Create a diversity equity and inclusion statement as an opportunity to highlight all of your efforts (both past and future) towards creating more inclusive classrooms, departments, or disciplines. Include any student programs supporting underrepresented students that you’ve participated in when creating this document.
Your DEI page allows you to incorporate various resources, such as representation metrics and information on equity initiatives.
Be Specific
Effective diversity statements provide specific, actionable ideas and goals. They make it clear that an organization is dedicated to inclusion, and encourage others to join. Such statements typically provide demographic data on employees (such as age, ethnicity, gender status or disability status) along with links to policies or initiatives supporting its claims – this allows interested parties to better explore what the statement claims while reiterating that company actions back up its promises.
Diversity statements that truly demonstrate their worth go beyond simply listing issues and promising to create change; they detail how those issues are being tackled day-to-day through training programs, creating employee networks, providing mentoring opportunities, joining organizations that advocate inclusion, or sponsoring outreach events. Such efforts show a company cares about its employees’ wellbeing while being willing to invest time and resources into its mission.
Drafting a DEI statement, it is key to emphasize what makes your organization distinct. While generic virtue-signalling may be tempting, creating more impactful statements if they reflect specific values and experiences is much more powerful.
Content balance is also key when crafting a diversity statement. While it is essential to cover various topics, try not to try and cover everything evenly unless you are an expert in the area of diversity. In that instance, dedicate no more than half your statement to sharing knowledge and experience related to diversity.
Assuming you work at a university, for example, it would be useful to describe how your educational frameworks promote inclusive learning environments for your students by taking into account cultural and linguistic diversity, while helping your students develop understanding and appreciation of different cultures and beliefs. You could also discuss how your research or scholarly works examine or challenge barriers preventing individuals from diverse backgrounds from fully participating in academic life.
Be Concise
An Education, Employment and Income Statement may be necessary in certain applications or job applications; to keep it manageable for readers and reduce any feeling of overload it’s best to keep its length short and concise. A brief statement makes reading it simpler while long ones can lead to information being missed by the reader.
Your DEI statement provides an opportunity to demonstrate how your thoughts, views, and perspectives on diversity, equity, and inclusion fit with the mission and values of your company or institution. Furthermore, this statement serves as an opportunity to demonstrate your dedication towards these goals through actions taken.
Statements written with vague language often convey that you only pay lip service to their values or don’t understand them fully. A well-crafted statement should outline both specific actions taken as well as plans to take further steps in that regard.
Avoid making vague statements by providing concrete examples from your experiences with these issues and how they have changed your views of the world. Cite both personal and group experiences for added credibility when making points.
As part of your DEI statement, it may also be useful to include additional details on your website to substantiate it. This could include information regarding current efforts such as statistics regarding percentage of women in leadership positions or total spent with diverse suppliers; or it can include goals set for your future priorities in terms of diversity.
Your views can change over time, and that’s okay. To stay on top of these changes and maintain an up-to-date DEI statement, revisit it periodically and update as necessary, particularly when new insights into your beliefs or priorities arise.
An effective DEI statement must clearly communicate your ideas, perspectives and plans to address issues related to diversity and inclusion (DEI) to its reader in an accessible way that makes evaluation of commitment to these goals simpler – making you the ideal candidate for any position or business venture.
Be Positive
An effective diversity statement should do more than list pledges; it should demonstrate your company’s dedication to creating an inclusive workplace environment. You want your statement to be not only purposeful and informative, but also inspirational and memorable.
Integrate the culture of your company into its statement to set it apart from competitors and help your business flourish. Houser suggests doing this by engaging staff members in creating the statement. “Make sure employees know they have a voice in shaping their work environment,” Houser advises, noting this approach will lead to them feeling more invested in what they are doing as well as more willing to support its mission.
Add a personal touch by including employee names in the statement. This will show potential new hires that your team values each individual’s individual qualities and perspectives, and share your company’s diversity goals and their progress toward meeting those targets – for instance Google provides details about employee resource groups it has as well as current representation figures per group; Nike details its diversity target and gender pay gap targets alongside an action plan for reaching these goals.
Your diversity and inclusion statement can also benefit from including details about any outreach programs you offer to foster an inclusive culture, from volunteering in underserved communities to hosting diversity and inclusion events. A good way to do this would be describing each program, its goal and impact in great detail.
An impactful diversity statement can have a lasting effect on your business, but in order to see results you must back it up with concrete actions. Also connect diversity statements to overall business strategy and demonstrate why implementing diversity initiatives is part of mission statement; most successful businesses embed diversity, equity and inclusion into core values and culture to ensure diversity statements remain meaningful and grounded in reality.
Be Action-Oriented
Diversity Equity and Inclusion statements provide more than a simple display of your commitment. They should show exactly what actions are being taken to meet this commitment – employees, candidates, customers and business partners will expect proof that you’re not just talking the talk but acting accordingly. Many examples from this article feature statistics indicating where their efforts stand today as well as goals they wish to meet by specific dates.
Your approach to crafting a diversity equity and inclusion statement will depend on your organization’s culture, the way your team communicates and the overall vibe of the company. For instance, direct-to-consumer tech companies might take an informal approach using phrases reflecting their brand tone while law firms would likely opt for something more formal and professional. No matter the culture you reside in, make sure your DEI statement is genuine: fake statements could harm employer reputation as well as have lasting repercussions for company culture and recruitment processes.
Furthermore, it’s crucial that your efforts set measurable goals. While it can be tempting to dream big about equality, be realistic in your approach and how far it needs to travel. Setting action-oriented goals will enable real progress toward your DEI objectives while providing a benchmark against which future successes can be judged.
Diversity Equity and Inclusion statements should reflect who you are as an individual. When applying for employment, use this statement to demonstrate your knowledge and experience in diversity-related issues within industry or higher education, including how you could potentially enhance existing programs to foster DEI.
Once you’ve chosen your statement, the next step should be putting pen to paper. Make sure your entire team participates in its creation so they feel invested and excited to realize its vision. Including everyone can also help uncover any misalignments or contradictions present in the final document.