Creation and distribution of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) statements is essential in conveying authenticity and building trust among stakeholders and employees alike. Leaders should make commitments that they know they can uphold without difficulties executing on.
Many universities require applicants to include a DEI statement in their applications, typically providing examples of work completed related to diversity, equity and inclusion within higher education settings.
What is Diversity Equity and Inclusion?
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is all about commitment to fairness and respect in the workplace. Companies that prioritize DEI can improve employee morale, attract talented workers and win new business while simultaneously becoming more responsive to both customers and communities they serve.
Inclusion refers to treating everyone equally and with dignity regardless of their identities or backgrounds. It takes an holistic approach by considering all aspects of a person’s experience, such as culture, gender, religion, age, racial/ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status education language (dis)ability (or any combination of these) etc.
Companies can implement their DEI strategy in various ways, such as training managers on unconscious biases and other forms of discrimination or hiring an outside consultant to train staff. But it should be remembered that these efforts only represent part of a greater goal to create an inclusive workplace – for real success to occur, an equity lens should be integrated into all policies and processes throughout their company.
Diversity in the workforce is vital in providing multiple perspectives and ideas, leading to more creative solutions. Furthermore, inclusion ensures that people from different backgrounds can thrive at work.
Diversifying the workforce is also good for business as it leads to increased productivity and lower turnover rates, making the organization more attractive as an employer – research has indicated that companies publicly proclaiming their commitment to diversity and inclusion see an increase in stock prices by 10%!
However, companies can be diverse without being inclusive. For instance, they could hire diverse candidates but fail to give them all of the resources they require for success, which may cause them to leave. Furthermore, companies that only value diversity without creating an inclusive workplace won’t reap all of its rewards; therefore it is crucial that any DEI initiative include inclusion as a key part – this includes training programs, hiring practices and ongoing monitoring of employee satisfaction levels.
What is the purpose of a Diversity Equity and Inclusion statement?
A diversity and inclusion statement is a declaration of your organization’s dedication to creating an inclusive workplace that welcomes individuals of all backgrounds. Similar to its mission and values statement counterpart, it allows your company to share its vision with employees, potential candidates and the wider community.
An effective diversity and inclusion statement (DEI statement) should outline your company’s core values and beliefs regarding creating an environment of inclusivity while offering concrete examples of your progress towards this goal. Using positive language that imparts purposeful messages as well as testimonials or reviews from current employees are all great additions. It may also be worthwhile linking it directly to your website so it can easily be found and shared among employees and the wider world.
DEI statements provide your company with clear, concise messaging to demonstrate its dedication to inclusion. They can serve as a useful recruiting tool that sets them apart from competitors during hiring processes while setting expectations among employees regarding roles and responsibilities associated with diversity, equity and inclusion within their workplaces.
As a business owner, creating a diversity statement can demonstrate your company’s dedication to inclusion when dealing with customers, vendors and the community. This statement may prove especially helpful for companies operating across wide geographic areas as it ensures all communities are represented. Furthermore, creating such a document helps establish your company as an authority within both community affairs and in business matters.
Diversity within your workforce can bring fresh perspectives and ideas that lead to improved products and services for your customers and clients. It is essential that companies recognize differences as positive aspects of workplace culture; effective teams possess many different points of view from which to work together effectively.
Diverse and inclusive workforces are not simply nice to have; they are essential components of successful companies. A diverse and inclusive workplace fosters better decisions, greater innovation, increased productivity, and employee satisfaction – ultimately it is each company’s responsibility to contribute towards creating an inclusive world.
How do I write a Diversity Equity and Inclusion statement?
An effective diversity statement can send a powerful message to both potential employees and customers, and help create a more inclusive workforce by offering equal opportunities. However, it’s essential that any diversity statement issued by your business be genuine rather than simply another marketing ploy.
An effective way of testing whether your company’s commitment to diversity is genuine is to observe their actions. Do they spend time creating an inclusive workplace or community; actively recruit from underrepresented groups; support anti-racist academic work; donate money or invest in structural change?
Companies should detail their values and how they have implemented them into day-to-day operations in a diversity statement. Furthermore, they should outline future goals that they plan to meet and set clear goals to reach these targets; this will demonstrate their dedication towards creating a more diverse workplace and provide motivation to their staff in making it a reality.
At its core, diversity encompasses more than simply race or ethnicity differences; it covers gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, political beliefs, physical abilities and life experiences. Inclusivity refers to making sure everyone feels valued and psychologically secure within the workplace and this goal may require hiring more minority employees than simply recruiting more minorities.
Many companies provide specifics of their programs and initiatives in their diversity statements, such as employee resource groups, mentoring opportunities, community outreach efforts, etc. Other companies such as Google or Nike go even further and list specific diversity targets as well as current representation figures to illustrate how committed their company has been – these examples of commitment can highlight what a real impact the business has made and encourage others to follow suit.
Finally, it is essential to remember that an effective diversity statement must not only focus on the company’s actions but should also detail how their culture will change in order to enforce and uphold values implemented and upheld in practice. Often this can be accomplished via training programs designed specifically to include marginalized groups.
How do I distribute a Diversity Equity and Inclusion statement?
As its name implies, a diversity equity and inclusion statement declares your company’s dedication to cultivating an inclusive workplace that respects differences. It serves as a guideline for every decision your company makes from small decisions to strategic plans; and can demonstrate your company’s dedication to diversity to job applicants and other stakeholders.
Writing an effective diversity statement requires being clear and succinct. Your statement should affirm your company’s commitment, provide an overview of diversity at your organization, identify key focus areas for action plans in the future, and outline how your efforts align with the mission and vision. A well-written diversity statement will stimulate positive reactions while positioning your organization as an employer of choice among employees from various backgrounds.
To create your statement, start by reviewing existing policies. Consult employees as necessary so that your statement reflects reality and that everyone agrees on its content – this will prevent it from being perceived as a meaningless checkbox exercise with no tangible value for them.
Once your DEI plan has a framework in place, create goals and stipulations that will enable you to reach your desired outcomes. Be sure that these are realistic yet time-oriented goals which align with the overall culture, mission and strategy of your organization.
Don’t make any commitments that you are not capable of fulfilling; any such promises would jeopardize shareholder or stakeholder trust in your diversity efforts and cause irreparable harm to their trust in your company’s diversity initiatives.
Once your draft of the diversity equity and inclusion statement is ready to distribute, both internally to employees as well as externally to prospective applicants, it should be made visible on websites and social media, job postings/career pages (with links) as well as company newsletters/announcements to ensure maximum visibility for the statement.