Signify ensures all voices are heard

Smitha Therese Joy could have never imagined the support she received from Signify when she was facing one of the biggest challenges in her personal life, having to fight cancer. Her team and the company showed their unbiased, caring, and inclusive nature by thinking along with her and finding a new role within Signify that would better suit Smitha's needs. With a Master's in Illumination Engineering, job experience in this field, a winner against cancer, and a recently proud mom, Smitha has now also embraced the challenges of becoming a skilled scrum master within the IT department and a committed DE&I champion.

How is Diversity, Equity & Inclusion expressed within Signify?

Signify, for me, has always been a second home. I believe that every happy home comprises multiple elements with diversity, equity, and inclusion – where all voices are heard, acknowledged and valued. Signify ensures that its employees get to experience this understanding and acceptance on all levels.

I started with a Master's degree in Illumination Engineering, and now I'm a scrum master in the Global IT Team. This was a paradigm shift for me – from a business role to various roles in IT – and that was only possible due to the unbiased and inclusive nature of my colleagues and the organization. Signify has always been supportive of its employees and has been instrumental in providing a platform to learn and grow greater together.

" Signify always supports its people to learn and grow greater together.

How do our differences help each other and allow us to learn from each other?

My most recent positive experience occurred when I had an opportunity to connect with someone from another team that's developing a custom app for doing the lighting design in the US market. Sharing my knowledge of Lighting design tools gave him some input in the creation process. I hope our collective knowledge and collaboration help build a better product for Signify customers. I started as a non-technical person in IT, while my team is expected to deliver technical outcomes on a regular basis. The diverse nature of our team of technical and functional experts has always helped to have a non-prejudiced way of looking at problems, and this diversity has always helped in delivering innovative, out-of-the-box solutions whenever there has been a challenge! We ensure all voices are heard – regardless of gender, race, qualification, or experience.

?"Our collective knowledge and collaboration help build a better product for Signify customers."

How has having a diverse team contributed to you and your objectives?

I am happy and blessed to be part of the IT team as it is a global team with people from different backgrounds, experiences, and passions. In our day-to-day work, we challenge each other constructively, which also helps find the best approach and solution for our customers. We also empower and support each other to grow and share knowledge across the team. For example, we have adopted the DevOps model in our team, meaning that everybody has to do both development and operations, resulting in equal opportunity for everyone to learn and explore.

How can we ensure that all team members have a chance to be heard?

Every human is wired differently. We act, react and respond differently, therefore, it is critical to step into another person's shoes to understand their perspective and to bring out the best in them. Occasional retrospections with the entire team always help us hear everybody's views and feedback. The input is gathered anonymously, and we discuss all the points in a call together. This ensures that all voices are heard and allows us to take relevant actions.

?"I try every day to ensure that all voices within the team are heard."

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Can you give us an example of how you personally champion DE&I in your team?

We are a diverse team of more than ten people across Asia and Europe, representing different genders, races, ages, qualifications, and experiences. I strongly believe that the first step towards being a successful contributor in any job is speaking up for yourself and your team. I try every day to ensure that all voices within the team are heard. If anyone doesn't feel comfortable, I reach out to them personally to break the ice and ensure that they become more comfortable speaking up. I provide the required fuel & additives and the spark to be courageous and confident, which stimulates the team to create a blazing fire!!

To find out more about our commitment to DE&I visit our?careers site