Learning Diversity From Larger Companies

• Small businesses can use diversity initiatives scaled down from larger enterprises.
• The D&I efforts of financial services company Synchrony provide a playbook for small businesses to follow.
• Online resources and nonprofits can help small businesses address diversity.

At small businesses, where just surviving can seem like a 24-hour-a-day task, it can be hard to find the time to create a diversity and inclusion program. But by taking what’s worked at larger companies and scaling it down to fit a smaller company’s size and resources, small businesses can quickly address the diversity and inclusion among their employees, customers and suppliers. 

Synchrony, the 17,000+-employee financial services company that financed more than $139 billion in purchase volume by American consumers last year, provides an example of an effective diversity playbook. Headquartered in Stamford, Ct., it has offices in many locations across the United States, including Alpharetta, Ga., a northern suburb of Atlanta. Its U.S. workforce is 43% people of color, including 20% Black, 12% Latinx and 8% Asian employees. 

Like many companies both large and small, Synchrony felt the need to expand its D&I efforts in the wake of the national reckoning regarding systemic racism following the 2020 killings by police of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others. “More generally, leaders should work to drive inclusion throughout the company,” says Brian Doubles, President and CEO, Synchrony. “This means constantly looking for ways to elevate marginalized voices, eliminate unconscious bias and invest in diversity — for example, through programs that provide leadership development opportunities to members of underrepresented groups.”

To focus its efforts, the company has increasingly “incorporated data into what we do and the decisions we make,” says Michael Matthews, Synchrony’s Chief Diversity, Inclusion and Corporate Responsibility Officer. A year after the firm expanded its programs, small businesses can look to Synchrony’s progress for guidance on where to invest resources.

Here’s what the numbers say about Synchrony’s progress in three areas it has targeted for improvement:

Workforce Development and Inclusion

No matter their size, companies report that keeping diverse employees on staff is one of their toughest challenges. Synchrony created two initiatives to improve employee retention: Senior vice presidents mentored diverse employees over the course of nine months, providing them with opportunities to showcase their skills, and the company’s top executives served as sponsors of diverse employees and helped role model the skills needed to become a senior vice president. 

Twenty-nine diverse employees participated in the two programs, and within the initiative’s first year, almost half had moved into new roles at the company. By looking at data on where diverse employees work in the company and where job openings are, “we uncovered opportunities that we may not have known about without reviewing the data,” says Matthews. 

The company has also put additional resources into hiring more diverse employees. It’s tied the number of new diverse hires to the performance metrics of its leaders and has expanded recruiting partnerships with a number of historically Black colleges and universities and with professional groups focused on improving diversity. 

In April, Synchrony also joined the OneTen coalition, founded by 37 large companies that have collectively promised to “train, hire and advance 1 million Black individuals into family-sustaining American jobs over the next decade.” The group also includes educational organizations that train diverse talent. 

OneTen isn’t just for big companies, Matthews says, and similar groups are active on the local level, which may be ideal for small businesses. “You can’t fix D&I on your own, and there are coalitions across the country like OneTen that will help you move the needle in the D&I space,” says Matthews. This year, Synchrony will also launch a reskilling center at its Stamford headquarters that will train individuals from underrepresented backgrounds and assist with job placement.

Diversity Resources and Support 

Diversity is about more than just hiring more diverse employees; it’s also about changing behaviors of employees already on staff. In the last year, the company has expanded its team of wellness coaches to nine individuals who advise employees about both their physical and psychological  health and help Synchrony leaders hold challenging diversity conversations with their teams. The coaches include Black, Asian, Latinx, female and LGBTQ+ representation—evidence that “D&I needs to be infused in everything we do,” Matthews says.

More than 150 employees helped craft the company’s revised unconscious-bias training, launching this fall, and all employees globally are required to take a Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace learning course this year, with close to 9,000 completions to date. “Many of our strongest initiatives are led by our employees, with great passion for driving change,” says Matthews.

With fewer resources, a small business can use online materials—like those featured at the bottom of most articles in this special report—to host team training sessions on unconscious bias and related topics. “It can also be as simple as having honest conversations about diversity with your employees,” says Matthews.

Racial Equality and Social Reform

In May, Synchrony committed to spending $50 million over five years to promote education equity for underrepresented communities and its own workforce with its new citizenship initiative, Education as an Equalizer. That includes $20 million granted through the Synchrony Foundation to academic institutions, nonprofits and skills-credentialing organizations, and $5 million to support national nonprofit organizations working to bring about social justice, combat systemic racism and make a difference in the lives of Black Americans.

The initiative was built in partnership with Synchrony’s employee diversity networks—eight groups promoting Black, Asian, Latinx and other diverse workers. More than 60% of the company’s workforce is involved in one or more of the networks. “The launch of this initiative is a true representation of the voices of our diverse workforce, and it shows the importance of bringing employees along on the journey,” says Matthews.

One way a business of any size can begin to tackle diversity is to ask its employees for ideas on initiatives or education they would like to see put in place. Even more important than the amount of money involved is that the initiative captures the voices of Synchrony employees, says Matthews.

“What’s made the most difference in the past year, across all three areas of focus, has been the notion that diversity and inclusion has to be part of everything we do within Synchrony,” Matthews says. “It’s the level of dedication that matters most, and small businesses can commit to promoting diversity as easily—maybe even more easily—as large enterprises.”

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