Jennifer Frasier, VP, Inclusion & Diversity, FIS
For so long, the approach to inclusion and diversity has been talent driven. The premise has been if we bring the best talent into our organizations which reflects the diversity of our clients and markets, AND can create an equitable and inclusive environment where that talent feel they belong, can thrive, and contribute, THEN we can leverage that diverse talent to do amazing things for our company and clients (i.e., innovation, revenue generation, market share, etc.). It’s a very logical, straight-line conclusion which has been widely accepted and followed.
But last year in the wake of the global pandemic, and in response to the social unrest we experienced after the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor to name a few, many organizations, including FIS, were forced to ask ourselves if our talent-driven approaches to I&D were sufficient enough, fast enough, or impactful enough. The answer that many of our organizations concluded, as evidenced by the multiple statements, commitments and pledges that we each made, was a resounding “no”.
So, if our talent-driven strategies weren’t working, how should we be approaching I&D in our organization? The answer may be in our organization’s purpose.
In April 2020, just as the global pandemic was beginning to take hold, McKinsey & Company published an article on the importance of organizational purpose citing the growing disenfranchisement that many investors, customers, and employees were having with businesses—calling out a “purpose gap” between their expectations and the perception of how businesses were failing to meet their potential for good. To close this gap, McKinsey asked a very simple, yet astute question, “What is your organization’s core reason for being, and where can it have a positive impact on society?” This question only got louder and even more poignant two months later when the social unrest was sparked, adding fuel to the proverbial fire.
For FIS, we are a financial technology company whose purpose is to help businesses and communities thrive by advancing commerce and the financial world. Given how much we touch in the commerce and financial ecosystem, we have a critical role in bridging the financial, and increasingly digital economic gap helping to reach those who are traditionally unbanked and underserved and support those who are financially insecure or unstable or who have been systemically or generationally marginalized.
Articulating our purpose has enabled our I&D strategy to take on a different meaning in our organization, shifting the focus on who we are to what we do. This has included reframing existing efforts like talent acquisition to focus on new and different sources of talent including initiatives at the high school level, offering a student loan benefit for our employees, or working with nonprofit and philanthropic organizations to provide financial tools and educational resources to better support underserved communities. This has also included newer initiatives such as incorporating principles of financial inclusion into our solution design, increasing the diverse suppliers with whom we work, investing $30M in minority owned FinTech startups, and more. This alignment has created strategic clarity around our I&D strategy and has galvanized efforts across the company—making it everyone’s responsibility to live and deliver on our purpose each day.
We recently took another huge step forward, sharing our purpose externally, including how I&D supports it, with our investors, customers, and other key stakeholders in our recent Global Sustainability Report—helping to close any potential purpose gap, clearly declaring the positive impact we want to have on our society, and inviting them to help hold us accountable.
