Judith Williams, the head of the people sustainability and the chief diversity and inclusion officer at the top-ranked employer when it comes to diversity and inclusion at work, shares her passion for fairness and equality.
Judith Williams spearheaded the diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts of tech giants such as Google and Dropbox before joining SAP as the head of its people sustainability and chief D&I officer in the year 2018.
The German company has received acknowledgment for its efforts in recruiting and promoting diversity and inclusion at work. This led to Forbes naming SAP as the best employer for diversity for 2020.
Williams believed that the recognition was beneficial because it came at an important era of D&I when the companies are putting more attention to it.
First of all, Williams acknowledged that there was a need to get access to data to show the lack of diversity in the workforce, which was particularly common in the tech industry.
In her interview with CNBC, Williams shared her experience when she was Google’s global D&I program manager from 2011 to 2015. She noted that they spent a lot of time trying to get the attention of the leaders. According to her, things have changed as more people become more persistent in asking when no one in the company would not answer questions about diversity and inclusion.
In her statement, she said:
“It’s become a different kind of conversation.”
The turning point in diversity and inclusion can be attributed to the public making sure that companies are accountable for remedying the lack of representation at work instead of only proving that it is a concern that needs to be addressed.
A study conducted by the National Urban League in 2018 reported that less than 3{8bf2b29f36318f0ac46ab1cc03d7035abce669a1cea16c9ed62389a818fa22fd} of tech workers identify as black at big companies such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Uber.
And it is important to note that even today’s youths are particular in saying that they consider gender and diversity as essential factors in seeking a potential employer as revealed by the Deloitte’s 2019 Millennial Survey.
However, Williams clarified that her work, although focused on turning awareness into action, does not mean it should lead to more programming. She noted that once the attention comes, it’s a result of the hard work of changing the culture, which is not an easy feat for a company with more than a hundred thousand global employees.
Williams noted that through all the problems, she starts and ends with data. The figures from the data help her create a strategy, set expectations, establish accountability, and measure results.
According to Williams, when she first started with SAP, they were more focused on programming. Her responsibilities involved shifting the conversation to an outcomes-based strategy.
One of the initiatives created towards outcomes-based strategy was SAP’s Project Propel. This built a partnership between SAP and Historically Black Colleges and Universities to develop career opportunities for undergraduates and MBA students who have received software education from the company.
Williams shared that she is looking to scale her work instead of being intimidated by the problems she needed to solve.
She said:
“I want to change the world…I’m passionate about fairness and equity and thinking.”
