Bridges Holmes

As VP of DE&I and sustainability, North America, for Adecco Group, Bridges Holmes (he/him) is keeping it real. “To get your message across, you need to be practical, be real. In a world with so many competing demands, and pressures, to cut through all the clutter, you have to be simple and practical,” he explains. Holmes joined The Adecco Group in 2021 after leading DE&I at MarketSource Inc. for four years.

Having watched the evolution of the DE&I space in general, Holmes believes that an open and authentic approach to building a DE&I program is the best path forward. “I feel we [in the DE&I space] have an obligation to share our own story to help others share their stories, and that involves vulnerability, pulling back the curtain and pulling people into our world,” Holmes says. “It’s clear that today’s talent want to work for companies that come across as genuine and authentic. We must nurture this as DE&I leaders.”

For example, last year, Bridges and a colleague-led steering committee within Adecco Group implemented a DE&I sales toolkit and training for teams across the US and Canada. The kit equips sales teams with tools and information to have proactive and meaningful conversations around DE&I topics with candidates and employers. This not only supports teams with messaging around sensitive topics but also aligns best practices in how they attract top talent from diverse populations.

We [in the DE&I space] have an obligation to share our own story to help others share their stories, and that involves vulnerability, pulling back the curtain and pulling people into our world.

“One of the focal points of our program is [creating] a model that feels relevant for every line of our business in every location,” Holmes says. “That’s how we pull in our leaders, HR partners and everyone helping us translate it into their local area.”

To achieve that, Holmes encourages authentic communication. One outlet is a program called Pass the Mic, which enables colleagues to lead topics of conversation. The first topic they covered was, “What is DE&I, anyway?”

Holmes and his team also kicked off a DE&I book club to expand knowledge and understanding through potentially difficult topics. One month, they read the book White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. “When you bring that kind of progressive, controversial subject into the workplace, many things can go wrong,” he says. “We had our largest attendance at that book club meeting. It was such a rich, emotional conversation. In today’s world of work, many employees want and need more of this vulnerable and open dialogue.”