Case Study
Better Together: Strengthening Diversity and Inclusion Practices within the Federal Financial Sector
We know how a bill becomes a law, but how does a law become reality? When the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act was passed, it mandated that all regulated agencies actively work to ensure diversity and inclusion within its own ranks, throughout its supplier base and amongst the industries it regulates.
Faced with this complex task, Censeo’s client agency was left to ponder the “how.” They turned to Censeo for help and in a matter of months, the agency was able to articulate a vision of the law’s implementation, achieve the right objectives to fulfill its mandates, and design a road map to success. With Censeo’s guidance, they established themselves as a leader among peer agencies on the topic of diversity and inclusion.
Situation
Under Dodd-Frank, federal financial regulatory agencies, including Censeo’s client agency, were required to create standards and put in place processes to increase employee diversity, ensure diversity throughout its supplier base, and promote diversity in the industries it regulates. Censeo was brought on board to assist with creating these standards and developing these processes.
Approach
While Dodd-Frank stipulated many new regulations, what these new rules would look like in practice was unclear. Starting day one, Censeo began a comprehensive review of diversity and inclusion practices throughout the financial services industry and the federal government to identify best practices and current trends. By giving the agency visibility into what was happening in the public and private sector, Censeo was able to empower the agency’s decision-makers to articulate the right vision for implementation.
Results
Drawing on Censeo’s experience in data analysis, data visualization, process mapping, and federal procurement, the project team created a suite of products that would work in tandem to support each pillar of the agency’s new diversity mandates:
- Increase employee diversity – Censeo developed a staffing demographic dashboard.
- Help ensure diversity throughout the agency’s supplier base – Censeo developed a women- and minority-owned business contracting dashboard to help the agency better target those types of vendors. Censeo also developed guidelines for evaluating whether or not a contractor had made a ‘good faith effort’ to include minorities and women in their businesses.
- Promote diversity in the industries the agency regulates – Censeo created a process for educating companies on the agency’s new standards for diversity and inclusion in financial services.
At Censeo, we know that after the right products have been developed, you can’t just walk away. That’s why we worked with the client to incorporate change management practices throughout the process and make their initiatives a success. This meant that the client would not only faithfully implement the law in the best way possible, but also do so in a way that encouraged broad participation from across the agency and the financial services sector.
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