Edelman Financial Engines has recently intensified its strong commitment to DEI by establishing the position of director of diversity, equity and inclusion, staffed by Pammi Bhullar.
The visibility of her new role and some new DEI-related initiatives over the past 15 months have already had an impact. These included the rollout of a formal firmwide DEI strategy, the debut of a DEI education series covering microaggressions and how to be an ally, and the introduction of the “We Aspire” program, which provides a career path for Edelman employees who want to become financial advisers.
One of the ripple effects of these initiatives was the grassroots formation of four new employee resource groups, representing military veterans, Asian-Americans, Hispanics and people from the LGBTQ+ community.
Overseeing DEI strategy that touches 1,500 employees across 145 offices can be a challenge. Bhullar approaches it systemically:
- Clarifying people’s roles and actions towards DEI and recognizing their contributions through internal communications
- Constantly looking at processes to mitigate bias, for example, in the We Aspire program, she has updated job description language to be more inclusive, standardized the interview questions, and increased the use of diverse interviewers
- Driving corporate accountability through the use of DEI data and responding accordingly when, for example, DEI metrics are decreasing in a given area.
Contact Pammi Bhullar, director of diversity, equity & inclusion, at pbhullar@edelmanfinancialengines.com to learn more about its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.