Quinne Teske

As a new parent returning to work after maternity leave in 2013, Quinne Teske (she/her) experienced “several marker moments that made me recognize my leaders didn’t understand what I was experiencing as a new parent or had a hard time relating to being a woman in the workplace,” she says of what cemented her interest in creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace.

Since then, Teske has established an extensive portfolio of DE&I work within Allegis Group, first at affiliate company TEKsystems and now at Allegis Global Solutions, which she joined as global director of diversity, equity and inclusion and employee experience in 2021.

Teske has influenced and fostered an environment of equity, inclusion and transparency at Allegis Global Solutions by gaining executive buy-in, engaging leaders across multiple departments and creating several micro strategies under the DE&I pillar. For example, she introduced an accountability framework for the AGS leadership team across the globe, which provided visibility of workforce diversity data for the entire organization. Teske also created standards for inclusive behaviors, developed a DE&I learning journey and introduced values-based learning through external partners.

You can’t be everything to everybody all at the same time. A well-thought-out plan and a roadmap can help the DE&I journey mature as the organization matures.

One of Teske’s proudest moments was a 90-minute workshop delivered in January 2023 on inclusive leadership. With several hundred participants and different levels of leaders, the workshop focused on leveraging research and behavioral development best practices to connect people’s hearts and minds to make our work environments more inclusive. The workshop is being incorporated into one of Allegis Global Solutions’ leadership academies set to roll out in May 2023.

“We ensured everybody understood that inclusive leadership isn’t ambiguous but a defined set of behaviors that we can teach, understand and adopt,” she says. “These are not massive undertakings but small changes in one’s behavior that can create a lasting impact.”

Looking ahead, Teske hopes to help Allegis Global Solutions by bridging the gap between the organization’s internal DE&I strategy and its impact on the contingent workforce programs.

“DE&I means different things around the world, and every organization is on its own journey at its own pace,” she says. “You can’t be everything to everybody all at the same time. A well-thought-out plan and a roadmap can help the DE&I journey mature as the organization matures.”