The 2nd Diversity and Inclusion Vision Award DBTA invited Google X Gogolook to conduct DEI exchanges and dialogues from the perspectives of international foreign investors and localities.
The world is facing a wave of labor shortage, a declining birthrate, an aging population, and a high flow of talents are the problems that all enterprises are facing. As an initiative-oriented media community deeply rooted in Taiwan, with years of experience in DEI diversity and inclusion practice and rich data insights, women fans believe that in the era of great shortage of work, DEI diversity and inclusion is the key to the sustainability of enterprise talents.
The results of the 2023 Women's Fan Workplace Diversity and Inclusion survey found that nearly 97.6% of workers believe that whether the company has a DEI diversity and inclusion policy is a key factor affecting whether they join or stay, and we also saw from the second DEI Diversity for Better Tomorrow Awards that more and more companies began to formulate diversity and inclusion policies and began to attach importance to DEI.
However, how to truly implement diversity and inclusion and avoid DEI policies becoming empty slogans is also a problem that many enterprises are facing.
This year's DBTA Women's Fan Diversity and Inclusion Vision Award specially invited Tina Lin, General Manager of Google Taiwan, and Guo Jianfu Jeff, Co-founder and CEO of Gogolook, to share their practical experience of diversity and inclusion in DEI with companies through the diverse perspectives of the technology industry.
Photo|Women's Fan co-founder and CEO Zhang Weixuan/Google Taiwan General Manager Lin Yafang/Gogolook co-founder and CEO Guo Jianfu
Guo Jianfu: DEI is not a tool, but a business purpose that combines ideals and business value
Zhang Weixuan, the moderator of the forum, co-founder and CEO of Women's Fan, asked the most critical core question in the development of DEI strategy for the companies present: Can DEI diversity and inclusion really bring business benefits to the company, enhance brand influence, or is it just a kind of political correctness?
In this regard, Guo Jianfu believes that DEI is directly related to the company's positive growth, not only the tools used by enterprises to retain talents, but also the business purpose of combining ideals and business value, and Gogolook's OKRs are also set in combination with social influence and business goals.
Echoing the cross-generational talent gap mentioned by Huang Zhengzhong, Head of ESG, KPMG Asia Pacific, co-organizer of the 2023 Diversity and Inclusion Vision Award, Guo Jianfu pointed out that the values of the new generation of employees are different from those in the past, they are more pursuing ideal goals, and combining ideals and business value is the workplace trend of the new generation.
For me, DEI is not just a tool, but a purpose that combines ideals with business goals.
Photo | Gogolook co-founder and CEO Guo Jianfu Jeff
Lin Yafang: When talent is sustainable, it will become a competitive advantage
From the perspective of multinational enterprises, Lin Yafang pointed out that in recent years, all enterprises are facing an extremely uncertain market environment, and DEI diversity inclusion is a competitive advantage for enterprises in the face of diversified environmental challenges. This is not just a single regulatory policy, but a long-term advantage.
He also added that while all companies are facing the problem of labor shortage, talent sustainability has become a reality that every company must face, and operating an employer brand is what companies should use in the community era when recruiting externally and retaining talents internally.
DEI is not political correctness, but a strategy and sustainable competitive advantage that companies must adopt in times of uncertainty.
Lin Yafang also emphasized that the core of DEI diversity and inclusion lies in how to maximize the potential of talents, and when leaders can ensure that the potential of diverse talents is realized, they are also releasing more potential of the company.
DEI should not be just a policy or process, but a strategy, a vision.
From Taiwan to the world, Gogolook's local DEI practice
Under the impact of the lack of work, the flow of talents is cross-national, including government policies are also actively promoting the introduction of transnational talents to make up for the talent gap in Taiwan's job market, how to create and manage diverse teams under the wave of globalization, Gogolook does so.
Guo Jianfu said that in order for enterprises to have diversified competitive advantages, we must first put aside the myth that "Taiwan is different from the world", and think people-orientedly, regardless of nationality or race, the goals and essence pursued by everyone are the same.
He also encouraged employees to go outward and overcome cross-cultural, inter-racial and cross-faith communication difficulties through practical contact and understanding.
When you are willing to actively understand those cross-racial and cross-cultural differences, you can generate identity and build trust.
DEI is a global universal value, how does Google localize DEI globally?
From the perspective of Google's multinational enterprises, Lin Yafang believes that DEI is not a specific culture and country patent, but a universal value shared by the world, and in the operation of multinational enterprises, adjusting DEI policies according to the cultural context of different countries is Google's solution to achieve global localization of DEI.
Lin Yafang explained. In recent years, Google has mainly focused on three directions in Taiwan: gender ratio, disability, and global talent recruitment. We are committed to enhancing the potential of female talent, ensuring that the company can take care of the disability community through job redesign, and actively observing global trends to attract international talents to work in Taiwan.
We believe that if we can enable female talents to develop more potential, it will also bring more opportunities and possibilities to the company, so that our mission can have greater breakthroughs.
Employees lack psychological safety, how should companies respond?
According to the Women's Fan 2023 Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Survey, only 9.9% of users believe that the company they currently belong to is sufficiently secure, which also means that more than 90% of employees believe that they are not treated fairly in the workplace.
With the new generation of employees with an average of less than three years of experience, how do Google and Gogolook build team psychological safety?
Trust is the vision of our company because it is difficult. We must create an environment of diversity and inclusion in which trust can arise.
Guo Jianfu quoted the content of "Trust Revolution", pointing out that in the current era of science and technology, social trust is a distributed trust institution, and the trust in a specific institution is low, and what enterprises can do is to create an environment where diversified trust can be generated.
Photo | Google Taiwan General Manager Lin Yafang
First-line supervisors need to be able to perceive the power lines in different situations, and the Role Model as a front-line employee is aware of it before leading the team.
Lin Yafang shared that in addition to internal training courses, Google will also regularly plan DEI co-learning activities, through formal and informal activities such as experience and gamification, to lead employees to cultivate empathy and create a sense of psychological safety.
He also pointed out that whether it is DEI or company culture, all practices are basically first-order supervisors, and it is necessary to help supervisors improve their awareness through internal training, ensure that frontline employees can reach direct supervisors with empathy, and let all employees have fair development.
We work together for Taiwan's future
Photo|Women's Fan co-founder and CEO Zhang Weixuan
When you are aware, there will be change; Only when there is consciousness will there be practice.
At the Diversity and Inclusion Vision Award Ceremony, some took notes, some nodded and smiled, I believe that after listening to the sharing of Google and Gogolook, enterprises have a new understanding of DEI vision, diversity and inclusion is not political correctness, but an important key to the sustainable success of enterprises in a changing environment.
After the event, women's fans also received a number of nodding promises from companies that they will not be absent from the next Diversity and Inclusion Vision Award. Seeing the enthusiastic response of the companies on the scene, and seeing them ready to continue to move forward with the experience of leading companies, let us know that we are moving towards the ideal world.
The vision of women's fans is to create a world of diversity and inclusion, so that all people can be their true selves without fear. We believe that "one person goes fast, a group of people go far", and looks forward to more companies joining the DEI diversity and inclusion circle, so that the world can see Taiwan's best practice and lead Taiwan to become a representative place of DEI diversity and inclusion.