In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, the intersection of environmental sustainability and technology is more critical than ever. A recent survey by Gartner^® highlights this shift: “64 percent of CEOs said they view environmental sustainability as a growth opportunity.”¹ I believe this perspective is further bolstered by the inclusion of sustainable technology in the Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2024 ² report, which, in my opinion, signals a clear readiness among executives to weave sustainability into the fabric of their organizations.

The role of IT in achieving sustainability goals

As organizations across all industries aim to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and achieve carbon neutrality, IT leaders are finding themselves at the forefront of this transformative journey. Digital transformation initiatives that focused on accelerating business outcomes are now being realigned to incorporate sustainability goals, enhancing organizational resilience and setting a foundation for sustainable growth.

Around the globe, governments are steering the shift towards sustainability through a mix of initiatives, including the implementation of carbon taxes, voluntary schemes, and rigorous regulations. This shift is further accelerated by the expanding mandate for detailed corporate sustainability disclosures.

The evolving regulatory framework, highlighted by new directives from entities like the European Union and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is significantly influencing corporate strategies. In particular, the SEC’s pending revision of its climate-related disclosure rules introduces heightened levels of transparency, compelling organizations to meticulously report their direct (scope 1) and indirect (scope 2) GHG emissions in relevant operational areas.

The challenges ahead

Despite the clear mandate, IT leaders face several challenges integrating sustainability into their strategies. These include a scarcity of expertise in sustainable IT implementation, complexities associated with hybrid cloud environments, inefficiencies across IT lifecycles, controlling the energy demands of advanced language models in generative AI, and coordinating myriad supplier relationships.

As the surge in the Internet of Things (IoT) devices and advancements in generative AI exert unprecedented stress on data centers across the globe, research from McKinsey & Company shows that the connected devices that employees use every day—laptops, tablets, smartphones, and printers—generate 1.5 to 2 times more carbon globally than data centers.

And those devices are expected to reach 55.7 billion by 2025. While the sheer volume alone demands a critical examination of the environmental impact of technology, a Capgemini report highlights the current disconnect in the perceived responsibility. It found that a staggering 89 percent of companies recycle less than 10 percent of their IT hardware, and globally, only 43 percent of executives are aware of their organization’s IT footprint.

Tackling these issues requires a comprehensive strategy that includes concrete actions to address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles, energy consumption, and sustainable practices, alongside organization-wide adherence to regulations. With the growing demand for computing resources to support evolving technologies like generative artificial intelligence (AI), the environmental footprint of technological advancements can no longer be overlooked.

While generative AI is credited with improving process efficiency, it also has some GHG concerns of its own. A recent joint study by Hugging Face AI and Carnegie Mellon found a stark difference in the energy usage of generative AI for imagery and text. MIT Technology Review explains it this way, “Generating 1,000 images with a powerful AI model … is responsible for roughly as much carbon dioxide as driving … 4.1 miles in an average gasoline-powered car. [The] least carbon-intensive text generation model … was responsible for as much CO₂ as driving 0.0006 miles in a similar vehicle.” And yet, PwC’s 2023 Emerging Tech Survey found that just 22 percent of business leaders were concerned about sustainability impact when citing issues with deploying generative AI.

A call to action for IT leaders

IT leaders play a key role in advancing sustainability within their organizations. While there’s a gap between aspirations and realization, this presents a unique opportunity rather than a barrier.

SustainableIT.org highlights that many IT organizations have yet to fully embrace ESG mandates, frequently due to implementation hurdles and the absence of standardized carbon footprint evaluation frameworks. However, this scenario offers IT leaders a chance to step up, utilizing their distinct skills and connections to spearhead meaningful sustainable transformation.

Through such proactive leadership, IT departments can transform from being seen as part of the problem to becoming an integral part of the solution, driving forward not only the sustainability agenda but also reinforcing an organization’s commitment to social responsibility and ethical governance. In doing so, IT leaders contribute to the global effort to combat climate change while also enhancing their organization’s reputation, attracting and retaining talent, and potentially realizing significant cost savings through more efficient resource use.

Five steps towards sustainable IT

• Define clear sustainability targets: Start by setting specific, measurable, and ambitious sustainability goals that align with broader standards. Identify critical areas for improvement and commit to ongoing progress in reducing your IT footprint.
• Engage with suppliers for sustainability: Work closely with your suppliers to ensure they adopt environmentally responsible practices and materials. This collaborative approach amplifies your sustainability impact and encourages a shift towards greener industry practices.
• Leverage technology for efficiency: Use automation and other technological innovations to streamline operations, reducing energy use and waste. Optimizing processes and embracing cloud solutions can also help significantly reduce your energy consumption.
• Advocate for sustainable policies: Actively support policies and regulations that encourage sustainability in the tech industry. Engage in dialogues, participate in forums, and advocate for green practices to help shape a more sustainable regulatory environment.
• Cultivate a culture of sustainability: Educate and inspire your team to adopt sustainable practices. Offer training, encourage innovative ideas for sustainability, and recognize efforts to meet your environmental goals, fostering a workplace that values green initiatives.

BMC: Our sustainable IT journey

At BMC, we’re on a path towards sustainability, aiming to become a net-zero enterprise by 2030. Through a holistic approach that addresses emission inefficiencies across the business, BMC is advancing its own sustainability agenda and empowering our customers to do the same. By offering expertise in sustainable transformation, operational efficiency solutions, and visibility into workload optimization, BMC is at the forefront of driving sustainable change in the IT sector and beyond.

Conclusion

For IT leaders, the call to action is clear: sustainability must be integrated into the heart of IT strategy and operations. By setting clear goals, adopting green practices, collaborating with suppliers, optimizing operations, and advocating for supportive policies, IT leaders can drive their organizations towards a more sustainable and prosperous future. The path forward requires a collective effort and a transformative approach, but the rewards are immense—for the planet, for people, and for prosperity.

¹Gartner Podcast, Why All Executives Should Focus on Sustainable Technology to Drive Growth, October 17, 2023. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

² Gartner Article, Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2024, Ava McCartney, October 16, 2023.

The holiday season brings with it a spirit of joy, gratitude, and generosity. In the corporate world, this festive atmosphere provides an opportunity for organizations to embrace corporate citizenship, recognizing the importance of giving back to communities in need. Here at BMC, we strive to think globally and act locally, serving the communities where we live and work around the world. Our annual “Season of Giving” program embodies this ethos, extending warm holiday wishes to our clients and making a meaningful impact by funding 100,000 meals worldwide through the GlobalGiving platform.

Corporate citizenship encapsulates the idea that businesses have a responsibility to contribute positively to society. In the current landscape, consumers and employees increasingly favor companies with a strong sense of social responsibility.

While the Season of Giving showcases our commitment to philanthropy and encourages a culture of compassion within our organization, it is also intricately woven into the fabric of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These 17 global goals serve as a blueprint for a better and more sustainable future, addressing a wide range of challenges from poverty and hunger to climate action and equality.

The foremost goal we contribute to is SDG 2: Zero Hunger. By funding 100,000 meals through GlobalGiving, an online platform connecting donors with grassroots projects around the world, we are providing meals to those in need and addressing hunger and food insecurity, an issue that affects 1.3 billion individuals, on a global scale. The Season of Giving directly supports the aim of achieving food security and improved nutrition and contributes to the broader agenda of sustainable development.

Our commitment also aligns with SDG 1: No Poverty, as we recognize the integral link between hunger and poverty. By addressing immediate nutritional needs, we contribute to breaking the cycle of poverty and creating pathways to economic empowerment for individuals and communities.

Our corporate citizenship initiatives also touch upon other SDGs, such as SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being, by promoting access to nutritious meals; SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, by supporting initiatives that create employment opportunities in the food supply chain; and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals, by collaborating with organizations like GlobalGiving to amplify our impact.

The importance of giving back as an organization also fosters a sense of purpose and unity among employees, instilling pride in being part of a company that prioritizes social impact. While engaging in philanthropic endeavors does help strengthen the corporate brand, more importantly, it also creates a positive work environment, attracting and retaining talent that appreciate a sense of community and shared values, and it’s an investment in our collective future.

As organizations, we have a unique opportunity to channel the collective goodwill of the season into initiatives that address pressing societal issues. In addition to the Season of Giving program, BMC employees give back in other ways during the holidays—volunteering their time, donating to local charities, and organizing workplace giving campaigns. We also encourage our employees to give back by signing up to be virtual literacy tutors for Joy Education Foundation, and our multilingual employees to become humanitarian aid worker translators on the Tarjimly App. On a one-to-one level, we promote sending a text or card of gratitude to someone who has made a difference in their life or day.

Corporate citizenship is a commitment to making a positive impact on the world. We hope that our Season of Giving exemplifies this commitment by aligning holiday greetings with honoring our clients and providing meals to those in need. As businesses, let us recognize the importance of giving back, not only during the holidays but throughout the year, ensuring that our corporate success contributes to the well-being of the global community we serve.

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend the United Nations (UN) Women HeForShe Summit in New York, accompanied by BMC Chief Financial Officer Marc Rothman. At the Summit, UN Women unveiled the powerful theme of #RespectfullyDisruptive, calling for a collective disruption of global inequalities. This theme emphasizes the urgent need to challenge the status quo and chart a new course toward gender equality, with men as active partners in this journey.

The significance of male allies like Marc in propelling gender equality forward cannot be overstated. In a world grappling with complex challenges, their involvement is crucial. As Sima Bahous, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, puts it, “We must challenge the portrayal of toxic masculinity and promote positive male role models who champion gender equality.”

The power of respectful disruption

Respectful disruption translates into tangible actions that contribute to transforming gender equality into a reality. These actions include active allyship, concrete commitments to advance gender balance, intensifying efforts towards gender parity, standing up against biased attitudes and behaviors, countering gender discrimination, implementing Women’s Empowerment Principles, closing the gender pay gap, advocating for more women in leadership positions, and designing workplace policies that foster equality and inclusion.

Targets of respectful disruption

The call for respectful disruption addresses critical fronts that include:

• Gender social norms: These norms perpetuate biases against gender, hindering individual progress and potential.
• Struggle: Harmful models of masculinity oversimplify the image of men, restricting their ability to embrace their full range of emotions and roles.
• Gender pay gap: The persistence of unequal pay for work of equal value perpetuates economic disparities.
• Violence against women: Violence remains a pervasive issue, affecting the lives of countless women globally.
• Active allyship: Taking proactive steps to bolster gender equality initiatives.

Why gender parity and female leadership matter

While women are making inroads into corporate leadership, there’s still much to do. According to McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2023 study, “Since 2015, the number of women in the C-suite has increased from 17 to 28 percent, and the representation of women at the vice president and senior vice president levels has also improved significantly,” but “women—and especially women of color—have remained underrepresented across the corporate pipeline.”

Organizations that prioritize gender parity and female leadership consistently outperform their competitors. Studies show that diverse teams lead to higher innovation, increased profitability, and improved decision-making. Women Count 2022, a UK study of Financial Times Stock Exchange companies by The Pipeline, a diversity consultancy, revealed that corporations that have over 25 percent of women on their executive committees realized a profit margin of 16 percent—more than 10 times higher than those without any female board members. The study suggests that those in the latter category could be forfeiting billions of dollars of revenue with that exclusion.

UN Women HeForShe is championing thriving communities

Research from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reinforces the notion that when women thrive, communities thrive. According to their findings, gender equality is associated with improved economic performance, enhanced competitiveness, and increased social progress. Beyond economic indicators, thriving communities benefit from greater innovation, resilience, and overall well-being when women are actively engaged and empowered.

The UN Women HeForShe movement, through its commitment to respectful disruption, actively supports the IMF theory that when women thrive, communities flourish. By engaging over three million supporters worldwide, UN Women HeForShe channels resources and advocacy toward programs that uplift and empower women while concurrently mentoring men. These initiatives, funded by UN Women HeForShe, span various sectors, including education, healthcare, economic empowerment, and leadership development. Through targeted investments, the organization drives tangible progress towards creating thriving communities across the globe.

BMC’s commitment to HeForShe

BMC recognizes its critical role in influencing gender equality, especially in the tech sector, and is focused on creating inclusive workplaces where women thrive, without diminishing the role of men. Throughout the year, BMC supports UN Women HeForShe initiatives such as policy advisement, employee training, volunteering, awareness, and our annual Global Move event in October.

During Global Move, BMC uses its influence to fundraise and drive awareness for UN Women HeForShe by encouraging its entire workforce and ecosystem to move, walk, run, or roll for 132 minutes. That time is intentional, driving awareness that throughout the world, gender parity will take 132 years to achieve unless we all work together toward progress, and that equality is achievable through taking action. BMC’s support for UN Women HeForShe seeks to elevate the visibility of women, empower allies of gender equality, inspire women to pursue their goals, celebrate their achievements, and inclusively support those who identify as women in their careers.

Join the movement

We invite you to join us on October 21 for Global Move 2023 as we strive to help eliminate bias and create a more equitable world for women in the workforce and beyond. Every action matters, and together, we can be agents of positive change, respectfully disrupting the norms that perpetuate gender inequality. By doing so, we not only advance the cause of gender equality but also foster a more inclusive, innovative, and prosperous world for all.

 #CSR

Every April, we celebrate Earth Day, and BMC is again taking it a step further with a whole month of activities for our own Climate Action Month.

The United Nations has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) that are the “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030” with a focus on preserving land, water, and air, and the biodiversity they sustain. And climate neutrality is the goal of the EU’s Green Deal, which seeks to eliminate net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, separate economic growth from resource use, and create inclusive opportunities for everyone. A quarter of the €750 billion fund is dedicated to climate action.

How BMC is helping

At BMC, our corporate social responsibility (CSR) work is rooted in helping to solve the issues raised in the UN SDGs. We do this while also fostering innovation to help businesses and ourselves evolve to an Autonomous Digital Enterprise that includes everyone.

A commitment to minimize or reverse the environmental damage inflicted by humans and the climate change events that have spawned significant weather events such as wildfires, flooding, increased hurricane activity, warmer oceans, and extraordinary winter storms—all impacting people and wildlife—spans many of the UN SDGs. Goal 15 is to, “Protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss.”

BMC commitment

BMC is proud to work with Reforest’Action, One Tree Planted, GreenThumb, and Vashundara in their missions to do that. To date, we’ve helped plant over 65,000 trees across 46 countries around the world to store tons of carbon dioxide, create tens of thousands of animal shelters, and generate over 260,000 months of oxygen.

As part of our commitment to the environment, BMC has also joined the Business Ambition for 1.5° C campaign and is dedicated to achieving science-based, emission reduction targets across our business to reach net-zero value chain emissions no later than 2030. And we maintain Global Accreditation for ISO 14001:2015, a guideline for our environmental management system policies and practices, which include:

• Reducing the use of consumables by recycling equipment, waste products, and redundant items (which we often collect and redistribute through device drives)
• Training our global procurement buyers on circularity and sustainable and ethical purchasing
• Reducing travel impact through collaborative technologies, and recording and analyzing data to best manage our carbon footprint when we do travel
• Training our development team on software eco-design principles to reduce the energy consumption of our products
• Focusing on ethical IT asset disposal and circularity initiatives in our supply chain
• Honoring our employee service anniversaries and celebrating new hires with the gift of reforestation through our partnership with One Tree Planted

We’re also continuously investigating opportunities to renew and expand on our commitment to be a sustainable, environmentally responsible organization, and we encourage our people to do so as well through our BMC Cares volunteer organization.

Get involved

This Climate Action Month, Earth Day, and all the other days, you can make a difference by making one small change every day. We invite you to join us in practicing and implementing sustainable living with our Climate Action Month 30-Day Sustainable Living Challenge, a handy downloadable calendar of activities that you can do on your own or as a group. Share your activities on your socials and tag us with #GoGreenwithBMC.

These are some of the other environmentally responsible activities we’re encouraging among ourselves, and hope you’ll join in, too.

• Learn how your organization can align its ESG and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives with the UN SDGs
• Take a LinkedIn Learning course on sustainability
• Recycle old batteries
• Discover how to extend the life of your clothes through proper and sustainable care
• Support wildlife conservation efforts from your PC by reviewing live video feeds to look for and identify animals with ZSL Instant Wild
• Dig out your old phones and donate them to Medic Mobile, which refreshes them and puts them in the hands of first responders
• Donate your old PCs to Comp-U-Dopt so they can give them to students who need them
• Download the CleanSwell app and volunteer to help pick up trash along local waterways
• Consider plant-based meal swaps

It’s vital to take care of the environment in which we coexist, and we can all make a difference. Visit earthday.org and follow the United Nations Environment Programme on Twitter to learn more.

As we recognize International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, we have a great opportunity to celebrate and talk about tangible ways to continue to uplift and advance women in the workplace, particularly in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). As my colleague, Pam Fitzwater-Johansen, noted in a previous blog, mentorship and sponsorship are vital tools women, and really all workers, can use to amplify their voices and move their careers forward.

Mentors and sponsors

We’ve spoken previously about the power of allies and allyship. At BMC, we are continuously working to be allies, and we’re extending that to advocate sponsorship, which goes beyond demonstrating supportive behaviors to taking practical actions to help with career advancement.

Mentors provide support and empathy, and can span management, peers, co-workers, and anyone who has a unique, relevant point of view to share insights, offer advice, and be a sounding board. A sponsor is a senior-level leader and advocate who helps an individual advance their career with skills building, strategic planning, and wisdom to support their journey. A sponsor elevates them in the room where decisions are made, championing them when opportunities arise.

Harvard Business Review shared an excellent step-by-step guide on sponsorship here. The LinkedIn Learning course, “Effective Sponsorship for Sponsors,” offers insights into what a sponsor is and how anyone can become a sponsor through intentional allyship.

Mentors and sponsors each have their own strengths and merits. As Jackie Ferguson from The Diversity Movement shares in Forbes, “Where sponsorship is focused specifically on professional development and career advancement, mentorship can be a more helpful tool for nurturing feelings of belonging and inclusion. Mentors are especially helpful in learning how to navigate workplaces where dimensions of one’s identity are currently or typically underrepresented. A new, nonbinary Gen-Z employee, for instance, may benefit greatly from a voluntary mentor who identifies as LGBTQ+, so long as the two are mutually invested in the relationship.”

In the pre-pandemic world where the majority of workers were onsite, finding and securing mentors and sponsors was an easier feat. With the increased, now mainstream, adoption of remote and hybrid workforces, there’s an opportunity for organizations and leaders to rebuild those same offerings for workers and women who primarily work offsite. According to the most recent Lean In and McKinsey Women in the Workplace study, less than half of companies surveyed offer virtual mentorship and sponsorship programs.

Those virtual programs are increasingly necessary as more women want to work outside an office, and promotional opportunities still elude the majority of women. Only one in ten women wants to work mostly onsite, and many women cite remote and hybrid work options as a top reason for joining or staying with an organization. Respondents said it wasn’t just about flexibility; the safety net of fewer microaggressions and higher levels of psychological safety were equally important considerations.

The study also highlights the still-disproportionate number of women in leadership roles, which can create a vacuum of women at the top to be mentors and sponsors, with only one in four C-suite leaders identifying as a woman, and only one in 20 a woman of color. For every 100 men who are promoted from entry-level roles to management, only 87 women are promoted, and only 82 women of color are promoted. These numbers are also echoed by the LinkedIn Gender Equity in the Workplace economic graph.

For women who do arrive at the top, it’s still a struggle, with 43 percent of women leaders telling Lean In and McKinsey they are burned out, versus 31 percent of male leaders. To help women advance, and maintain balance once they do, organizations have an opportunity to provide flexible work environments and thoughtful wellness benefits that deliver services and support for women at every stage of their lives.

Practical steps

So, how can leaders move the needle to foster inclusion, growth, and advancement for those who identify as women?

In 2023, pay transparency and equal pay for equal roles should be a baseline goal. In 2022, BMC was certified by Fair Pay Workplace (“FPW”) for our efforts to create sustainable fair pay for our employees around the world. FPW certification holds us accountable, reviewing and independently verifying the steps we are taking to achieve global pay equity across gender, race, and intersectional considerations.

Say something nice about an employee or colleague out loud. Write a LinkedIn recommendation or leave positive feedback on your internal employee recognition platform for your outstanding women colleagues and direct reports. You can also cast a wider net and acknowledge the women in your professional networks to support their professional growth.

Employee resource groups (ERGs) exist to give subsets of employees a safe space to gather, discuss individual and shared experiences, and empower each other through education, volunteering, and other collaborative opportunities. At BMC, Women in Technology and Business is our longest-running ERG, fostering open, real discussions among the women who work at BMC.

Curate experiences that are professionally valuable for women—employees and customers—such as user groups, speaker series, and breakout sessions at events. Recently, the BMC Brazil office held a “Control-M for Her” event where female employees, clients, and partners gathered to network and learn more about expanding the capabilities for our Control-M data workflow orchestration solution in their respective tech stacks.

To attract and hire the next generation of talent, make substantive changes that foster a pipeline of strong future leaders, regardless of their backgrounds. Expand opportunities for hiring and advancement—and candidate access—by retooling job descriptions with gender-neutral language and functional requirements that are skills-based. Include anonymous candidate screening technology like career.place into your talent strategy.

Provide enhanced learning and development opportunities. BMC does this through our Grow @ BMC program and by offering LinkedIn Learning memberships to all employees for self-paced, skills-building coursework. All women and women-identifying employees have also been gifted a membership to Uplevyl, a global online community that creates opportunities for women to support one another with professional advice and financial literacy tools.

Hold your team accountable for practicing and promoting inclusive behaviors with ongoing training and resources. CulturePop is a self-paced, micro-learning app that encourages cross-cultural curiosity. BMC’s corporate membership is available to all employees to use within their teams to help expand their cultural awareness.

Encourage organizational, employee, and ecosystem participation in initiatives like UN Women, a United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, and HeForShe, a solidarity movement for gender equality created by UN Women that invites men and boys to engage in and advocate for gender equality in our lifetime. BMC is proud to partner with these organizations to raise funds through our annual Global Move event and to spread awareness throughout the year.

Focus on building environments where women thrive and that inclusively support them in their careers by inspiring them to pursue their goals without barriers. BMC is working toward an important cultural shift that establishes that the inclusion and elevation of more women in tech and business does not equate to a lesser role for men.

Fostering a workplace that is more welcoming to and inclusive of women requires doing the work and investing resources to establish, maintain, and grow supportive mechanisms—from cultural changes to dialogues to opportunities, and more. It’s necessary work to bring the next generation of women into the STEM workforce, help them advance, and ensure that the Autonomous Digital Enterprise includes everyone.

Organizations across industries are continuously looking for ways to be better corporate citizens by adopting initiatives and making practicable changes to operate as responsible, “greener” business. In that spirit, communication service providers (CSPs) have an extraordinary opportunity to build a better business model for sustainability and their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies through hardware choices, smart technologies, accountability, and amplifying the circular economy.

Responsible hardware choices

By their very nature, CSPs operate on extraordinarily large volumes of data and network traffic, and historically, that’s been sustained by physical data centers. Those data centers then require utilities such as lighting, heating, and cooling—which contribute to the ongoing problem of carbon emissions. To achieve net-zero carbon emissions, or carbon neutrality, data centers must operate more sustainably, get smaller, or even disappear.

For organizations that must maintain physical data centers as part of their infrastructure, bringing those locations up to sustainable ventilation, heating, cooling, and lighting protocols like those established by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) can make a significant impact.

Smart technologies

Migrating data center assets to the cloud, and shifting network traffic from a central hub to the edge can also make a big difference by bringing them closer to customers, who are themselves often on the move. Moving to the edge also reduces latency and the corresponding energy and bandwidth requirements of retaining data centrally and moving it across greater distances. It also gets customers connected faster, so it’s a win-win. Implementing Green Internet of Things (IoT) devices that reduce the power and energy usage—and emissions—of edge devices such as radio antennas can also help.

According to Networks on Cloud: A Clear Advantage, a recently released Capgemini Research Institute study, the cloud is on the rise for CSPs, and nearly half of telco network capacity will be cloud-native in the next three to five years—growing from a 31 percent global average in 2022 to 46 percent by 2027.

The survey estimates that network assets account for 42 percent of telcos’ greenhouse gas emissions, and says that respondents hope to reduce that by five percent through cloud adoption. Additional benefits of cloud include “reduced physical hardware footprint, reduced power usage, auto-scaling of network on demand, and managing power consumption of mobile towers by using [artificial intelligence (AI)] and machine learning.”

AI can also help CSPs improve operational efficiency with predictive analytics that support resource and network planning and allocation according to variables such as customer behaviors, trends, and climate events, and optimize the supply chain from the routes taken to the modes of transportation, while more advanced tools can ramp energy usage up and down as needed.

A Nokia GSMA Intelligence survey of global mobile service providers found that 78 percent of respondents see AI as very or extremely effective at delivering energy-efficiency improvements such as reducing the carbon footprint of their networks, processing their data efficiently, and translating it into actionable insights. Sixty-five percent believe the technology could shrink their energy consumption by ten percent or more. Most interestingly, half of those surveyed said their customers are the reason they’re looking for more energy-efficient network strategies.

Accountability

As more of those customers make sustainability a criteria for doing business, CSPs can publicly affirm their commitments by joining initiatives that hold businesses accountable. The Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) partnership’s Business Ambition for 1.5° C campaign is a collective of businesses committed to reaching the namesake target goal of reducing the earth’s temperature by 1.5° C and achieving a zero-carbon economy. SBTi recognizes that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector faces ongoing challenges as its industry grows and has set forth guidelines to help it attain more sustainable practices.

A similar initiative was launched in 2021 in the EU. The European Green Digital Coalition (EGDC), supported by the European Commission and the European Parliament at the request of the EU Council, aims to maximize the sustainability benefits of digitalization within the ICT sector, while supporting sustainability goals of other sectors outside the industry. The criteria for participation are here.

Circular economy

Another way CSPs can move the needle on sustainability is by ensuring ethical and responsible disposal of their hardware as they move to cloud and hybrid environments. While promoting new devices and device refreshes to consumers is part of the business model, CSPs can educate those same customers about the circular economy and promote those practices by designing sustainable packaging and encouraging—and incentivizing—customers to recycle or donate their devices when they reach end of life. This will help keep them and their harmful components out of landfills and waterways.

CSPs have an incredible opportunity to make an impact and scale the smart circular economy through an eco-centered supply chain, ethical IT asset disposal, Green IoT, and edge and AI strategies. Together, these key technological enablers can help ensure a sustainable digital transition within the telecommunication industry and beyond. To learn how BMC is helping transform telecommunications for the CSPs of tomorrow, visit bmc.com/CSP.

Sustainability is defined across three dimensions: social, economic, and environmental. As businesses continue to adapt their operational models for post-pandemic planning, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives are becoming more important for present and future employees, stakeholders, and customers.

But what does this mean, exactly?

ESG is a wide-ranging topic, and in the IT field, it encompasses everything from the employee experience to ethical IT. For the purpose of this piece, let’s focus on the concept of sustainability. When we talk about tech, we’re thinking about hardware—the personal and enterprise devices that are omnipresent in our daily lives—and the software that runs behind the scenes to keep all those devices from becoming expensive paperweights.

First and foremost, organizations must talk about change alongside practicable efforts to enact it—and validate and ensure accountability for those efforts by measuring them against standards like the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Carbon Development Project (CDP). Today’s customers want to see that businesses are doing what they say they’re doing—and they’re putting their decision-making muscle behind those desires.

PwC research found that 79 percent of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that stands up for ESG practices, and 84 percent of workers are more likely to work for those companies.

At our annual BMC Exchange customer event, I recently moderated a panel with BMC decision-makers in a session about how to practice and plan for ESG. Here are some of the takeaways from my discussion with BMC’s own ESG thought leaders: AVP of Experience Design and Development Mark Fries; Vice President of Research and Development Srini Packirisamy, Senior Principal Solution Engineer Des Sanders; and Strategic Field CTO Craig Sisson.

Security and governance

Security and governance go hand in hand, and they’re bleeding into societal concerns because breaches go beyond the business to also affect the individual consumer. Organizations can face significant fines, lose customers’ confidence, or ruin their brand if they have a security breach that exposes corporate and customer information.

And that security lapse extends to customers who can then face phishing attempts, credit fraud, stolen credentials, identify theft, and more. Part of ensuring a secure environment across a business and for everyone the business touches means putting secure practices around governance, and implementing real-time, ongoing vulnerability detection solutions. These measures create the assurance (never a guarantee!) that companies are intent on protecting their customers and communities. Building a robust security posture is part of becoming an Autonomous Digital Enterprise, too. In fact, one of the tenets of that forward-looking business framework is Adaptive Cybersecurity.

Reducing the carbon footprint

Another area where employees, customers, and stakeholders are weighing their business considerations is whether, and how, the companies they engage with are actively working to reduce their carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions. They want to know that companies are planning for the future state of the world beyond their business.

Take, for example, today’s data centers—they have servers running, HVAC systems to keep them cool, and significant electricity requirements, and all of these things generate carbon emissions. By adding sensors and monitoring solutions to that environment, organizations can monitor and measure emissions, and analyze that data to better optimize their infrastructure and reduce its footprint.

Migrating to the cloud, or scaling or rightsizing that environment, is a solid first step but only part of the equation. Businesses can also expand the scope of inquiry to include transportation, supply chain, partners—and focus on collecting and analyzing those complex data streams. That’s where automation solutions such as Control-M from BMC come in handy to orchestrate data pipelines; ingest the data; and correlate, optimize, and understand it.

From there, organizations can also perform ongoing analysis and leverage those insights with tools like BMC Helix Continuous Optimization to guide decision-making on smarter infrastructure and better business processes that reduce greenhouse gases. Once the necessary steps are identified, it also helps to have a methodology in place to forecast the carbon footprint going forward over the next five to ten years and beyond.

BMC is demonstrating its commitment to that future by declaring its intent to reach net-zero value chain emissions no later than 2030. BMC is also part of the Business Ambition for 1.5° C campaign and is a proud member of the UN Global Compact, which established the campaign alongside the Climate Disclosure Project (CDP), the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) under the umbrella of the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) partnership.

Ethical IT and the circular economy

In the world of hardware—whether you build it, sell it, or use it—being mindful of its entire lifecycle and making ethical decisions at every step has an impact. The first step a company can take is to re-examine its IT asset lifecycle model, as well as that of any third-party vendors involved in the process, to ensure best practices around the circular economy, ethical disposal, and alignment with sustainability goals.

This not only helps a company’s bottom line, but also enables it to be a responsible user of global resources. Some of the ways every business can support ethical IT include selecting products that are designed with recycled or ocean-bound plastics; maximizing their working life; and recycling and upcycling devices at end of life to keep them out of landfills when they’re replaced.

As a personal consumer, keep those same considerations front of mind. According to a recent study by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the WEEE Forum, 5.3 billion of the 16 billion mobile phones possessed worldwide will become waste in 2022—and if stacked one on top of the other, they’d stretch one-eighth of the way to the moon.

You can help by making responsible decisions at the point of purchase and extending the life of your devices whenever possible. Replace the battery, and move all those images to the cloud or delete unused apps to get back some of your storage space before you go buy another phone.

And when you do replace your phone, don’t put the old one in a drawer or randomly throw it away. You can repurpose it for the greater good. Some of the organizations that BMC and our employee volunteer organization, BMC Cares, support include Medic Mobile, the 911 Cell Phone Bank, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, DV Safe Phone, and Community Calling, which deploy devices into communities that need them. If you’re planning to toss your phone, look for a licensed recycler that will ethically, responsibly dispose of both the device and its toxic components that can contaminate the earth, groundwater, and waterways—and endanger flora, fauna, and people.

Build better code

During the session, Srini shared that he and his team follow the Karlskrona Manifesto for Sustainability Design, which adheres to the idea that humans can only reach sustainability if they’re sustained across social, economic, and environmental dimensions. In his work at BMC, he and his team have adopted modern, agile software development methodologies for BMC’s software solutions, placing more emphasis on modular code and reuse of code and leveraging a Kubernetes and microservices architecture for BMC’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings. BMC is also using artificial intelligence (AI)-driven innovations in its DevOps environments to optimize resource efficiency.

Software ownership, which includes development, operation, and maintenance costs, also has opportunities for improvement through automation. Automating testing, maintenance, and continuous deployment processes can help organizations achieve better sustainability by reducing energy consumption.

For web usage, organizations can consider the data load of the web pages they create to improve the energy consumption involved in the storage of hosting those pages—and for users to access. Focus on experiences that provide value for end users and the environment.

According to the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer, 58 percent of respondents will buy or advocate for brands based on their beliefs and values, and 60 percent will use that criteria when choosing an employer. With ESG a growing part of a global belief and value system, it’s no longer a nice to have; it’s now a must-have.

Watch the full BMC Exchange 2022 session here.

Originally published in Triple Pundit.

As we head deeper into the fall and winter and move toward end-of-year and holiday responsibilities, Health Literacy Month, running now through Halloween, is a great opportunity for some self-care, taking the time to stop, listen to your mind and body, see a healthcare provider, if necessary—and most importantly, be your own health advocate.

Defining health literacy

Health Literacy Month is about making information about our physical and mental health more available and understandable so we can make informed choices. In the United States, the Department of Health and Human Services has launched an initiative it’s calling “Healthy People 2030.” While its 358 objectives aim to “eliminate health disparities, achieve health equity, and attain health literacy to improve the health and well-being of all,” the initiative also has a tandem focus on boosting personal and organizational health literacy, which it defines as:

• Personal health literacy: The degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.
• Organizational health literacy: The degree to which organizations equitably enable individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others.

Claiming our right to health literacy

Telemedicine has changed how we think about doctor visits. Anyone with an internet connection can now access a wide array of medical professionals. That includes an expansion of medical expertise to retired and vulnerable populations after Medicare and Medicaid agreed to cover those appointments, as well as people in rural communities. The mainstreaming of telemedicine also shifted some of the responsibility to us to make the most of our virtual visits and understand our own health better.

So, where can you find information that’s actually useful and easy to understand so you’re well prepared when you do seek professional guidance? These are all good—and legitimate—websites:

• The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) has created Health Literacy Online.
• MyHealthfinder provides easy-to-understand consumer resources.
• Register with the Institute for Health Literacy’s Health Solutions Center to access a range of free resources.
• The Mayo Clinic and NHS have A to Z guides to symptoms, conditions, treatments, and more.
• The U.S. National Library of Medicine’s Medline Plus has a complete index of resources and offers multilingual health information.

After you’ve made an appointment with a physician, be the squeaky wheel. Arm yourself ahead of time by writing down all your questions. And once you’re in the room, insist on going through them until you completely understand the information provided to you about your health, medications, diagnoses, treatments, prognosis, and so on. Take notes, and if it helps, take a family member or a trusted friend with you to be an extra set of ears.

The business impact of health literacy

Looking after our health not only impacts us, but the overall workforce and businesses, as well. In 2021, the former U.S. Surgeon General, Jerome Adams, M.D., issued a version of his Community Health and Economic Prosperity report in a digest form for business leaders—the first time that’s been done. According to the report, “Poor health generates costs for employers, such as greater healthcare expenses; and higher rates of disability, absences for illness and medical appointments, and presenteeism (working while sick) generate indirect costs that reduce workforce productivity and contribute to declines in labor force participation.”

That’s a strong motivator for businesses to promote health and wellness. And businesses and employers can take concrete steps to help their workforce stay healthy—and happy, starting with providing access to better health information and healthcare providers. A recent global Adecco report found there’s still a disconnect on how well companies are succeeding at that. While 74 percent of companies said the well-being of their workers was extremely or very important to them, only 55 percent of employees felt they received enough support for that “always” or “most of the time”—and 45 percent said “not really” or “never.”

McKinsey’s recently released Employer Health Benefits Survey revealed that 80 percent of employers now offer or are interested in offering specialized health management solutions in areas like diabetes, hypertension, musculoskeletal, and behavioral health. And amid the Great Resignation and Reshuffle, 66 percent of employers are now reporting that health benefits are very important to their hiring and retention efforts—a jump of 11 points from before the pandemic.

The importance of mental health

October also marks World Mental Health Day, and mental health is an integral part of an overall health and wellness plan, especially with the stressors of the pandemic and changing work expectations. According to a recent international pulse survey by Future Forum, a consortium launched by Slack with founding partners Boston Consulting Group, MillerKnoll, and MLT, the employee experience is declining for employees who are losing flexibility in how and where they work. Knowledge workers with “little to no” ability to set their own hours report 3.4x worse work-related stress and anxiety and 2.2x worse work-life balance.

In our blog post on mental health resiliency, we addressed mental health in the workplace, and the importance employers must place on including mental health in their comprehensive health and wellness programs.

BMC’s health and wellness approach

At BMC, health and wellness is part of our BMC Cares program, both for our employees and the larger communities we serve around the world, in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #3, “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”

BMC has repeatedly been recognized by the American Heart Association’s Workplace Health Achievement, and in 2021, we received Silver Level Recognition for our “culture of health” and comprehensive benefits offerings. In addition to benefits programs, BMC promotes health and wellness of the body and mind through diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, employee resource groups (ERGs), and extensive volunteerism.

Paying it forward

As part of our BMC Cares program, BMC and its employees foster global health literacy through volunteerism and donations.

On Saturday, October 15^th, our workforce around the world will participate in our ninth annual Global Move, an organized fitness event where we encourage our 6,000+ employees to move, walk, run, or roll for 132 minutes to drive awareness that amid current standards, gender parity will take 132 years to achieve. Our partner for the event is HeForShe, a nonprofit dedicated to gender equality, which will receive all proceeds raised as we get moving for gender equality.

Throughout the year, we also support a number of health and welfare organizations and we invite you to join us in our efforts:

• Vaccine On Wheels aims to immunize India’s underserved population by “ensuring access to quality vaccination for all.” It operates India’s only mobile vaccination service capable of handling adverse events (such as COVID-19) through immunizations.
• Nutre a un Niño works with rural communities in situations of poverty in Mexico to promote child nutrition through projects that also guide their social, economic, and environmental development.
• The Humsafar Trust provides resources, workshops, medical screenings, and treatments to the LGBTQ community in India.
• The Lions Barber Collective is a group of international barbers raising awareness in their field for suicide prevention and mental well-being among their customers.
• National Pediatric Cancer Center Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to research and clinical trials to find less toxic, more effective treatments for childhood cancer; reduce the side effects of current treatments; improve survival rates, and ultimately eliminate childhood cancer.

While Health Literacy Month spans October, November keeps the momentum going with Movember, the annual global initiative that raises awareness of men’s health issues by encouraging men to grow out their facial hair or be physically active. Movember is the month’s namesake charity organization, driven by its mantra, “Whatever you grow, however you mo, will save a bro,” and dedicated to providing services and support for mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. In its 19 years, the organization has funded over 1,250 projects with 20 partners in 20 countries.

The more we know about our health—and empower ourselves to take care of it—the more we heal and grow so we can participate fully in our families, our work, and our communities. By fostering an environment that’s beneficial for the whole employee experience, and the whole employee, everybody wins.

On October 25^th and 26^th, BMC will be hosting BMC Exchange, our premier customer-focused event. We’re excited to present two panels on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) topics. The event is online, and free, and we’d love to have you attend. You can register here.

#CSR #DEI

As world events—and for some, how and where we work—continue to evolve, it’s a good time to check in and revisit helpful ways to ensure our own resilience and the resiliency of our people.

Tackling the increase in mental health challenges

The last few years have been rife with external and internal stressors and competing responsibilities, so much so that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 90 percent of countries folded mental health planning into their pandemic response. That’s good news, because the WHO also found that during the first year of the pandemic, the global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25 percent, and a recent survey by the American Psychological Association revealed that 63 percent of adults said their life has been forever changed by the pandemic.

Businesses are taking note, too. A 2022 survey by WTW found that 86 percent of the employers surveyed are putting a focus on the mental health of their employees and forty-eight percent of respondents are planning or considering implementing an organization-wide behavioral health strategy and action plan. That’s up from the 35 percent that currently have one.

The responses are welcome, as new employee research shows that workers are concerned about their mental health on the job. According to Deloitte’s recently released 11^th annual Global 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, 46 percent of Gen Zs and 45 percent of millennials feel burned out due to the demands of their working environments, and “detrimental to their mental health” is one of the top reasons Gen Z and Millennial workers leave a job. More than half of those surveyed do agree, though, that their employers are increasing their focus on workplace well-being and mental health.

ADP’s People at Work 2022 study of workers across 17 countries found mental health to be a leading concern among its respondents, as 53 percent believe their work is suffering because of poor mental health. The better news is that 70 percent of respondents feel supported by their managers on mental health issues and75 percent feel they’re supported by their colleagues.

Establishing psychological safety

With so much going on in the world, and more research to back up the mental health ramifications for workers, more companies have recognized that supporting mental health is key to providing a holistic employer experience, as is creating safe spaces for employees to both ask for help and receive it without penalty.

Remote and hybrid work has been a safe space for many workers, and as the Great Resignation, or Reshuffle, continues, more workers have felt empowered to demand the continuation of the flexibility they gained during the pandemic. The aforementioned Deloitte Gen Z and Millennial study found that 49 percent of Gen Zs and 45 percent of Millennials already work remotely at least some of the time, and three-quarters prefer being hybrid or fully remote going forward. The ADP study found that 64 percent of global workers have already, or would consider, looking for another job if they had to return to the office full-time.

As with before the pandemic, it’s not just a matter of personal preference; it’s also a matter of psychological safety and avoiding in-person microaggressions that impact morale, productivity, and quality of life. An Axios-Harris Poll earlier this spring found that women and minority workers preferred—and felt more optimistic about their jobs—working outside an office setting. Fifty-two percent of women enjoy working remotely and would like to do so in the long term versus 41 percent of men. Fifty-two percent of Black workers and 50 percent of women found working from home was better for career advancement, and 63 percent of Black workers and 58 percent of women cite more ambition when working remote.

Another concern of leaving the safety of a remote situation is a fear of reprisals for showing—or an inability to show—one’s true self without negative consequences to self-image, status, or career. And if a whole team shares the same concerns about themselves, that can inhibit innovation by affecting the team’s ability to take risks.

How can employers help? For starters, maintaining pandemic-era flexibility and having open dialogues about the best path forward makes employees part of the conversation. Here at BMC, our People and Spaces team kept employees in the loop on return-to-office plans, and conducted polls about employee comfort level with doing so.

Whether virtual or onsite, employees must also be empowered to bring their authentic selves to work. Learn how to build inclusive workspaces and be a more inclusive manager and colleague so that you’re not part of the problem. We have some of our findings on that topic here. There are also many resources available to learn more about becoming an ally and safely taking a stand against discrimination in all its forms.

Building resiliency into your culture

We talk a lot about resiliency in business, but if our people aren’t resilient, too, then the company’s ability to survive and thrive is sort of irrelevant. So, what do we mean by resiliency? It’s the ability to navigate and surmount stressful situations and return to a calm emotional state. Resiliency is an adjunct to the psychological safety section above.

The biggest sign that resilience is missing is burnout. A 2022 Deloitte survey, Women @ Work: A Global Outlook, revealed that 53 percent of women say their stress levels are higher than they were a year ago, and 46 percent feel burned out, while 33 percent have taken time off for mental health challenges.

What can employers do to help? According to the Spring Health study called, aptly enough, Burnout Nation, improving benefits is a great first step. Twenty-four percent of employees said they want better mental health policies, 23 percent said access to free therapy, and 20 percent said better mental benefits. And 21 percent said even a mental health and wellness app would be beneficial.

Thirty-seven percent of workers surveyed by JobSage earlier this spring would like to see their employers offer workplace discussions on mental health, and 35 percent want training on subjects like stress management.

The good news is there are a ton of resources available to help workers step away from the keyboard, destress, and decompress, and for employers to bolster their mental health offerings, such as:

• The Center for Workplace Health recommends a variety of employer interventions to foster resilience, starting from the top down.
• There are apps for that.
• The American Heart Association, which recently awarded BMC Silver Level recognition for our “implementation of quality workplace health programs and culture of health best practices,” has established seven pillars of workplace health.
• The Centers for Disease Control has a Workplace Health Resource Center.
• The World Health Organization put together Doing What Matters in Times of Stress, a family-friendly, illustrated, multi-lingual printed and audio guide on healthy ways to combat stress.
• A recent Harvard Business Review piece has helpful tips on being a mental health ally, including role-playing conversations.
• If your company, like BMC, offers LinkedIn Learning coursework, there are several courses and webinars available that focus on mental health and wellness.

Asking for help

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is ask for help, but If you’re in a situation where self-directed tools aren’t enough, check in with your employee benefits provider to see what resources are available. And if you’re an employer, evaluate what you’re offering to your people. Make sure you’re doing as much for your people as you think you are, and build an empathetic culture that extends across your management. Employees who are made aware of and encouraged by their managers to use available resources are more likely to take advantage of them, and feel empowered to ask for flexibility and consideration when they need it.

The JobSage study found that 75 percent of workers have taken a mental health day—and 90 percent of them were able to fully relax—but 66 percent also felt guilty about doing it. According to the Deloitte Gen Z and Millennial study, 33 percent of Gen Zs and 35 percent of Millennials say they would not be comfortable speaking openly with their direct manager about stress, anxiety, or other mental health challenges. So, there’s still much work to be done in creating a culture of openness around mental health.

Focusing on mental health isn’t just important for your current staff, but your future hires, too. An increasingly younger workforce wants to know that they’ll be supported, not just with equitable pay and work-life flexibility, but also with expanded benefits—including mental health resources. Here at BMC, we prioritize our people every day, including with comprehensive health and wellness benefits and an employee assistance program for counseling resources and referrals. We also have several Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that foster real talk on a variety of issues.

Feeling better by giving back is another way to help your people reduce stress. Research has shown that volunteering and doing good for others actually triggers an endorphin response, and we can all use more of that. The Trevor Project, Samaritans, and Crisis Text Line offer virtual volunteer opportunities and are some of my favorite organizations to work with.

Check with your HR department to see if your company has organized volunteering activities or includes floating time off for service days in your benefits package. Earlier this year, BMC held its first Martin Luther King Jr. International Day of Service, a volunteer time off day for our global workforce, which collectively contributed over 50,000 hours of community service supporting over 430 charities across 38 countries in a single day. That’s a whole lot of endorphins.

Conclusion

Achieving day-to-day resilience is often easier said than done, especially when so many stressors can be beyond our control. We can, however, choose how we respond. Employers can help by giving their employees the tools and resources to make better decisions about their mental health, and by building a culture of resilience into the workforce. People are the lifeblood of a business. Without them, corporate resiliency is not just irrelevant, but also impossible.

The Platinum Rule, established by Milton J. Bennett, says that we should treat people the way that they want to be treated. As more of us leave our screens behind to resume real-world interactions, we do so with better awareness around current social issues and a desire to foster more respectful personal engagements, which gives us a fantastic opportunity to put The Platinum Rule into practice.

Educate yourself

In our blog on Pride month, we talked about LGBTQ+ allyship, but allyship goes beyond one group. It’s about using your personal power and privilege to be an ally to all people in historically untapped and excluded groups. By taking on their struggles as your own, educating yourself about what you don’t know, and amplifying inequalities, you can foster opportunities for change.

There are many online resources available to help you get started, including:

• Creative Equity Toolkit
• Guide to Allyship
• PFLAG’s allyship guide
• Helpful tips from consumer brands Ben & Jerry’s and General Mills
• Our unconscious bias checklist for self-aware leaders
• Harvard University’s Project Implicit

At BMC, we have created an Allyship Toolkit of resources to help our employees recognize and address bias. I’ve also assembled a YouTube playlist of helpful allyship and leadership video resources here. If you’d like to do a deeper dive on the foundational concept of allyship, Dr. Cathy Royal is a must read. You can find content on her Quadrant Behavior Theory here and an excellent conversation with her on the subject is here.

Foster an inclusive environment

Diversity is a fact and inclusivity is an act. While many organizations have worked to correct their hiring, retention, and paths to promotion, inequalities still exist, and creating an inclusive workforce is an ongoing process, as we discussed here.

Building and maintaining inclusive environments can help correct and eliminate unconscious biases, but it can also stoke the fires of those who refuse to accept that diversity. If your organization needs help managing potential conflicts, try CulturePop, a self-paced, micro-learning app that encourages cross-cultural curiosity. Our BMC employees use it within their teams to help expand their cultural awareness. And this is a handy checklist on fostering more diverse and inclusive engagements every time you host a virtual meeting.

Turn to the experts

In a previous blog, we’ve talked about micro-aggressions in the workplace that pile up and take their toll. Maybe you’re on the receiving end of that, maybe you’ve witnessed it—or maybe you’re guilty of doing it and are actively working to improve yourself. Bystander intervention training is a foundation of allyship, encouraging and preparing people to take action when they witness harassing and discriminatory behavior—wherever it occurs.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) supports bystander intervention training as a way to create a “sense of collective responsibility [that] motivates bystanders to step in and take action when they observe problematic behaviors [and provide] the skills and confidence to intervene as appropriate.”

While its origins stem from intervening in workplace sexual harassment, bystander intervention training has evolved to include all forms of discrimination and can help each of us be collectively better and learn to support one another in our professional and personal lives. The training helps remove the uncertainty of not knowing when or how to intervene safely, especially in uncomfortable situations. Beyond outlining steps to take in the moment, it also provides a deeper understanding of how to discourage and even prevent future incidents and promotes a respectful, inclusive culture in the workplace and the world.

Many free bystander intervention training classes are available that offer de-escalation techniques and guidance on when and how to safely help check others—and yourself—on bias. If you’re a LinkedIn Learning subscriber, I recommend these courses on bystander intervention and allyship:

• From Bystander to Upstander
• Becoming An Ally to All
• Supporting Allyship and Anti-Racism at Work
• Inclusive Mindset for Committed Allies
• Becoming a Male Ally at Work
• Leading Your Org on a Journey of Allyship

To support non-profit bystander training, visit Hollaback! and Action Breaks Silence.

Conclusion

Everyone’s path is different, but at the end of the day, we’re stronger and better when we walk it together. Encouraging open, honest dialogue and recognizing personal privilege as an opportunity—and responsibility—to be an ally are important steps on that journey. At BMC, we believe the Autonomous Digital Enterprise includes everyone, and we strive to be better global citizens as we walk that path with you.