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cultural or social identity such as African Americans, Hispanics, people with dis- abilities and LGBTQ people. Each group has an executive sponsor but is created and managed by employees. When Faby Helme took a full-time
job with Dominion four years ago after graduating from college, she joined all eight groups. “I loved learning about not only the
company but about the different groups,” says Helme, whose parents are from Guatemala and Bolivia. Besides, “it was a really good opportunity to network.” In time, Helme, an
emergency prepared- ness specialist, cut her participation back to a few ERGs and joined the Hispanic group’s board. “It just brings me so much joy to be able to bring myself and my culture to the workplace,” she says. About 15% of Dominion’s 19,000
“Culture happens by default or it happens by design,” says Tiffany Jana, CEO of TMI Consulting.
Helme
employees are in an ERG. The groups often serve as sounding boards for topics such as recruiting, community engagement and professional development, says Darius Johnson, Dominion’s vice president for employee engagement and development. “Part of what will
help us — not just Dominion, but as people — is to interact with each other, to learn from each other, to interact together … to deal with challenges and understand blind spots,” Johnson says. Dominion has chalked up a strong
black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and scholarships for minority students. “At Dominion Energy, we have a saying
Johnson
record for diversity and inclusion efforts, repeatedly making Forbes’ list of Best Employers for Diversity and the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. In June, Dominion was one of the first
major Virginia corporations to speak in support of racial protesters. It donated $5 million to support social justice and racial equality causes and to assist minority- owned small businesses in 20 states. Dominion followed that up with a July commitment to donate $35 million over the next six years in support of historically
26 | SEPTEMBER 2020
that ‘Actions Speak Louder,’” Dominion Chairman, President and CEO Thomas F. Farrell II said in a statement. “We share the anger of our communities at the unjustified deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd. … We are investing in recovery and reconciliation, and in the vital work of overcoming years of debilitating actions, attitudes and abuses of authority that have traumatized our country.” At the same time, however, Dominion’s
hard-charging approach — sometimes, critics charge, at the expense of low-income and minority communities — has earned it a reputation for insensitivity. Dominion’s aborted $8 billion-plus
Atlantic Coast Pipeline project included a plan to build a compressor station in Union Hill, a historically Black area of Buckingham County founded by freed slaves following the Civil War. Community members battled the project, upset about
the potential for air pollution. In January, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals revoked the station’s permit, saying that Virginia’s Air Pollution Control Board did not adequately consider how the station would disproportionately affect the minority community. Dominion and Duke Energy canceled plans to build the pipeline in July, citing concerns over unre- lated federal court rulings likely to prove problematic to the project. Conflicting messages such as those can
complicate companies’ efforts to advance fairness, diversity and equity. Nonetheless, diversity experts say, imple-
menting a diversity strategy is not only good business, it’s the right thing to do. “We are very intentional about our
financial plans and business strategy, but we leave our culture to chance,” says Jana. That, they add, is a mistake — particu-
larly now, when the world’s attention is focused on race, justice and equity. “This is definitely a sea change. The only way to do it is to do it. There isn’t a shortcut.”
Photo by Rashad Hawkins
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