Episode 39 – Establishing a DEI Program

Welcome to the TRSA podcast. Providing interviews and insights from the linen, uniform, and facility services industry. Most Americans might not realize it, but they benefit at least once per week from the cleanliness and safety of laundered, reusable linens, uniforms, towels, mats, and other products provided by various businesses and organizations. TRSA represents the companies that supply, launder, and maintain linens and uniforms. And in this podcast, we will bring the thought leaders of the industry to you.

 

Thanks for tuning in to the Linen Uniform and Facility Services podcast, interviews and insights by TRSA. I’m your host, Jason Risley. On the last episode of the show, we discussed the fundamentals of teamwork and how building a cohesive team at your linen uniform and facility services business can lead to extraordinary results. On today’s episode, we’ll explore corporate culture and the benefits of establishing a diversity, equity, and inclusion program at your company. Joe Garrity, the chief operating officer and chief people officer at Image First, will share how establishing a DEI program with buy in from the company’s senior leadership team has helped Image First boost employee morale and productivity.

 

I appreciate this opportunity to share about our special DEI program. I hope I gave you some practical insights. I take pride in being very practical, very simple. So how did Image First come to the decision on creating a DEI initiative? It’s actually a great story.

 

Many of my team will tell you it’s there’s always a Joe story. It starts with a commitment to our operating principles. And when you look at that those operating principles, that’s how we run our business. It’s not just something hanging on the wall. You will find them every place we gather as a team, offices, break rooms, any place decisions are made.

 

So that’s how we run the business, and we’re continuously looking for opportunities to advance the components of our operating principles. We want to live them better every day. The current social environment made us more aware of opportunities and differences in our views. The the times really challenge us to try to better understand our differences. When you look at our purpose, for example, our our purpose is to build a great company by positively impacting the lives of our associates, our community, our customers, and our patients.

 

Seems clear, doesn’t it? Or does it? Our number one goal is having an associate’s take pride in achieving their best. But what does this all mean? It really depends on your perspective.

 

Doesn’t it? It depends on your view. And with the multicultural workforce, we have many many views, don’t we? So how do we better understand each other’s views and align as a team? At Image First, we have over 24 100 associates.

 

So we have over 24 100 views of what this thing means. So our CEO, Jim Cashman, he challenged us. He asked us to address that. You know, as we’re growing so rapidly, how do we better align our team and get us all to better understand our operating principles, which are the core of running the business. So Jamie Rivers, our VP of HR, she has established a team of associate influencers.

 

We call these people influencers because these people are like disciples of a message. They’re high energy people that really wanna promote the cause. So Jamie with her team, with the help of a consultant, they established our 1st DEI committee. So we kicked off our DEI program. We actually call it our diversity, inclusion and belonging program.

 

We kicked it off in July 2020. In a short period of time, they’ve really made an amazing difference culturally and operationally. So and I got that dual role, COO and CPO. It’s like, how does that mix? But we all would agree, if you’re gonna get operating results, you’ve gotta get it through people.

 

So so my dual role helps me take initiatives like this and make operational impact. But let me give give you a great example of the impact they’ve had. When you look at what’s going on with the COVID vaccine, there are various opinions on whether it’s good or bad. Understanding one’s views of the COVID vaccine, it’s a challenge. But what our DEI committee has done is, they’ve helped us understand those opposing views.

 

What they’ve also done is they’ve helped us create an educational program that’s really targeted to our associate audience. And they’ve done amazing things. They’ve helped us create our training program. So this committee is making stuff happen. This committee is just not informed in substance, they’re doing things.

 

So when I talk about this COVID education, for example, this committee went out, found doctors with diverse backgrounds, speaking multiple languages, who could talk directly to our associate population. Then they went out and they took some of our associates who believe in the shot and who have educational views. They interviewed them. They videotape these interviews, and they use them for training the rest of our team. And so I could go on, but this team is actually making stuff happen.

 

I think as you can see, I I highly recommend. So I believe the effectiveness of our DEI program, it’s due to our senior leadership commitment, connection with our operating principles, and really caring about our associates wanting to bridge that gap and make sure we’re better aligned. That’s what led to our decision. Now for a brief message from TRSA. This Mother’s Day, give mom the gift she really wants, the gift of sitting down for a fine dining experience with delicious food surrounded by loved ones.

 

There’s nothing quite like the ambiance of the white table linen experience on Mother’s Day. Call and make your reservations today. Now back to the episode. Your culture’s gotta be ready. Your culture’s gotta be ready.

 

The program must be sincere. The committee must be able to do stuff as I shared. As I shared, our RDI committee is a byproduct of our culture and commitment to our associates and our operating principles. But it took a long time to create an environment of trust. We’ve created an environment of trust that our team knows that this initiative is real, that it’s purposeful, and it’s gonna be effective.

 

Because of this, when we launched this, we were overwhelmed with volunteers. We had people, a lot of people, wanting to be on the committee because they knew it was sincere. They knew that culture of trust. When we told them it was gonna do, it was probably gonna happen. So make sure there’s a, a cultural foundation of trust.

 

The DEI committee and the initiatives are going to create some discomfort, because we all will be challenged to think differently. We’re gonna be challenged, so you have to have a foundation of trust. Okay? If you do have that foundation of trust, the discomfort will be productive, and it’ll help you and the team grow together. So my one piece of advice is ensure you have a culture of trust before you embark in this endeavor.

 

It was great to hear Joe share the importance of the DEI committee to Image First and its employees. If you have any thoughts on establishing a DEI committee at your company that you’d like to share with the show, please send us an email at podcasts attrsa.org. That’s podcasts attrsa.org. If you’d like more information on diversity, equity, and inclusion, make sure you tune in to TRSA’s upcoming 2 part webinar series on Racial Equity and Workplace Culture. The first webinar broadcast is scheduled for May 6th, with part 2 of the series following on May 13th.

 

For details and to sign up for the 2 part series, visit www.trsa.org / events. The 2 part series is sponsored by TRSA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. For more information on TRSA’s DEI Committee, contact Salida Jones at sjones@trsa.org. Thanks again for tuning in, and please subscribe, rate, and review our show on Apple Itunes, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher. Additionally, don’t forget to follow TRSA on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.