Cultivating Inclusion through Days of Understanding

The three goals of this year’s Days of Understanding were to focus on inclusion for all, develop empathy, and set an example of the behaviors expected from every L3Harris employee, as outlined in the company values. By engaging in their team’s Days of Understanding conversation, L3Harris employees had the opportunity to actively participate in the DE&I conversation.

"Our Day of Understanding event we focused on intersectionality and gave us a great opportunity to really dig in deep into this topic. The use of the '50 Ways to Fight Bias' presented potentially real world scenarios for my team to dig into and the 'why it matters' section allowed us to tie it all together. The dialogue this event generated is impactful both with the trust it creates and the inclusion it drives with my team. We are better for it." - Joe Gentile, VP, Enterprise Applications & Services (Corporate Headquarters)

Following their Days of Understanding conversations, many employees shared feelings of relief and greater connection to their colleagues, that they learned more about commonalities they shared with peers who are different from them, and agreed that these open conversations validate people’s feelings and help everyone feel cared for.

“In order to embrace the true meaning of belonging, we need to pause long enough to understand each member of our team is an individual and recognize that by allowing each team member space to bring their full selves to work, the opportunities to improve is infinite.”– Patrick Durbin, Director, Program Management (Integrated Mission Systems)

Days of Understanding is one way L3Harris is bringing our commitment to CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion to life. CEO Action is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to drive measurable action and meaningful change in advancing DE&I in the workplace. As a signatory, L3Harris committed to four actions to cultivate a workplace where all ideas are welcomed, and employees feel comfortable and empowered to have discussions about DE&I:

1. We will continue to make our workplaces trusting places to have complex, and sometimes difficult, conversations about diversity and inclusion.
2. We will implement and expand unconscious bias education.
3. We will share best – and unsuccessful – practices.
4. We will create and share strategic inclusion and diversity plans with our board of directors.

In addition to Days of Understanding, employees have many opportunities to continuously engage with one another and further contribute to our inclusive, high-energy culture. L3Harris offers nine ERGs - voluntary, employee-led groups that bring together employees from diverse backgrounds and foster networking, professional development and community outreach opportunities. The DE&I Toolkit provides both managers and employees with resources on DE&I best practices. Our ‘I Am L3Harris’ series allows employees to share inspirational, personal stories of culture, career and life. Through these platforms, we open the door for all employee voices to be heard.