The Importance of Diversity, Equality and Inclusivity in Your Business.
Hannah Boike is a hiring and recruiting professional with WalkerScout. WalkerScout is a unique RPO (recruitment process outsourcing) provider. Its mission is to help dog walking, dog daycare, and dog training businesses scout, hire, and support their teams. She is very passionate about implementing kindness, inclusivity, and diversity in the hiring process. She believes social justice, having empathy, and connecting with other people’s experiences is a vital component of any successful business and especially key in the animal care industry where kindness and compassion are core values.
Joe Latona also appears on this episode. Joe is a motivated and dedicated HR professional, dog walking since 2008 and hiring staff since 2009. He has built award winning dog walking teams in Chicago and has hired pet care professionals across the United States. He is the founder of WalkerScout.
Show Highlights:
- Learning about Diversity, Equality and Inclusivity [3:16]
- Financial returns for businesses practicing inclusivity [3:30]
- Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? [4:28]
- What can pet sitting businesses do and what are some ways we can be more inclusive? [7:20]
- Making a DEI Statement and Resources for Help [9:20]
- Joe Latona’s tips on ways to be more diverse and inclusive today and in your hiring process [10:50]
- Tailoring your website and ads, staff bios to include the LGBTQ and other underrepresented individuals [11:40]
Tweetables:
[Tweet “Pride isn’t Helpful. Empathy is Better”]
[Tweet “When it comes to inclusivity, doing nothing is easy but it’s not an option.”]
[Tweet “…companies with the most ethnically/culturally diverse executive teams – not only in terms of absolute representation but also of the variety or mix of ethnicities10 – are 33% more likely to outperform their peers on profitability”]
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Transcript:
This is episode 223 of Bella in Your Business.
Hi there, I’m Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you’ve seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you’re about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin’ in this next episode of Bella in Your Business.
So what do you say? Let’s get ready and jump. Welcome everybody to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting, and today I actually have brought back on Joe with Hannah. You guys might remember a couple of episodes ago. Joe’s from Walker Scout. He is one of the only dog recruiters I know out there that actually has been a dog walker and also created an entire business helping many people around the country and in other countries to hire. He is joined today by Hannah, and Hannah is really the main focus today because she knocked my socks off, you guys. Joe, you’re amazing, but Hannah is too—and typically amazing people hang out with amazing people, so that’s why we’re all hanging out together. Hannah has also been a dog walker as well, but she helps and assists Joe in interviewing applicants for animal care jobs all over the country. She has this aura about her that she wants to make people feel comfortable as they’re being interviewed by being kind, inclusive, and compassionate. She’s always trying to learn new things about recruiting and social justice to improve our business practices and make changes that can cater to our rapidly changing world. I really loved this topic and what she has to say, and I cannot wait to get into her mind today and also expose all of you guys to it because I think it might give you some really interesting ideas on how to keep up with just being an awesome human. I’m not even going to say keep up with the times—just be a good human and make people really want to work for you and maybe help build your company culture. I know that’s a tough concept for a lot of us to figure out like, “Well, what is our company culture?” And I think today this is going to give you some good ideas. So that was a long intro. How are you guys doing today?
Hi, I’m doing well, thank you. Thanks for coming back on the show so quickly. Hannah, how are you? I’m good, thanks. Yeah, it’s good to be back. Absolutely. So Hannah, why don’t you maybe fill in the blanks a little bit if I missed anything on who you are and what you do. And then if you can kind of go into just how we can create an inclusive environment in our workplace.
Thanks. So, I mean, you pretty much covered most of it. I’ve been a dog walker for a few years. I worked with Joe at Windy City Dog Walkers and I’ve been working with Joe at Walker Scout for about six months now doing hiring. And, you know, like you said, I’m really passionate about social justice, especially in the animal care industry, because we have to be compassionate. That’s what we have to do. We have to set ourselves apart from the crowd. I’m also a member of the LGBTQ community, and that’s how I connect to other people’s experiences of oppression. Having that empathy and connecting with other people’s experiences, even though you don’t have the same, is a really core component of what we’re going to be talking about today.
Basically, learning about diversity, equity, and inclusion can be really helpful in 2020. It’s a hectic year—we’ve had a controversial election, a pandemic, and the most historic civil rights movement. Not only is it our moral and ethical obligation to be inclusive, but it’s also going to help you make more money. According to an article on McKinsey.com called Why Diversity Matters, companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians. This is great news. Obviously, we should be doing this out of the goodness of our hearts, but it’s nice to have an incentive. It also proves that inclusion helps everyone. It doesn’t just help oppressed communities. Giving back to others is going to eventually come back around to you.
Today I’m going to be talking about inclusion, intersectionality, privilege, identity—how it pertains to the animal care industry’s workplace and hiring practices—and how it can help grow your business. I really want to start off with this quote from a book called Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Tatum. It really stuck with me throughout my education on inclusiveness and it helps me understand why doing nothing is easy, but it’s not an option.
The quote goes: “Racism is ingrained in the fabric of American institutions and it’s easily self-perpetuating. All that is required to maintain it is business as usual. I sometimes visualize the ongoing cycle of racism as a moving walkway at the airport. Active racist behavior is the equivalent to walking fast on the conveyor belt. The person engaged in active racist behavior has identified with the ideology of white supremacy and is moving with it. Passive racist behavior is equivalent to standing still on the walkway. No overt effort is being made, but the conveyor belt still moves the bystanders along to the same destination as those who are actively walking. Some of the bystanders may feel the motion of the conveyor belt, see the active racists ahead of them, and choose to turn around, unwilling to go to the same destination as the white supremacists. But unless they’re actively walking in the opposite direction, at a faster speed—the conveyor belt—unless they’re actively anti-racist, they’re going to find themselves carried along with the others.”
I really think it’s so powerful. It makes me think and it primes us to address how pervasive racism really is. But it also helps us to understand discrimination in all forms towards members of the LGBTQ community. From here on out, it’s kind of tiring to say LGBTQ, so I’m just going to use “queer” because it’s an umbrella term. It helps us understand discrimination towards queer people, people of color, people with disabilities, people who struggle with mental health, and other underrepresented groups. This is the backbone of intersectionality—understanding everyone’s identity and that there are multiple oppressed groups.
So how can pet sitting and dog walking business owners create an inclusive environment in their hiring process today? It’s hard to answer because we’re just touching the tip of a mountain of information on diversity, equity, and inclusion. We can’t cover everything you need to know today—it’s impossible in the time we have. But it’s a good starting point. Creating an inclusive environment can’t be done overnight, but there are steps you can take to move toward it.
First, relax. It’s okay to not know everything. It’s okay to ask questions and figure things out with others. But if you’re not a member of a marginalized group, asking questions can be tricky because their experience of discrimination can be exhausting. This is what’s referred to as the weathering effect, which NPR describes as the erosion of people of color’s health due to constant stress from discrimination. Experiences aren’t homogenous among marginalized groups—one person’s experience isn’t representative of everyone’s. So it’s hard to tell if someone wants to talk about it. Be sensitive to that. When in doubt, ask permission first.
Another important thing is having humility in these conversations. Pride is not helpful—empathy is. Connecting with people’s suffering and oppression is going to help you. The second thing that can help you create a more inclusive environment is to make a DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) statement. Explicitly telling employees and candidates about your company’s values and including a DEI statement in your job ads and on your website is a big step.
The Denver Foundation recommends that instead of general statements like “We value diversity,” say things that communicate inclusiveness is about treating people with respect—like “We’ll treat each other fairly” or “We value the opinions of others.” Explicitly stating that your company is LGBTQ-friendly is also important. Many queer people won’t want to work at a place unless the company makes it clear that they’re allies.
Joe added that being honest and kind isn’t enough—you need to show that you can be an ally. Most people want to work with a diverse group of people, and companies can demonstrate that through gender, race, and age representation. Make sure your website has a DEI statement, display photos of your diverse team, and include preferred pronouns like Boston for the Dogs does.
Hannah emphasized that implementing implicit bias training for leadership and employees is a big step. Define terms, have conversations, and tailor your ads to multiple groups—people of color, queer people, and others. Make it clear your company is inclusive for everyone.
Joe added some quick, practical tips: don’t let demographic information like names, addresses, or graduation dates influence your hiring decisions. Judge candidates by their resumes, cover letters, and interviews. Every disqualification should have a reason. Use standard questions for all candidates, collaborate with your team to avoid bias, and ensure your hiring process represents diversity.
Bella closed the conversation by thanking Joe and Hannah for expanding our thinking on how to consciously grow our business culture. She encouraged listeners to share the episode, reflect on how they can apply inclusivity, and remember that when life gets you down—to always keep jumping.
So what did you think? Did you love this episode? I sure hope you did because I put a lot of love into this for you. The best way you can show me that is by going to iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you listen to your podcast and leaving a review. I just might read it on the next episode. I also want to remind you that when life gets you down, remember to always keep jumping. Thanks for listening.