BR Proud
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – The Baton Rouge Area Chamber looks to highlight those who are making the workplace a safer, more inclusive place for employees.
“Understanding that is the Deep South and there is still a lot of work to be done, we are just here to facilitate that work,” said BRAC Diversity and Inclusion manager Darrell Johnson Jr.
Diversity and inclusion are tough to talk about but it’s one that can’t be ignored, according to Johnson.
BRAC is awarding businesses with the Diversity Star Award. Its goal is to help improve workplaces.
“We want to make sure that our organization reflects the makeup of our community,” said Civil Solutions Consulting Group Director of Business Development Eric Dexter.
Civil Solutions Consulting Group in Baton Rouge won the Diversity Award three years ago. Dexter said there’s no finish line when it comes to ethics.
“You are never actually done with the work,” said Dexter. “It’s something that is just incorporated into the work that you do and it’s everlasting.”
According to the Office of Personnel Management, having a diverse workplace has several benefits. Diversity increases an organization’s capacity to serve and it also improves the quality of work to help cater to all audiences.
“We wanted to make sure that we had people sitting around the table who could provide us with prospective that would make us stronger, not weaker,” said Dexter. “So, we know that it would be a profit for us.”
Johnson says overall diversity and inclusion are just good for business and if employers create a safe place at your workplace, it can ultimately open the doors to having a better community overall.
“We see as it pertains to research, cities and metropolitan areas that score very high in economic development have a very robust inclusion initiative as part of their everyday work,” said Johnson.
The deadline for the Diversity Award is July 8 at 5 p.m. Fill out an application here.