The first step leaders should take is to shift to a long-term mindset vs. a mindset of simply achieving quick wins.
— Amy Reichanadter, chief people officer, Databricks
Amy Reichanadter joined Databricks in August 2019 as the chief people officer to develop the company’s HR strategy, programs and drive long-term talent acquisition and development. This past year, Reichanadter says that they have been hyper-focused on keeping the employees engaged, productive, and connected while dispersed. As we enter year two of the pandemic, Reichanadter’s team is continuing to look closely at employee experience and considering training programs.
In this edition of HR Talk Women in HR series, Reichanadter shares how she saw an opportunity to put stronger DE&I processes in place, when she joined Databricks. She also discusses Databricks’ ‘women in leadership’ mentor program, which is giving leaders a chance to mentor female employees and providing career advice. Reichanadter also puts into perspective how women in HR can be the CEO of their own career.
Key Takeaways on How To Empower Women in HR:
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- Prioritize diverse hiring for your organization.
- Creating an inclusive culture by building exec-led employee-driven programs.
- Draw a framework with other leaders on how to engage more women.
Here’s the edited transcript from our exclusive interview with Amy Reichanadter:
1. How do you view diversity, inclusion, and equity in your organization today?
Over the last 18 months, we have been able to scale our DE&I efforts and now have 6 vibrant employee resource groups (ERGs). Almost half of the company participates in these groups. ERG activities range from monthly coffee chats to formal events, book clubs, mentor programs, and leading company-wide events to celebrate events such as Black History Month, International Women’s Day, and Hispanic Heritage Month.
The goal of the ERGs is to create development opportunities and chances for employees to learn and grow together. These ERGs have also led to more inclusivity and connection while remote the past year, giving employees and leaders a chance to connect on meaningful and important topics.
Following the tragic death of George Floyd last June, for example, our CEO and I met with the resource group for Black and minority employees to better understand how they were feeling and determine how we could best support them. We also asked for their input on how to best talk to the company about these important issues. Their input was critical in shaping our response as a company, both internally and externally.
— Amy Reichanadter, chief people officer, Databricks
Also read: Empowering Women in HR: Q&A With Karen Crone, CHRO, Paycor
2. What are some of the challenges you encountered as a leader at the nascent stages of your career?
When I started at Databricks, I saw an opportunity to put stronger DE&I processes in place. While it was clear that our leaders were invested and committed, there was also a chance to establish a more cohesive structure and strategy to build and grow a strong, scalable DE&I program. I started by taking a tiered approach and focusing on the three most important pillars: prioritizing diverse hiring, creating an inclusive culture, and building exec-led employee-driven programs.
When it comes to diverse hiring, we have made a strong effort to standardize inclusive remote interview processes, including providing unconscious bias training, ensuring job descriptions are inclusive, and setting expectations for diverse interview loops and inclusive interview etiquette with hiring managers and all interviewers.
While the path to building a structure around diversity and inclusion efforts takes time, it pays off when you see an organization committed to DE&I at all levels and working together to make it a top priority.
Also read: Empowering Women in HR: Q&A With Lauren Gardner, Global TA Leader, Microsoft
3. Which initiatives at Databricks have empowered the women at your workplace? How did you measure the success of these initiatives?
At Databricks, we are passionate about empowering women. We have an ERG dedicated to connecting women at Databricks and giving them a platform for connection and development. This ERG has specific subsets, one of them the “women in tech†group that involves women in engineering/customer-facing roles.
Our CEO and I meet with this group once per month for open discussions and planned events such as a book club. For Women’s History Month, we have our first female board member participating in a fireside chat for our Women’s Network ERG.
— Amy Reichanadter, chief people officer, Databricks
For the first time, we are also launching a ‘women in leadership’ mentor program, giving leaders a chance to mentor employees, providing career advice and development opportunities. We have seen massive success and involvement with our programs for women, but we are also always on the lookout for ways to improve our current offerings and support opportunities to best fit evolving needs.
Given the Databricks mission, when it comes to measurement of our programs, it is no surprise we take a data-driven approach. We frequently use surveys within our ERG groups to gather insight and feedback into how we can provide the best possible experience for them.
Also read: Empowering Women in HR: Q&A With Donna Kimmel, Chief People Officer, Citrix
4. In your opinion, what is the best way to create a culture that helps to retain and engage its diverse and inclusive talent?
In my mind, it starts with thinking about inclusivity. If employees do not feel included at the company, they are not going to stay. Only by first prioritizing inclusivity can you make your employees feel represented, connected, and empowered as they build their careers at your company.
Building a strategic plan for diversity and inclusion will take time and patience to build from the ground up. Getting the entire company involved every step of the way is the secret to success. My team may have built a foundation for our DE&I practices, it was up to the company and to our committed employees to truly embrace it. They put their arms around it and made it important, which is why we have seen so much success with our programs today.
5. Programs designed to increase diversity and inclusion in the workplace often fail, according to this Harvard Business Review articleOpens a new window . What concrete steps should leaders take who are seeking to include female talent as an important part of their recruiting strategy?
As mentioned above, it is all about patience and perseverance, and things do not change overnight. The first step leaders should take is to recognize this and shift to a long-term mindset vs. a mindset of simply achieving quick wins.
Talk to your employees across different levels, regions, and disciplines (either through 1:1 meeting or through getting their feedback in surveys) and get a pulse of their experiences and the current situation at the company. Then, create a long-term strategy and framework with other leaders about how to engage more women and get more female leaders interested in your organization.
— Amy Reichanadter, chief people officer, Databricks
Most importantly, drive the message at every level that this is important by discussing it in all-hands meetings, company-wide emails, and surveys, on social media, etc. Try to do everything with an eye toward incremental improvement, and you will see your efforts pay off.
6. Which are the top three tools, skills, and mindsets women in HR need to embrace today to succeed in the workplace?
If I had to narrow it down to three mindsets, I would recommend women embrace, here is what they would be:
Stay super present: I never had a clear-cut plan; my only plan was to do the best work I could do each day. Because of this, I was able to stay super clear about what I wanted to focus on and be very present with my work every single day. Instead of consuming myself with worrying about the distant future or keeping up with plans I had set, I could better anchor myself to my day-to-day goals and execute in the current position.
Rather than thinking about filling your next role, think about filling in the white space around you: Instead of reaching for the next higher role and always striving to fit that new job description, I always look for opportunities to make the teams around me better. What skills or expertise is your team lacking that you could learn or help support? Step back, look around you, and go from there. Career progression is not always linear and stepping easily into the clearly defined next position, it is all paving your own way and showing your team where you can make a bigger impact and contribution.
Be the CEO of your own career: It is not your manager’s job to drive your career, you must be the CEO of your own path and take responsibility for being your best self at work. Continuously ask for feedback on technical, emotional, and communications skills. If you take ownership of your career, you will seek out what you need most and forge the path best suited to your long-term goals.
About Amy ReichanadterOpens a new window :
Amy Reichanadter is the chief people officer at Databricks. She leads all the company’s global HR programs, including talent acquisition, total rewards, performance enablement, learning and development, and diversity and inclusion.
About DatabricksOpens a new window :
Databricks is the data and AI company. More than 5,000 organizations worldwide including Comcast, Condé Nast, Nationwide, H&M, and over 40% of the Fortune 500 rely on Databricks’ unified data platform for data engineering, machine learning and analytics.
About HR Talk
HR Talk is an interview series that features top people and talent leaders from HR tech and Fortune 500 companies who are redefining the future of work. Join us as we talk to these HR tech and people analytics experts to get in-depth insights, and some pro-tips on how HR tech can best work for you and your people. If you are a people expert and wish to share your thoughts, write to [email protected]Opens a new window .
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