Expedia Group 2021 Inclusion & Diversity Key Priority - Shift Mindsets

Expedia Group 2021 Inclusion & Diversity Report
Aug 15, 2022 12:10 PM ET

Expedia Group 2021 Inclusion & Diversity Report

The journey to create an inclusive workforce does not stop at recruiting. We recognize that if we are going to change the workforce, we need to continuously support, engage, listen to, and invest in our own. When we do that, we open more doors and inclusive experiences for our people and our travelers, partners, and communities in which we serve.

Employee-led Inclusion Business Groups

Expedia Group’s employee-led Inclusion Business Groups (IBGs) are important to championing inclusion and allyship across our company. They provide an avenue to access communal support, mentorship, and learning opportunities to help communities further cement their role as the current and future inclusive leaders at Expedia Group, as stated in our IBG Mission Statement. Our IBG community is often described as the heart and soul of our business, engaging our workforce and helping build the future of our company.

Our IBGs play an instrumental role in helping inform key business decisions and developing our current and next generation of leadership.

We spent 2021 focusing on how the company can build on the program’s strong foundation. More structure and governance were put in place, ensuring the original purpose of the program remained front and center.

Our 2021 progress within IBGs included:

  • Announcing Executive Sponsors from our Travel Leadership Team for each global IBG to accelerate accountability and engagement throughout all leaders in the organization
  • Introducing a Leadership Development training program designed specifically for IBG Global and Chapter leaders
  • Launching a recognition and reward program for IBG Global Board leaders to achieve maximum leadership potential

Recognition Program
$10,000 USD in restricted stock units per global leader per year

Reward Program
$1,000 USD in travel and wellbeing credits for all past and current global leaders

“We invested significant time and resources in 2021 dedicated to renovating basic IBG infrastructure across global leadership and governance, goals and impact, and critical skills development. With these foundations in place, our Inclusion Business Groups will continue to evolve their roles beyond company culture drivers and further into industry transformers.”

- BEN DELK DIRECTOR INCLUSION & DIVERSITY

SPOTLIGHT: The newest group introduced in 2021 is Indigenous Diversity, Expedians & Allies (IDEA). With the creation of IDEA, our IBGs now represent 8 communities.

IBG IMPACT

  • 75 % of offices globally: Across our offices globally, 75% had 2 or more IBG local chapters
  • 4k employees: By the end of 2021, over 4,000 employees were members in one or more of our 8 IBGs, representing a 54% year-overyear growth in membership
  • 8th and newest IBG: Welcomed our 8th and newest global IBG dedicated to Indigenous inclusion, Indigenous Diversity, Expedians & Allies (IDEA)
  • 1st IBG Town Hall: Hosted our firstever all-company IBG Town Hall with 2,480 attendees
  • 75 % of our IBG Pres.: Of our IBG Global Presidents, 75% were promoted within their hired roles during the past year

“In a globalized world where you will find Indigenous communities everywhere, it’s increasingly vital that large organizations find value in inclusion groups like IDEA where employees with this identity can feel they have a place to belong, see themselves accurately represented, and where allies learn and contribute.

IDEA provides an opportunity to contribute to a community that I have a strong and vested passion for and brings me closer to the other Indigenous identities and communities that exist around the world.

We have a great deal of diversity just within the Indigenous community itself, so it’s fascinating to see what other cultures, practices, and beliefs exist just within ourselves, and think of ways to share that out with our colleagues, and by extension, the world.”

- JOHN CONWAY, IDEA GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR

Inclusion Champions

Inclusion Champions, our network of employees seeking opportunities to deepen their inclusion and diversity interest and engagement through volunteer projects, continues to be instrumental in driving forward our I&D priorities across the globe. They take on projects spanning content development, event planning, research, and benchmarking, as well as program execution.

50+ Inclusion Champions

27 Locations Globally

2021 saw the most engagement from our Inclusion Champions, further scaling companywide since the program’s inception in 2019. With over 50 unique participants across 27 locations globally in 2021, the program completed 24 critical projects, including:

  • A research project with Vrbo, helping the brand understand how travelers discover and interpret the I&D property banner when searching properties on the marketplace
  • An Accessibility Concepting Workshop to facilitate ideation sessions covering our products’ digital accessibility and usability, and overall end-to-end trip journey experience
  • The development of 9 new resource guides that employees and partners can access to continue their learning journeys and host discussions based on these shared resources. Topics include: Emotional Intelligence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Transgender Identities, Indigenous Communities, Inclusive Design, Antisemitism, Cultural Appropriation, and Classism

Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Council

Expedia Group’s Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Council is an internal advisory forum comprised of more than 20 senior leaders across all Expedia Group divisions and super-regions, ensuring that our global inclusion work is locally relevant and embedded into all business areas.

In a challenging year, the Council continued to serve as a sounding board for policies and practices by modeling inclusive leadership and ensuring global programs are customized to regional needs.

When the Council was established in 2020, Expedia Group was focused on building awareness and education around I&D.

The journey took off in 2021, with the Council driving measurable progress related to policy changes, intentional goal setting, and evolving hiring processes, including adoption and implementation of the SelfID+ campaign. The Council played a key role in putting structure in place across the regions to facilitate dialogue and action. Every region now has a system to talk about I&D, understanding their role and how they contribute to our journey.

To further support these senior leaders on their learning journeys, Expedia Group partnered with Upskill Digital in 2021 to provide I&D specific skills training to all Advisory Council members.

Regional Councils were also established in LATAM, EMEA, and APAC to help amplify and localize our global I&D initiatives in partnership with IBGs and Advisory Council members. Regional Councils, consisting of members in different role levels and business groups, began as a grassroots effort in 2021 and will become more centralized in how they’re managed over the course of 2022.

View the full Expedia Group 2021 Inclusion & Diversity Report