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Community, Diversity and Inclusion, Skills and Professional Development

Annual Meeting ‘22: Taking Your DEI Program Global

By Association of Corporate Counsel,

Session 108 Panelists

Susan Eandi, Partner, Baker McKenzie LLP 
Lori Middlehurst, Senior Director, APAC Employment Law, Salesforce, Inc.
Nicholas Murray, Senior Employment Counsel, Twilio Inc.
Alyson Palmer, Corporate Counsel, Google 

What was the most valuable thing you learned during this session?  

“Not all laws are created equal, you have to take the people and their location into consideration.”

Yolanda Rabun, Senior Counsel, Chief Legal Officer, IBM Corporation

Data, global-specific goals, and remote work are essential

  • Data is key to make your global diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts effective, and a common tool is a voluntary survey of the company’s workforce. Carefully define what information you will ask for in the survey, what consent information you will include in your survey, and how you are going to use the data you collect. 
  • Determine what global goals you are trying to accomplish as an organization so when you interact with individuals in the different countries where your group operates, there is a common vision, and so you can put resources behind those global goals. Avoid getting caught up in trying to be too specific to the local context so that you can’t accomplish anything big picture. For example, maybe make hiring your current year’s global goal . 
  • Don’t be afraid to embrace DEI. Most companies can no longer afford to be on top of DEI lest they won’t be able to attract and retain talent.  
  • Employees in a global organization expect pay transparency to be applied globally, not just in the states or countries where laws require such transparency. 
  • Think about if and how remote work impacts your diverse employees. 

"You need to start somewhere."

Susan Eandi, Partner, Baker McKenzie LLP
Check out ACC′s Resource Library.
See the ACC DEI Maturity Model.

Disclaimer: The information in any resource in this website should not be construed as legal advice or as a legal opinion on specific facts, and should not be considered representing the views of its authors, its sponsors, and/or ACC. These resources are not intended as a definitive statement on the subject addressed. Rather, they are intended to serve as a tool providing practical guidance and references for the busy in-house practitioner and other readers.

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