Diversity & Inclusion: How TTEC Is Practicing the Uncomfortable Conversations

Jan 13, 2022 | Articles, Employee Training and Employee Experience Design

Over the past two years, movements such as #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, and #StopAsianHate have pushed companies to look at diversity and inclusion in a way that they never had before. Conversations that people used to steer away from at work were now becoming front and center. Topics such as race, sexual orientation, gender, religion, mental health, disability, and age are no longer avoided, they are acknowledged.

How is TTEC helping their employees practice “uncomfortable” conversations?

With a team of over 58,000 individuals globally and over 3.5 million customer interactions a day, diversity and inclusion plays a large role in everyday business at TTEC, an Litmos customer and partner. This meant they had to find the best way for their team to not only learn about handling “uncomfortable” conversations, but also a way for them to practice engaging in such interactions.

TTEC worked with a series of diversity experts and took their patent pending Humanify® DEI+ BOT that they used for their employees to know how to interact with customers, before the real-life interaction with a customer, and applied it in the diversity space.

The Humanify® DEI+ BOT blends artificial intelligence, machine learning, and human intellect to give employees the practical application to improve uncomfortable conversations in the workplace. By leveraging the latest AI, machine learning, and data analytics, it provides employees with a safe place to practice difficult conversations with an artificially intelligent “human” with the following objectives in mind:

  • Foster real-world simulated conversations around sensitive workplace conversations
  • Provide instant, objective feedback based on renowned best practices to create empowered, impactful conversations
  • Release the pressure on resources, especially diverse resources, who are coping with an increased demand for support on sensitive topics
  • Achieve workforce employee development targets with engaging, interactive practice, feedback, and coaching

As people work through the training course, the Humanify® DEI+ BOT provides practice, feedback, coaching, and confidence to manage difficult conversations with peers, managers, colleagues, and subordinates in a controlled, judgement-free environment. With packages for race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age discrimination, and mental health, TTEC employees can feel comfortable in a variety of challenging conversations.

Everyone who has used the Humanify® DEI+ BOT has given us very positive feedback. We’ve gotten feedback that says the coaching aspect of the conversation was very useful or that this was educational, and they felt that it should be required in onboarding programs going forward. It has increased the competence for DEI conversations within our internal workplace and made us one of the best places to work in the United States, Canada, and internationally.”
~ Vanelle Matthews, Executive Director, Learning and Performance, TTEC Digital

How does the Humanify® DEI+ BOT complement Litmos Training?

As you may know, Litmos offers a wide variety of Diversity & Inclusion trainings within the Litmos Training Content library. TTEC has utilized their bot to better prepare users for the training. After practicing with an AI “human” and understanding their own short comings, people now have an even better reason to pay attention within the Litmos Training Content courses. As they work through the courses, they learn new awareness through videos, demographics, statistics, and voiceovers, of the theory. As they complete the courses and go back into the Humanify® DEI+ BOT for additional practice, they go in with the understanding of WHY and HOW: “why discrimination is a problem in the office” and “how I can be an ally.”

Having a safe place for your employees to practice these “uncomfortable” conversations is crucial in today’s world. While in-person seminars and hands-on training may never be fully replaced, TTEC has definitely found a key way to complement their training as they work to build a business with a culture of inclusion for all.

See more about TTEC’s Diversity & Inclusion initiative on their website.