Elevate Your Workplace Experience with Citigroup's Allyship 365

The Next Practices Weekly call series has become a well-attended and wide-ranging discussion for HR leaders each Thursday at 11am ET / 8am PT. On this week's call, i4cp's Eric Davis and Nina Holtsberry, along with Jacqui Robertson, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Cleveland Clinic, facilitated a conversation with special guest Samantha "Sam" Santos, Managing Director, Global Head of D&I Strategy, at Citi. Here are some highlights from the call:

• Santos began by noting that DE&I at Citi is a journey. She said that they have five DE&I pillars:
  • How are we promoting Citi's diverse employer of choice brand
  • What are we doing to manage and develop talent?
  • How are we fostering an inclusive culture?
  • How are we driving accountability?
  • How are engaging our clients?
• We asked participants the following ranking-style poll question: "How prepared are the following groups in your organization to address resistance to its DE&I efforts?" This is overall ranking order that event participants indicated, from most prepared to least prepared:
  • DE&I function
  • HR function
  • Senior leaders
  • Mid-level managers
  • Frontline managers
• Citi has over 250 chapters across their inclusion network. They ran an "Allyship Day," which turned into "Allyship Month" and eventually "Allyship 365." It is important to focus on allyship year round, because allyship can take many forms, it is iterative, and people can range in being a very active ally to one group and a more passive ally to another group. Part of this program involves clearly defining for all employees what being an ally means, giving tools for people to discuss their allyship, and more.
• At Citi, an ally is an individual who is actively choosing to be an upstander, rather than a bystander, in caring for and contributing to people of underrepresented groups. Allyship is the practice of supporting and advocating for marginalized groups that vary from one's own identity or identities.
• Key objectives of Allyship 365 at Citi are:
  • Activate allyship year-round
  • Encourage participation in DEI activities
  • Provide tools and resources to increase understanding of being an active ally
  • Foster inclusive culture and sense of belonging
  • Enhance DEI acumen
  • Cross-collaboration of Citi Inclusion Networks offering intersectional programming to increase awareness
• Citi is coming up on the 1-year anniversary of Allyship 365 and so are doing the following:
  • Creation of new Manager AllyGuide in addition firm-wide guide
  • Campaign to increase membership in the Allyship 365 community.
  • Rollout of new DEI learning offerings
  • Launch Allyship Passport
  • #CitiAllyversary campaign

Links to resources shared on the call:

• Upcoming i4cp virtual events
• i4cp's Next Practices Now conference
• Information on i4cp Membership
• i4cp's report (available to all): 2024 Priorities and Predictions