Extensive research over the years has built a business case that employee diversity, equity, and inclusion within organizations drives innovation and financial benefits, and that diverse organizations attract top talent. However, this business case has fundamentally failed to deliver meaningful diversity or a path to equity across the corporate landscape.
For Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), life at work continues to be a struggle, with the continued issues arising from systemic challenges faced while fighting for equitable treatment and access to opportunity. This is a constant, regardless of their functional roles, levels, company sizes, or industries. According to a report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black people make up around 13 percent of the workforce, Hispanic or Latinx people make up 18 percent of the workforce and Asian people make up about 6 percent of the workforce, as of 2020.
Workplace diversity results when companies make it a point to hire people who have different characteristics, such as ethnicity, religion, cultural background, sexual orientation, and gender. The goal is to create a culture where individual differences are respected and all employees are treated equally and receive the same opportunities for growth and advancement.
The benefits of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are well known. These include increased collaboration, higher employee engagement, reduced turnover, improved profits, and stronger brand identity.
Here are a few steps businesses can take now to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workforce.
1. Change how your screen and hire candidates:
Diversity starts with hiring and retaining diverse talent. With 80% of jobs never posted online but filled through referral or internal hires, your current employees play a large role in who gets hired next. If the majority of the staff is one demographic, increasing diversity through a referral-based hiring program becomes harder. Post openings on job boards that specialize in diversity.
When considering employment, 76% of job seekers deem workplace diversity as an important factor in their decision process, especially for Millennials who make up the majority of the workforce. Highlight diversity on the career page on your website. Be sure your company’s diversity statement and any current initiatives are mentioned on your career page and in every job description that is being offered.
2. Offer diverse mentorships:
Mentorship programs help ensure everyone has the opportunity to advance and also create closer employee relationships. Establishing an inclusive mentorship program can help foster diversity. Incorporate inclusion into your recruitment processes, from recruitment from universities to internship programs, so that you are collecting a diverse pool of recruits for your openings.
When you create time for valuable mentorship, you create leaders for the future.
3. Conduct Equity audit and training:
DEI is more than just an event that an organization hosts once a year or a statement on a website. It is a practice that should be integrated into every aspect of your organization. The key to creating transformational change is to start with an honest organizational assessment of your current situation.
Some of the pieces in the audit and environmental scan include: reviewing policies, practices, and procedures, reviewing the budget, and conducting stakeholder surveys, interviews, and focus groups.
It is likely the executive team and other leaders require diversity training. The people who are responsible and have the power to effect change in organizational policy should have a deeper understanding of what it means to be truly equitable and gain the tools to identify and combat oppression within the workplace. They can then take this new awareness to launch meaningful cultural and sensitivity training throughout the organization.
What are some practices and policies your organization has that advances diversity, equity, and inclusion?
4. Train/hire Diversity Managers:
In order to make diversity and inclusion a priority, you must hire staff that lives and breathes these values. Get onboard a dedicated hire, or team of hires, to prioritize diversity within the workplace. The diversity team/manager should be responsible for creating, recognizing, and implementing actions for diversity within the organization.
Companies that have diversity managers report seeing 7-18% more diversity in management within five years, making them 87% better at making decisions, having higher profits, and a 19% increase in revenue.
Take measures to educate your current managers/staff about diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the work environment. here are some tips that will help:
- Schedule cultural training, diversity workshops, and seek to end unconscious bias by educating employees.
- Conduct a comprehensive audit of the workplace. Look at how inclusive the work environment is.
5. Have employee feedback and complaint system:
Unless you give employees a voice of their own, you’ll never really know what went wrong. Have an employee feedback system and its relevant assessment. While there are many people who support diversity, it can be overshadowed by the few leaders who do not. Data shows that 76% of Black employees and 58% of Hispanic employees have experienced racial harassment at work, yet in the last 20 years (1997-2018) there have only been 710,052 cases (roughly 1%) formally reported.
6. Incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion into company policies and practices:
Policies, practices, and procedures are the building blocks of organizational culture. The notion of “how we do things around here” forms the basis of workplace culture and it is important to frequently check in and ensure that “the way things are done around here” is constantly evolving to become more equitable. Develop or amend workplace policies to be more inclusive and diversity-friendly, from hiring practices to performance reviews, promotions, and benefits. Check if your company is an equal opportunity employer.
7. Celebrate all religions and cultures:
It’s important to remember that people come from a diverse range of faith and cultural identities. Encouraging your workers to practice their culture and traditions within your company is one of the best ways to demonstrate that you respect them. Whether cultural or faith-based, holidays are a window into what’s important to each employee as they are an expression of their values. Here are a few ways to improve and increase cultural diversity and celebration within the workplace:
- Ask employees what holidays they would like to see recognized
- To ensure all cultures are represented and included, put in place a diverse planning committee
- Offer floating Holidays. Allow employees to select which holidays they choose to celebrate and take time off during
- Theme celebration months: Host monthly themed events on-site for various cultures and demographics: Black History Month, Women’s History Month, LBGT Month, etc.
- Be mindful of food and beverages. Have a discussion about decorating within your office. Invite all staff to be involved in the discussion.
8. Develop DEI Language:
Policies, practices, and procedures are the building blocks of organizational culture. The notion of “how we do things around here” forms the basis of workplace culture and it is important to frequently check in and ensure that “the way things are done around here” is constantly evolving to become more equitable. Develop or amend workplace policies to be more inclusive and diversity-friendly, from hiring practices to performance reviews, promotions, and benefits. Check if your company is an equal opportunity employer.
Conclusion:
The last but the most crucial step is to make sure that workplace inclusion becomes a part of your everyday work-life culture.
A powerful way to encourage employees to learn how to be more sensitive and welcoming towards every other employee is to reward and recognize good behaviors. Diversity in an organization leads to better teams, greater innovation, and more efficient decision-making. But inclusion is what connects people to the organization and makes them want to stay.
Want to attract great talent? Start making a better environment for everyone at your organization.
We can help! Email us at info@kedzconsulting.com
