Building an Inclusive Work Environment that Thrives

Honored with the award for Best Inclusion & Diversity Initiative at the Capacity Global Carrier Awards for two years, both 2020 and 2021, Verizon Partner Solutions is proud to be recognized for its ongoing efforts to make our workforce more diverse and inclusive at all levels.

“Listen, learn, and lead with action.” These words from VPS President Eric Cevis remind us every day of the importance of supporting diversity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace.?

Diversity allows us to connect more meaningfully with our customers, suppliers, colleagues, and society. This makes diversity imperative not only for our success but for the industry’s. Embracing diversity is the first step in gaining a competitive advantage while fostering inclusion is the most important element in the journey to building sustainable equity.

As a leader in the telecommunications industry, Verizon is committed to driving change across the industry and serving as a voice to move the diversity, equity, and inclusion conversation forward. That means integrating various diversity initiatives throughout our organization to create an environment and culture where all people are empowered to grow, contribute and innovate.

Closing the Gender Gap

According to the 2021 Global Leaders Forum Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Report (GLF DIB), 70% of the companies surveyed ranked gender diversity as the highest priority on their DIB agenda. In addition, survey respondents acknowledged the commercial benefits of diversity and perceived fewer barriers in their organizations for women to advance their careers when gender-related policies and programs were implemented in their workplace.

In an effort to further gender inclusion, Verizon fosters various diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and initiatives to identify and expand opportunities for women in the industry.

• Verizon supports and celebrates diversity through a variety of employee resource groups. One of Verizon’s oldest gender-related programs, the Women’s Association of Verizon Employees, provides its members, women, and men, with professional and personal development opportunities and serves as a resource to Verizon’s workforce, providing counsel and support on issues affecting women employees.
• Relaunched in 2021, the Women of the World career development program is a year-long developmental experience for women that focuses on building five core strengths: building your personal brand, self-leadership, communication, critical thinking and empowering women to their own careers.?
• In October 2021, Verizon partnered with several major Fortune 500 companies to launch Women’s CoLab, a collaborative career engine for women everywhere. The initiative provides women with a library of essential resources to help them achieve success in an increasingly digital economy. Women’s CoLab was created to help women -- who, as a group, lost approximately 5.4 million jobs in 2020 amid the pandemic -- re-enter the workforce.
• Verizon Business Women’s Leadership Digital Summit will convene in 2022, bringing together women of the global workforce, including executives, business owners, essential workers and global decision-makers.?

Celebrating Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)

Results from the 2021 GLF DIB show that DEI is the second most prioritized topic within respondents’ DIB policies. Similar to the results on gender, survey respondents perceived fewer barriers for racial minorities to advance their careers when DEI-related policies and programs were implemented in their workplace.

The V Team has been able to drive a culture of inclusion and strengthen its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion with the support of its Employee Resource Groups. We believe there is a place for every V Teamer at Verizon, and the following groups–in addition to many others–have helped us promote belonging in the workplace:

• SOMOS Verizon – The voice of the Latinx community
• PACE @ Verizon – Pan Asian Corporate Excellence
• BOLD of Verizon – Black Originators Leaders and Doers
• NAV of Verizon – Native Americans of Verizon

As a result, Verizon has been able to create more opportunities for women and people of color – who hold? 50 percent of our board seats and executive leadership positions. While these ERGs and initiatives have helped make progress toward achieving diversity, inclusion, and belonging at Verizon, there is still much more work to be done. The time to act is now – the telecommunications industry must come together to ensure that every voice is heard and has a seat at the table.