For 50 years, Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has been at the forefront of bringing increased safety and security to global financial markets. Recognizing that employees are the firm’s greatest asset in delivering on this mission, DTCC remains focused on continuing to enhance how it supports and advances its global team while fostering an environment where everyone can do their best work, all underpinned by a robust commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
As Managing Director, Head of Talent Management and DEI at DTCC, Keisha Bell is leading this important employee-first effort. “As DTCC continues to grow, our values of diversity, equity, and inclusion remain a solid foundation and guide us in developing strategies that enable us to reach our full potential and deliver maximum client value,” she says. “At the same time, our commitment to DEI enables us to foster a familial, goal-driven organization.”
Related: Moving the needle on DEI
When she took over the firm’s DEI efforts five years ago, Bell wanted to ensure that the company’s culture encourages everyone at DTCC to “have a voice at the table.” This type of inclusion goes beyond gaining a diversity of views to produce the best business results. It also directly affects employee satisfaction, engagement, and advancement. “You have to cultivate an inclusive environment where people feel welcome in sharing their perspectives,” explains Bell. To advance in this area, Bell and her team wanted to gain a deep understanding of how individuals interact, network, and advance within DTCC.
To support this, Bell partnered with Victor Arimas, Director of the Business Transformation Office (BTO) at DTCC, who is responsible for identifying how organizational change can influence workplace culture. A significant focus of the BTO team is using research, data, and thoughtful recommendations to transform DTCC’s ways of working so the organization can more effectively service its clients and the broader industry. “With a unique and in-depth understanding of how each DTCC unit functions, we can provide knowledge that enables us to shift and improve our processes, structure, and tooling, ultimately driving increased employee satisfaction and business performance,” says Arimas.
Arimas and his BTO colleagues teamed up with Bell and her team to conduct an internal study. The study set out to explore the unique factors that contribute to high levels of inclusion and diversity in the firm to gain new insights into drivers of DEI and how the firm can continue to advance and improve in this area. The first of its kind at DTCC, this complex study required specialized capabilities to analyze large amounts of organizational data while conducting correlation analysis with aspects tied to DEI. The team turned to Microsoft Viva Insights and Viva Glint to assist in this effort.
“In leveraging Viva Insights, we uncovered in-depth information that enabled us to identify several organizational patterns and specific opportunities for improvement—all grounded in data.” - Victor Arimas, DTCC Director, Business Transformation Office
Pairing Employee Sentiment with Organizational Data
While the BTO initially used Microsoft Viva Insights to gather data on collaboration patterns, the team quickly discovered that the tool could also support and measure specific DEI efforts. “Implementing any change within organizations can be challenging, so understanding where to start the effort is incredibly important, ensuring that time and resources are allocated to the right areas. In leveraging Viva Insights, we uncovered in-depth information that enabled us to identify several organizational patterns and specific opportunities for improvement—all grounded in data,” says Arimas.
Along with Viva Insights, the team also used Viva Glint, a tool to gather employee feedback. “Surveying our employees about their work environment and ensuring their feedback is heard is key to developing and evolving any DEI strategy,” explains Bell. “We were able to gather feedback and context directly from employees around organizational patterns and opportunities with the help of Viva Glint. Both data points were critical in enabling us to deliver a well-rounded and effective study.”
“We were able to gather feedback and context directly from employees around organizational patterns and opportunities with the help of Viva Glint. Both data points were critical in enabling us to deliver a well-rounded and effective study.” - Keisha Bell, DTCC Managing Director, Head of Talent Management and DEI
Investigating the Link Between Collaboration and Promotion
One specific area that DTCC wanted to analyze was a concept known as the “broken rung.” This phenomenon can occur when there’s a hindrance in women’s career ladders, often keeping them from being promoted to more senior positions and limiting their pipeline for higher roles. To stay ahead of the broken rung phenomenon, Bell implemented supportive programs, including DTCC’s Advancing Women Leaders (AWL) program, which helps women leaders continue to develop their capabilities and careers. By providing skills development, mentorship, and increased collaboration opportunities, these programs aim to close a gap and prevent promotion inequity across the organization.
To validate this, the BTO and DEI teams thoroughly analyzed program effectiveness and validated whether the initiatives were creating equal chances for growth, regardless of gender, throughout the organization. For example, after these programs began, the team measured promotion rates between men and women. They found that men and women had similar promotion rates from Senior Associate to Associate Director. DTCC, they learned, was one step ahead of the broken rung.
The team also wanted to understand if these supportive programs, such as AWL, were the main factor in closing the promotion rate gap. “We wanted to go beyond simply having promotion rate insight and go deeper into the functions and activities that drove this advancement,” says Arimas.
By using Viva Insights, the BTO team was able to dig into who is getting promoted within the company. They also determined that factors such as high levels of support through mentors and leaders, in addition to expanding networks significantly increased the likelihood of promotion. The team identified that promoted women had at least one meeting with leadership per week on average, while non-promoted women had less than one meeting with leadership per week on average. “We wanted to see if, after completing a mentorship program there was a knock-on effect for participants and an increased number of interactions with senior leaders,” says Bell. “Through our analysis, we found that participating in mentorship activities and programs like AWL had a direct and positive impact on an employee’s network and led to greater mentorship and network diversity. Ultimately, these activities also contributed to employees climbing the corporate ladder. It was proof that the programs we implemented worked.”
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Turning Insights into Action
For years, DTCC programs like AWL have been dedicated to helping women leaders continue to develop their careers and take advantage of new opportunities. The program initially focused on women at the Director level but was repositioned to include Associate Directors following DTCC’s DEI broken rung study. “Our biggest action after the study was to expand the scope of the AWL program to continue addressing this critical juncture in women’s careers,” says Bell.
One of the first Associate Directors to benefit from the updated program was Melissa Holder, who joined the AWL program in 2022. “My leadership team nominated me to join the AWL program,” recalls Holder. “The invitation demonstrated to me that leadership sees my potential and cares about my growth and development.”
Participation in the program paid off. Holder earned a promotion to Director, a career advancement that she traces directly back to her time in the AWL program and the network she cultivated. “Through the program, I was able to focus on creating a strategic development plan centered around connecting with peers and leaders that influence advancement. I also had the opportunity to refine my leadership skills to help me move my career forward,” she says.
“We wanted to go beyond simply having promotion rate insight and go deeper into the functions and activities that drove this advancement.” - Victor Arimas, DTCC Director, Business Transformation Office
Launching New Initiatives to Help More Employees Thrive
Using programs like AWL as an initial test case, Arimas and the BTO and DEI teams acknowledged the value of data backing organizational change. They’re now turning their attention to new areas.
Employee resource groups (ERGs), employee-led programs that support DEI efforts, and development, mentoring, and networking are being explored for further improvement. When examining ERG participation, Viva Insights revealed that individuals who didn’t participate in any ERGs had an average of 13 leadership connections, whereas individuals who participated in two or more ERGs had 17 leadership connections or more. This insight brought about a better understanding of the direct correlation between advancement and leadership interactions. “We now have goals to raise awareness and increase participation in ERGs. We’re also taking the same data-driven approach to advance in these important areas, knowing the value of networks and support that drive employee advancement,” says Bell. With this new information, the team is making sure that leaders are taking steps to support their mentees.
Today, DTCC is advancing its corporate culture with data-driven insights uncovered with the help of Microsoft tools. “My experience showed me that I’m part of an organization that cares about women’s voices, and it’s using a variety of insights to make sure we’re heard and continue to advance using a scientific and data-driven approach,” says Holder. Some employees, like Holder, already had a front row seat to DTCC’s continued focus on corporate culture and DEI, using data as its North Star. “We remain deeply focused on our greatest asset—our employees—and on identifying how we can continue to advance an environment where every employee feels valued, has a seat at the table, and is heard,” concludes Bell. “It’s how we’ll continue to drive employee satisfaction and deliver our best work.”
“My experience showed me that I’m part of an organization that cares about women’s voices.” -
Melissa Holder, DTCC Director, Underwriting Operations
This article first appeared on Microsoft Customer Stories on January 31, 2024.