Transcript:

Intro: Hi, I'm John Iino and welcome to the Reed Smith podcast Inclusivity Included: Powerful Personal Stories. In each episode of this podcast, our guests will share their personal stories, passions, and challenges, past and present, all with a goal of bringing people together and learning more about others. You might be surprised by what we all have in common, inclusivity included.

John: Hi everyone. Welcome to the podcast, Reed Smith's Inclusivity Included. Today is a special episode on the responding to the Coronavirus. It's following up on our earlier special episode we did on strategies to remain inclusive during the Coronavirus crisis. Today we're privileged to have our Chief HR officer, Kevan Skelton, who is based in London, as well as Jeni Taylor, who is the director of HR for Europe, middle East, and Asia for Reed Smith. And Jeni is also in London. Hello, Kevan and Jeni.

Kevan: Hi John. Great to be here.

Jeni: Hi, John. Good to be here.

John: Yeah, that's great. And so today in our last episode we talked generally Iveliz Crespo, and I spoke generally about some of the things that organizations and leaders should be doing during the coronavirus to make sure we're reaching our people and staying inclusive. And today we thought we'd drill down a little bit more into that and since some of the specific tactical programs that organizations in particular, what Reed Smith is doing in response to the crisis, how we're engaging our people around the world, and some special programs that we've already launched and hopefully with lots of success. I want to start off just by setting a little bit of the background here is in October of this year, I actually spoke on a panel at the Minority Corporate Council Association's conference of other chief diversity officers. And I threw out the 600 pound gorilla in the room at the time saying at some point we're going to go into recession. And when we do, the question is what will happen to D&I, programmings and the like. And nobody really wanted to face that, but I thought it's something at least we should be thinking about. And my advice and my points I tried to make is that your D&I programs really need to be aligned with the organization's key goals and whether that's revenue, performance, management of human capital, and to the extent your D&I programs are just standalone nice to have things on the outskirts, it really results in the D&I programs, really not being integrated with everything. And we've been very fortunate is that in response to this crisis, our D&I program has aligned with, in particular our HR department led by Kevan, Jeni, and Nita Gordon in the US. And what we've done is we've created a task force or a steering committee to respond to the coronavirus crisis where the D&I programs are linked up with all the things that the HR department is doing. And so we have our employee resource groups, which we call business inclusion groups working side by side and coordinated through this task force to make sure that we are not only aware of what everyone else is doing, but we are really collaborating very, very closely. So that's what we really wanted to talk about today is some of the things that we're doing here at Reed Smith in coordination with various programs across the organization. So let me first turn to Kevan to talk in particular. What is the HR department doing to respond to this crisis? I know there's a lot there, but what are some of the things that you're doing?

Kevan: Yeah, thanks, John. I mean it certainly, hopefully a once in a lifetime crisis and the HR department, just like the rest of the firm has really come together to help ourselves as individuals and a team and the rest of the firm through the crisis, which I think is really important. I think there are a number of stages to that. The first was the very early decision, the first major law firm to scatter and go to full work from home. I think that was a critical decision and a brave decision for the firm to make, but I think it was the right decision. I think that enabled us to really put in motion a strategy that protected our people, protected our clients, and protected our business. So I think that was a really good rounded decision to make. And as you mentioned, John, the coming together of strategy around d and i and people and business, I think that decision really showed how it can all come together to the benefit of all groups. So we're really pleased that that happened quickly. And then I think we're working our way through some stages. The first stage was to really operationalize working remotely for many people, it was a new experience for those of us who are used to working remotely. It was a new experience as well because we're now doing it full time and that does feel different. So I think we're going to go through several stages, the first of which is to get people up and running and operating effectively. It's then going to be to give them some routine, some structure, some process, and then it's going to be helping them optimize their performance and maybe get some of the benefits of working remotely. So I think that's really been the overarching strategy of both the HR function and the coronavirus response team that we put together, which is a cross-functional cross-departmental team. So that's the overarching approach that we've taken so far.

John: I liken it, Kevan, to now this is more of a US analogy, but there's a federal response and then there's a state and local response. And so what we've tried to do is make sure that at the overall HR and D&I department responses, that's kind of at a federal level, which things you can do, but you also need the individual programs and that's what I would call the state and local programs, but those individual programs to be having their own flavor, their own mandates, but all in coordination. So the beauty of having our task force or our steering committee is that we all are talking about what we're doing. We're coordinating this on a regular basis so that it all kind of fits together. One program that sticks out to me is our wellness program. We call it wellness works at Reed Smith, but maybe Jeni or Kevan, you can give a little background on the program, but more specifically, how is that really taking front and center in terms of reaching out to our people? Like you say people are feeling, maybe they feel isolated, maybe they're having to deal with some specific issues, whether it's childcare, elder care, mental health around these. What is their wellness program doing in particular?

Jeni: Well, what Wellness Works program is as a program is there to help promote the wellbeing of attorneys and professional staff across all of the firm. It's been running for quite a while, but with the move to more remote working, it's moved to wellness works at home. And really we've been looking at, well what about working at home? What do we need to do to help support people who are now having to work in a way with partners with children and other issues that they're having to deal with just to remain productive and managing kids and schooling with the schools closing an awful lot of information we were able to provide to help people think about what's the best way to homeschool, what's the best way to keep my kids entertained? How can I manage this? And certainly a lot of the activities we've been doing is curating a lot of information that's already out there for people, but putting it together in the resource pack that people can access very easily. Also, as you mentioned there, John, it is not just about families, small children or working alongside a partner is elder care at Hope and what does that mean when you've got elderly that you're trying to manage or even trying to stay in contact with remotely during a time when actually accessibility is very limited. So again, it's providing resources to people. One thing also we've been able to do to a wellness work program is to provide access to things like webinars and other useful information that people may find valuable to help both themselves and their families mindfulness, different hints and tips and ideas that are coming to us from outside organizations that we would work with normally. And it's a whole series of information and resource that people can access very easily through our space, which is our internet that we have internally within the firm.

John: We're very fortunate because our wellness programs quite a while ago when it was very hats off to Kevan and the whole HR team for really having that program. Similarly, we launched our mental health task force last year, which really was burned by the importance of mental health not only for our attorneys but for all of our staff. And the fact that we had our mental health task force up and running there to support our people during this time has been critical. So Kevan and Jeni talk a little bit about the needs and what I'm thinking about here is diversity inclusion. The big message that we tried to mission, we try to make sure we get across is that people are different. And I certainly commented that people react to crises in different ways. People react to being working remotely in different ways. We can't expect everyone to all be wanting to get on Zoom calls or the video conferencing and like because of different personalities. But as you think about mental health task force, what are some of the specific things we're trying to address with that program's outreach now?

Kevan: Yeah, John, it's a great question and I think that one of the key things that we have to be careful around, particularly with remote working is the potential for people to become isolated. And the fact is, as you mentioned, we will come at things from a different way and for some people the workplace is a very social meaning as well. They may get their social interaction through work, they may live by themselves and therefore this period can be really isolating for those people. So I think we go through some stages here and one is building awareness and the task force has done a great job with that. There's some fantastic materials out there on the mental health task force page. There's some great podcasts on that. And I think just helping people understand that it can be natural to feel isolated during this period. It is a really starting, I mean a lot of mental health really builds on. So I think the fact that understanding that isolation is something to be careful of is a really important step. So I think that's really important. But I think getting people to adapt to how they used to work and to accept that it's going to be different. And there are several things that are really important generically obviously because we're all individuals, but for people's mental health. So for instance, a good routine, a sense of purpose, sleep, exercise, diet are all really important. And it can be very challenging in a new environment just to find yourself waking up in the morning, you're missing your normal social cues of a commute and maybe you pop into your regular coffee shop to stock up and get the day going and you can just find yourself moving very easily into a routine where you are turning your laptop on, you're sitting in front of it for 12 hours and then you're turning it off. And that can become a bit of an onslaught of a routine. So I think people need to be aware of the need to move around to exercise, to take breaks. And once real specific that I'd just like to mention that we are really working on at the moment is transitioning between working the home and not working in the home. And I think this is a really important issue in the current environment. We need people to make that break between when they're stopping for the day that they're working up to a point, they're stopping, they're transitioning, and then they're moving on with their life outside work. And I think without the break of a commute, it can be easy to miss that transition point. And I think it's really important because otherwise you are moving into the sort of the always on and that as we know can be very detrimental for people's mental health.

John: I agree a hundred percent or 110% with that. And I found that the longer we're getting into the working remotely, those issues are starting to become more acute. At the beginning, maybe just the novelty of working from home was one thing, but now that it's like you say, becoming more routine, the need to check out my, for example, last Sunday just completely logged off all computer access and I just wanted to just completely check out. And it was important just to create that separation between the work and the home. With your computers being there, your phones being there all the time, the temptation is to never really leave the office. And so it's so important. I'm also conscious of some of the things that we're doing as well. We're very fortunate in law firms for the most part in that compared to some other industries in terms of the loss of jobs to loss of unemployment, so many businesses are actually having to close now and saying the deaths and the think about the healthcare workers, all the things that they're doing. So one of the things I know we're also doing just featuring the volunteerism and one of the ways that we cope with or get through some of these crises is by giving back and helping others. And when we help others, we end up also helping ourselves. So if you can highlight a little bit of call it at Reed Smith at our best, but some of the programs that we're doing to encourage people to give and give back during these times.

Jeni: The program that you referred to, John was one that was put forward I think by Casey Ryan who had seen story of somebody who is serving officer in fact who has gone back to supporting in this local region. I think it's a food bank and support to local community that he's been doing, which has been utterly amazing and that's now been opened out to across the firm. And there've been some fantastic stories that have come in and most recently the ones that come to mind. But those people who have kept the offices going and they're the ones that have still been going back into the office to the skeleton crew, possibly driving into the office rather than going through public transport, but been there to sort the post to do some printing where it's being required to even sort out some IT. And very much actually in the early days, they were the ones who were there for the couriers helping to ship out maybe a particular chair someone might have had in the office because they've got back problems and they wanted that chair shipped out. And they've done all these fantastic things to both help the firm keep going, and importantly to set the firm up really, really well in the early stages and make it easy for people to start working remotely from home. And as you say, it's those good stories, the real positive ones that people hear of how people have put themselves out for others and being supportive of others I think is really important. And it ties in also to the wellness work programs when we talk about those things that you can be doing to children as well. And it's where you've seen the children say, here in the UK they've been putting rainbows in the window and across the world we've seen people come out at eight o'clock in the evening to cheer for their health service. And it's those things that really make people feel very positive during a really very, very uncertain time. For many, as you've already said.

John: I know one I saw recently, so some of our attorneys, Lisa Craig and LiLing Po, who had been doing some work around the CARES Act and small business loan, the new laws had done a webinar for hairdressers and people who own salons who are obviously can't even work right now and so are really, really pressed. But walking them through the SBA loan process and answering all the questions regarding the new CARES Act. And it was again, just volunteering the community, but the response was incredible in terms of the help and giving people some help there. Talk a little bit about what we're doing on the D&I side as soon as the crisis hit and people started working remotely within that week that the need to reach out to our people. We have, we call it business inclusion groups or bigs, which are the equivalent of employee resource groups or affinity groups that other organizations have, but we really activated them at that time. At first we maybe were in a little bit of transition, but as soon as everyone got up and running, we thought it was especially important for those groups to reach out to their people. And so the steering committee, the task force we have, the meetings are to make sure that we're sharing what other groups are doing that has had great success. Some of the examples are disability group right away started twice a week virtual coffees. It's the equivalent of that water cooler talk that we typically would be able to have when you're in the office, but they've come up with specific topics. So in each one what might be a favorite book or favorite article or music that they listen to are UNIDOS, who's our Latino hispanic group at a virtual cafecito and they've also shared out Spotify playlists that have some of their favorite music to bring people together. Similarly, our African-American black group has also had a number of virtual meetings to support each other, but also to talk about what some of the people are doing. And so more globally, that's what I would call on the state or local level. But on the federal level, the d and i program, we are staying with our mission, which is to celebrate our diversity and to have people appreciate the differences that we have throughout the organization. And so this is being April, we are celebrating diversity month and trying to understand where the commonalities would be between everyone and we are revolving around food. And so we have our cooking with Reed Smith and using cuisines from across the world, from across cultures to highlight the differences and to also highlight the commonalities and strengths we are at the end of the month having a series of videos and having a little fun celebrating our differences and highlighting the strength of how we are. So it's just a little highlights about all the things we're doing in our D&I program in collaboration with what Wellness Works and our HR department are doing. I'm also wanted to explore a little bit with Kevan and Jeni in particular because this has historically been a US audience, but I'd love to hear what's going on in the UK that might be a little different than what we're experiencing over here.

Kevan: Sure. I mean, I think one thing I would say, John, is that this crisis has absolutely confirmed to me that Reed Smith has a great culture that is really supportive of everyone in the firm. One of the best things that we can do during this period is really stay connected. So we've spent some time talking about programs and we've got more programs come in around mindfulness, around different sorts of outreach. But one of the best things we can do is just to connect with one another. So I was talking to somebody earlier who had just taken the time to call a couple of people they hadn't spoken to for a few weeks. And I think that sort of personalization is really important at the moment. I think it can bring that feeling of inclusion in its broadest sense, but it also can bring a sense of energy to both parties. So I think it's really great when we see connection like that. I think the response to the pandemic in the UK is definitely gone through stages, and I think it did start with quite a low key is this really serious type response, but it certainly escalated as we saw a coronavirus outbreak really explode into Europe initially through Italy and Spain. But now in the UK and it certainly feels very close to home. I do think it has brought a sense of greater community and be, it would be the one thing that I think I hope lasts beyond the pandemic when hopefully we get past this stage and we return to whatever normality will be. But I think that sense of community, I think that sense of togetherness, I think a sense of looking out for one another is good. Jeni mentioned earlier the 8:00 PM Thursday sort of applause for the NHS for the health workers has definitely grown enormously. It now has its own slot on the BBC, and it's a big thing and I think it's really helped to engender a good spirit, but also it's helped to enforce the lockdown. We're into week four, we expect it to be expanded for another three or four weeks, so that would be seven or eight weeks of lockdown. Or if you have parents as I do who are in the very vulnerable category, they're already on week five, so there's some significant change going on. But I think that the general feeling of togetherness has been great. And I think we've had more than 500,000 people volunteer to help the NHS call in isolated people delivering food to them. So I think that really shows the level of response that's come together. And we've certainly seen that in the firm. People are very watchful one another, they're in contact, they're looking out for one another. So I think that's shown great credit to the cultural firm.

Jeni: And I was just going to say to carry from Kevan's point about the connectivity that we've seen across the firm, and I would just like to say our Asian colleagues, those who experienced this first, certainly watchful eyes helping and supporting and giving an enormous amount of guidance. And in the early days when it was all very new for us, and it all seemed quite strict. Certainly conversations that I and others have with our colleagues who've been in Hong Kong, who've been in lockdown for quite some time, were talking about how it feels. And initially it sounded very alien, but then as you started through the weeks feeling that yourself, they were providing so much thoughts and guidance around what they thought needed to be done or indeed how they had seen and experienced it. So it was in some ways wonderful to learn in such sad circumstances. But the sharing that we got from them I think has been phenomenal. And also, I suppose as we're moving through this different countries in different places, so learning and supporting one another around how their governments and local territories are dealing with the crisis and what it means for them and also what it will mean for them as they come out of this. And some will go earlier than others and how we again can learn from them and support them, but also when it comes to the UK and other places, we can learn and take from that. And I think that openness to want to share and help and support us has been phenomenal both internally within the firm and externally as well. And I think this connectivity has been important, but also this slowing down of pace for everybody to an extent of you are limited to what you can do and where you can go, which means that when you are allowed to go outside, it is a lot quieter, it feels very different, which does allow more time to actually think about what matters to me and what are the things that I want to continue to do as we go back to commuting back into the city, commuting back into work, what's been important and what I want to keep wanting to keep.

John: Great, great points Jeni and Kevan. What stands out for me is we're very fortunate as a global firm to you say having our Asian colleagues who had already gone through this with the SARS pandemic as well, to give us that insight and prepare us and be ready for some of the things we needed to do. And Kevan, what really strikes me about the difference between the UK and the US is, and maybe it's perhaps your own prime minister, Boris Johnson, having contracted the virus and gone into intensive care, just kind of brought it home as a nation that regardless of your political affiliation, when you see that level of crisis, it really brought the nation together. And unfortunately in the US I think we're still divided so politically it's really hard to watch the news because we should be bringing ourselves together in times like these as opposed to still continue to fight politically. So it's a spirit I hope we can all learn from what's happened in the UK. And I just wanted to close with a couple thoughts that Kevan, you had said earlier is that the importance of d and i and inclusion is to make sure that we're thinking about all of our people when times are tough, we tend to gravitate around those that we feel most comfortable with and that really can be excluding, and it could be isolating for some people that whether they're not in the in-group, the core group or people that are maybe new to the organization and don't have those types of relationships. So that's why it's been so important, whether it's from the HR group, the HR department, the D&I efforts, the wellness programs that we're really trying to reach everyone. And I've seen a really intentional focused effort from our leadership and from team leaders, from partners that have reached out to every member of their team and through our D&I groups reaching out to every member of our team and checking in. It could be formal through these programs or like you say, just a quick phone call and checking in to see how people are doing on a personal level. And so I've been really, really pleased to see that level of effort and from a D&I and inclusion perspective that people are in their hearts looking out for everyone. And that's been so impressive during these times. Before we close, I just wanted to leave. One last thought I said to certainly all of our leadership throughout the firm is that at some point we know we'll get back to some sort of normalcy. This crisis will be over. And at that point we want to look back on, I said, you should look back on what you did during this crisis and what your culture was during this crisis and how you respond to this crisis and how you treated your people during this crisis. And more than anything, how do you want to be remembered as an organization when the dust settles and that reputation, how you'll be remembered, will last a lot longer than the virus. It's an opportunity to shine. It's an opportunity to really display what your culture is. And so I'm very proud that what all the things that we've done and we'll continue to do and encourage all leaders that listen to this podcast to think about doing the same. So with that, Kevan Jeni, I thank you for coming into today to share a little bit about what we're doing. We are just really proud to work side by side with you in all these efforts.

Kevan: Thanks, John. It's been great to have the opportunity to talk about it, and we have a great culture here. So it's that culture that's underpins and sustains all our D&I efforts, so it's one we can be very proud of. Thank you.

Outro: Inclusivity Included is a Reed Smith production. Our producer is Ali McCardell. This podcast is available on Apple Podcast, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, PodBean and reedsmith.com.

Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice and is not intended to establish an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to suggest or establish standards of care applicable to particular lawyers in any given situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

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