Welcome to the PayFit podcast.
We believe that building a safe and inclusive environment where everyone is celebrated and listened to regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, disability or other characteristics, is fundamental for teams to thrive.
This podcast series includes discussions with both internal and external guests where we listen to their inspiring stories as they shed light on initiatives that contribute to positive change.
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Welcome to our new episode dedicated to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. I'm Chelsea, the Diversity, Inclusion and Culture manager at PayFit. And I've invited Léa, vice President of Design at PayFit, to talk about the diversity and inclusion actions she has put in place in her team. Leah, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Yeah, sure. First, thanks very much, Chelsea, for giving me the opportunity to participate. And so shortly, I'm Léa, I am a French designer, Paris based, 37 years old and I'm currently managing a team of about 45 people in the Design chapter.
Thank you. Léa, can I ask you what motivated you to put in place actions around diversity and inclusion within your team?
Yeah, sure. So there are three main pillars that motivated me.
The first one is that as a design leader, I'm convinced that you cannot build a relevant project, relevant customer experience, you can't answer properly true customer problems if you have only people that are exactly the same in a team. So diversity is the number one key to be more innovative and to bring more creativity. So as a design leader, it's a no brainer. When I joined PayFit and had to build the team by default, I tried to identify what were the main biases we had on the project. We were too French oriented while we are European project. So first, it was about hiring people and not French people in the team, those kind of examples. And so, yes, so there is a first thing that is, as a designer, if I want to make a good project, I need to have diversity in a team.
The second thing is, as a manager, diversity and inclusion brings a lot of benefits. Maybe we're going to detail that later, but briefly, it helps us to attract more talent. You have way more opportunities to hire people when you are open to the worldwide and people with or without degree, coming from different social background or whatever. It also has a true impact on the retention of the people. When you have more diversity in a team, they are complementary, so they can nurture each other, it creates some emulation, they can learn from the other, and so on. So it allows people to belong longer in the team and also as an individual, you can see yourself like there is diversity in this team. And so they hired me because I am who I am and I'm unique in this team. So it makes sense. I have a special value to bring or also it has a true impact on the team spirit and the excellence of the team. As I was saying, people will coach and mentor each other so they will grow together. So as a manager, again, diversity and inclusion: huge benefits.
And the last thing that may probably is the most important to me, at least this is what led me to get interested in diversity and inclusion is due to my personal value. I'm a feminist and also intersectional. So intersectionality is about considering that people are complex and sometimes they can be at the intersection of different discrimination, like being a black and a woman, like being Muslim and nonvalid person or, I don't know, gay. People are complex and I am myself. So I'm white woman, so definitely privileged due to my color skin, but I'm also a Jewish person, I'm a fat person, I'm a bisexual person. So there are many things that make me different, maybe in the environment. And I've been confronted mostly as a woman in tech industry to many discriminations, especially at the beginning of my career. So this is what led me to get interested in feminism. And then feminism opened me to get interested in more than just the gender, but it was about observing the domination in the society and questioning, okay, what can I do on my side if I'm in a company? Is there anything I could do to contribute to more inclusive, more safe space, work environment? So it was the starting point. And then I discovered the more I was digging at that, the more I discovered that as a manager, as a leader, it has so many benefits.
Thank you so much, Léa. It's really inspiring to hear you talk about kind of your own journey individually around diversity and inclusion, but also the impact that it's had for you as a leader. I also want to say I think your team is probably very lucky to have a leader and a manager like you because you're so open. And I think the way that you're able to kind of see each individual as a unique person probably also makes you a really good manager, really open, really empathetic, and able to kind of adapt each person. So good job. I don't know if I'm like this 100% of the time, honestly, but I do my best. Very inspiring.
What were the main actions you put in place and some of the challenges along the way?