Establishing a diversity, equity and inclusion strategy requires ongoing attention. Achieve success requires embedding equitable practices within your organization’s DNA.
Diverse perspectives allow businesses to develop more innovative products. Employees who feel included want to work for companies that value DEI.
Belonging, respect and support are at the core of inclusion. Imagine three children standing near a fence: one can peer over it easily while two others only see fragments above them and three still can’t make out anything at all.
Diversity in Leadership
One effective way to demonstrate that your company values diversity is by having leaders from different groups who have historically been marginalized. They can more readily understand what problems other employees are experiencing and offer effective solutions, while serving as role models whom their coworkers can look up to and relate to.
Companies that prioritize diversity in leadership help foster an atmosphere of acceptance and openness within their workplaces, fostering an atmosphere of acceptance. Diverse leaders also tend to produce higher productivity levels and greater employee morale; businesses with diverse leadership tend to be financially successful as evidenced by research conducted by McKinsey which showed companies with more female executives can be up to 30 percent more profitable than those without female executives.
There are various approaches to encouraging diversity in leadership, such as setting specific quotas and training programs. But in order to truly be inclusive, companies need to go beyond this surface-level approach by creating comprehensive strategies that address all aspects of an employee’s identity such as gender, race, ethnicity, disability sexual orientation age socioeconomic class among others.
Implementing an inclusivity strategy requires setting realistic and attainable goals that will create sustainable impacts in terms of diversity and inclusion efforts. Also important: creating goals aligned with your organization’s values so they are relatable and motivating for employees, helping your company create lasting change with regards to diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Communication of diversity and equity initiatives to all employees within your company is also of vital importance, whether that means internal communications, external events or social media posts. Sharing company goals will inspire employees to join you in reaching them more easily.
Once you’ve established an understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion, the next step should be creating your strategy. Begin by determining what order makes the most sense for your goals; do you prefer having “Diversity” come before or after “Equity” and “Inclusion?” When this has been determined, develop written working definitions for all three terms so everyone is on the same page.
Diversity in Culture
Culture encompasses various identities, traditions and affiliations that contribute to creating diversity in society. Workplaces are one of the primary arenas where cultural diversity can be observed and many organizations have adopted an inclusive policy by encouraging employees to join cultural activities or creating employee resource groups dedicated to women veterans workers of color and employees with disabilities that provide them a forum in which to bond together while advocating for themselves within an organization.
Establishing a diverse and inclusive workplace culture can be challenging when companies lack sufficient resources. DEI initiatives often fall short due to limited training or funding; employing an outside consultant or experienced in-house DEI leader can assist your company with creating sustainable strategies for increasing diversity and inclusion within its workplace environment.
When discussing cultural diversity, it can be useful to use an analogy. A chief diversity officer from University of Michigan uses a party as an illustration: though inviting everyone might be fun, providing the tools needed for them to participate effectively must come first. He suggests making sure every member has access to whatever they require for optimal participation – such as left-handed people having scissors available if required.
From a business perspective, embracing diversity and providing the appropriate supports helps teams work better together. When people from diverse backgrounds share their perspectives it can enhance creativity and decision-making processes – something a company without diversity may miss out on, making itself less competitive compared to its peers. Furthermore, without an inclusive strategy in place companies may lose talented employees who will seek other employers that value their contributions; one McKinsey study showed that companies with such strategies outperformed those without.
Diversity in Management
Leadership of any company plays an essential role in setting its priorities, and any commitment to diversity and equity must be evident from top down. Johnson & Johnson is one example where this commitment has been clearly displayed: its Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer reports directly to its CEO – showing they recognize its significance and make it a top priority.
No matter their race, gender, socioeconomic class, disability or sexual orientation; having diverse employees in your workforce will promote greater teamwork, innovation and productivity while decreasing discrimination and harassment risk. But creating an inclusive environment may prove challenging – here are some tips to get you underway with diversity policies.
Begin by identifying which forms of diversity you wish to integrate into your workplace, starting with gender, race and ethnicity – the obvious ones being gender identity, religion, age and military service as protected characteristics that should not be discriminated against in employment decisions or decisions regarding hiring candidates for job openings. However, other considerations should also be given such as gender identity, religion age and military service as they should all play a part.
Once you’ve identified which types of diversity you wish to address, create goals and devise a strategy to support them. Make sure they’re measurable and attainable while being aligned with business objectives; the closer these goals are related to company success, the more likely employees are likely to embrace them.
Once your plan for diversity has been developed, it’s essential that it is communicated throughout your organization and celebrated any progress toward meeting its goals. This will keep everyone involved motivated to continue working toward creating a more inclusive workplace environment.
Millennials are eager to join companies that prioritize diversity in the workplace. A 2021 CNBC/SurveyMonkey survey showed that almost 80% of workers wanted to work at organizations which promoted diversity. With this demand only increasing over time, businesses must implement policies to increase diversity within their workforces.
Diversity in Teamwork
Establishing diverse teams is one way of supporting diversity in the workplace. Beyond race and ethnicity, diversity encompasses age, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation and physical ability – not forgetting different perspectives, experiences and ideas that lead to improved productivity and a more innovative company culture.
However, just because your team is diverse doesn’t mean all employees feel included within it. Inclusion refers to creating an atmosphere in which individuals with various social identities feel at home in a community; thus making an essential element of work environments.
One striking instance of diversity equity and inclusion gaps lies in how employers treat people with disabilities differently than someone without. For instance, when hiring employees with physical disabilities, many employers offer them accommodations such as voice-activated software or ramps more often than an employee without such needs compared to someone without one – evidence that some employers prioritize inclusivity more than others and ensure all their rights are upheld regardless of ability or disability.
An integral component of inclusion is creating an inclusive company culture, supporting all types of individuals. To do this effectively, organizations should communicate clearly on what constitutes harassment and inappropriate behavior and how they will address these forms of conduct. Furthermore, managers and leaders must listen attentively to employee concerns while learning from their input.
Inclusion means ensuring employees can perform their jobs in an environment which best meets their needs, whether that means working from home or on flexible hours; offering open door policies so employees can discuss issues directly with management; or being accommodating about attire or dress codes.
Mac Cosmetics stands as an outstanding example of an inclusive company, being the first cosmetic brand to develop makeup suitable for all skin tones and offering various foundation and lipstick shades to make their products accessible for all customers. This has contributed greatly to their business’s growth while serving as an outstanding example of diversity and inclusion within an organization.