Inclusion Wins: How Companies are Leading with a Culture of


BELON A


ttracting and retaining talent is a top priority for employers across virtually every market


sector. Few industries have experienced a greater need to develop and grow their workforce in recent years than construc- tion, which had an estimated 449,000 unfilled positions nationwide in mid- 2022 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ April Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. An abundance of jobs in high demand,


exacerbated by an aging workforce, has led the construction industry to seek an array of solutions to fill this critical need. As the industry has sought to raise awareness about construction career opportunities and to create pipelines to bring in the next generation of workers, there has been increasing focus on di- versity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) as a business strategy.


Te most successful companies have


recognized that building a demograph- ically diverse workforce is not enough, however. To ensure those new workers stay, companies must also develop a


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CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023


strong culture of inclusion and belonging. Granite Construction and Dome Con-


struction are just two examples of leading AGC of California member firms that have made measurable strides in their efforts to create corporate cultures that are inclusive, equitable and diverse.


Granite Creating Culture of ‘Inclusive Diversity’ Since instituting a new strategic direction for its DE&I program in mid-2020, Granite has formally branded its culture as one of “inclusive diversity.” Te genesis of the company’s expanded approach to DE&I began during the early months of the pandemic, when Jorge Quezada joined the firm as vice president of people and culture. Moving over from a similar role at Northwestern Mutual and prior to that, Kraft, he immediately took inventory of where things stood in regards to Granite’s DE&I program and began to strategize with top leadership about ways that it could be improved. “I realized coming to Granite, we had different pockets of the company that had a


narrow understanding of DE&I,” Quezada said. While most programs were centered around gender and ethnicity, “there were some marginalized groups that weren’t really being considered.” Over the past two-and-a-half years, he has worked closely with company leadership and employees to develop and institute a five-year strate- gic plan, or roadmap, designed to create a culture of inclusive diversity at Granite. It’s a model that other companies may well consider following. So what exactly is inclusive diversity,


and what steps is Granite taking to achieve it? “Diversity is the mix. Inclusion is making the mix work (as innovated by Andres Tapia of global consulting firm Korn Ferry); when you can do those two things simultaneously, you have inclusive diversity,” Quezada explained. “We are inclusive of all the diversity we have at Granite today, tomorrow and into the future. Ten the byproduct of inclusive diversity is belonging and equity.” Among the key elements of this stra- tegic DE&I plan, Granite revamped and converted its DE&I training to a virtual


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