We spend a lot of our lives at work and for me, having a work environment where everyone is valued and treated with respect, equality, and fairly is paramount to the success of any good team. And just as important, having an avenue to share your concerns and hear how leadership plans to address them builds and creates trust between individuals and management.
I believe in being the change you want to see in the world, so I joined the UX Culture Committee to help create an environment of openness, where individual's voices could be heard and concerns could be acted upon and when necessary, escalated to the leadership level. Throughout my time within the User Experience organization, I have advocated for associate's concerns, not just because its the right thing to do, but because I care about the success of both the individual and our collective organization.
As a committee member, I was responsible for:
Crafting and conducting internal surveys to gain understanding of our workplace environment and the concerns of the team.
Analyzing data and reporting back findings to leadership, narrowing scope to common trends and themes.
Vetting proposals to address areas of concerns.
Being a trusted individual with sensitive information.
The UX Culture Committee was successful at bridging the gaps between individuals and leadership. My colleagues and I were able to bring about more transparency across the organization and achieve results which include:
Better transparency into the annual review and compensation processes.
Recommendations for internal processes and procedures.
Stronger advocacy for women in the workplace and SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) workgroups.
UX community service days and outreach.