Erica Johnson, head of diversity and belonging at Chime, has one piece of advice for organizations looking to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging: embrace complexity and find the resources that will help you navigate it with confidence. For Chime, that resource is unquestionably SurveyMonkey.
“Diversity, equity, and belonging are complicated issues, and sometimes organizations shy away from complication,” said Johnson. “That’s why it goes back to clarity. SurveyMonkey gave us the clarity to understand where to start building efforts and have a real impact, without diluting the complexity of viewpoints. For us, that’s invaluable.”
Chime is a financial technology company that recognizes the importance of empowering people who may have been marginalized within traditional banking. But the company’s commitment to equity, inclusion, and education isn’t limited to the 8 million customers it serves. Chime is also focused on building internal belonging and diversity in a meaningful and programmatic way—and Johnson relies on SurveyMonkey to gather the nuanced and confidential feedback she needs to make it happen.
“SurveyMonkey managed to capture the nuance to diversity, equity, and belonging work, moving beyond the surface level—it helped us achieve a higher level of understanding.”
Erica Johnson, head of diversity and belonging, Chime
Navigating the nuances of diversity, equity, and belonging
When Johnson joined Chime, her first priority was to listen to employees and understand the state of diversity, equity, and belonging (DEB) at the company. But navigating the inherent complexities of DEB and collecting rich insights can be a challenge.
“It’s one thing to ask whether a person feels engaged in the company culture as a whole, but belonging is a much deeper issue,” explained Johnson. “When you start talking about whether there is equity or whether or not the company is in line with an employee’s expectations around diversity, there are a lot of important nuances and factors that must be considered.”
Chime already used SurveyMonkey to land slam-dunk partnerships and secure sensitive customer data; when Johnson turned to SurveyMonkey to understand the holistic DEB experience of Chime’s employees, she was pleasantly surprised by the level of insights she received.
“It can be difficult to get a clear readout of things like intersectionality, but it’s ultimately so important because nobody has just one identity,” said Johnson. “SurveyMonkey managed to capture the nuance to diversity, equity, and belonging work that says we’re thinking about this at a deeper level than just black and white—we’re existing in the gray here, and SurveyMonkey helped us achieve a higher level of understanding.”
“In order for your employees to give honest responses, there needs to be clear safety, trust, and confidentiality. SurveyMonkey provided us with that trustworthy process, so we felt confident that the data represented our team’s range of experiences.”
Erica Johnson, head of diversity and belonging, Chime
Reliable insights, expert guidance, and real momentum
SurveyMonkey empowered Johnson and her team to collect responses from Chime employees while respecting both confidentiality and sensitive DEB topics. This was essential to ensure reliable results and a positive employee feedback experience.
“In order for your employees to give honest responses, there needs to be clear safety, trust, and confidentiality,” said Johnson. “SurveyMonkey was able to provide us with that trustworthy process so that we felt confident that the data represented our team’s range of experiences.”
Having trustworthy DEB data made it easier to create actionable next steps for Chime and get the right stakeholders on board. In fact, presenting these plans to Chime executives made all the difference for Johnson and her team. “They were delighted to receive the data and understand why we’ve identified specific priorities and created certain initiatives—which led them to double down on support for our work,” she said.
Johnson plans to share insights throughout all levels of the organization as she embarks on the first of many DEB initiatives. With SurveyMonkey, Johnson feels that valuable employee experience improvements are well within reach. “At the end of the day, we want to impact the things that really matter to Chimers,” said Johnson. “SurveyMonkey is vital in shaping this meaningful work.”
“SurveyMonkey gave us the clarity to understand where to start building efforts and have a real impact, without diluting the complexity of viewpoints. For us, that’s invaluable.”
Erica Johnson, head of diversity and belonging, Chime
Interested in how SurveyMonkey can help your business prioritize your employee experience and make better HR decisions? Learn more about SurveyMonkey for HR professionals.
