Sumi Sankaran-Deal heads up the DEI committee at Power, which engages with company board members to create strategies and programs.

“We’ve been on a journey, and we are not where we need to be,” said Sankaran-Deal. “Many studies show that companies with more diversity in thought and social backgrounds and religions continually outperform companies that are not so diverse. Diversity can add problem solving capabilities and ideas that make companies more innovative and creative.”

Power Engineers is a global engineering and environmental consulting firm—based in Hailey since 1976—specializing in the energy, renewables, food and beverage, government, agribusiness and oil and gas industries. The employee-owned company has 50 offices and more than 3,500 employees across North America.

Sankaran-Deal said in addition to the goal of increasing productivity and creativity, the company also has the goal of “doing the right thing” by employees and potential new recruits who may not otherwise find consideration, or opportunities for work, in the engineering industry.

“It’s about treating people the right way,” Sankaran-Deal said. “Studies show that unconscious biases are innate to who we are. They can affect who we decide to interview for a job, how the interviews happen and who we decide to hire. The trick is to find out what biases we have and how it impacts our thinking. We’d like to create places where we can discuss what people’s biases are.”

Sankaran-Deal, who came with her parents to the U.S. as first generation immigrants from India, said “diversity” can signify differences in race and gender, but also education, and financial backgrounds. She grew up in the deep south and holds an MBA and works as senior human resources manager at Power Engineers.

“I have experienced prejudice in the workplace, but never pronounced,” Sankaran-Deal said. “Mostly in the range of micro-aggressions.”

But while the war in Kuwait was going on, a veteran outside a bar made some assumptions about where she was from.

“It was almost scary,” she said. “Being a first-generation immigrant has shaped everything about how I see the world, and how I grew up.”

Sankaran-Deal said one measure of the company’s success in its efforts to celebrate diversity and educate its workforce has been the abundance of internal conversations on the company’s portal for discussing diversity.

“I have seen over the last two years an increase in the number of posts about people’s stories and families. These posts are not always positive, but the beautiful thing is that we are talking about it. People are commenting about something they have seen. So many more people are participating in the discussion.”

Sankaran-Deal said a component of the DEI program is to look at ways to recruit workers from a more diverse pool of candidates. This includes consideration of students at universities and regions around the world that Power has not always looked to for its employees.

“Are we hiring from an expansive enough area?” she said. “We tend to go to universities where we already have contacts. We are in the process of defining our plans, including reaching out to historically black college or university and feeder schools with strong technical programs. We have a lot of drafters and designers and workers with computer focused jobs, without a four-year degree.”

Power Engineers was recently recognized for its leadership in racial diversity by AEC Advisors, a mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance firm for the architecture, engineering and consulting industry, according to a press release. It states that Power was ranked third-highest on the racial diversity index in its revenue category, and the report showed growth in this area over the past five years.

“The AEC Advisors report shows we’re making progress, and our CEO Action Pledge shows we recognize the need to take visible action steps,” Haynes said. “We’re more committed than ever to continuing to make Power stronger and more welcoming of the world’s most talented professionals.”