Written by: Tessie Tzavaras Catsambas

A key element of our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) journey at EnCompass is being part of a community of companies that shares our values of inclusion and supports equal participation in our society by all. Last month, after exploration and discussion with the coalition coordinators and a signatory business with which we work, we signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ pledge​​​, joining a group founded in 2017 and numbering more than 2,200 CEOs who pledge to act on supporting more inclusive workplaces for all.

CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ aims to rally the business community to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace. The CEO pledge outlines a specific set of actions the signatory CEOs will take to cultivate a trusting environment where all ideas are welcome and employees feel comfortable and empowered to have discussions about diversity and inclusion.

We are proud to sign this pledge and have found that the CEO Action group’s efforts reflect our values and belief in collaboration and increased equity for all. CEO Action is a seasoned group with a plethora of resources, including toolkits, discussion guides and fora, monthly peer-led conversations, a mentoring initiative, newsletters, and a racial equity fellowship. By signing this pledge, along with many other CEOs, we commit to:

• Work to make EnCompass a trusting place to have complex, and sometimes difficult, conversations about diversity and inclusion.
• Continue to learn together and offer unconscious bias education.
• Share our experience with other companies similarly committed to DEI and learn from each other’s best practices―and the unsuccessful ones.
• Create strategic action plans and continue to prioritize and drive accountability around diversity and inclusion and cultivate an inclusive culture and talent.

These four areas of action characterize our way of work life and fit with our other commitments. As the coalition notes, commitment to ethnic and racial diversity and inclusion takes all of us, and we are thrilled to join this community of leading businesses committed to collective action and meaningful change for our society. We look forward to exploring the many resources this community has put together, adding our own, and continuing our DEI journey alongside it.