Diversity and inclusion (D&I) have become critical priorities in corporate America in recent years. Organizations are embracing this terminology across a wide spectrum, from those only “paying lip service” to what they recognize is an important issue for employees to those that are serving as leaders in the area of D&I and role models for others to follow.
American Water, the largest and most geographically diverse U.S. publicly traded water and wastewater utility company, and its Chief Inclusion Officer, Valoria Armstrong, fall into the second camp.
Making a Difference Internally and Externally
Armstrong joined American Water in 2011 as an HR business partner, supporting Tennessee and Kentucky. Before joining American Water, Armstrong was employed by Food Lion as HR manager and in several key positions for 15 years.
In 2013, she was promoted to director of HR for the Central Division of American Water and led a team of HR professionals in seven states. Her responsibilities included employee and labor relations, workforce planning and staffing, performance management, and organizational development.
In her current role, Armstrong strengthens the company’s commitment to D&I by creating a comprehensive and integrated strategy to drive diversity, equity, mutual respect, and inclusiveness across the organization.
Her role, and impact, also extends beyond the organization, as she regularly engages with key external stakeholders like the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the U.S. Conference of Mayors and serves on the board of directors of the National Utilities Diversity Council, among others, to elevate awareness of the company’s culture and values.
Armstrong is also very active in local community organizations. She was the first woman and youngest president elected to lead the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 2005 to 2012, and she currently serves on a number of boards and foundations. One of Armstrong’s top priorities is challenging the community and leaders to be intentional when it comes to D&I. Motivating and encouraging young girls to know their value and to exceed any glass ceilings in their paths is her passion and is reflected in much of her community involvement.
Leading with Inclusion
As noted, diversity and inclusion are popular buzzwords in the corporate world, and they’re generally communicated in that order—diversity first, then inclusion. However, organizations that have taken the time to truly understand and embrace these concepts are increasingly putting inclusion first, and American Water is a great example of this.
“We thought it was important for us to put inclusion before diversity,” says Armstrong. “One reason being that creating that inclusive environment and that culture of respect and dignity and being free of harassment was of high value and priority for us. And second, we feel that as you create that inclusive environment of belonging, acceptance, fairness, and equity, that diversity will follow. Diversity of thoughts and diversity of individuals within a workforce.”
Companies that embrace the inclusion-first approach to D&I understand it’s much easier to attract diverse talent if they can see the organization is one where they’ll be embraced for their diversity, not sidelined or used as a stepping stone to achieve inclusiveness down the road.
Allyship and Inclusion Through Resource Groups
Employee resource groups (ERGs) are a common solution used by organizations to create inclusive cultures for traditionally underrepresented groups, like women and people of color. American Water has taken a unique and intentional approach to ERGs in its efforts to promote inclusiveness within their organization, as cutting-edge organizations often do.
For one, American Water refers to its version of these groups as employee business resource groups (EBRGs). The “business” element is important to maintain a focus on the business within these workplace groups. Using its “three Cs” model—culture as an organization, careers for its employees, and community—American Water has launched four EBRGs:
- Together We Stand—focused on African-American employees
- WE CAN—Women’s Empowerment, Champion, and Ally Network
- American Water Proud, representing the LGBTQ+ employee community
- Disabilities EBRG
American Water’s EBRGs stand out in their composition and leadership structure. “Allyship is a huge component of our EBRGs—we encourage and are expecting are EBRGs to be inclusive of all employees,” says Armstrong. “We took a unique approach with our executive sponsor. We were pretty intentional with selecting an executive sponsor who is not a representative of that group.” So, for example, the executive sponsor of Together We Stand, the African-American EBRG, is a Hispanic female, and the executive sponsor of WE CAN, the women’s EBRG, is a white male. Each group also has two co-chairs who are members of the EBRG’s group of interest.
“We received questions early on from members as to why we took that approach,” Armstrong notes. “It’s our way of creating an inclusive culture for EBRGs, but also creating a space for allies to join and have a place working with those groups.”
Casting a Broad Recruitment Net
American Water works hard to create a broad pool from which to recruit talent and has partnerships with many organizations focused on employment recruitment from diverse demographic groups such as Hispanics and military spouses and veterans to increase its diverse applicant pool. Armstrong says casting a wide recruitment net increases the likelihood of hiring the person who’s the best and most qualified out of the available applicants but who may also be a representative of an underrepresented group. If a talent pool isn’t diverse, it’s unlikely the hire will be diverse, she notes.
“The work of our talent acquisition team has been instrumental in the area of creating diverse interview panels and ensuring we have a diverse slate of candidates that we’re interviewing for jobs. The partnership that my team has with talent acquisition, our leadership team and HR is what allows for us to continue to create and move the needle of increasing diversity within our workforce,” Armstrong says.
Moving Forward
The most successful organizations in the D&I space know the work is never truly done, and American Water is one of these. The company has worked hard to objectively and critically analyze its own progress and current state to aid in planning for future improvement.
“This year we published our first annual inclusion and diversity report which provides a transparent look into our organization as it relates to our workforce demographic, the work that we’ve done within and outside our organization,” Armstrong says. “While we’ve done great work, we still have more work to do, so for us we are taking this point in time to evaluate where we are and what does success look like for us.”
Armstrong’s focus in preparing for the next 3 to 5 years is on developing robust metrics and measures to continue tracking progress on American Water’s D&I goals. It’s evident that the company—and Armstrong—will continue to be a leader in this area, doing its part to further a real, visible, and measurable focus on building D&I.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.