ALLY ADVOCACY CIRCLES
foster equity and inclusion By Drew Horansky
L
ike many people during COVID, Chris Mancuso spent a lot of time on Teams—and there is one call he will never forget. It was 2020 when his daughter Kylie, 8, had wandered into their home office only to note the faces on the computer screen. “You work with a bunch of guys!” she said, before asking, “Do you think Eaton would ever let me work there?” Eaton, a global intelligent power management company of more than 90,000 employees, has been well-recognized for its commitment to inclusion and diversity. More than ’ two-thirds of the company s
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directors are women and U.S. minorities, while U.S. minorities comprise 54% of the global leadership team. For the past seven years, Eaton has achieved a 100% on the Human Rights ’ Campaign s Corporate Equality Index (CEI) and was recognized as a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion. It was named a Mansfield Rule 2.0 Certified Legal Department (MRLD) and achieved MRLD Certification Plus designation, which means Eaton considers at least 50% underrepresented lawyers for leadership roles during interviews and underrepresented lawyers comprise at least 50% of the legal leadership team.
Newsweek recently named ’ it one of America s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity. ’ Still, Kylie s observation was an indication there was more work to do, and Mancuso wanted to get involved. He had heard about ally advocacy circles, which were launched ’ by one of Eaton s inclusion resource groups, WAVE, which stands for “Women Adding Value at Eaton.” The small, gender-balanced conversations are a way to build company-wide foundational knowledge on the most common types of bias against women and are held in all parts of the world where Eaton operates. Moderated by a
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