8 Employee Groups, Global Pay Equity, and More: 2 Leaders Share How Their Company Prioritizes DEI

What makes a company a more inclusive place to work? 

To find out, let’s look at ServiceNow, an enterprise software company that makes the world of work work better for everyone, including their own employees. They are committed to weaving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into everything they do, including hiring, developing, promoting, and rewarding their people. For an inside look at the meaningful DEI work going on at the company, we spoke to two DEI champions at the company.

One of these leaders is Jennifer Boicic, Director, Diversity & Inclusion, who emphasizes how ServiceNow regularly manages one of the primary measures of equity — pay. “As part of our process, we engage a third party to analyze pay, including base salary and on target earnings across gender globally and race and ethnicity in the U.S,” Boicic tells us. As a result, ServiceNow maintains systematic pay equity company-wide across gender globally and race and ethnicity in the U.S.

Another part of ingraining DEI into the core of your company is through supporting and developing employees through resource groups that are backed by leadership. At ServiceNow, “each of our eight EBGs has the support of two executive sponsors (C-Suite & VP+) that are essential to the success of the group by providing leadership advice and companywide visibility,” Carole Low, a Senior Program/Change Manager, explains. In this way, ServiceNow is “creating a culture of belonging and inclusiveness that starts at the top.”

These industry-leading employee groups are immensely popular, with 41% of all ServiceNow employees as members of an EBG in 2021. Want to learn more about these groups and the amazing strides ServiceNow is making to improve their DEI? Here, Boicic and Low give us an inside look at how their company supports all employees.

Tell us a bit about your DEI-related work at ServiceNow.

Boicic: I originally joined ServiceNow’s Strategic Alliances team in January 2020. But, just a few months into my role, ServiceNow embarked on the journey to build out Employee Belonging Groups and, given my previous experience with ERGs, I signed up to volunteer as the global co-chair for the Latinx EBG. Alongside my day job, I thoroughly enjoyed building the foundation of the belonging group by creating its first vision and mission statement, organizing a leadership board, and starting new programs for mentorship and professional development. In the last couple years, the Latinx—now Unidos Belonging Group—has grown to over 700 members and allies from across the globe.

My passion for DEI combined with 15+ years in technology made me jump at the opportunity to join the DEI team full time, and, in June 2022, I officially made the transition. I now lead the DEI Amplify pillar that focuses on advancing DEI initiatives with our customers and partners and supporting all our EBGs, including the growth of their programs.

Low: Shortly after I started at ServiceNow in June 2021, I joined all of our eight EBGs, which thrilled me because they were open to all. I think of myself as an ally, an advocate for everyone. The option to participate in compelling ServiceNow DEI opportunities enables us to build richer and more meaningful employee experiences. Three examples that took place within a week included the following:

1. I connected with fellow colleagues in the Asian and Pacific Islander at ServiceNow group’s inaugural leadership development coaching program in 2022 to learn how to accelerate and amplify our personal and professional growth and those of our peers.

2. In the Black at ServiceNow group, we cooked gumbo in a live virtual cooking class as a community.

3. In this same group, our executive sponsor, Laura Clayton McDonnell, SVP of Sales －East, Canada & Latin America, raised our awareness of how we could support flood victims in Jackson, Mississippi by donating toward clean water. Thanks to ServiceNow’s Global Impact team, which is focused on community volunteering and giving, a 2:1 corporate matching giving campaign was quickly established.

In addition to ERGs, can you tell us about the exciting DEI work ServiceNow is involved in? And how does ServiceNow support women?

Boicic: In addition to our commitment to EBGs, ServiceNow believes in offering people managers DEI learning and coaching opportunities. For example, in January 2021, we launched a year-long leadership development program with Strive. Strive combines a diagnostic 360-degree assessment of strengths and opportunities, cohort-style learning, and ongoing career development. The program also ensures that participants go beyond learning content in a classroom to applying the lessons in their work. In 2022, we focused on 50 early-to mid-career Black and Latinx employees to strengthen our internal pipeline of current and future leaders.

I had the opportunity to participate in the first cohort of the Strive program and found it to be a valuable development experience for my career. The career coach I worked with was Latina like myself, which made her advice and guidance much more relatable. During my time in Strive, I was promoted from Senior Manager to Director, and I attribute my own career progression to the learnings, feedback, and community I acquired by being part of this program. As a first-generation Latina, I realized the importance of having supportive programs like Strive in the workplace to talk through navigating challenging situations and career growth conversations.

Low: Numerous accomplished women have a seat at the table throughout our leadership ranks, which includes our Chief Financial Officer, Gina Mastantuono, Chief People Officer, Jacqui Canney, and Chief Customer & Partner Officer, Lara Caimi within our C-Suite.

Across ServiceNow at all levels, women have a collective voice and a community through our Women at ServiceNow EBG. This strong and active EBG is made up of over 3,700 women throughout ServiceNow and our allies and includes a variety of opportunities that enable our global community of women to strive to be our best selves at work and at home. 

Finally, ServiceNow offers personally focused opportunities for professional and personal development, such as its Power of 10 peer-to-peer mentoring program for women leaders. It connects small cohorts of women leaders to learn, grow, and connect on useful discussion topics that enable women to thrive in the workplace. Topics range from building your leadership brand and communicating with confidence to the art of negotiation and managing a work-life blend. It is also now available online to improve its reach and scalability. 

ServiceNow offers a women-friendly culture and diverse opportunities for all to continue to learn, grow, and evolve. Since I joined, this company continues to improve its career development resources and increasingly adds new opportunities to enable women to continue to invest in their career, make a meaningful impact, and stay connected and engaged.