Tony Gladney is thes vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion in the department of social impact and sustainability for MGM Resorts International, one of the world’s leading global hospitality companies. Gladney has recently assumed oversight of diversity, equity and inclusion for the company, which focuses on the design, development, and implementation of a comprehensive DEI strategy.
Gladney is also responsible for enhancing the company’s relationships with strategic DEI partners at the local, state and national levels; collaborating with other company departments to facilitate external organization resources to fulfill corporate diversity goals, and leveraging national relationships to support business development.
Why is equity important to MGM, particularly as it relates to the gender gap?
It’s a very important issue. When you start talking about decreasing that gender equity gap, we look at most of the surveys that we’re filling out. They ask that question as far as being transparent with how you compare to that pay gap. They ask what you’re doing at specific levels in the organization, your board representation, and so on. One of the issues is fair pay and making sure that you have representation at all levels. At MGM Resorts International, we’re a small, shy percentage of 50% of women in leadership. Our goal has been to make sure that we hit above that and bust through that 50% ceiling. It’s very important to us, and we’re intentionally making sure that we’re providing initiatives and specific efforts to make sure that we answer those questions and that we’re intentional in how we are trying to make sure that we offer opportunities for that upward mobility.
What kinds of benefits and values have you seen as a result of this increased presence of women in the workplace?
It’s about the programming and making sure that there’s awareness, and making sure that we are being very clear in our dashboards as far as where our opportunities are. When we mean ongoing, we mean sustainable activity, so making sure as a part of our strategy, that there’s programming and paying attention to dashboards so that everyone knows, “Hey, where can we improve in the areas to help not only these numbers but really to help with our mobility?” When a young employee is getting a little bit frustrated, because they want to see more mobility, being able to have those stories to tell them to say yes to opportunities they might not be able to see with their eye. Be able to know that there’s some patience in learning and there’s some patience in networking, and surrounding yourself with other women in the company where they can expose you to specific development issues. Once you get there, it’s sustainable, and it’s long term.
