As MFS celebrates its 100th birthday this year, the company remains committed to, in the words of Michelle Thompson-Dolberry, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, “meeting the moment.”
“I think sometimes when you talk about the steps you’ve taken to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), it can come off as insincere,” Thompson-Dolberry said. “But the things we do, we do genuinely and authentically, and I think that’s what allows us to continue to do it.”
Thompson-Dolberry says that by practicing empathy, civility, respect, and allyship, MFS has come to realize that, especially in today’s environment, every day is someone’s moment—a realization made easier by bringing together a diverse workforce able to recognize challenges within specific communities.
MFS continuously seeks to drive greater diversity, elevate equity, increase inclusion and build belonging among its employees. One of the ways MFS does this is by continually expanding its candidate pools, working with external organizations to gain access to more diverse talent and giving that talent opportunities at MFS in return. The result is an inclusive workplace where people of all identities and backgrounds can thrive, grow, and contribute.
While the firm has always prided itself on a collaborative culture that has fostered diversity of thought, in its 2023 Diversity Annual Report, Chairman and CEO Michael Roberge wrote, “During my tenure at MFS, as the dimensions of diversity have expanded beyond gender, race and ethnicity, we have adapted our hiring practices and development opportunities to attract and retain a diverse workforce and represent the world around us.”
These development opportunities include summer internship programs for law students, a legal fellowship program for law school graduates, and the MFS Leadership Development and Rotational Development Programs aimed at hiring, training, and retaining diverse talent. In addition, MFS employee resource groups (ERGs) provide internal programming and networking opportunities as well as recruiting support and partnerships with charitable organizations. To further advance its DEIB goals, these ERGs contribute to policy and procedure changes, foster communities of belonging through workplace events, offer mentoring and networking opportunities, and help facilitate development opportunities for members of their communities.
“MFS’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging exemplifies the type of leadership we seek to recognize with the Corporate Champion award,” said Jameel Moore, who served as a member of the Beacon Awards Committee. “Through their recruitment and retention programs, community engagement, and development opportunities for undergraduate and law students, MFS demonstrates how organizations can expand their own initiatives, drive change, and have a meaningful impact both within their industry and their communities.”
Despite recent challenges in the courts to DEIB-focused initiatives, Thompson-Dolberry says MFS has no intentions of changing its directives nor its priorities. Recognizing that “talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not,” MFS remains committed to finding new ways to bridge that gap, both within its walls and beyond them. Through supportive programs, tools, and resources, MFS continues to work diligently to not only improve the sense of belonging amongst its employees, but to give back to the communities it serves.
“We want people to understand why [DEIB] efforts are important, not hide from the fact that we’re doing it,” she said. “The work is about how we ensure everyone has as amazing and as consistent of an opportunity as we possibly can. How do we help all boats rise? That’s our approach, and over time, that’s become our culture.”
Part of that culture includes prioritizing giving back in ways that serve to enhance opportunity, self-sufficiency, and civic engagement of MFS’s employees and communities.
In celebration of the company’s centennial, MFS has created a scholarship for first-generation and low-income students in Boston, aimed at easing the burden of college costs. The intent behind this scholarship is to help ensure that financial hurdles do not derail students’ educational opportunities. In doing this, MFS hopes to expand the pipeline of future talent into the workforce.
MFS also partners with outside organizations to increase the reach of their potential impact. They have forged close ties with BBA affinity bar partners such as the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts (AALAM) and the South Asian Bar Association (SABA). Support for these affinity bars has included sponsoring major events, providing meeting space for SABA board meetings, and collaborating on philanthropic opportunities, including clothing drives and an $11,000 donation to the Hawaiian People’s Fund in response to AALAM’s campaign to fundraise for Maui in the wake of the island’s devastating 2023 wildfires.
“At any given time, a given community is going through something,” Thompson-Dolberry said. “So, our approach is simple: What can we do? How can we help?”
As part of its commitment to “Corporate Citizenship,” MFS also partners with nonprofit organizations across the globe. In Massachusetts, through its partnership with the Pan-Mass Challenge—of which MFS has been a sponsor since 1999— the firm and hundreds of employees have helped raise more than $30 million. The company also invests in Jumpstart for Young Children, an early education organization that recruits and trains college students to serve preschool children in low-income neighborhoods, as well as Horizons for Homeless Children, which helps provide high-quality early education and family support systems.
As Thompson-Dolberry explains it, “The work can’t be important only when it impacts you; the work is always important to someone, so we’re always looking at the ways we can lend a hand.”
In addition, MFS celebrates its “Global Month of Giving” every October. From helping to feed the hungry to supporting community gardens, helping buy holiday gifts for children in need and volunteering to fix assistive devices for people with disabilities, MFS employees are encouraged to give back in ways that are fulfilling to them and empowering for all.
“I feel like I was put on Earth to use corporate resources for good, and that was something I could do from day one at MFS when I joined in 2022,” Thompson-Dolberry said. “Making an impact—or being a champion in the community—is not a spectator sport, and for MFS it is more than writing a check. We match our financial support with boots on the ground.”
By meeting talent with opportunity and thus opening the pipeline to all—regardless of background—donating to causes near and dear to its employees, and simply rolling up their sleeves and providing a helping hand where it’s needed, the entire team at MFS has made it clear that it has no intention to sit on the sidelines.
As Thompson-Dolberry put it, “That’s what allyship is, right?”
