but that can be very, very powerful, as well, I think. Because, you know, consumers can make great suggestions with technology roles. It is the very best for ERGs to sort of influence the culture, but also, maybe in certain cases, influent the product direction of the organization.
By the way, I find ERGs who get to do that, find that enormously fulfilling, because it really feels like they are kind of personal on the professional verge hopefully for the greater good!
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: Yes. People don't want to have two separate jobs, their day job and their ERG job. I hear that a lot. That is the fun part of my day. You want that to be integrated into what employees are doing so all of their day is fun.
So, the next question, when there are organizational exchanges ‑‑ it could be mergers, it could be reductions, it could be new executive leadership ‑‑ there is a lot of uncertainty ‑‑ how do your Employee Resource Groups and you as an Executive Sponsor meet those moments and keep the commitment to doing this important work?
David, do you want to go first?
>> DAVID SNEDDON: Yeah, sure. This is a pretty broad topic. Let me start with, let's say organizational exchange. I think there is a very simple but effective role that Executive Sponsors play, and leadership plays, which is to remind everybody that not everybody is equal, and not everybody will interpret or accommodate the memory the way the average person would.
We find technology a very fast‑moving industry. So we are hopefully in a timely way trying to mind folks, when you are making change, take into account the needs of our community, and how people interpret messages, how they want to be communicated to, etc.
It is very simple to say this, but in the heart of the moment, it is harder. ERG matters and as Roz mentioned, you need to literally have a seat around the table to raise the important points at the right time.
It sort of boils down the essence of Executive Sponsorship.
That is when it becomes the most helpful, to remind others of their responsibilities when, you know, we are all great when there is no pressure on.
It is when the pressure is on and the battle, or the weighty change, that is not always great.
Just make that point, firstly.
Secondly, business is interesting. It tunnels around most of the time and every no you and then it kind of blows up and when it blows up that people kind of need more guidance. I see that in my industry with the rapid rise on AI and the immersive effect it can have on the world, our sector, etc. But having a point of view on that, and how it affects our community.
At times when a lot of business rationalization decisions are being thought through with an AI‑lens, I find that incredibly helpful.
So, again, being at the table, then having an effective voice, or using your effective voice when you are at the table. And increasingly, the most disruptive parts of this is when there is a technology change. That is why I think AI is a particularly good, very current example of something immensely potentially helpful and disruptive. I think that is just some initial reflections.
We could probably take this question, Michelle, in a load of different ways, so I will pause there and let Roz come in.
>> ROZ BURKE: Yes, you can take this question in loads of different ways so I am glad you said that, David. It is hard to capture it all.
And a great question for Boston Scientific in terms of integrations, because we have done so many in the last five years.
We always tried to lead from the culture piece with the integrations, and very much part of our culture is transparency, fairness and treating people well. If we are going to keep all the employees, move the location, all that play into how we show up in our behaviors and cultures.
I think having those employees come in from iterations, being very aware of our ERGs and very active and passionate commitment to inclusion has been a huge positive for those integrations.
So, I think that is one part where we really utilize ERGs. Another that is relatively recent is this whole transition between remote working, back to the office, and how that impacts particularly on this ERG, and how we have used, as David said earlier, the ERG's feedback and voice to kind of influence those decisions.
So, we are primarily, other than in our operations, at a hybrid model. Where we came to that, instead of a mandate back to office, was a lot of the feedback from our ERGs in terms of flexibility, and inclusion, and how accessible that makes the Workplace.
So, I think there are very real examples of how you can use the ERGs to influence both bigger business policies, and also to make, you know, business integrations go much more smoothly across the company.
The other area, if I might mention, and a little of a tangent to your question, because we are such a technically‑based company, we do a lot of collaboration with universities in our locations. So, we do a lot of collaboration with Technical Universities and different programs that they have.
Over the last couple of years I am very happy to say we have been much more strategic about reaching out to those universities who have disability‑friendly opportunities themselves. And their version of ERGs so we are making that link early on, taking in graduates and interns, and being proactive about that, as well.
I think that, again, has a positive impact on the organization.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: Great that both of your organizations are listening to that feedback from employees that are part of your Resource Groups and advocating for what they need.
What is your advice to Resource Group Leaders who may be concerned they won't have the same level of support from their organization? That they have seen in the past as they go through these organizational exchanges.
>> DAVID SNEDDON: I will jump in, Roz. I think it is the number one panel question that comes up. Kind of, like, how do I influence the Agenda internally, and what are the tricks or tactics or mechanisms I can do.
I reckon there are probably three really good things that you can do. I think part of the question, Michelle you asked earlier on, I think having reasonable metrics that are clear that people can understand, and if possible, linking them to something that the company cares about more broadly.
So, again, an example in Google's case, we want an Android phone to be usable by anybody in the world, whoever they are; however, they show up.
So, in order to do that, if an ERG can contribute in some way meaningfully to that as one example, or Google Maps as I mentioned earlier on, is an incredibly helpful thing.
Using the charismatic, persuasional powers, to enlist a senior person, if they are not already there. There is the Chat around the most senior table that could be incredibly helpful as discussed earlier on.
And creating a group of passionate people that can collaborate alongside you. I find they are not fail‑safe sort of tactics or tricks, if you like, but actually, they are things that typically tend to work. But I think the first one, maybe particularly in the current climate, is incredibly helpful.
Like, having an open, accessible, and universally available Workplace, be that hybrid or otherwise. It is just good for business. Attracting as many, you know, diverse points of view as you possibly can, is just good for business.
If you want to speak for all users or consumers of your products, then it just makes good business sense to have them in some way, shape or form, represented in your organization.
I find that is something that can really, really resonate, if you are sort of playing back that actually, look, we are not just here because we are sort of activists, even though we really care about the topic, but we are here because this matters to the business we are employed by. So, if we can marry those two Agendas together, it can be very effective.
I have probably given this answer on a panel previously, but I find a combination of some or all of the above can be effective, in any humble opinion.
>> ROZ BURKE: David, your three, the clear metrics, the senior person and the passionate group, I would add using external data to persuade people that they are actually ‑‑ so, to your point on companies are more successful, there are lots of Consultant organizations, BCG, um, all those that have actual data that show companies who embrace DEI are more successful. They are more successful profitability‑wise and innovation‑wise with the data.
And similarly, as you talk about caring and well‑being for your employees, again, Disability:IN provides a lot of this data in Benchmark forums. 20% to 25% of people would have some type of mental health disorder and need some help and support.
It is a higher percentage in our younger population, who are our next generation of employees. Again, that data is available globally.
I think if you go back with the three things that David mentioned, and underpin that with, here is the rationale for why it makes business sense to go and do this, I think you can have more of an impact than just the emotive appeal and influence.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: Some of the external Benchmarks, I will give a shameless plug for the disability desk. Participating in that, seeing peers who are doing things in countries and across your industry can certainly help provide some of that information to bring to leadership, to move your Agenda forward.
So, speaking of moving the Agenda forward, what does Executive Sponsorship look like for you in 2025 and beyond?
>> ROZ BURKE: I can start, David. I think we touched on this at the start. It is marrying the personal passion with the professional influence you have on the organization. I think both of those have come about in different ways, but it is clear that it is there.
So, then you can have an influence on policies and how we approach culture and inclusion as an organization, and particularly for Disability Inclusion.
That is one aspect of it. I like to encourage the ERGs to not just be tactical, and have activity throughout the year, but to stand back and think about strategy, and I mentioned recruitment earlier on.
How do you, you know, attract talent? Then when that talent is here, how do you support and help develop and retain that talent in the organization.
Because talent is becoming more and more competitive across certainly our industry.
So, I think those are ways that I think I try and encourage, is that personal passion. What is the strategy? Where would you like to see yourself in two or three year's time, and what are the tactical things that we can do to drive that inclusion across the organization, and how to have fun while you are doing it, right? How to enjoy it!
>> DAVID SNEDDON: Yes. I actually have nothing to add there. I have already given that but you Generative AI it much more beautifully than me, Roz, so thank you.
Maybe let me ‑‑ many people want to lead an ERG, they are not just ambitious because they want to be an ERG, but they are actually ambitious for themselves in their own career. I find our best leaders are those rapidly up in the organization. ERG leadership has been one of the many stepping‑stones it takes.
So, a generic business answer now, which is to say if you really want to we will be right back. successful and effective, World‑Class networking and collaboration is sort of a must. I find most successful people engage in some way, shape or form, with a coach that has enabled them to reflect on their professional journey, and sort of calibrate accordingly, be that ERG work or general work.
And then, I think, also, marrying the Agenda of the ERG with the wider goals of the organization. These are just, sort of standard things for sort of getting on in the organization.
Probably the role, to be very specific, Michelle to your question, the role of a really good Executive Sponsor, to maybe find the talent. Not just everyone who puts their hands up is maybe the most suitable to bring a certain Agenda forward.
We have to approach these conversations with not exclusively a business lens, but I think business metrics are actually helpful.
You want people who either have a proven track record, or look as if they could demonstrate the kind of leadership that would be required.
Especially at a time in the moment when it looks like we are going to have to sort of think slightly differently about what we are doing, and really appeal to the kind of business‑driving, and sort of profitability‑enhancing aspects of what we do.
So, I just think, again, as I reach back into the day job, almost, to say the characters of successful business people are almost the same as the characters of successful ERG leads. If you can marry those two things together, again, it can be really successful.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: I like the identifying talent. That is a great Call to Action for Executive Sponsors, which is part of my next question. What is your call of action not just to Executive Sponsors for this upcoming year, be you for executives in general, where they may be getting messages from their leadership that we are going to pull back in this space.
So, for this year, what is your Call to Action for any executives who are on now or may watch this, and to Executive Sponsors to get them engaged, and continue in this past?
>> DAVID SNEDDON: I will jump in, Roz. Two really simple things.
I think in business you always need to focus on the possible, not in what is not possible. Massive amounts are still possible. Yeah, we are dealing with a different operating environment. So, I think accurate assessing of the operating environment and determining what the forward cause should be. That may sound so obvious, but I think that is why we are all paid the big bucks, if you like, is what we can do, rather than what we ‑‑ either what we perceive to be, or maybe less‑inclined to.
We at Google made a strong commitment to our ERGs. If anything, I think we will be doubling down on them. And doing so in a way that is respectful of, obviously, the environment changing slightly.
And really, you know, focusing on fact that what is good for users, good for employees and good for overall business.
So, again, I think on the art of what is possible, and making sure that is done in a way that, obviously, is legal, because we are in a more litigious environment at the moment, but also in a way that I think hopefully still stays authentic to the majority of the people that sit in our ERG groups.
Not everybody will be enamored with it, but I think the role of leadership is to navigate through and, you know, do something as a result of it, and, yeah, if the rules of the game in the operating environment is suddenly amended or severely amended, whatever your perspective is, I still think you need to focus on why we are there in the first place.
Create better Workplaces, create more profit and, you know, have better more empowered users. So that would be my start in what is a current and much debate the area.
Roz?
>> ROZ BURKE: Yes. Thank you, David.
I think for Boston Scientific, we are in, I guess, a little more protected position, because we are not as consumer‑facing as some of the companies who have been caught in the storm of this externally. I think if you are in that situation as a company, I think it is probably a little easier. Certainly internally we have been very clear that our values, our mission around being diverse, equitable and inclusive company, we stayed the course on that, and that has been very much a clear message across the organization.
And I think at this moment, as well, there are certain ERGs feeling this more than others, and feeling a mixture of emotions as we navigate this environment externally and trying to offer leaders as much reassurance as we can, that our principles and values haven't changed.
We, like David is saying, are an inclusive company that cares about the well‑being of their employees and is somewhere where everybody wants to work and is more successful.
So, I think carrying that message as a people leader is very important. And certainly throughout my organization ‑‑ and Michelle, I am going to pick up on something you said earlier ‑‑ it is not a separate job. Good leadership ‑‑ and David alluded to this, as well ‑‑ good leaders have all of that.
Good leaders bring inclusion and caring to their leadership jobs in the same way that they bring winning as a company and being profitable and making the right decisions and making the right decisions for the future.
I think crafting the message, and reacting by reaffirming the message in that way I think is very helpful in this current environment for our leaders.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: Yes. I like that. Assessing where the organization stands, David. And, Roz, carrying that inclusion message. Companies I have been talking to, my Inclusion Works partners, if they need to pull back, if they need to reorganization, in the mode of have to get this done, now is a great employee for Employee Resource Groups, if they have to pull back on some of the event stuff.
As you were saying earlier, it can't just with those, but what other things are you doing to provide that value to the employee and business.
I am going to shift gears a little bit away from advice for Executive Sponsors and where they are going, to advice for Employee Resource Group leaders.
What is something that those leaders, and even members of Resource Groups, should do differently when working with Executive Sponsors? What are things that have worked really well? Things that haven't worked well, from your perspective, as an Executive Sponsor. Roz, I see you smiling. Do you want to go first?
>> ROZ BURKE: So, I listened to David's answer earlier about having people with experience in leadership ability. That is great, but it doesn't always work that way. We have a mixture of people who come forward and want to lead ERGs, and we try not to dissuade anybody. We do try to pick the best leaders that we can.
But I think what really is the most effective, is people coming informed and have done their own homework about what it is they are advocating for, or what strategies or tactics they want to deploy across the organization. That is clear. That is probably true of any professional job.
But I think in the ERGs, it is even more important, because you are trying to use, I guess, additional time, or, you know, it is sometimes viewed as an extra within the organization.
I think that is one ‑‑ and I think the other one I would come back to earlier is to not just have a tactical program of activities across the Global chapters for the year ahead, but really to be thinking about, what strategically do we want to do? And why I am saying that is because we have become more conscious, and committed to Inclusive Hiring.
So, that is one area where we are now asking our larger amount of manufacturing sites, in particular, there is a huge opportunity for you to be a little more inclusive about your hiring, and using those connections, as I mentioned, either to universities, or to other organizations externally. Maybe Disability:IN in the United States, or a different organization in Europe, or in APAC.
And how do you make sure you are pulling in that external expertise, and that you are not trying to home‑grow everything yourself.
So, I think those are the couple areas I find the most effective leaders do well.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: David, anything to add?
>> DAVID SNEDDON: Particularly no. That was a super answer. Maybe the only brief answer, Disability:IN itself is a tremendous resource for any part of the journey. If you are a new community chapter lead looking to work with an Executive Sponsor, or vice versa, through to, I suppose, sophisticated Global Organizations with long track records.
So, I know I sound like I am drinking the Kool‑Aid here, but I actually find Disability:IN itself is an incredibly valuable reference points and can help people at whatever stage of the journey they happen to be at.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: And we do have the ERG Toolkit that includes a Maturity Model and things to be thinking about depending on what stage you are in. People get excited, it grows and wanes and then you have a lift again, so, yes, use our resources. That is why we are here.
>> DAVID SNEDDON: That is such a great point. To build on that, that is a classic cycle, sort of, and institutionalized people move on but the executive leadership plays a role, being aware that is often the lifecycle of an ERG and it can't be only passion that sustains it. I love your clarification, Roz. It can't just be a business‑like commitment to personal that sustains it ‑‑ 
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>> ROZ BURKE: I spend a lot of time with organizations visiting sites and manufacturing sites. The ERGs are part of that visit, and the leaders of those ERGs and the participants get an opportunity to interact and meet with Senior Leaders that they may not orderly do in their day‑to‑day role.
I think that is one way, is the visibility. Then the recognition of that.
I think we focus a lot on recognition of our ERGs and the work that they do in the organization, and their contribution to culture.
We do have awards every year for our top ERGs, for, you know, our most committed personnel in those ERGs, and for people who had the most influence on the organization, so I think that is a huge part of the recognition, as well. So there is recognition and a positive intent that comes with getting people involved.
The part I would add, for the direct employees that work on the manufacturing floor and sites that are tied to a ship pattern, and it can be very difficult for those employees to get time, or encourage their Supervisors to give them time away, we have had to make a more concerted, focused effort on how to do that.
It is not just the employees. It is actually their line Manager or Supervisor, and making sure that they see the value to the organization.
Again, I think that starts with that leadership and cascades its way down. It give as huge opportunity to tap into what can be untapped potential talent in the organization, as well.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: I really like that you mentioned the inclusion of the frontline employees, which looks different in different organizations. It could be someone on the sales floor, manufacturing, warehousing, et cetera.
Because we get that question a lot. In fact, that will be the topic of one of the ERG meetings this year, how to engage those. Because people are asking, how do you do that, what is the best what I to do that E and how do you get managers on the floor to do that. So, thank you for that.
David, how do you get employees excited about being part of the ERG and the internal work.
>> DAVID SNEDDON: That is a good question. We don't specifically incentivize. They are more internal, larger recognition programs, et cetera, but we don't specifically incentivize, but we do provide as much support. We have a program in Google called the 20%, which in reality is not a day‑a‑week, as I suspect it is probably less than that. But I think the real purpose of it maybe is to give people the opportunity in their spare time to pursue a passion. That is very often the work of the ERG meets their day‑to‑day work. And we are extremely supportive of that.
That is where I suspect the momentum of the ERG comes from. So, that is only build I would have on Roz's very good point.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: Another question that came in, competitive and commensurate employment option often require changes to existing recruiting and hiring processes.
You mentioned how your ERGs can help with that. Can you give us some specifics on how your ERGs are impacting your company's retention, recognition, and hiring processes?
>> DAVID SNEDDON: I can jump in. Hopefully positively. I would sort of draw a little distinction between, say, the role of an ERG, and the role of the HR function, which often replaced the more formal role here.
And it is one of the jobs is to encourage people to do things. And sometimes it is also to encourage people to not do things that might be someone else's job.
For example, here in Europe there are several countries in which it is legally mandated that we have to hire either a percentage or specific number of our Workforce every single year as a disabled employee. That is something that is legally mandated, and, therefore, we refer the laws of the land in those particular places, Germany and one or two other places.
Also, it is also worth saying, as Roz said, ERG should have a culture‑positive effect, but they should also not be afraid to point out the gaps in the organization.
I will give you one example. We noticed a few years ago we didn't have any disability training for Manager, either when they were hiring, or just as they were managing a disabled employee that needed an accommodation.
So, the ERG works with our training function, the HR function, we spun up some research, and then we made it sort of semi‑mandatory for Managers to do all‑around the world, like very, very simple, and sort of really kind of like using Best Practices for how to manage.
That really originated and stemmed from the ERG in the first place. So, that is a really nice example. And certainly, I don't know if you would call it, Michelle, shifting the culture, but certainly helpfully pointing out a gap, and I think the ERG play as double role. And the best ones help to pick up the things that organization missed that are always, or shouldn't always feel as if they are the ones that should orchestrate it, but that there are other functions within the organization that could better place it.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: (Fading audio quality)
>> ROZ BURKE: I think you directed the question to me, Michelle. David gave good examples.
Another example I would use, several ERGs are not only active internally but with Community Groups that could help with recruitment and retention. We found from feedback from employees the inclusion piece.
There are formal mechanisms, HR and the right supports for Onboarding somebody, but it is that inclusion piece that can make a difference.
One of our sites in Ireland started a very active program to work with the hearing-impaired community and a very active program around recruitment because it is very similar to our work.
One of the ERGs came forward and said how do we get the entire shift working with these people interested in, for example, basic Sign Language and helping with inclusion in that way.
So, there are practical wall examples of where the ERG can lean in and build out on that inclusion culture.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: I have two good questions so I will combine them into one.
What advice would you give to employees, especially those who could be allies, to their colleagues with disabilities but may be hesitant to join an ERG because of the stigma around that group. Any thoughts around that.
>> ROZ BURKE: I am probably part of that position uniquely because I have a disability to be able to share my own story internally. It took me about a year of actively listening to the B/ERG that made me a more empathetic leader, but we can talk about and broach the stigmas that might be perceived or real within the organization.
So, that is one way I talk about it, and encourage people who are comfortable to do the same.
I am glad to say, I would say, that despite some of the discussions in the current environment, I think we have made an awful lot of progress. Certainly, we have made an awful lot of progress in different geographies in terms of our attitudes to disability, particularly mental health, and that it is becoming, I think, a little easier to have those conversations, particularly with our younger people.
>> DAVID SNEDDON: Yes. Spot‑on. Can I say, I think ERGs are the best when they themselves are incredibly diverse, both with people, you know, passionately drawn to the ERG because of where they are at, but also others, because they just feel a sense of, sort of a sense of co‑ownership, or just a deep interest in the area.
I think, you know, if I was honest, I think this is how ERGs will develop in the future.
I will give you one example. I passionately believe that men should be part of women ERGs, of which many companies haven't. I speak as a man here, that men often have the most to learn about the lived experience of others.
I think this is also going to be a way that we navigate the current business ‑‑ let's say political environment ‑‑ by actually having diverse populations that really speak for all, so allies are vital as part of that, and I think it should really be encouraged.
And just the invitation to your question, that there might be somehow stigmatized for doing so. Again, that is where leadership comes in. To sort of offer a broad church, and not a very narrow set of options.
I love seeing allies lean in, and I think, yeah, it is actually part of the lifeboat of how great ERGs are, the very diverse set of individuals.
>> MICHELLE MAYBAUM: Thank you. We have about a minute left. Once again, I want to thank you, Roz and David, for presenting today. I want to thank our Interpreters, Kayla and Beth, and our Captioner, Leora. I also want to thank each of you attending today. If you are an E/BRG leader and interested in joining the Leadership Committee, or an Executive Sponsor that would like to join the Executive Sponsor Forum, you can meet out to me at my email. We will send you the link to sign up.
A great way to find out what other companies are doing and you can use the link sent to you in the materials to attend the upcoming sessions scheduled to begin at 2:15 Eastern Time, session 6. Or session 7, beyond the Workplace, extending Disability Inclusion to products and services. Thank you for being an Inclusion Works partner.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
>> ROZ BURKE: Thank you so much, Michelle.
>> DAVID SNEDDON: Thank you.
 
       (Session was concluded at 2:00 PM ET)
                                                       
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