Brenda Pak | Building Inclusive Workplaces Employees Love

“You need to do a mindset change. It's not just implementing new rules. You have to go and help the employees familiarize themselves with these changes and really process what it means to their job and their future. And only then can change happen,” explains Brenda Pak, Co-founder and CEO of Backpac, a platform whose mission is to deliver DEI analytics and data to inform DEI strategy and culture building within corporations. Today, Brenda shares her tips for building inclusive workplaces that value authenticity and inclusion over the outdated status quo.

As an Asian woman, Brenda has had many experiences in work environments where she did not feel a sense of belonging or the safety to share her full, authentic self. In the last five years, more and more companies have begun to recognize the importance of DEI but may not completely understand how to implement it in ways that change existing work cultures. Through Backpac, Brenda presents high level executives with data that shows just how important DEI is and demonstrates how changes in work culture can increase profitability and productivity and reduce employee turnover.

There is still a lot of work to be done to improve diversity, inclusion, and equity in the workplace. Workers priorities have shifted significantly in recent years and in order for businesses to continue growing and retain employees, work culture needs to shift too. When employees feel safe to show up and be their authentic selves at work, they will be more productive, better engaged, happier, and less likely to resign.

• “In each of these work cultures I felt very much like an outsider. As a woman who is also a minority, it didn’t feel like a safe place to work. And that was a very common thread throughout it.” (3:18-3:35 | Brenda)
• “We believe that DEI is not just about content and education. We believe it's about action.” (10:10-10:15 | Brenda)
• “You need to do a mindset change. It's not just implementing new rules. You have to go and help the employees familiarize themselves with these changes and really process what it means to their job, to their future. And only then can change happen.” (23:52-24:09 } Brenda)
• “Fight for it, but don't shut people down and don't close the conversation. Do it in a way where people want to learn and engage with you.” (32:34-32:44 | Brenda)