David Alagno, SVP of HR at AvalonBay Communities (NYSE: AVB), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITworks: 2023 Conference in Las Vegas on June 28-29.
Alagno said that for companies that are just beginning to identify their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) targets, it’s important to first align with business goals.
“You should approach that process like you would any other business imperative, starting with the end in mind,” he said.
Alagno noted that DEI work in corporate America “started with a flurry” in 2020 and was led with a lot of emotion and enthusiasm at that time, but that it has waned to a degree since then.
“What we really need to make sure we’re doing is embedding DE&I in the processes that help advance people,” he said. “Once we do that, big outcomes are achieved.”
Turning to DEI challenges, Alagno said companies have to understand that they won’t all be stating from the same place.
“Putting some metrics into place is a good first step to understand where [you] are—then making some milestones around where you want to be and measuring that over time,” he said.