SMUD: Weaving Diversity and Inclusion Throughout the Company

There are many strategies a company can employ to retain diverse talent once it’s been hired, but for SMUD’s Laurie Rodriguez, it all boils down to one, critical element: “I believe it all starts with company culture,” said Rodriguez, Director of Human Resources, Diversity and Inclusion at the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD).

“Our philosophy is that we respect everyone’s values and celebrate diversity,” Rodriguez said. “That covers gender and ethnicity, but it also means an employee’s unique attributes, characteristics and perspective – the things that really make individuals who they are. Everybody recognizes the power and strength of inclusiveness to make this a great place to work. Providing that is a tall order, but it really does strengthen retention.”

And that makes the company stronger, she said. “Research shows that with a diverse group of people, you accomplish so much more for the bottom line.”

To ensure the company is doing all it can to make its employees feel valued, SMUD employs multiple strategies all focused on creating and maintaining an inclusive culture. These include exit and “stay” interviews, at which employees are asked why they leave or choose to stay with the company; leadership development programs; and embedding diversity and inclusion efforts throughout company programs and initiatives, Rodriguez said.

“You need a diversity and inclusion office,” she said, “but really we should be putting it into everything we do, so that it impacts what our employees experience every single day.”

For example, she said, SMUD has seven Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), representing women, Latinos, African Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, LGBTQ, military/veterans and young professionals. But these groups aren’t just there to provide SMUD’s diverse workforce segments with support and mentoring from people with similar backgrounds. SMUD also taps into its ERGs to assist with a variety of business processes, providing opportunities for them to help build the talent pipeline by helping Human Resources with outreach. ERG members help with recruiting outreach at job fairs and schools and work with organizations such as the Rainbow Chamber, Tech Latino, Greater Sacramento Urban League and the California Department of Veterans Affairs.

“Recruiting is a business process,” said Rodriguez. ERGs are also available to assist with wellness programs as well as market research, ensuring the company understands how to connect with diverse segments of the population it serves.

The company also finds ways to organically celebrate the differing cultures and perspectives of those in its workforce, said Rodriguez, through fun initiatives such as its “What Powers You” events which invite employees to share photos of things that make them feel empowered. The activity highlights company diversity, she said, through the wide variety of contributions from employees of different ages, genders and ethnicities. “All these photos illustrate the rich diversity of our employees,” said Rodriguez.

One of the more intentional efforts SMUD has undertaken was to make company leadership and those sitting on interview panels more aware of their own implicit biases, through a training program they continue to refresh and employ.

“For example, in our Accelerated Leader Program, rather than only having a module on D&I, we are weaving D&I through all aspects and content of the program,” Rodriguez said.

SMUD also conducts surveys to monitor how well it’s doing and which aspects of the company culture need greater attention.

“When we asked what would make this a better place to work, we heard people saying they wanted more inclusiveness for different ages and ethnicities. We can see that this is top of mind and we are continuing to explore that,” Rodriguez said.

SMUD has been making progress in increasing its diverse hires, she noted. “Our workforce demographics over the last four years show increased representation in several key areas, including female and ethnic representation in our workforce.”

But the company knows it has more work to do, including additional training to boost employee trust in top-level executives.

“It has to start at the top,” Rodriguez said. “But it doesn’t end there. We’re all responsible for diversity and inclusion.”