BOKA Restaurant Group

Making DEI a Shared Responsibility

The restaurant industry confronts the challenge of effectively training and educating its workforce on the principles of DEI initiatives. The success of these initiatives significantly relies on the proactive interest and commitment of individuals to engage in learning.

Driven by these principles, the company is responsible for crafting the initial steps of the training process. The extent to which the company assumes responsibility for educating individuals and fostering employees’ comprehension of DEI holds profound importance for the organization. At the same time, it is incumbent upon individuals to identify and consciously unlearn any unconscious biases they may possess.

Strengthening Inclusion through Communication

Communication is another challenge any big company faces in the diversity and inclusion space. Managing the dissemination of information to a vast number of individuals can be intricate. To address this, we have implemented a newsletter featuring a committee known as community liaisons. These liaisons, appointed from each location, serve as managers responsible for sharing comprehensive information about the company’s activities.

We have a newsletter that talks about the togetherness of the company and ensures that people know about things happening in the different restaurants and the initiatives taken by the employees. Through various weekly and daily meetings, our teams discuss initiatives and volunteer programs available to them.

“Creating an environment where people feel included and supported is an important part of building a strong organization.”

We firmly believe that fostering a sense of community within our organization extends beyond our company boundaries. Therefore, we actively collaborate with external communities, providing opportunities for our teams to connect and create meaningful experiences outside the workplace. This approach contributes to cultivating a more positive working environment. The absence of community liaisons and a dedicated newsletter for communicating the company’s achievements was previously a significant pain point.

Connecting Training with Employee Development

We just finished our first iteration of hourly training with three restaurants. We trained and educated roughly 300 people in Spanish and English. We created the training modules and incorporated HR incidents from the company as examples. This helped us make the training relevant to the experiences and situations employees may encounter in their everyday work.

The turning point for us was identifying the need for leadership training and constant career development for leaders and managers in our company, as well as bringing awareness around microaggression and unconscious bias. They were trained to effectively address individual needs and be approachable for people to discuss the steps to develop their career paths.

Investing in People to Strengthen Culture

Great leaders end up creating a great culture. If we have a better culture in the restaurant or the company, it is less likely to have any issues. People will feel like they are not being othered or not included in things, making work more effective. Creating an environment where people feel included and supported is an important part of building a strong organization.

As an individual, it is essential to learn. One should continue to develop and continue the journey of wanting to know and educating oneself. I took a DEI course at Cornell, which was insightful. One should get a deeper understanding of microaggression, unconscious bias and anything that has to do with the LGBTQ plus community, pronoun usage and transgender information, as it broadens the horizon of inclusivity.

Companies should gather a career development library for managers and create an intranet with endless access to resources that will continue to update employees with all kinds of materials, from leadership to DE&I. Any company that invests in its employees is profitable because people will enjoy working when they are psychologically and physically safe.