A Company-Wide Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
What makes us different makes us stronger. At Olympus, we view the world—and the people in it—through a variety of lenses. This point of view has helped us build a welcoming, inclusive workforce and exceptional employee performance. We value the diversity each of our colleagues brings to the organization and we strive to assure that everyone feels they are treated respectfully and fairly, are valued, have a voice and sense of acceptance and belonging, and are confident and inspired.
To support this mission within Olympus, Senior Manager of People Experience – Kristin Leayman – worked throughout the past year to develop a Diversity & Inclusion training program, focusing on a top-down approach. Partnering with Tyrone Russel and his team of Learning Path Facilitators from Faces International Marketing and Development, LLC., the training program was developed and rolled out in February and March of 2021.
“Great workshop! Our virtual world we currently live in has us in video conference calls every day and they become redundant. Keeping everyone's attention can be difficult. I thought this training would be the same where people would join because they have to, turn their cameras off, and would not engage, but it was not like that at all. I appreciated that the training was hosted by an outside entity and I enjoyed the breakout sessions with discussion topics. [Tyrone] encouraged us to raise our hands and promoted dialogue throughout. Diversity is important to me and I am glad Olympus provides this mandatory training.”
Through 20 sessions of leadership training and 29 sessions of our first quarterly introductory training for Medical Sales & Marketing employees, over 2,000 employees in the Olympus Corporation of the Americas workforce have received some level of Diversity & Inclusion training – that’s approximately 38% of the employee population. Medical Sales & Marketing employees will attend mandatory quarterly Diversity & Inclusion trainings over the course of this year with a manager led discussion with their teams following the training using a facilitation guide.
“Let’s Learn, Talk, Act” was the title of the training series attended by Director-level and above employees, including President of Olympus Corporation of the Americas, Julien Sauvagnargues and other business unit presidents. The objective of the series was as follows:
- Give participants insight on the historical social structures that influence our operations today as they pertain to diversities and historical exclusions
- Begin exploring how the individual participants are impacted by the social structures within the US
- Engage in dialogue regarding their own experiences surrounding D&I and provide space for participants to listen to the experiences of others
- Explore ways to create an inclusive and just environment
- Identify scenarios where exclusionary practices have occurred and discuss solutions
The series featured open conversation about tough topics and questions like: How have participants experienced life in the skin they’re in or the demographics they belong to? And what makes our interactions across difference so difficult?
"Tyrone was fantastic! He facilitated very natural conversation on, quite honestly, difficult topics to discuss amongst peers you don't know. I would absolutely recommend having Tyrone lead future conversations."
“Let’s Raise Our Awareness and Talk about Microaggressions” was the focus of the training series attended by people leaders in Olympus below Director-level, which included approximately 500 employees over the course of 11 sessions. The objectives of this training series varied slightly from the Director-level and above training. Goals of these sessions included:
- Discussing biases and revisiting the different types
- Defining and addressing stereotype threat and its impact on our day-to-day actions/interactions
- Addressing microaggressions and their function in the workplace
- Providing some ideas of how to avoid and confront microaggressions
Participants discussed real-life scenarios, potential solutions, and discussed questions like: How have stereotype threats impacted them? And how does bias show up into the workplace?
"[Tyrone’s] presentation was skillfully and thoughtfully put together. The breakout sessions were a great addition allowing employees from other parts of the country to continue in meaningful discussion. This was one of the best Diversity and Inclusion seminars I've attended."
To say these training series were successful is an understatement. In a follow-up survey, the majority of participants gave the overall sessions, topics discussed, and facilitators an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars or higher. Because of the success of this training program and a company-wide commitment to Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace, an employee-wide program is already in the works for this coming fiscal year.
Meet the Faces International Facilitators
