In Between Interviews: FiscalNote Uses DEI as a Lever for Change

In our latest episode of In Between Interviews – our insightful video series featuring talent acquisition experts and DEI leaders – the FiscalNote team joined us to discuss how they built a successful Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Accessibility (DEIBA) program.

FiscalNote’s DEIBA team – led by Lillian Bijl, Senior Director of Accounts Management, and Charlene Carter, Committees Editor – were our guests for this episode titled “DEIBA as a Lever for Change.”

Lillian and Charlene have been instrumental in building FiscalNote’s DEIBA strategy from the ground up. And, they talk to our SVP of Customer Success, Jessica Green, about the reality of starting their DEIBA program and how they’ve made it an impactful resource for their company.

Improvements to DEIBA started with employee feedback

During the interview, FiscalNote’s team shared a crucial aspect of their process to establish DEIBA rather than a traditional DEI program. Their first step was conducting a company-wide survey on DEI. Next, FiscalNote identified the needs of the employees. Finally, the DEIBA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Accessibility) was created as a result.

These surveys led FiscalNote’s DEI task force to prioritize DEIBA, not just DEI, to address concerns and preferences around belonging and accessibility across the organization. Today, the task force includes several employees within FiscalNote.

In addition, the surveys helped the task force to realize that accessibility is essential for FiscalNote employees. Therefore, the committee added the “A” because of the new challenges employees face in a more technology-based environment.

Accessibility – defined as the inclusive practice of ensuring there are no barriers that prevent access for any employee – is a critical component that differentiates DEIBA from other typical DEI programs.

Lillian explained further, “What does accessibility mean as we are talking about driving our mission forward? We want to ensure people have the right information at the right time to make the right decisions.” She said, “If we are not able to open the platforms based on their needs, then we are not living out our mission,” she concluded.

FiscalNote Discovers Areas of Opportunity for DEIBA

According to Charlene, onboarding was the first thing to address and the most significant opportunity for the group.

“Onboarding was a huge gap when I started. Therefore it was the first step to address when building DEIBA.” As a result of that intentional launch, the team found the following solutions improved the DEIBA program.

Important takeaways from the DEIBA discussion

It’s important to have a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy to create a more equitable and inclusive workplace. Below are some key takeaways from a recent discussion on the topic that you can implement into your own DEI strategy.

It’s important to keep a pulse on what is happening in the organization around diversity. Conducting an organization-wide survey helps to assess your company’s DEI needs.
Create a mission statement for your organization around DEI and differentiate it based on your company’s needs.

Onboarding is an essential piece for organizations to focus on. Have a dedicated point person to welcome the new employee into the organization. There should be a measurable shift in DEI across the organization over time.

This episode wrapped up with a discussion on the importance of intersectionality in DEI efforts. Lillian and Charlene shared their thoughts on how an organization can measure the success of the DEI program.

Engagement is an essential measurable variable of success. According to Charlene, surveys are a significant component of establishing a DEI Strategy. “I can’t stress enough how important surveys are when creating a DEI strategy for your company,” she concluded.

By doing pulse checks and surveys, an organization can understand how employees are involved and excited about DEIBA and the efforts of diversifying existing programs.

For example, their DEIBA task force saw an uptick of employees raising their hands to get involved and implement more programming. This indicated that their programming was working and sparked change throughout the organization.

DEIBA is just one of many DEI-centric topics covered in our In Between Interviews series

Check out our complete episode to discover how they continue evolving FiscalNote’s DEI initiatives and processes and leveraging DEI surveys and other resources and tools to guide their business’ DEIBA journey.

Further reading