Acuity Brands 2020 Annual Report

PEOPLE

“To support our people at work and in life, we’re helping them cope with today’s realities while creating opportunities for future growth.”

Dianne Mills, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer

ABOUT DIANNE

Dianne uses a hands-on approach to creating a shared vision and promoting change at all levels of an organization. She has over two decades of experience in building high-performance cultures and is making a big impact at Acuity Brands.

We have overcome a lot this year and are stronger for it. As our Company needed to change the way it works almost overnight in response to the global pandemic, we have realized that many of these new norms will translate to how we work going forward. Our focus is on providing a culture that fosters an outcome-driven work environment that empowers teams to solve some of Acuity Brands’ biggest challenges, while encouraging open, productive communication.

Our goal is to create a workplace where the best people can do their best work. Because a sense of inclusion is strongly linked with engagement, we want our associates to bring their whole selves into their role at Acuity Brands, including all their inspiration, integrity, and uniqueness. During these times with a growing movement supporting social justice, creating a sense of belonging is more important than ever, and we are taking new steps to acknowledge our differences while valuing the abilities and ideas we share.

Supporting our employees during a challenging time.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Acuity Brands has come together in profound ways to accomplish remarkable things. Since the onset in March, we have made the health and well-being of our associates and their families our top priority, while working diligently to operate effectively for our sales channel partners and customers. To accomplish this, we implemented stringent health and safety protocols for all our hourly workers who needed to continue working on-site in our factories and distribution centers.

For our associates who did not need to physically come to work to do their jobs effectively, we launched several measures to support their work-life rhythms. First, we conducted a series of listening sessions with associates to find out what kind of tools and programs our working families need to remain productive and motivated. Because the nature of work has changed, our people need the technology to work securely from anywhere, on any device, so we have created more seamless communication and collaboration across locations and platforms while maintaining the security and integrity of systems and data.

To support our sales teams and other customer-facing roles during this unprecedented paradigm shift, we created new ways to market and sell in a virtual world. We have rolled out new digital tools and have empowered our sales teams to locally create personalized marketing that can help replace and eventually complement face to face activity. We are working with our distributors to strengthen and accelerate their e-commerce platforms and strategies. And this year our sales team completed their first-ever virtual version of our national sales meeting, which connected 1,600 agency and 350 internal attendees in an online forum that showcased new products and provided the kind of demonstrations and educational elements needed to enhance product knowledge and empower participants to sell our products.

Our commitment to building a more inclusive company has never been more important.

Like many companies, we are experiencing a time when our commitment to diversity and inclusion has been accelerated and amplified. This year we conducted a number of listening sessions with our associates about race, and our colleagues shared openly and honestly their perceptions while making valuable recommendations. This conversation is far from over, and we are taking actions that focus on our people, our company, and our impact on our community. Here are some of our initial steps:

  • We created a standing steering committee with several executive sponsors and representation from a diverse mix of associates to help guide our ongoing efforts to build a better and more diverse company.
  • We are reviewing and adjusting our recruiting, training, and talent development processes to ensure we are building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive company with the best talent available.
  • In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” In recognition and celebration of his legacy, we have revised our holiday schedule to include Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as an official company holiday.
  • We are increasing our focus on the community, including allocating $50,000 this year to organizations working for racial equality. We will also identify service opportunities moving forward so that we can spend time together (as appropriate in a COVID-19 environment) benefiting the communities of which we are a part.

All of these activities will fall under a larger program we will develop through this journey to make us stronger together. All associates – regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, political affiliation, or any other characteristics – should feel valued, respected, and accepted for their unique characteristics and contributions to Acuity Brands.