Lyft's diversity head shares the philosophy that's guided her career fighting inequality, and her strategy for boosting participation at trainings

• Former Facebook executive Monica Poindexter joined Lyft in 2018 as the company's diversity and inclusion leader.
• In an interview with Business Insider, Poindexter shared her unique approach to creating an inclusive workplace.
• One of the executive's strategies is training for unconscious biases. She converted in-person meetings into virtual workshops, which she says resulted in a higher completion rate.
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Like many companies across Silicon Valley, ride-sharing powerhouse Lyft is making sure "diversity efforts" are more than just buzz words in 2020 - and one woman is at the center of their strategy.

Monica Poindexter, a former Facebook diversity executive, joined Lyft as its diversity and inclusion head in 2018. Poindexter spent nearly 10 years in similar roles at four different companies and often talked about taking a "holistic" approach as a philosophy throughout her career (i.e., just implementing policies won't change the root causes of inequality).

In an interview with Business Insider, the executive shared how she prioritized anti-biasing training at Lyft. When Poindexter joined, the company was rapidly growing its workforce, bringing in about 3,500 new employees, a spokesperson said. And as the volume of new hires boomed, Poindexter knew she had to step up Lyft's training efforts and programs.

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"We're really starting to build out a lot more programming," Poindexter said. "That's so that we can ensure we're hitting on real, relevant, and timely workplace issues to the point where it becomes a day-to-day muscle that people are building and exercising on."

One of her priorities was stepping up the way employees were taught about unconscious biases, or stereotypes about certain groups of people that you don't realize you have. The company previously had in-person meetings for unconscious bias training, but those had a dismal 20% completion rate among employees.

Poindexter saw the retention numbers and decided to take a different approach. She converted training into one-hour virtual videos.

"I'm actually featured in the video, when we're actually taking some real scenarios and case studies that can happen in any workplace and we bring those to life," she said. "It's so that we can help humanize the unconscious bias experiences that occur on a day-to-day basis in any organization."

Poindexter's videos had a high turnaround, and about 60% of employees completes the training now, the company shared with Business Insider. This tweak has been emblematic of her approach to diversity efforts, as she's comfortable with experimenting and reconfiguring outdated policies when needed.

Her efforts have already seen gains. According to Lyft's 2019 diversity report, the company increased in overall representation since 2018, the year Poindexter joined. About 26.3% of employees are Asian, and the report noted a high number of women and Latino workers getting promoted to leadership roles.

Plus, Lyft's 10 resource groups, or community groups where workers can bond and build a network, not only cater to minorities, but also working parents and veterans. Recently, the company introduced self-identifying pronouns to support transgender and nonbinary workers and drivers.

"We're ensuring that when we're looking at our guide - all the programs, all of the retention initiatives we're rolling out to the organization - that we are embedding inclusion and diversity into those programs on the front end and it's not an after effect," Poindexter said.

Lyft's overall onboarding process introduces Poindexter's diversity efforts from the start. Lyft brings in roughly 40 new full-time employees each week, and it focuses on aligning these new workers with company values from day one. For example, the new-employee orientation kicks off with a presentation describing the company's expectations, Business Insider previously reported. One of the slides includes an immediate reference to Poindexter's 10 resource groups, including Lyft for women and Lyft for veterans.

The company also stepped up its efforts with 15 new safety features in the wake of several sexual harassment lawsuits filed against the company. Lyft partnered with RAINN, an anti-sexual-violence organization, to roll out prevention education. It established mandatory feedback for low-rated rides to track problematic behavior, as well as daily criminal background monitoring.

"We recognize these risks, which is why we are relentless in our work to build safety into every aspect of our work," a Lyft spokesperson said in response to the sexual harassment lawsuits.

Poindexter explained that her job extends far beyond providing support for office employees - Lyft's diversity efforts should reflect its riders and drivers as well.

"It's important we're ensuring that we are supporting our drivers and riders, and that their experiences reflect that they are valued and that they're cared for," she said.