Author: Manager

The Culture of Equality in the Workplace

sumbitted by Colleen Brannan, Branstorm PR

Presented by Caroline Dudley, Managing Director of North American Recruiting for Accenture, our May virtual luncheon was based on recent Accenture research, The Hidden Value of Culture Makers. During this one-hour interactive Zoom session, Caroline kept a group of CREW Charlotte members engaged by making participants apply study findings to their own beliefs and company cultures.

According to the study, the majority of leaders surveyed (68%) believe an inclusive workplace environment/culture is vital to the success of their business but just 21% say it’s a priority (76% cited financial performance.) Interestingly, two thirds of leaders (68%) feel they create empowering environments in which employees can be themselves; raise concerns and innovate without fear of failure. However, just one third of employees agreed.

While it seems we have a long way to go on culture as a priority, Caroline said we can all do our part to create a culture of equality no matter what your role is in the organization. Some suggestions included:

• incorporate culture into personal goal setting for yourself and those you manage
• create employee incentives related to culture to celebrate culture makers in your company
• remember cultures of equality extend outside the workplace to our roles in the nonprofit community and professional organizations like CREW.

When culture makers lead, organizations grow twice as fast. Here’s the Culture Makers video to get the conversation started at your company.

Other Accenture studies, such as Getting To Equal 2017: Closing The Gender Pay Gap and COVID-19 The Industry Impact of Coronavirus can be found at www.accenture.com

Circular Charlotte

submitted by Sivilay Xayasaene with Gresham Smith

Our virtual June luncheon presented by Amy Aussieker, Envision Charlotte Executive Director, highlighted Charlotte as the first in the US to take on the challenge to become a circular city. Circular Charlotte’s model is designed to produce zero waste simply by adopting a comprehensive waste diversion strategy while also creating more than 2,000 jobs. Amy identified business cases of textiles and food waste that can be diverted from landfill and be reused or upcycling food waste into compost.

The Innovation Barn will be the hub for circular economy, housing many case studies. Within the barn is an incubator lab, plastics lab, 3D printer, chipper, extruder, aquaponic garden and hydroponic garden. The labs are open to the public and provide opportunity for entrepreneurs to develop their circular economy ideas. People will have the ability to bring in plastic and make a new phone case or rapidly prototype products straight from the lab. In addition, Electrolux will have a teaching kitchen that will also supply the Café and serve refreshments. Maintained by Envision Charlotte, the Barn is designed by Kim Marks’ team at Progressive AE, constructed by JEDunn at 932 Seigle Avenue and schedule to open late fall.

Members who attended the luncheon expressed excitement to tour the new facility as well as volunteer. More information on the Innovation Barn and what can be recycled can be found here.

To see Amy's complete presentation, please click here.

Mecklenburg County Manager Talks Next Phase Reopening Plans

Submitted by Sivilay Xayasaene

For our July Luncheon, Mecklenburg County Manager, Dena Diorio, provided an overview of how the county responded to covid-19 and details of reopening plans. The detailed timeline provided insight on why decisions were made and how they responded to things that came before we had our first case.

Planning efforts begin on February 28^th with the modification of the Pandemic Influenza Response Plan to meet covid-19 and the activation of the Policy Group. The Policy Group includes public health staff, emergency management, CMPD, Atrium Health, Novant Health, medics, CMS, the Sheriffs Office, the Courts, City of Charlotte, the six towns and all our Public Information Team. This group is designed to make collective decisions about our community wide response to covid-19 and allowed tracking of the virus. On March 9^th the EOC (Emergency Operation Center) was opened allowing the county to access federal and state dollars. Dena continued to address the challenges of acquiring PPE’s, prioritizing testing with limited test kits, and gaining understanding of what a medical surge would look like for the community.   

The beginning of the crisis started with Governor Cooper declaring a State of Emergency and the county’s first presumptive case of covid-19. CDC recommended guidance were followed. As crisis continued hotels were rented out for homeless residents to increase social distance or isolate those infected.  First responders who were exposed or tested positive and did not want to return home were also provided hotels. Park and rec facilities were open to provide child care for first responders. On March 17^th, county services were closed and transitioned to a virtual platform. A shining star during this time was Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD) who coordinated the efforts of 210 non-profit organizations that wanted to provide volunteer services and resources to people in the community.

On March 26^th, a stay at home proclamation went into effect. By early April conversations started with hospitals on needs for field hospitals. County was asked to coordinate with the state of North Carolina to build a field hospital to manage a surge of 3,000 in hospitals. Projected peak was late April. Construction was ready to begin for the facility at UNCC until FEMA stated federal government would not be able help with any supplies needed or staff in order to make the hospital functional.  Another request was for a 600 bed facility at Charlotte Convention Center. After further evaluation request for field hospitals were withdrawn. On April 16^th there were 1,098 cases of covid-19 and projected peak flattened and moved from early May to mid-July.

On April 29^th Governor Cooper announced the three phase reopening plan.  On May 8^th there were 2,007 cases of covid-19 and the county moved through Phase 1. On May 22^nd Phase 2 went into effect with about 3,000 confirmed cases. By June 24^th, Governor Cooper extended safer at home order to July 17^th and required face coverings when social distancing is not possible. At present date, data continues to show an increase in positive cases. Check out the audio and presentation to hear more about the data collected including questions and answers from the group in attendance.