{"id":441333,"date":"2022-07-25T08:31:14","date_gmt":"2022-07-25T15:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/blog\/post\/the-2021-genesys-sustainability-report-join-us-on-our-journey"},"modified":"2022-07-25T08:37:36","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T15:37:36","slug":"the-2021-genesys-sustainability-report-join-us-on-our-journey","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/blog\/post\/the-2021-genesys-sustainability-report-join-us-on-our-journey","title":{"rendered":"The 2021 Genesys Sustainability Report: Join Us on Our Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following is a discussion between Eric Thomas, Global DEI Officer at Genesys and Bridgette McAdoo, Global Sustainability Officer at Genesys. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Genesys is now in the second year of building out a formal sustainability practice. After hiring Bridgette McAdoo as Global Sustainability Officer in 2020, Genesys posted its inaugural sustainability report the following year. That report established a baseline for the company and set forth the goals for Genesys in terms of contributing to a more sustainable future for the communities where we work and live.<\/p>\n

The 2021 report, which reflects results from fiscal year 2022, outlines the progress the company has made toward those goals, including double-digit reduction in emissions, increasingly diverse representation across the organisation and new ways the company is using its products for positive impact on people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

As Global DEI Officer at Genesys, I recently sat down with my colleague Bridgette McAdoo to discuss the release of the second annual sustainability report, as well as some of the successes we\u2019ve had thus far \u2014 and some of the challenges we face moving forward \u2014 in our respective practices.<\/p>\n

Eric Thomas:<\/strong> First I\u2019d like to congratulate you for completing the second annual Genesys Sustainability Report.<\/p>\n

Bridgette McAdoo: <\/strong>Thank you, Eric. And thank you for your contributions to it as well, reporting on the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practice\u2019s growth. Putting the report together \u2014 this year and last year \u2014 the conviction that we have both organisationally and from our CEO is really noteworthy.<\/p>\n

Eric:<\/strong> Yes, we\u2019ve been fortunate to have a CEO who stays committed to his convictions in terms of meeting sustainability goals and creating equity in our employee experience.<\/p>\n

Bridgette:<\/strong> Agreed. Having that backing has been huge for both of us. In less than two years, we\u2019ve gone from building our respective practices and teams to embedding DEI and sustainability into the fabric of employee roles and responsibilities. We went from \u201cawareness to ownership,\u201d as you like to say. But with that ownership comes great responsibility. Changing the culture comes with KPIs.<\/p>\n

Eric:<\/strong> That\u2019s right. And that\u2019s also why reporting this year\u2019s results is such a pleasure. We\u2019re seeing increasingly diverse representation across the organization \u2014 with double-digit growth across the majority of our areas of focus. We\u2019ve increased the number of women in leadership roles by 12% across our global workforce of more than 6,000 employees. We\u2019ve also doubled the number of Black folks in leadership roles.<\/p>\n

Bridgette:<\/strong> It\u2019s been a similar story with our journey to become carbon neutral, and we\u2019re on pace to meet our goals. Migrating customers to the cloud, IT recovery projects, and selecting green buildings and sites for our new offices are starting to pay real dividends. We moved from a \u201cbronze\u201d to \u201csilver\u201d rating from EcoVadis in just a single year, putting us in the top 25% of the companies they rate. We also signed The Climate Pledge, making us one of 300 companies to publicly pledge to reach zero emissions. You can feel the culture shifting.<\/p>\n

Eric:<\/strong> The external-facing numbers tell one story, but we\u2019re starting to gather data from our employees here to monitor progress, too. We launched the inclusion indices as a tool to measure employee satisfaction two years ago. Since then, we\u2019ve closed some gaps around \u201cfairness\u201d and \u201cbelonging\u201d by 8% and 5%, respectively, over the previous year. We also had noteworthy attrition among underrepresented groups that we\u2019ve worked hard to close over the past year. The KPIs don\u2019t lie.<\/p>\n

Bridgette:<\/strong> A year ago, we made it a stated goal to \u201cpositively impact 1 million lives\u201d through our work, and we really have moved the needle a lot more than I thought we\u2019d be able to in such a short time. We had incredible results with our food drive last winter and raised more than a quarter of a million dollars for aid and relief in Ukraine. Through giving, volunteerism and our Product for Good program, we\u2019ve created a measurable impact. Our partnership with Be My Eyes is a perfect example of how our product can help people with unique needs, such as visual impairment. Thinking holistically about our\u00a0 sustainability and DEI strategies creates the opportunity to\u00a0find creative solutions.<\/p>\n

Eric:<\/strong> Agreed. Merging sustainability goals with business goals and embedding DEI principles across our business practices really are quite similar goals. The tasks related to them might be different, but the goals are very similar.<\/p>\n

Bridgette: <\/strong>Building our cloud business and supporting customers who want to migrate from on-premises to cloud-based customer support systems is probably the most obvious example of an area that\u2019s both good for business and<\/em> the environment. The benefit to the business is tangible for all involved, but we also can reduce our customer\u2019s<\/em> carbon footprint by at least 80% compared to on-prem systems.<\/p>\n

Another example that really jumps out is the benefits that will soon be quantifiable from new, more efficient offices. Our new office in Galway, Ireland, as well as our new headquarters in Menlo Park are both expected to achieve LEED Platinum status. Where do you see this type of overlap between the business goals and DEI?<\/p>\n

Eric:<\/strong> Well, the answers tend to be more nuanced and our path to creating a practice that creates obvious business value is somewhat different. In the first year of our DEI efforts, we focused on building a solid foundation for a long-term, sustainable set of practices. We built infrastructure around diversity-focused recruiting practices. We created methodologies for measuring \u201cfairness\u201d and \u201cbelonging\u201d in the employee experience. And we bolstered our learning and development curriculum to educate our workforce. We had to teach folks what an inclusive culture looks like and then work directly with HR leaders to embed equity into our processes, practices and policies.<\/p>\n

In our second year, our focus has shifted a bit. We\u2019re engaging more intimately with business leaders to embed the principles of DEI into their daily business practices. We also need to take a very hands-on approach to ensure that corporate DEI initiatives are a key part of the operating rhythm. We\u2019ve also evolved our analytical and reporting capabilities to provide visibility into how various leaders are performing against goals. So, it\u2019s not a short answer.<\/p>\n

Our goal is to demonstrate the business value of diverse, inclusive, equitably compensated and governed teams over time. Department by department. Team by team. We\u2019ll start to see the connection to profitability and business value more over time. As we pivot from engagement to ownership, we\u2019ll see more of the story emerge. How have you been able to create a culture of action around sustainability in such a short time?<\/p>\n

Bridgette:<\/strong> As you know, it\u2019s not easy. But we\u2019ve deployed a couple of tactics that have helped employees to be more engaged. First, we recruited a global team of sustainability ambassadors to promote our efforts. Our ambassadors are our advocates and innovators, coming up with new ideas and creating programs that extend and amplify our efforts. They\u2019re on the frontlines of change.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve also created an entire month of activities around Earth Day in April that you were a big part of this year. Sustainability Month is an opportunity for us to create a persistent drumbeat to our messaging for a whole month that really emphasises our holistic approach and shows people the myriad ways they can get involved \u2014 from education to philanthropy, volunteering opportunities to tips on sustainability for employees to use in their personal lives.<\/p>\n

This is a team sport, and we need each employee to participate for us to win. We really need everyone across our value chain to join us on our journey. I\u2019ve been saying that for a couple of months now, but my goal is really to make sustainability an organic extension of not only how we live but how we work.<\/p>\n

Eric:<\/strong> It\u2019s really the same with DEI in that regard. The connection to personal life is a little more tenuous, but hopefully some of the principles of DEI that we espouse are starting to find their way into people\u2019s personal lives as well as their professional ones.<\/p>\n

Our efforts to embed DEI principles within the operating fabric of how we show up at work is now a truly global concern. We\u2019ve been using our Better Together events to develop intercultural competencies since day one. And now we\u2019re getting more granular \u2014 digging in on a region-by-region basis to embrace the richness of our global team and our shared humanity. And we\u2019ve seen the passionate response within regional diversity councils that will expand our ability to foster a sense of inclusion and belonging around the globe.<\/p>\n

Bridgette:<\/strong> It truly takes all of us.<\/p>\n

Eric:<\/strong> Indeed it does.<\/p>\n

Bridgette:<\/strong> Moving forward together will take us all further and faster than moving alone.<\/p>\n

Eric:<\/strong> Congratulations again on your team\u2019s progress \u2014 all of our progress, really. I look forward to seeing where this work takes us both.<\/p>\n

Bridgette: <\/strong>Thank you, Eric.<\/p>\n

For more information, read the Sustainability Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following is a discussion between Eric Thomas, Global DEI Officer at Genesys and Bridgette McAdoo, Global Sustainability Officer at Genesys. Genesys is now in the second year of building out a formal sustainability practice. After hiring Bridgette McAdoo as Global Sustainability Officer in 2020, Genesys posted its inaugural sustainability report the following year. That report […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":437953,"template":"","tax_priority":[],"tax_blogtype":[17751],"tax_blogcategory":[15963,16070],"tax_contenttheme":[14916,14850,14912],"tax_bundle":[],"tax_contenttheme2":[],"tax_capability_sitewide":[],"tax_products_programs":[],"tax_buying_job":[],"tax_buyer_persona":[],"tax_sector":[],"tax_segment":[],"class_list":["post-441333","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tax_blogtype-genesys-en-gb","tax_blogcategory-announcements-en-gb","tax_blogcategory-inside-genesys-en-gb","tax_contenttheme-grow-your-business-en-gb","tax_contenttheme-improve-customer-experience-en-gb","tax_contenttheme-improve-employee-experience-en-gb"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/441333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/185"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/441333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":441338,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/441333\/revisions\/441338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tax_priority","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_priority?post=441333"},{"taxonomy":"tax_blogtype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_blogtype?post=441333"},{"taxonomy":"tax_blogcategory","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_blogcategory?post=441333"},{"taxonomy":"tax_contenttheme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_contenttheme?post=441333"},{"taxonomy":"tax_bundle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_bundle?post=441333"},{"taxonomy":"tax_contenttheme2","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_contenttheme2?post=441333"},{"taxonomy":"tax_capability_sitewide","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_capability_sitewide?post=441333"},{"taxonomy":"tax_products_programs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_products_programs?post=441333"},{"taxonomy":"tax_buying_job","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_buying_job?post=441333"},{"taxonomy":"tax_buyer_persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_buyer_persona?post=441333"},{"taxonomy":"tax_sector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_sector?post=441333"},{"taxonomy":"tax_segment","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_segment?post=441333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}