“Tere has truly been a shift of the


perceived importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion from a nice to have to an essential must-have, Dr. G noted. “We are seeing more organizations focusing on increasing the representation of all employees, especially Black employees, across the industry. In the last year, we have seen a near 300-fold increase in the implementation of employee resource groups (ERGs) and an increased focus on inclusive recruitment, unconscious bias training, and countless strategic discussions around hiring, promoting, and retention of Black employees.” While 2020 was the year to say some-


thing about the need for greater inclusion in the industry, 2021 became the year of action. “Many organizations retained consultants to assist with designing, im- plementing, monitoring, and measuring programs. While other organizations tasked their ERGs to explore new ways to help foster more inclusive employee hiring and retention practices, especially African-American employees. Some or- ganizations held diversity summits, town hall meetings, and employee forums— generally encouraging critical employee conversations,” Dr. G contended. Dr. G also participated in numer- ous industry initiatives, such as RAND’s Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy’s work with the National Association of Minority Contractors – SoCal Chapter, Procore’s Culture Academy, and beta testing Procore/AGC of California’s new- ly launched initiative, Project Engage. “Tese and other initiatives still in the making promise to make a real impact. Leveraging leadership and culture to increase diversity and building a true sense of belonging can lead to overall business success,” she added. What’s ahead for 2022? Dr. G believes,


“We’re going to see intentional strategic planning of DEI programs with an em-


8


CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022


Babatunde Onadele, Jr.


phasis on building sustainable long-term strategic plans. Te focus: What do com- panies’ mission, vision, and values look like aligned with their DEI strategic vision three, five, or ten years out for improving efforts for inclusion of African-American employees within their organizations, including at the higher levels.”


Blach Construction PMs Driving Change At Blach Construction in San Jose, project managers Babatunde Onadele, Jr. and Sofia Hardy have helped propel just such a strategic focus on issues around diversity, equity and inclusion over the past couple of years. What began with informal, organic conversations among a handful of employees following the George Floyd incident in summer 2020 led to the creation of a new employee resource group to tackle recruitment, retention and promotion of Black em- ployees at all levels of the company. “Obviously having the common bond of a similar background and being a minority within our industry and our company, we recognized that there were things that we would like to see changed,”


Dr. Giovanna Brasfield


Onadele said. Tey initially brought their concerns to company President Dan Rogers, who in turn expanded the con- versation to include the entire executive leadership team.


“Te goal was to find some actionable steps to take and the fact that these were viewed as important at the top was reas- suring. When things are taken seriously from the top down, their importance channels through to all the employees,” Hardy said. “You’ve got to have that buy-in.” “It was also important to establish


metrics to measure success,” Onadele said. “We, the Black Employee Resource Group, consciously identified and out- lined our standards of success. We did not want to form this whole initiative, creating ambitious goals, only to then have the action fall flat due to a lack of support from the company. We want to truly inspire change.” One primary area of focus has been


shaking up Blach’s college recruiting strategies. “We’ve always had a strong re- cruiting program, now it’s time to expand our prospects. Tere are so many qualified Black candidates who are passionate


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