Integrating and placing focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts into workplace culture are becoming more prevalent, especially as younger employees are starting to dominate the workforce. Studies have shown that 53% of Gen-Z workers would not apply to a job with a company that lacked diversity and 69% are more likely to stay for more than five years at a company with a diverse workforce.
That’s why it is The Diversity Movement’s (TDM) core mission to provide end-to-end education and tools that measure cultural competency for employees and leaders to scale their DEI efforts. And they just expanded their reach to a global scale.
The Raleigh-based DEI-focused tech platform announced earlier this week that they’ve been acquired by Workplace Options (WPO), which is also based in Raleigh and is the largest independent provider of company wellbeing and mental health solutions to millions around the world. This acquisition will not only advance WPO’s resources and expertise across services that include DEI initiatives, but also expands TDM’s products and values to companies on a larger scale.
“Inclusive leadership, equitable opportunities and employee engagement are top priorities for innovative and resilient organizations,” said Alan King, WPO’s President and CEO, in a press release. “Individually and together, we are committed to empowering every person to be their authentic self. WPO and TDM are aligned in our vision to make a transformative difference through innovation, technology, and a human-centric approach to holistic health.”
The Diversity Movement was backed by investors including Durham-based Resilient Ventures, which invests in Black-led startups.
The topic of DEI initiatives has been a widely debated topic and is often viewed from a pure social justice standpoint. According to TDM Co-Founder and CEO Donald Thompson, however, most business leaders don’t understand how DEI efforts relate to the bottom-line, dollars-and-cents success of their business.
In fact, businesses that integrated these DEI initiatives saw less employee turnover and more products being sold when they understood a more diverse population. From training talent acquisition folks for better recruiting to training sales professionals on using inclusive language, DEI training is extremely beneficial for creating not only a better end product, but also a better company environment.
“DEI is a subset of that wellbeing process at work,” Thompson said. “If we start talking about the wellbeing of employees, what treating people well means and what showing up with your full self at work means, all of a sudden, integrating DEI into what WPO already provides makes that wellbeing process at work even stronger.”
Trusted by 56% of Fortune 500 companies, WPO delivers high-quality, holistic wellbeing services to more than 80 million people in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. The TDM acquisition enables WPO to provide personalized and culture-centric tools to its clients and partners, while leveraging TDM’s employee engagement platform and helping to deliver its products into more global markets.
“Our ability to infuse our technology, training and team into a global distribution is something that we couldn’t pass up,” Thompson said. “We want to help millions of people to see the impact of creating a better workplace at scale. Most of us spend a significant amount of our lives in working environments. If those environments can be improved, then that improves the lives and wellbeings of many—and we take that very seriously.”
