For Immediate Release Office

Office Art 'Makeover' Can Drive D&I Mindset

HALIFAX - U.S. corporations spend more than $8 billion annually on diversity training programs, but there's a dearth of evidence as to whether they really have an impact.

One reasons seems to be that they don’t seem to change mindsets.

Behavioral scientists now say a simple design intervention - like updating your office portraits - can have a big impact on our consciousness  and - potentially - on our unconscious gender biases.

Portraits of Great Women on office walls and in boardrooms and hallways reflect “an everyday approach to embracing inclusiveness”, says artist, author and art therapist Jo Napier, founder of The Great Women Portrait Project.

In today’s hyper-competitive economic environment, organizations must evolve to succeed; most companies use the usual business tools – mission statements, logos, annual reports – to communicate their values. Portrait art is a new D&I tool, but it is not a new business tool: "portraits have always been used to reflect legacy and values," says Napier, who collaborates with clients to create portrait collections of historic, unknown women to hang in professional spaces.

Driving diversity and inclusion is business imperative today because diverse, inclusive organizations aren’t just better places to work – they work, better, and research reveals 70 % of the new generation want to work for companies that reflects a genuine commitment to inclusion (2021 Oracle report: Addressing Diversity and Inclusion: Going Beyond the Benchmark).

“Companies need to create inclusive-feeling work cultures or risk losses - in market share, in their pools of candidates, in profits," said Napier. "Portraits reflect, to employees and clients, what is valued and what is possible. If the portraits that hang in an office are only of male leaders, what does that say?”

Great Women Productions (GWP) Great Women Productions is a woman-owned Canadian business based in Halifax, Nova Scotia that creates portrait art and products reflecting the female face of innovation. For more information: Jo Napier 902.209.8300 [email protected] Greatwomenproductions.com