Janelle Benjamin, Founder & Chief Equity OfficerAll Things Equitable—a promising Canadian consulting firm—works closely with clients to address inequities in the workplace for all historically marginalized groups. The company conducts reviews of organizational policies and practices and offers creative solutions necessary for leadership development and employee education.
In an interview with HR Manager Magazine, Janelle Benjamin, Founder and Chief Equity Officer of All Things Equitable, shares her insights on thecompany’s value proposition and the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.
How has All Things Equitable positioned itself in the market?
While some companies have managed to reap many benefits from their DEI strategies, others continue to spin their wheels. Businesses have realized that promoting DEI in the workplace is a critical element of talent management as it cultivates employee engagement and enhances their experience. For this reason, organizations look towardconsulting firms to help them build an inclusive work culture.
Established in 2020, after the unfortunate George Floyd incident, the name All Things Equitable reflects our belief that the current ways of doing things in organizations must change to treat everyone with compassion, respect, and empathy. Ensuring every employee’s voice is heard and upholding an individual’s dignity should be foundational elements in every institution’s corporate philosophy. Our aim, with every engagement, is to provide the best in diversity and inclusion innovation to each organization and educate them on how to treat people equitably for overall workplace wellbeing.
Several consulting companies are currently concentrating on training and education. While we provide training and education, our primary focus is transformation. I sincerely wish to assist enterprises in changing their policies, procedures, and methods of operation. I believe this is what distinguishes us from other organizations, particularly in the Canadian market. We specialize in the areas of human rights compliance, accessibility, workplace violence, and occupational health and safety. We break systemic and attitudinal barriers to inclusion through the assessment and audit of workplace culture and practices, recommendations for improvement, and training.
What persisting challenges are hindering organizations, and how is All Things Equitable addressing these issues?
In today’s competitive business world, many organizations have internal conflicts. There are numerous questions about how we should implement anti-black racist solutions to make the improvements people need in order to feel safe, well, and comfortable at work. Several white members of the presenting team may not be fully aware of their privilege, how systems of oppression operate, or how inequity presents. It leads to internal conflict; many organizations are currently dealing with these issues that impact the trust that employees have in their leadership team.
Please elaborate a little more on the services and solutions you have in place and the benefits your clients derive from them.
DEI can help your organization stand out as a leader in the industry. In any field, there is nothing better than employees loving where they work, contributing to their fullest, and telling others about their amazing workplace. A consultant is in the perfect position to help you create inclusive environments where employees can feel like they belong, innovate, and thrive. A consultant is also objective.
Our team works with employers to transform workplaces at the root.
If you have no workplace policies, we can build them. These include anything related to human resources like respect in the workplace, prevents harassment of all kinds, addresses anti-black racism, and combats discrimination. We can evaluate and update the policies to ensure that the language is appropriate for the times and that there are no offensive provisions.
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We specialize in the areas of human rights compliance, accessibility, workplace violence, and occupational health and safety
We also focus on accessibility providing instructions on different types of disabilities and how to create inclusive spaces, genuinely removing attitiudinal and physical barriers for people with disabilities in the built environment. When it comes to resolving a cultural issue, we investigate and settle some problems that individuals may have in the workplace using alternative dispute resolution strategies as well as facilitation tactics.
Can you please cite a case scenario?
I recently met a client who was going through a transformation during which the leadership had changed and the new leadership did not have the knowledge, skill or ability to adequately address the demands of their predominantl racialized staff—they didn’t get it, thecurrent demands for racial justice. As a result, they were doing many things that were considered performative. The workers did not think the activities were sincere and, in the end, everyone was working in an unhappy and disgruntled manner —the team lost faith in their leadership and leadership did not fully understand the demands of the workforce.
To help the client, we performed a culture facilitation. We went in, spoke to the staff and leadership teams individually, and got a sense of the root cause of their problems. We made recommendations and one leader who was causing harm to the workplace was moved out of the area.
After implementing the change, I learned from the CEO just how much of a difference that one improvement made. They are currently following a plan that includes frequent education and training. The changes strengthened the bonds between the people and the culture of the company.
What factors set you apart from the competition?
The fact that we focus on all historically marginalized groups. Having been in the industry for almost twenty years now, I have vast experience in leading corporate-wide DEI initiatives, making system-wide improvements to workplace policies and practices, and working with senior leadership to break systemic barriers, allowing everyone to participate. I am also a trained lawyer and dont think there are too many lawyers doing this work. It gives me a unique lens for justice, equity and fairness when dealing with all forms of workplace inequities.
As DEI remains a major concern in the boardroom meetings world-wide, building a thriving and dynamic workplace environment can be a daunting task for organnizations. We help such businesses create and sustain a supportive environment, one which empowers diversity, creates equity, and inspires innovation through inclusion.
