An inclusiveness statement serves two key purposes. First, it communicates your commitment to diversity and inclusion to employees and communities within your business or organization. Secondly, an inclusion statement acts as a powerful showcase of this dedication.
DEI statements provide a roadmap for building an inclusive workplace culture, and should reflect business goals and be specific enough to achieve them.
1. Identify the groups that are the primary areas of focus.
Diversity equity and inclusion statements (DECs) provide organizations with a concise way of outlining their dedication to building an inclusive workplace culture. A DEC statement should identify groups such as women, people of color, veterans and older workers that represent primary areas of focus; describe steps the company is taking towards building one; as well as depict how culture currently stands and any progress made toward its goals.
Diversity statements have become an essential component of job applications, so it is imperative that they are written well. Statements should reflect personal experiences while discussing issues related to gender, race, social class and sexual orientation – such as how these experiences have shaped them and contributed towards creating a diverse workplace environment.
Companies often struggle to meet their diversity and inclusion goals for lack of accountability among senior leaders. Instead of setting vague goals without monitoring progress or holding them to account, it’s crucial that progress be tracked closely, holding senior leaders responsible, incorporating diversity metrics into hiring or promotion processes, or providing the results of diversity audits as part of employee performance reviews.
Another way of increasing accountability in a company is ensuring its employees are aware of its commitment to diversity and inclusion. This can be done by prominently featuring its diversity and inclusion statement on its website or by including it in its mission statement, and providing training or other opportunities for staff members to learn about diversity and inclusion.
Step four in writing a diversity statement is to identify examples of how the candidate has contributed to creating a more inclusive academic community, either through personal experiences or soliciting suggestions from colleagues and mentors. Furthermore, they should outline plans to continue making academic communities more inclusive in future.
2. Outline the steps the company is taking to create a stronger DEI culture.
An engaging diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) culture isn’t only good for employees; it’s good for business too. According to studies conducted, employees who feel included at their workplace are more satisfied with their jobs and more likely to remain with an organization. Therefore, companies need to commit themselves to DEI with clear goals on how they plan to meet those targets.
An Enterprise Equality and Inclusion statement (DEI statement) can help employees understand how they can contribute to these goals and work towards realizing them. A well-written DEI statement should include an overview of current company state followed by steps it will take in order to foster an inclusive workplace culture; with metrics for measuring progress and accountability.
As part of its DEI statement, companies should also commit to ongoing dialogue and collaboration through employee surveys – this will allow the company to keep an eye on progress towards meeting its goals. Furthermore, transparency around DEI efforts can build trust with employees as well as encourage participation by employees.
An important element of crafting an effective DEI statement is making sure it ties back into the company’s core values and leadership commitment, so as to reinforce inclusion as an everyday practice through well-thought out processes.
Finalizing their DEI statement requires companies to showcase their own perspective through language (like that found in Spotify, LEGO and Nike statements), specific initiatives ( such as veteran inclusion and employee resource groups creation) or testimonials from employees who have experienced inclusion within their company journey.
Following these tips will enable companies to craft an impactful DEI statement and demonstrate their dedication to diversity in an inclusive workplace environment. By making this commitment publically, companies will demonstrate they are ready to put in the hard work necessary for its success.
3. Describe the specific goals the company hopes to achieve.
If a company is serious about diversity, they need goals set in place that will make their vision of diversity come to fruition. Such goals must be specific, measurable, actionable and time-bound and must also align with their mission and values.
The YMCA’s statement does a remarkable job of aligning its commitment to diversity and inclusion with its core values — caring, honesty, respect and responsibility – which make up part of its company culture rather than just initiatives or policies. This makes the statement more authentic and impactful.
Lastly, the YMCA emphasizes its goal of empowering people, which demonstrates their desire to foster an environment in which employees feel valued and appreciated. This statement clearly illustrates their dedication to making an impactful difference in society.
Companies need to establish specific goals, but also identify the root causes of any issues they encounter in order to effectively address them. For example, if women and nonbinary employees are underrepresented in leadership roles, understanding why this may be occurring (for instance due to unconscious bias or limited opportunities available to female leaders) is vital in order to find sustainable solutions and create sustainable change within a company.
Once a company has identified its goals, it’s essential to communicate them internally and encourage employees to support these initiatives. This can be accomplished via employee surveys or creating a DEI committee; by giving employees the chance to contribute toward these goals they’ll become more invested and likely follow through on their commitments.
DEI statements should always be forthcoming and honest, even if that means acknowledging the current state of diversity within your organization. While it’s acceptable to admit that your company may not yet meet its desired diversity goals, be sure to highlight any positive steps it has taken – this will demonstrate commitment towards solving its problems.
4. Outline the actions the company will take to achieve these goals.
Many companies are understanding the significance of creating an inclusive diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) culture in their organization and are recognising its potential impact on business success. Many are creating DEI statements to outline their commitment and articulate their vision and mission.
A DEI statement should outline specific, action-oriented goals that the company will work towards over time, from making sure underrepresented groups are fairly represented in leadership positions to developing training programs to address bias and discrimination among employees. These goals should ideally be measurable and attainable with clear benchmarks for success along the way.
As employees can better assess how their company stacks up against its competitors, it is vital that its DEI statement be clear and specific, including any equity data such as gender or racial pay gaps to show employees they truly care about diversity, equity and inclusion. By including such data in its statements it will provide tangible proof that an organization truly prioritizes these initiatives.
Additionally, one way of demonstrating diversity and inclusion commitment is through employee testimonials and examples in the statement. These can include stories about how your company has created more diverse workplace environments or have had positive repercussions for employees as a result of your efforts – this is an effective way to demonstrate that all perspectives matter regardless of background or experiences.
As part of a company’s DEI efforts and policies, including its diversity hiring program or support for employee affinity groups, it is useful if the company provides employees with information regarding its current DEI initiatives and policies – such as its diversity hiring program or support for employee affinity groups – so they have an idea of what the company is currently doing to foster diversity and inclusion; furthermore, providing links to additional resources (such as research on best practices in diversity and inclusion) will ensure employees continue learning as the company strives for an inclusive culture.