Diversity and Inclusion | Dentsply Sirona South Africa

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Our Diversity and Inclusion Council

Our Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Council consists of demographically and functionally diverse employees from around the world. The Council’s priority is increasing employee awareness of our D&I priorities and ensuring leaders are held accountable for meeting our diversity, inclusion, and equity targets. At the first meeting, we set out several key principles:

The Council will have up to 20 members representing the diversity of our Company, with the Senior Global Manager for Early Career Programs and Diversity & Inclusion as a permanent member.
The Council will meet monthly or more frequently as needed.
Council members will serve two-year terms except for the six original members, who will rotate off at the end of 2021.
The Council will promote D&I within our Company.
The Council will review and approve requests to form Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and will oversee a budget to help support ERG requests.

The D&I Council established practical guidance, supported by two major goals for 2020-2021:

Create a positive Company culture by developing awareness and promoting acceptance and tolerance of diverse individuals.
Ensure that employees of diverse backgrounds can develop, grow, and thrive at Dentsply Sirona.

The Council continues to increase awareness of sensitive topics and make a positive impact on D&I priorities, driving sustainable diversity, inclusion, and equity outcomes. They’ve achieved success in policy enhancement, promotion of internal diverse talent, growth of ERGs, and high engagement in feedback sessions such as Conversation of Understanding.

Conversation of Understanding Program

In 2020, we piloted a "Conversation of Understanding" program in the U.S. with the aim of creating a safe space to encourage open dialogue and sharing. In total, more than 170 employees took part.

Conversation of Understanding sessions are open to all global employees. Due to the success of the pilot, the program is expanding to other countries in 2021 to allow local employees to join the conversation in their native languages and discuss specific topics. Jennifer Nelson, Conversation Champion, says that, “The key takeaway from these conversations has been that we must make opportunities to connect even more often, with empathy and even deeper listening.”

Managing Bias

Managing bias plays a crucial role in our D&I strategy. In 2020, we introduced a new, interactive eLearning course on the topic. It identifies and defines various types of biases, explains the effects of bias, and provides tools to help eliminate it inside and outside the workplace. This online course is available to all employees around the world.

Employee Resource Groups

Our ERGs are voluntary support networks for employees with shared backgrounds and interests. They are open to individuals who want to join either as a participant or ally. The DS Women and BOLD (Black Organization for Leadership & Development) ERGs both launched in 2020.

DS Women

DS Women was established in 2020 to act as a forum of support and growth through allyship and mentorship, and open channels for talent development and resource sharing. It’s also one of our primary advocacy groups for gender pay parity, which is a key priority and one of the flagship goals of our sustainability strategy.

BOLD

Launched in 2020, BOLD aims to connect, foster, and grow a tight-knit Black community and network of allies within Dentsply Sirona globally. It celebrates the uniqueness of its members and focuses on the cultural education, recruitment, and retention of Black employees.

PRIDE

PRIDE is our internal community for LGBTQ+ employees and allies.

DS Early Career

DS Early Career is dedicated to attracting, developing, and retaining early-career talent.

APAG

The Asia Pacific American Group, or APAG, provides a platform for American members to connect.

DS Veterans

DS Veterans supports service members’ and veterans’ transitions to civilian work environments.

Empowering Our Employees

Find out how we updated our people strategy in 2020 to ensure it would continue to support our purpose.

Learn more