Diversity and inclusion benefit companies far beyond statistical breakdowns of how various groups are represented in the workforce, according to gaming executives named as two of America’s top diversity officers.
“Research and our own life experiences tell us that when you invite different perspectives, different viewpoints on life, and different lived experiences to the table, we all benefit,” Kim Barker Lee, IGT vice president of diversity and inclusion, told CDC Gaming. “We know that diversity has an impact on profitability; we know that diversity has an impact on efficiency. We also know that diversity allows us to connect to our current customers.”
Jyoti Chopra, senior vice president and chief people, inclusion and sustainability officer for MGM Resorts International, said diversity reflects a powerful concept tied to the company’s vision of “embracing humanity and entertaining the human race.”
“It’s really important for companies, especially publicly traded companies, to anchor their work to a lot of the externalities … and have a much broader environmental, social, and governance component,” she said.
Barker Lee and Chopra are the only gaming executives chosen by the National Diversity Council for its list of the top 100 diversity officers in America. The group will be honored at the 17th annual National Diversity & Leadership Conference held virtually on April 21-22 and on April 28-29.
The nonprofit council, begun in 2008, works with private, public, and nonprofit organizations as a resource and advocate for issues involving a multicultural environment.
While diversity and inclusion sound similar, they are different concepts, Barker Lee and Chopra said.
“Diversity centers around people and the workforce,” Chopra said. “From an MGM context, it is about respecting the individual perspectives … but it’s also about appreciating the power of difference and recognizing fundamentally that every person is unique. Diversity, for us, is about encouraging people to bring their authentic selves to work.”
Barker Lee said inclusion “is really about embracing and leveraging the humanity that each of us brings to work with us every day, celebrating it.
“Sometimes there are challenges happening in the outside world that people will bring to work for them. And the challenge of any employer is to help employees navigate that.”
IGT and MGM both have formed a variety of groups designed to help employees network and cope. IGT’s six groups, each led by a senior executive, include a Women’s Inclusion Network, PRIDE for LGBTQ staff, and Advancing Culture Education for those of African descent. MGM, which has 11 employee network groups, last year launched a series of “Courageous Conversations” involving employees talking about current issues with CEO and President Bill Hornbuckle and members of the company’s board of directors.
The first, involving Black staffers after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, eventually led to plans for a community network to increase diversity among MGM suppliers, Chopra said. Sessions with Latinx and Hispanic workers followed and a conversation with Asian Americans is next.
The participation of Hornbuckle and board members signals a commitment to “driving cultural change as needed,” Chopra said. “A big part of being a steward of diversity and inclusion means being an advocate,” she said. “And that entails advocacy inside your company, but also in the public domain – backing up words with action.”
Barker Lee said that although the gaming industry is diverse, one challenge is attracting and keeping talent. She said IGT leaders reinforce “a culture of inclusion.” She added, “We knew that would be a driver for creating a more diverse IGT and an IGT (where) each of our employees understand that they belong here and that they are here to give their all to everything we do.”
Chopra said retaining talent is another issue, because many employees leave gaming for another industry. “One of the challenges for us an industry to reflect on how to build lasting, sustainable, meaningful careers,” she said. “It’s not just about recruiting diverse talent. You’ve got to grow and develop and advance and retain.”
Barker Lee is a founding member of the All-in Project, which collects gaming industry data on diversity and inclusion, providing benchmarks for progress. The nonprofit organization is based in London and funded by a variety of gaming companies.
“Being able to partner with them and other industry participants to develop (diversity and inclusion) standards has been an honor,” Barker Lee said. “One thing that they are committed to doing is building a legacy of support so that diversity and inclusion are not initiatives that die, but will survive all of us and lead our industry.”
