"Once or twice a year you and your leadership team get a report that outlines how the organization is doing in your recruiting efforts. The report delineates improvements in the process, provides data to assess progress and inevitably ends on a high note with a declaration of success. And then, we move on to the next order of business. But no one asks, "Do we really want them to stay?"

It is easy to believe that if we just take recruiting efforts seriously, the rest will take care of itself. But that simply isn't so. Despite our best recruitment efforts, our organizations continue to lose employees. And with them go the resources, time and talent we've put into "getting them in." And still no one asks, "Do we really want them to stay?"

It is not that we fail to understand the importance of recruitment, or that our commitment is weak, or that we are holding back resources. But focusing on recruiting strategies alone is only half the work. Recruitment and retention must go hand in hand. The retention strategy that will result in the most successful outcomes is building a culture of inclusion. And now we are guided by the question,

From the moment we gather to create strategies, charge direct reports with meeting goals and numbers, develop teams to effectively recruit, we must also create strategies, set goals and hold leadership accountable for building and maintaining a culture of inclusion. And now we ask, What must we do to get them to stay?"

Navigating our retention course with the end in mind — a culture of inclusion — is the key to our retention success.

This session will explore in concrete terms (with a real life case study from The Coca-Cola Company) what building a culture of inclusion entails. We will explore the challenges, identify some best practices and provide you an opportunity to create a plan that could work for your organization."

— Jorge Farķas, Novations Group, Boston, MA

"There are two sides to the ledger of diversity. An effective organization is one that can leverage diversity, inclusion and fairness to grow its business in response to an increasingly diverse consumer and customer landscape. However, and just as importantly, you must ensure that your organization is monitoring itself to ensure fairness in its employee practices. Without a foundation firmly rooted in fairness, it is unlikely that you will succeed with broader and more strategic diversity initiatives."

— Steve Bucherati, Group Director, Diversity and Fairness. The Coca-Cola Company, Atlanta, GA