Vast inequities exist across a range of areas such as income, educational attainment, healthcare access and home ownership. These disparities are linked to factors like race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sex status socioeconomic status and (dis)ability.
Diversity, equity and inclusion are frameworks designed to promote equal treatment of all people and the ability to belong. Adopting these policies can help build stronger teams that perform more efficiently in diverse workplace environments.
Definitions
Diversity, equity and inclusion have become ever more critical to today’s workplaces. While these terms may often be used interchangeably, each has a specific meaning; therefore using a common vocabulary helps prevent misinterpretation in this important dialogue.
Diversity refers to the presence of different types of people within a group or context. This can encompass differences such as race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender age sexual orientation and socioeconomic status as well as culture language education family background learning styles life experiences and differences in culture between members.
Inclusion refers to the process of making all individuals in a group or setting feel valued and included, regardless of abilities or challenges they may present. It includes providing individuals with equal access to participation without barriers or discrimination and supporting everyone towards reaching their full potential.
Further, inclusion involves creating policies and practices to ensure equal access for all people to opportunities. This means recognizing and addressing structural inequalities affecting specific groups; creating more diverse workplaces alone does not suffice without equitable procedures and socially conscious human resource departments (HR).
Inclusion is an ongoing process that recognizes the dynamic nature of social identity in the workplace. While its achievement may take longer, inclusion requires ongoing awareness and involvement with community efforts to foster more equitable environments for all. OE strives to offer an honest dialogue platform on these matters in order to promote positive change and sustainable progress. We do not endorse, take responsibility for or provide funding to any organizations, programs and/or resources mentioned herein. Reproducing this content must include an acknowledgement and citation to its original source. OE reserves the right to edit or remove any material considered inappropriate, offensive or inconsistent with its mission and goals.
Goals
An effective diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategy requires a comprehensive framework that addresses all aspects of an organization, from talent acquisition and development, culture and environment and business performance to employee well-being. Achieving this requires creating an atmosphere in which employees feel accepted for who they are – this can be achieved by making sure all demographics are represented in leadership and fostering an inclusive culture while addressing unconscious biases and microaggressions effectively.
DEI’s aim is to ensure all employees are treated fairly. This can be accomplished through employing an equity-focused approach when recruiting and hiring, training, workplace standards and more. In doing so, DEI addresses issues like cultural and racial differences, gender identity/expression differences, physical ability limitations, veteran status or religious beliefs which prevent people from reaching their fullest potential at work.
Inclusion refers to creating a sense of belonging for all members in an organization, achieved by providing equitable access to resources and cultivating an atmosphere of respect and dignity. Diversifying and including employees within your workforce is vitally important to employee morale and productivity, according to research conducted by McKinsey companies that embrace more gender and racial diversity are 36% more profitable.
Companies striving to foster an environment more inclusive and diverse require strong leaders who are willing to facilitate change by setting goals, outlining a clear purpose, and devising an action plan to meet them. Furthermore, leaders should offer support and encouragement to employees who are making adjustments necessary.
Organizations looking to cultivate a more diverse and inclusive workplace should prioritize diversity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, ensure fair hiring practices, provide ongoing training sessions and establish a diversity committee. Furthermore, companies should use inclusive language when communicating externally as well as solicit regular employee feedback in order to identify barriers preventing an inclusive work environment. In order to implement and execute their strategies efficiently with DEI experts helping implement and execute them; eventually harnessing its power for business results.
Methods
Implementing diversity, equity and inclusion into your company culture is crucial to its success. Companies that embrace more diverse workforces are better prepared to handle challenges, hire talent from a wider pool of applicants and meet customer demands from different corners. However, successfully incorporating these practices requires strong support from leadership in order to be implemented successfully.
At work, there are various ways to measure diversity and inclusion. One strategy involves counting employees who fall under different social identity groups such as gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status age disability etc. Additionally, you could examine employee retention recruitment promotion satisfaction rates; tracking these metrics provides insight into your company’s performance as well as areas needing improvement.
While diversity refers to the representation of various demographics within an organization or company, inclusion means creating an atmosphere in which everyone feels welcome. This may involve acknowledging and celebrating different ideas, perspectives and values while making sure people with disabilities have access to accommodations. Furthermore, inclusion can play an essential role in combatting discrimination due to race, gender identity, economic class religion physical ability sexual orientation political ideologies etc.
To promote inclusion, it is crucial that you establish a clear vision of what your desired outcomes will be and the steps needed to reach them. You also need to ensure the necessary resources, both human and financial, are available in order to implement your plan and track its implementation; then create and track progress against this plan to assess if programs, policies and practices are successful or not.
Measuring diversity and inclusion at your company is critical to increasing profitability. Studies show that businesses with more diverse workforces tend to be more productive and innovative. Furthermore, employees feel more at home when they can bring all aspects of themselves into work while sharing ideas across backgrounds and perspectives with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints. McKinsey research indicates that companies with more diverse boards tend to experience 36% higher profitability compared to those without.
Results
Although these words are often used interchangeably, each has specific meanings. Diversity refers to differences; equity seeks equal access; and inclusion is about creating a sense of belonging and community spirit. Though organizations recognize the significance of diversity for business success, they should also understand why inclusion must also play a vital role.
Employees who feel included at work tend to be more engaged and committed. Unfortunately, even within companies with diverse teams there can still be barriers to inclusion that must be overcome – for example women might be well represented on a team but still may not feel valued due to longstanding gender norms or salary discrepancies; people from disadvantaged backgrounds might face more subtle barriers like lack of culturally relevant training or inability to communicate effectively within their workplace environment.
Additionally, employees whose companies do not prioritize diversity may be more likely to leave. This can include both overt forms of discrimination such as harassment and more subtle forms such as being assigned lower quality work or not receiving credit for their ideas; such small yet persistent slights can have serious repercussions that lead to lack of motivation and even make workers physically sick.
Diversity within a workforce has long been linked to improved business performance, from increased profits, innovation and customer insights. One study showed that companies in the top quartile of gender diversity outperformed those in the bottom quartile by 46%; another demonstrated that those in the top tier of ethnic/cultural diversity outshone those in the bottom tier by 34%.
Research by Deloitte indicates that companies which prioritize diversity and inclusion enjoy an advantage over those that do not. A company which promotes diversity is four times more likely to have higher revenues than an equivalent firm who does not. Diverse groups bring different experiences, perspectives and viewpoints that help generate innovative solutions and products.