Language surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion is often difficult to interpret due to personal lived experience differences.
To ensure that you’re not creating barriers in your workplace, start by learning what each term means. From there, work towards building an environment of belonging where every employee can bring all aspects of themselves to work.
Equity
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are three values many organizations strive to incorporate in order to better meet the needs of all their constituents. This means ensuring everyone feels valued no matter their race, religion, physical ability, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression preferences, ethnicity or political perspectives; in addition to helping ensure people are treated fairly so they have every chance at realizing their full potential.
This requires providing equal access to jobs, resources and opportunities in the workplace, identifying and eliminating participation barriers such as physical roadblocks preventing people with disabilities from accessing similar areas as those who are able-bodied, and eliminating inequalities and discrimination more than equality itself.
Understanding diversity and equity (DEI) is crucial in order to fully appreciate its aims. Diversity refers to representation of people within an organization or group – such as number of women vs men or percentage of LGBTQ+ individuals – while equity refers to how people are treated within it, such as level of advancement or ability to participate. Power distribution also plays a part.
DEI practices may involve creating employee resource groups for marginalized communities, creating antidiscriminatory policies and providing mentorship programs. Others may even involve redistributing resources like money or power positions so that all members feel included and respected by an organization.
DEI may not be required of all businesses, but its principles have become increasingly essential in the workplace. DEI helps attract top talent, improve brand reputation, increase profitability and foster empathy by acknowledging people’s differences.
Measuring the impact of DEI can be challenging, but there are some key indicators you can use to measure its success in your organization. Measure workforce diversity by looking at how many members from traditionally marginalized groups there are in comparison with overall population; you could also measure employee satisfaction through surveys that specifically ask about diversity, equity and inclusion.
Diversity
Diversity refers to all of the ways people differ, such as race and ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability status, religion (or lack thereof), socioeconomic status and education status. Diversity promotes inclusiveness, mutual respect and multiple perspectives which ultimately lead to equity for all people involved.
Diversity can often be misused to refer to equality and inclusion – three very different concepts which should not be confused. Though diversity should be pursued as an aim, it’s essential that its definition be made clear.
Companies need to be able to evaluate the impact of their diversity initiatives accurately. For instance, they must track demographic data more comprehensively rather than only considering representation numbers; and ensure they cover all aspects of diversity like tracking women of color in leadership roles and tracking any issues which arise as a result.
Diverse and inclusive teams can increase innovation, enhance communication and foster stronger client and customer relationships. A diverse set of experiences and perspectives can spark fresh ideas that solve issues or address obstacles that would otherwise go undetected.
Although most people understand and support diversity, few realize the amount of effort and work involved in creating and maintaining an inclusive workplace culture. Some organizations shy away from this kind of work as they don’t know where or how to begin; other may simply not see its true worth in the long run.
Research continues to demonstrate the value of diversity for business. One study discovered that companies with more gender-diverse executive teams were 25 percent more likely to outshone their peers; another research paper discovered that organizations with greater racial and ethnic diversity were more innovative than those without diversity initiatives in place. For this reason alone, organizations must create and implement diversity programs.
Inclusion
Diversity acknowledges differences, while inclusion takes it one step further by exploring how everyone, from team members to end-users of a product or service, can feel valued for their individuality. Furthermore, inclusion entails making sure all people can access a company’s resources and benefits; for instance if its buildings lack accessible parking spots for people with disabilities that is an equity issue; similarly not hosting culturally relevant events for employees of different religions or beliefs can also be an inclusiveness issue.
To truly embrace diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), businesses must implement its principles across all areas of operations – hiring processes, employee engagement activities, policies and practices as well as on- and offline media channels such as websites.
Many companies struggle to implement successful DEI initiatives due to a lack of an organized framework and the tools necessary for their successful implementation. Employee surveys may provide inaccurate measurements of company performance against DEI goals.
To create an effective framework for diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, it’s necessary to first determine what these terms mean to all. Ask everyone in your organization to write down their individual definitions of each term before gathering together and comparing notes – this will enable you to come up with a working definition of each term, as well as which comes first among them.
Once you have clear working definitions in place, it will be much simpler to implement diversity and inclusion initiatives across your entire business. This may involve making sure all employees feel welcomed and supported at work; eliminating barriers to equal treatment and opportunities for advancement; as well as cultivating a culture of openness, respect, and belonging. By prioritizing these efforts you may experience increased revenue, wider customer reach, greater employee satisfaction as well as other benefits.
Equitable Design
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives aim to transform workplaces into more equitable environments; however, their terminology can be intimidating for newcomers who may feel intimidated when starting in this area of work. To help bridge this language barrier, let’s examine each term individually as well as their definitions.
DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) refers to initiatives supporting human rights, antidiscrimination and an appreciation of diversity and inclusion within modern societies. DEI movements have taken hold worldwide and now form an essential element of many organizations and businesses worldwide.
Other terms with similar meanings include inclusive and universal design. Both practices focus on producing designs and products that cater to as many individuals as possible and take into account individual preferences rather than treating everyone the same way.
One key distinction between equitable design and universal and inclusive design approaches is their respective goals; equitable design seeks to address social injustice, while universal design focuses more on providing one size-fits-all solutions for everyone. Furthermore, equitable design takes into account intersectionality; that is, an individual’s identity is comprised of various factors like race, culture, religion, age gender identity sexual orientation socioeconomic status etc.
DEI (Diversity & Inclusion) is not only about increasing diversity and inclusion within an organization, but it has an excellent business case as well. Studies have demonstrated that organizations which prioritize diversity experience higher levels of performance as well as being better at recruiting and retaining employees, in addition to being more likely to innovate than competitors who don’t emphasize DEI.
How can You Implement DEI Principles Into Your Organization? Begin by exploring what each term in DEI means for both yourself and your team. Have each person write down what their current understanding of each term is on paper before compiling these responses to get a more accurate picture. Once there is an agreed upon working definition of each term in DEI strategy development can begin.