At WBA, our core company values - Care, Innovation, Trust, Partnership and Dedication - guide how we operate our business, treat our customers, patients and colleagues and conduct ourselves each and every day.
This week, it was announced that “Inclusion” has also been added to WBA’s list of company values. The value of Inclusion means that colleagues are empowered to bring their authentic selves in an open, welcoming and equitable workplace.
The feeling of “belonging” is considered critical to the engagement of team members and, ultimately, the success of WBA as an organization.
Make time to get to know others. Have a virtual coffee or tea with someone new, learn something about a colleague or share things about yourself to connect with others.
Be intellectually curious and ask open ended questions to better understand.
When you witness exclusive behavior, such as when someone is overlooked in a meeting or an idea is wrongly attributed to someone else, call it out.
Actively listen in your conversations. Minimize distractions, such as devices, and devote your full attention to those with you.
Put yourself in the shoes of a colleague or customer. What may they be experiencing that helps expand your perspective?
Say hello and offer your support to a new colleague.
Ask a colleague, "how are you really doing today?"
Demonstrate your value of the contribution of others through small gestures. Send a thank you message or take time out to celebrate an achievement.
Be empowered to bring a different perspective, while also empowering colleagues to share their opinion.
Give and seek timely and constructive feedback to accelerate your own and your colleagues development.
Although inclusion is not new to WBA, it is more important than ever to formally recognize it as a value that the company stands firmly behind and expects colleagues to embrace. Most recently, WBA has demonstrated inclusion through its commitment to increasing the number of women and people of color in leadership positions; training programs for people with disabilities and recognizing unconscious bias; appointing business executive and civic leader Valerie Jarrett to the WBA Board of Directors; adding a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion metric to WBA’s bonus criteria; expanding our Business Resource Groups, which represent a wide variety of different backgrounds and perspectives from across the globe; and so much more.
