Language used to discuss diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) can often be confusing; different people use words differently depending on their life experiences to explain these concepts.
DEI encompasses many facets of individual differences, such as race, ethnicity, age, sex, religion, gender identity/sexual orientation/socioeconomic status; as well as internal characteristics like personality values/beliefs.
Diversity
No matter who you are or the position in which you find yourself, chances are good that you have come across diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) concepts at some point in time. While related, each term has its own specific meaning – understanding them better will enable you to support DEI initiatives more efficiently.
Diversity encompasses all forms of human difference, such as race/ethnicity, creed, color, sex, gender, religion/spirituality, socioeconomic status, disability status and sexual orientation. Diversity plays a vital role in workplace environments as it helps us gain insight into various perspectives and experiences while simultaneously increasing collaboration and teamwork.
Equity refers to ensuring equal access for everyone to opportunities and benefits, including education, healthcare, housing, income distribution and so forth. Equity addresses systemic discrimination that impacts specific groups more than others. Common examples of equitable treatment in education, healthcare, housing and income distribution.
Inclusion refers to creating an inclusive environment that welcomes differences and ensures all members of a community feel included and valued. Inclusion can take many forms, from providing basic needs assistance for homeless or hungry students, to encouraging employees using preferred names when addressing co-workers; it all works towards creating an equitable and just society.
Though much effort is made to create an inclusive and diverse workplace environment, there remain gaps between representation and actual participation. For example, businesses may employ high percentages of women and people of color, yet these employees may still feel marginalized or discounted due to longstanding biases, unconscious biases, or stereotyping from culture and media.
To address these gaps, businesses must be proactive in creating policies and practices that demonstrate a firm commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. One effective method of doing this would be setting clear expectations during hiring processes as well as cultivating an environment which values diversity. Companies should also prepare themselves for challenges that may arise while implementing such policies.
Equity
Diversity, equity and inclusion are three terms often lumped together and used interchangeably; each concept possesses its own meaning. Diversity refers to differences that exist within populations or communities, including factors like race, ethnicity, gender, religion, national origin, physical ability sexual orientation age and age. Inclusion refers to welcoming groups that represent diversity into a community while encouraging full participation from them – acknowledging that communities become stronger with diversity present. Equity refers to providing all people access to opportunities without being limited by systems and structures of inequality that prevent them from realizing their full potential.
Organizations that place an emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have seen tangible benefits to their bottom lines from prioritizing DEI – such as attracting and retaining top talent, creating more inclusive environments, increasing productivity and improved business performance. Companies prioritizing DEI also have greater chances of winning government contracts while garnering the trust and support of their communities.
Many organizations are making diversity, equity and inclusion central components of their organizational strategies. But it can be confusing and challenging to differentiate among these terms; misinterpretations is possible without proper definition. A glossary of terms can help clarify and ensure that work done accurately represents its true nature.
Equality and equity have two distinct meanings, though commonly confused. Equality refers to an equal distribution of benefits across society while equity involves understanding and addressing structures which prevent certain groups from participating fully in society, culture and economic areas – like conducting an audit on someone’s bank account – to gain a better sense of what needs to be addressed to ensure equal opportunity for everyone.
Awareness and understanding can help maximize the success of workplace diversity efforts. By choosing appropriate terminology, your efforts will focus on making sure all members of your community have equal access to equal opportunities in society and can participate on equal footing.
Inclusion
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) discussions are wide-ranging and expanding quickly, creating the potential for confusion regarding terminology as well as misinterpretations of what DE&I means – the terms are frequently used interchangeably but actually have different connotations.
Diversity includes any and all ways in which individuals differ, including race, ethnicity, creed, color, sex, gender, age national origin religion disability status socioeconomic status sexual orientation language as well as cultural background life experiences political beliefs values ideas abilities and more.
Inclusion refers to the degree to which people feel valued and appreciated within an organizational environment. Achieving inclusion can be challenging; even with diverse teams in place there may still be barriers preventing people from feeling included – this may be caused by imbalance, tokenism or biases and assumptions which work against creating an inclusive atmosphere.
Equality refers to the degree to which all individuals are treated equally. Achieve this can be challenging when circumstances of different groups remain imbalanced, for instance when an individual with disabilities does not receive equal training opportunities as someone without one. Equity seeks to address such disparate treatment by offering more opportunities to those who require them.
DE&I strives to foster an environment that welcomes and appreciates people of all backgrounds, so they feel included and appreciated regardless of any differences they might possess. Employee engagement surveys provide the best means of measuring culture effectiveness. Through anonymous feedback from employees, the results provide an accurate snapshot of its current state and identify any areas that require improvement. These may include offering more training on certain topics, forming more diversity committees or seeking employee feedback regularly. Furthermore, it may be important to address any underlying structural or systemic causes; although these may be difficult to spot they’re essential in creating an inclusive workplace culture.
Goals
Establishing diversity, equity and inclusion goals for your business is important as it will help build a better environment. Establishing these goals will allow your company to identify and address discrimination while encouraging employees to feel valued and connected to each other. Incorporating DEI goals also tends to result in financial outperformance among companies that prioritize DEI goals over others.
Diverse goals encompass creating a comfortable work environment where all employees feel free to express themselves freely, as well as offering training on topics like unconscious bias and inclusive leadership. Such training will help your team members recognize offensive language or stereotypes as well as understand how their actions may impact other’s perspectives or cultural boundaries.
Equity goals focus on fair treatment and equal access to opportunities for all employees in your workplace, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. By eliminating barriers that prevent certain groups from fully participating, equitable initiatives not only ensure employees are treated fairly but can help your company avoid legal issues by creating a welcoming culture that welcomes all people.
Examples of equitable goals include providing a distraction-free workplace for employees requiring neurodivergent accommodations, hiring employees with skills-based hiring in new roles and closing the racial and gender pay gaps. Another method for fostering equality is providing pay transparency on job applications to enable employees to make informed decisions regarding which job offers may suit them best.
Inclusion goals can range from asking your employees not to make sexist jokes or mock accents, instead focusing on their abilities and character, to setting up an internal committee to tackle racism or sexism within your organization. Other inclusion goals might involve raising awareness of stereotyping’s effects as well as microaggressions (verbal insults or behaviors that hurt someone’s feelings), often linked with DEI in the workplace as it leads to greater tolerance, empathy, community relationships building, and fosters feelings of belonging.