Equity in Practice: Session 1

AIA Colorado’s J.E.D.I. Committee kicked off its three-part Equity in Practice series with a session focused on intercultural competence, workplace culture, and compensation, three interconnected forces shaping equity in the profession. This series is based on AIA’s Guide for Equitable Practice.

Co-chairs Sarah Morasso, AIA, and Alexander Person, AIA, framed the conversation by emphasizing that architecture is not neutral, and that advancing equity requires both individual reflection and systemic change.

Sarah Morasso opened with an overview of intercultural competence, highlighting it as a learnable skill that goes beyond awareness to actively working across difference. She explored how identity and bias—both explicit and implicit—show up in practice, and how unchecked bias can limit creativity, shrink talent pipelines, and ultimately impact design outcomes. Attendees were encouraged to assess their own firms using practical tools and to build awareness through reflection, relationship-building, and ongoing learning.

Maria Pelaez, Assoc. AIA, led the session on workplace culture, describing it as a shared, often unspoken system of values, behaviors, and norms that shape daily experiences. She emphasized that culture is co-created and extends beyond formal policies, with both visible and invisible factors influencing inclusion and engagement. The discussion underscored the importance of aligning stated values with actual practices, encouraging participants to evaluate how their firm’s culture supports—or undermines—equity.

The final segment returned to Sarah Morasso, who addressed compensation as a critical equity issue. She outlined the components of total compensation—direct, indirect, and non-financial—and examined persistent pay gaps across demographics within architecture. The session emphasized the importance of transparency, regular audits, and clear compensation philosophies at the firm level, alongside individual strategies like self-advocacy and informed negotiation.

Throughout the session, speakers reinforced that equity work is an ongoing journey rather than a one-time initiative. Attendees were encouraged to use the AIA Guides for Equitable Practice as a foundation for dialogue and change within their firms, and to continue the conversation in the upcoming sessions in the series.

Unchecked Bias Is a Design Issue, Not Just an HR Problem

When bias limits who gets to practice, who gets heard in design conversations, and whose needs get centered in projects, it undermines architecture’s fundamental purpose of serving people. Bias affects the quality of work, the health of firms, and the integrity of the entire profession.

Architecture exists to serve people—communities, clients, and the public. If bias limits who gets to practice, who gets heard in design conversations, and whose needs get centered, then we’re failing at the fundamental purpose of why we do this. Unchecked bias isn’t just a personal issue or an HR issue, it’s also a design issue.

Use AIA Guides as Leverage for Workplace Change

The Guides for Equitable Practice provide a formal standard that employees can reference when advocating for change. Rather than appearing to complain, employees can position themselves as educated on professional standards and concerned about the firm falling behind.

Any institution or firm that operates with AIA protection, this is a standard. The Guides for Equitable Practice are there. It being a formal document gives you a really good starting point to say, ‘Hey, have you read this?’ If you see particular issues that go against what the guides have to say, it’s not like you’re coming up with some fresh ideas out of nowhere. It turns more into, ‘I’m educated on what the standards for our professional organization are, and I’m concerned that we’re gonna fall behind.’

Workplace Culture Is Co-Created Through Daily Habits

Workplace culture isn’t the same as policies or rules—it’s created by everyday habits and behaviors. Everyone’s actions contribute to and impact the collective environment, meaning each person has agency to strengthen or weaken their workplace culture.

Workplace culture is something co-created. Your behavior is going to always impact and contribute to everyone else’s behavior. And workplace culture is also not the same as policies or rules in a place. It’s something that is created by everyday habits.

Use the DIVE Method When Encountering Unfamiliar Behaviors

When you encounter behavior that feels unfamiliar or confusing, use the DIVE framework: Describe what you actually observe (just facts), Interpret with multiple possible explanations, Verify your interpretations with others, and Evaluate against your values and theirs.

There’s this practice tool called DIVE that’s pretty useful when you encounter a behavior that feels unfamiliar or confusing.

• Describe what you actually hear—just facts.
• Interpret—come up with several possible explanations, not just the first one that comes to mind.
• Verify—check your interpretations with others.
• Evaluate—weigh those interpretations against your values and theirs.

AIA Code of Ethics Requires Fair Compensation

The AIA Code of Ethics, specifically Canon 5 Ethical Standard 5.1, states that members should provide a fair and equitable working environment, compensate people fairly, and support their professional development. This isn’t aspirational language—it’s a professional standard AIA members are held to.

The AIA Code of Ethics is pretty direct on this, specifically Canon 5 Ethical Standard 5.1. It states that members should provide a fair and equitable working environment, compensate people fairly, and support their professional development. Not just aspirational language, it’s a professional standard that we’re held to within AIA.

Intercultural Competence Is a Learnable Skill, Not an Innate Trait

Intercultural competence—the ability to understand cultural differences and act on that understanding—is both knowledge and skill that can be taught, practiced, and improved over time. No one is expected to have it all figured out, making it an accessible goal for all professionals.

The good news is that it’s learnable. Intercultural competence is both knowledge and skill, which means it can be taught, practiced, and improved over time. None of us are expected to have it all figured out.

Negative Workplace Culture Drives 50% Voluntary Turnover

When workplace culture is negative, organizations experience up to 50% voluntary turnover. These turnover costs include recruiting, training, low productivity, lost experience, and low morale—making culture a critical business concern, not just a feel-good initiative.

When work culture is negative, there’s like a 50% voluntary turnover, and turnovers can translate into costs. These costs can be recruiting, training, low productivity, lost experience, low morale. And those costs are very high.

Total Compensation Has Three Distinct Components

Compensation includes direct financial (salary, bonuses), indirect financial (time off, health insurance, retirement contributions), and non-financial elements (advancement opportunities, recognition, autonomy, flexibility). When evaluating pay equity, all three components must be examined, not just the salary line.

Total compensation is the full picture—direct, indirect, and non-financial, all combined. And when we start evaluating equity in pay, we have to look at all of them, not just the salary line.

The Iceberg Model Reveals Hidden Cultural Dynamics

Like an iceberg, most of culture is invisible—values, religious beliefs, gender roles, and assumptions about how the world works lie beneath the surface. Understanding this hidden dimension is essential because we can’t change what we’re not aware of, especially when it comes to recognizing biases.

If you think of an iceberg, only a small portion is visible above the surface. Things like food, music, language, family structure—and everything underneath, there’s a lot more, like values, religious beliefs, gender roles, assumptions about how the world works. Most of culture is invisible.

Architecture Pay Gaps Widen Throughout Careers

In architecture, white men earn more than men of color, who earn more than white women, with women of color earning the least. Average salaries for men exceed women’s at every experience level, with starting pay differences of a few thousand dollars diverging to approximately 15% by late career.

On average, in architecture, white men earn more than men of color, who earn more than white women, and women of color earning the least. Average salaries for men are higher than women’s at every year of experience, with average starting pay difference within a few thousand dollars, then increasingly diverging to approximately 15% pay gap in late career.

Equity in Practice Series: Session 2 – Recruitment, Negotiation, and Mentorship 

Participants will examine how hiring practices, career negotiation dynamics, and mentorship structures influence workplace equity and professional development. The session will explore how bias, unequal access to opportunities, and informal networks can shape career trajectories—and how firms can intentionally create more transparent, supportive systems that strengthen both individuals and organizations.

Equity in Practice Series: Session 3 – Career Advancement, Community Engagement, and Measuring Progress

We’ll examine how systems within firms and institutions influence career mobility, professional development, and leadership opportunities. The session will also explore how architects engage with communities in ways that acknowledge historical inequities and support more inclusive design processes that reflect the needs and experiences of the people architecture serves.

In addition, the course will introduce strategies for measuring progress toward equity within organizations—highlighting the importance of accountability, data, and continuous evaluation in building more inclusive workplaces and design practices.