Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is an essential business imperative because everyone deserves to feel valued. DEI helps organizations foster an environment in which employees of all backgrounds thrive while feeling like part of something bigger.
This requires more than simply hiring diverse employees; rather, it involves devising strategies to ensure all staff can participate fully and be productive.
Diversity
People commonly associate diversity with race or ethnicity. But that is only one dimension of human experience – people also differ by gender, language and manners, religion, social roles, sexual orientation, education skills income levels as well as numerous other characteristics that define individuals or groups and shape their worldviews and perspectives.
Businesses that embrace diversity are better able to understand their consumers and customers, create an inclusive culture that allows everyone to feel included, increase employee morale, which in turn has an indirect impact on business performance. Employees who feel valued can become more engaged, remain with a company longer, recommend it as a great place to work and invest more into its success.
Companies, however, still seem oblivious to diversity issues; diversity can often serve as a smokescreen for discrimination and other negative practices. While companies with diversity policies might still treat their employees poorly; this could be caused by unconscious bias forming outside of awareness; microaggressions which involve small verbal or nonverbal acts that make someone feel excluded or insulted are another potential reason.
As an example, when female candidates apply for jobs at tech companies, they may receive less recommendations than their male counterparts, even though both candidates are equally qualified. This could be caused by unconscious racism or sexism biases, leading to women being excluded from hiring processes, underrepresented departments and reduced leadership positions.
Organizations need to ensure all their employees feel included, which requires addressing biases and ensuring all processes are fair. One way they can do this is through training programs and creating an inclusive work environment; learning and development leaders play a vital role here by helping foster this culture by offering leadership development training as well as offering clear career pathways. Ultimately, their goal should be removing barriers so all employees can thrive at their company.
Equity
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) requires having a shared language to avoid misinterpretations of meaning from one individual to the next, especially when trying to have inclusive discussions. Different words hold various significance depending on lived experience; therefore it can be challenging for people trying to have inclusive discussions when different meanings of words arise from this context.
Diversity refers to differences among individuals within a group, community or organization. It encompasses variations in race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, physical ability and socioeconomic status as well as various areas of identity. Diversity also encompasses differing opinions within a group that exist together with varying viewpoints among its members.
Equity refers to the practice of assuring equal employment opportunities for all individuals within an organization, including equal access to success and advancement opportunities. Equity strives to identify and remove any barriers preventing individuals from reaching equal levels of success despite having equal resources – effectively unlocking people’s full potential at work.
Inclusion refers to the process of creating an environment in which individuals feel welcome and comfortable being themselves. It includes cultivating cultural awareness and heritage as well as providing employees with access to resources that allow them to celebrate their identities, cultures and backgrounds. Furthermore, inclusion provides a safe space where people can discuss these issues freely while also showing allyship for marginalized groups.
Belonging is the last element of DEI and refers to an individual’s feeling of connectedness to both their work environment and coworkers. It includes feeling part of an organization with its mission and that contributions made are recognized.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion practices have long been proven to increase a company’s chances of success, providing greater resilience when faced with challenges or meeting customer demands. Furthermore, such organizations tend to be more innovative and productive – this makes implementing DAEI practices so crucial.
Inclusion
DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) refers to initiatives intended to increase representation and participation from various demographic groups within businesses and institutions. DEI encompasses issues of race/ethnic identity/group membership/membership in disabled or religious communities/sexual orientation as well as socioeconomic status/status of socioeconomic standing/role in society.
People working in DEI tend to use complex language and acronyms when discussing diversity, equity and inclusion issues – this can make it seem as though they’re speaking a foreign language! In order to convey their message as effectively and concisely as possible, people working within this sector often employ terms unfamiliar to most that can cause further confusion for those unfamiliar with what’s going on and the efforts underway to transform how organizations view and treat employees, customers and community members.
Inclusion refers to creating an environment in which all members of an organization feel valued and welcome, which is critical for productivity, morale and sense of purpose in an ever-evolving economic landscape. A diverse workplace encourages new ideas from all perspectives which contributes to better decision-making processes and improved outcomes.
Provide employees with opportunities to be themselves can lead to increased employee engagement, higher satisfaction levels and enhanced performance. It also allows companies to better serve their customers. According to McKinsey research, companies that place greater focus on diversity tend to be 36% more profitable.
At its core, inclusion means creating environments in which all individuals regardless of background or identity can feel accepted and respected. To achieve this goal, inclusion involves actively and consistently removing barriers that prevent people from participating in an institution or environment; these may include biases, stereotypes or assumptions which hinder participation, such as cultural, religious or political beliefs that might dictate how we treat one another – often unknowingly.
Inclusion can also be achieved by shifting our perspectives of educational systems, workplaces and communities. Too often educational systems are created with dominant groups’ needs in mind such as cisgender white able-bodied individuals in mind, which may leave marginalized people without representation and belonging. Therefore it’s crucial that spaces designed and created provide equitable experiences.
Belonging
Feeling part of an inclusive community is an essential human need, and also an integral component of work performance, teamwork and organizational health. Research suggests that when employees feel as though they belong in their workplace they’re three times more likely to look forward to coming into work each day and five times more likely to want to stay with their company (Bond 2022).
Belonging is an umbrella concept encompassing diversity and inclusion, meaning the process of building an inclusive community in which every member feels valued, respected, and accepted despite any differences they might possess. Belonging requires acknowledging and celebrating different traits such as race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, education level, physical ability or veteran status as it pertains to belonging. Belonging can be achieved through various initiatives including creating an inviting work culture as well as working to eliminate discrimination and harassment in the workplace.
Diversity, equity and inclusion are interlinked concepts and should be treated as such when developing a diversity and inclusion strategy for your organization. When used together correctly, using these terms ensures progress is being made towards diversity efforts within an organization. To avoid any unnecessary confusion when making any initiatives happen in your workplace, establishing working definitions for each term prior to initiating any initiatives is helpful in order to establish common understanding about them among staff members before initiating change initiatives in your company.
Your organization may use one or all of these terms in its business strategies, yet each term carries with it specific connotations and should be employed appropriately. For instance, when working toward racial equity it wouldn’t be appropriate to use “diversity” or “inclusion.” Instead it is better to refer to equity which refers to its goal rather than using terminology such as diversity.
Kaela Sosa is co-founder and Manager of Curriculum & Programming at The Diversity Movement, teaching topics like active allyship, disability etiquette and LGBTQ+ inclusion. Additionally, she is an author who has written and spoken on various aspects related to psychology, gender identity and sexual orientation. Kaela has worked in diversity & equality issues for more than 15 years as a practitioner – her passion lies with diversity & inclusion’s role in creating a more equitable world.