Building a welcoming work culture: The Sysco LABS approach to diversity, equity and inclusion

Sysco LABS Marketing Director Kushani Kalpage

Sysco LABS Marketing Director Kushani Kalpage, is focused on driving diversity, equity and inclusion throughout Sysco LABS – the captive innovation centre for Sysco – a Fortune 500 company and the world’s leader in foodservice. Kushani shares her thoughts on integrating inclusion and diversity into the organisation, and the strategies that have been deployed thus far at Sysco LABS, resulting in the company making progress in the DEI space.

Q: Why do you believe diversity and inclusion is so important in the workplace?

Diversity and inclusion should be a core value that every company encourages and ensures throughout the organisation. One of the common challenges faced in the tech industry is the challenge of retaining women in the workforce and lack of women in senior engineering roles resulting in loss of opportunity for skilled talent. This is why organisations need strong Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) frameworks and strategies to ensure that every workplace is a welcoming space for everyone to grow.

DEI should cascade across all organisational activities from hiring practices and internal policies, to leadership practices and the decision-making process. This brings diversity of perspective, where the unique and lived experience of every employee, supports and encourages innovation, from both micro and macro perspectives.

Research shows that company cultures that encourage diversity, equity and inclusion are six times more likely to be innovative and productive. This requires the organisation to demonstrate a continuous commitment to making sure employees feel heard, included and valued.

Making the effort to drive a comprehensive DEI strategy also comes with other benefits. Employees who see an actioned DEI strategy in their workplace are also more likely to engage with their teams and the organisation which showcases trust and mutual understanding. Working in an environment that is enriched by a comprehensive DEI framework and promotes values associated with DEI, will also make employees happier and more comfortable in their working environment thereby enabling improved performance in the long run.

Q: Can you elaborate on the Sysco LABS approach towards inclusion, highlighting key milestones of the company’s DEI progress thus far?

We started this process after being inspired by the extremely comprehensive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy which we saw being executed within our parent company – Sysco. We realised the positive effects of such a strategy and decided to use their model, combined with our contextual understanding to derive our own strategy. The first step in this process was to audit and understand the current status of our DEI policies and identify areas for improvement. We did this using surveys, group discussions, one-to-one interviews and in-depth reviews of our existing policies and procedures. One of the most important milestones we achieved during this process was differentiating and defining key DEI pillars for improvement while amending and implementing new policies and procedures. The key pillars identified are Females at Work, Ethnicity, Race and Religion, LGBTIQ+ People at Work, Persons with Disabilities, and Team Composition.

After we agreed on an overarching governance framework, five existing policies relating to discipline, grievance handling, leave, maternity protection and parental leave, and harassment and violence were updated and a new policy detailing our commitment to DEI was established. In order to ensure that our Associates’ diverse needs and requirements are continually met, we introduced several new leave categories under the existing leave policy. New leave types include compassionate leave; which covers areas like bereavement – for the loss of a loved one, and domestic abuse – where associates may need time to sort out living arrangements, legal formalities, etc.

In the event there is an unfortunate situation where the mother passes away or is sick during maternity leave, parental leave will be extended for the time period where the mother is away. We also introduced adoption leave for parents who are adopting a child and this entitlement would be the same as in the case of a biological birth. Further, the disciplinary policy and grievance handling policy were updated to include clear responsibilities and guidelines as well as proper timelines in the process for employees.

Although Sysco LABS is in the early stages of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion journey, a new DE&I policy was introduced to demonstrate leadership and company commitment towards building an inclusive culture.

We also approached the roll-out of the strategy and action items with a phased approach – dividing the identified pillars into two phases addressing the first steps of awareness, learning and understanding within the first phase of the roll-out.

Currently, we have made significant progress in empowering more female leaders to take on leadership roles. To support this, we launched a clear talent management and succession planning mechanism including a framework to identify deserving, talented potential female leaders and fast tracking their career progression to assure better gender diversity at the leadership level. Extending this program further and achieving gender diversity at all levels is a key milestone in our roadmap.  

Further, progress has also been made in ensuring an equitable engagement and recruitment plan with universities along with headway in providing equal opportunities in the workplace via diverse team compositions and structures. We also organised several workshops, forums and trainings for associates around the area of DEI, with topics spanning ‘Diversity in Motion’ – A diversity, inclusion and equity panel discussion, ‘Unconscious bias at work’, ‘Ignite your Impact’, etc. These awareness activities contribute towards encouraging employees to be their authentic selves at work, without fear of discrimination or discomfort.

Another piece of the DEI puzzle which we identified was to pledge our support to organisations who are already established and fighting the good fight for diversity, equity and inclusion. As such, we have partnered with organisations such as Equal Ground – a non-profit organisation based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, that advocates for political and social rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people. We partnered with them to support their initiatives aimed at building a better society through education around the rights of LGBTIQ+ people in the community. We look forward to pursuing other such partnerships with similar organisations in the future.

A dedicated brand ‘Sysco LABS Collective’ was launched with the aim of sharing content to educate associates on the different elements of our multicultural communities. Educational content around festivals, values like peace and hope and other celebrations were shared with associates under this brand which aims to highlight and celebrate diversity.

Q:  As DEI continues to evolve – at Sysco LABS and in corporates in general, what plans does the organisation have for encouraging inclusion in the workplace?

 Inspired by Sysco’s approach to diversity, equity and inclusion, to us, belonging means reserving a seat for anyone at every table – this is a core value for us, and we practice this diligently across the organisation. We truly believe that when diverse, inclusive, authentic, and honest voices are invited to each conversation, we can change the narrative and use these diverse perspectives to enhance our business and drive growth. The way we see it, diversity of perspectives is not just good business; it is what’s right.

I must reiterate our commitment to ensuring that DEI in a constant, evolving process. Bringing these policies and frameworks into practice is a challenge, but we hope our learnings can inspire other corporates to start their own DEI journeys.

As we keep focussing on our DEI agenda, our continued focus will be on creating an environment where our associates feel comfortable to be their own, authentic selves, and encouraging them to feel safe, happy and heard. Plans for us include rolling out phase 2 of our roadmap, taking more concentrated efforts to instil values of diversity, equity and inclusiveness amongst all our associates, inspiring them to bring the best versions of themselves to work each day so they can continue to live our purpose of ‘connecting the world to share food and care for one another.’

(Kushani Kalpage is Director, Marketing at Sysco LABS and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry playing multiple leadership roles in the marketing arena, including a key role in rebranding Sysco LABS and positioning it as one of the best tech companies in Sri Lanka. Kushani is currently a Board Member/Director of Diversity Collective Lanka (DCLK). She joined DCLK to support their goals in creating a more inclusive environment for women in tech, and to encourage more women to join the tech industry. Kushani holds a BSc in Information Systems with Business Management from the University of Westminster – UK, and an MBA from the Cardiff Metropolitan University – UK.)