Join us for our installment of the Pacesetters Doing Business series featuring Mass General Brigham on August 7, 2025.
08/07/2025
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Virtual
The BIMA Summer Sizzler is a chance to network with your digital media industry peers from the agency, publisher, and adtech community!
08/14/2025
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Fenway Park
Join Boston’s leading educators and industry experts to explore career-aligned high school programs, in-demand workplace skills, and innovative school partnerships driving student success
07/17/2025
9:00am - 11:00am
Omni Boston Hotel Seaport
This program is in redevelopment. Click this page for DEI resources.
Our Women’s Leadership Program enables you to take your leadership to the next level by arming you with the most in-demand leadership toolkit.
Our Boston’s Future Leaders (BFL) program provides emerging leaders with a socially conscious and civically engaged leadership toolkit, as well as the opportunity to apply their knowledge through experiential assignments.
In this highly interactive workshop with Strategic Career & Leadership Coach Carole-Ann Penney, you’ll define your professional identity and develop strategies to confidently navigate workplace dynamics.
City Awake empowers young professionals in a variety of ways that encourages these rising leaders to stay invested in the region’s future success.
We are developing an ecosystem of corporations and partners with the influence and buying power to transform economic inclusion for minority business enterprises (MBEs).
Small businesses are the backbone of the Boston economy. Learn more about the resources available through the Chamber.
BIMA (the Boston Interactive Media Association) serves a vibrant community of like-minded professionals from agencies, brands, publishers, and ad-tech companies with business interests in the New England market.
For over 30 years, the Chamber’s Women’s Network has connected female professionals of all background and career levels. Today, our Women’s Network is the largest in New England, strengthening the professional networks of women each year.
The Massachusetts Apprentice Network convenes employers, training providers, and talent sources interested in developing and implementing apprenticeship programs in occupations across industries and statewide in fields such as tech, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and more.
Explore our mission and values to better understand how we are leading the business community forward.
Our member directory is your resource to discover, connect, and engage with Boston’s businesses from every industry and sector.
Three million American women (according to CBS News) left the workforce in the past year, many of whom have had to assume childcare responsibilities as school went remote and daycares closed. In addition, (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), “fewer than 20% of black workers and 16% of Hispanic workers were able to telecommute” because of the type of jobs they hold, but also their access to healthcare and living arrangements.
At the same time as we have seen the virus impact various communities differently, we’ve also seen conscious and unconscious biases play out in policing leading to the same communities most impacted by the virus feeling like they are fighting two pandemics at once. The unrest felt across the country, both in the streets through demonstrations and the physical unrest due to the anxieties of what a post-COVID workforce might look like for those who have been deeply financially impacted, lead us to take a hard look at the role leadership will play in addressing social inequalities in their businesses post-pandemic.
As we emerge from the pandemic and seek to address the racial reckonings of the last year, we need not only good managers, but inclusive managers committed to leading diverse workforces as we rebuild economies decimated by the pandemic. Post-pandemic, some managers will be tasked with re-engaging employees in a physical building who have been working remotely for over a year. Or allowing and adapting to increased flexibility in working hours and location. Managers will need to tune into what will engage and motivate each employee in a new era of the workforce where a pandemic has caused changing attitudes, expectations, and an entirely new view on work and what companies are able to accommodate. <a href=file:///C:/Users/hglenn/Downloads/Inclusive%20Managers%20Blog%20v2%20RB%20+%20AW%20edits.docx#_msocom_1 class=msocomanchor id=_anchor_1 language=JavaScript name=_msoanchor_1 ]<rb1]
While at one time managers could primarily be focused on output from their employees and facilitating performance review, managers in the post-pandemic workplace will need to be more focused on the well-being of their employees, helping them to feel heard and included, and supporting them transition back to a sense of normalcy. Good managers not only help attract and retain strong talent and raise staff morale but create an effective workforce that performs well. According to Gallup’s State of the American Manager report, managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores across business units.
The pandemic has given us all a chance to pause, to reflect, and to reset. In doing so, some organizations may realize that their workforce is not as inclusive or diverse as it should be.
If different perspectives and opinions are not brought to the table, how can a workplace understand all the directions and approaches they may want to consider taking?
In 2019, the Wall Street Journal analyzed companies based on their diversity and inclusivity performance and found that companies with diversity and inclusivity cultures had a competitive edge – a 12% operating profit margin for the most diverse companies as compared with an 8% margin for the least diverse.
While diversity and inclusion can be good for a businesses’ bottom line, it also leads to greater job satisfaction. Creating an inclusive workplace starts with equitable recruiting, hiring, and onboarding practices and ensuring that biases are being identified and interrupted. Inclusive managers must be committed to diversity and inclusion because it aligns with their personal beliefs, they know that bringing many schools of thought to their team will only strengthen it and they will be adept at having cross-cultural conversations. We know that bringing diverse groups together can lead to more conflict as each team member brings their own unique lens to discussions and decision-making, but ultimately will result in a better output. The pandemic has shown us that we are best when we understand one another and work together.
Inclusive managers in the post-pandemic world will face some unique workplace trends they will have to navigate, like a portion of the 5.4 million women (according to Inc.) who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, re-entering the workforce. This shift will cause managers to re-examine hiring practices and employee needs, especially as remote work may be more prevalent than ever before. They will also be managing a diverse workforce, some of whom come from communities that have been bearing the personal burdens of violence or marginalization.
How can managers help these employees feel supported, seen and heard at a time where they may not always feel that way in society as a whole?
With this in mind, the Boston Chamber created two leadership programs that are currently open for registration:
We hope you can join us to become the best manager you can be and that these programs are a resource for Boston, and beyond, as we work to make the businesses in our Commonwealth the best they can be.
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