Building a diverse organization requires more than simply hiring diverse personnel; an effective Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program must address issues like unconscious bias, bigotry and tokenism as well.
Equity refers to an approach in the workplace which ensures fairness for each individual, taking their personal circumstances and workplace outcomes into account.
Diversity
An organization that emphasizes Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) strives to make all employees feel equally at home at work. Individuals from differing backgrounds bring unique viewpoints that may lead to better ideas and solutions. A DEI environment encourages employees from across genders, races and ethnicities, ages, abilities, sexual orientations and neurodivergences to contribute their talents within an atmosphere which recognizes and embraces differences.
Companies should strive to employ a workforce that represents all the demographics in their local communities, since lack of diversity results in lost opportunities for innovation and business growth. Promoting an inclusive culture helps attract top talent while strengthening employee loyalty – this ultimately reduces employee turnover rates while improving customer service, product development and product creation.
Differing between diversity, inclusion and belonging can be difficult; while diversity refers to the number of identity groups present within an organization, inclusion and equity address how those groups are treated. For instance, an organization might boast equal numbers of men and women within one department – yet women might still not receive leadership opportunities or equal benefits like men do. Such treatment would not constitute inclusive practice.
Oft times it can be challenging to differentiate diversity and inclusion due to various definitions and terminology in use. Therefore, it is crucial that your organization establish a working definitions set that is both consistent and clear for everyone in its definitions of each term. Start by discussing them with your team, gathering notes on what each person understands each word means at present before comparing notes and coming up with an organization-wide list. Furthermore, determine whether word order matters: Does “Equity” come before or after “Diversity?” Additionally, consider any new terms that need adding.
The Independent Sector Diversity, Equity and Inclusion focus area has developed an array of resources designed to assist organizations in meeting their diversity, equity and inclusion goals. These include baseline definitions, case studies and tools designed to assist organizations with their efforts.
Equity
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are essential concepts when it comes to creating workplaces that are more sustainable. But defining DEI in an impactful manner can often prove challenging and confusing – partly due to different people having different interpretations of words they hear used for different meanings; additionally DEI being relatively new means its vocabulary continues to change over time.
DEI strategies aim to address the systematic barriers that prevent certain groups of employees from flourishing within business environments, including bias and discrimination in hiring, promotion and other aspects of work life. Biases that arise may affect gender, race/ethnicity religion age sexual orientation disability etc.
Biases often go undetected due to their unconscious nature and stereotyping nature, making it hard for others to detect. Bias may also result from society prioritizing some identity traits over others (for instance patriarchy gives men more power than women which leads to workplace issues like microaggressions and mistreatment of women).
Underrepresented employees often lack support and advancement opportunities that enable their growth, leading to turnover and the loss of critical expertise. Therefore, it is critical that each employee receives all of the tools they require in order to thrive in their roles.
A clearly defined definition of diversity can help a business cultivate a diverse workforce that contributes to innovation and creativity, better serve clients and communities while improving financial results, organizational performance, teamwork and team culture. But without an inclusive culture and mindset in place, an emphasis on diversity may not provide sufficient sense of belonging for employees.
Achieve this through the integration of diversity, equity and inclusion across all areas of an organization; from hiring practices, training programs and policies and procedures. Furthermore, creating a safe space where employees can be themselves without fear of discrimination can help employees feel at home – this may involve addressing biases, microaggressions or any forms of harassment that occur within an organization.
Inclusion
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) discussions can be extensive and evolving; therefore it’s crucial that all involved understand its terms in order to avoid misinterpretations of key concepts vital for making DEI initiatives successful and impactful. A glossary can help ensure this.
As part of creating a common vocabulary for your organization, the initial step should be identifying and understanding key terms and their definitions. This can be accomplished via surveys or individual conversations. Furthermore, it’s essential that individuals from diverse backgrounds interpret these terms differently based on their lived experiences – for instance “equity” may mean different things depending on socioeconomic status and systems they interact with; so making sure your language is inclusive and allows all parties to participate is vital for discussion and decision making.
Diversity and inclusion are two distinct but intertwined concepts, working in tandem to promote an equitable society. Diversity refers to the number of distinct identity groups found within an organization while inclusion refers to how those identities are valued by that same entity.
Inclusion involves acknowledging and celebrating differences, which allows people to be themselves in the workplace. Furthermore, inclusion involves providing meaningful contributions that support teams and organizational missions while at the same time respecting individual preferences.
True inclusivity can be difficult to attain, since perceptions of what constitutes inclusion vary considerably across groups within an organization. Hourly workers may feel less included than salaried employees and women may have more sense of inclusion than men in certain roles.
An inclusive culture offers many advantages, so it is crucial that organizations take time to plan an approach towards its creation. Businesses that emphasize diversity and inclusion as a core value tend to retain talented employees longer, attract customers from diverse backgrounds more readily, have improved business results, as well as being perceived by governments and communities as ethical organizations with good conduct practices.
Equitable Design
Diversity, inclusion and equity may seem interchangeable but there are distinct distinctions that set them apart. Organizations looking to bring about real change would do well to understand how each term differs and interacts with the others.
Diversity refers to any and all differences among humans: race, gender, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability etc. By contrast, inclusion entails how these differences are acknowledged and appreciated; for instance an inclusive workplace environment ensures employees feel they can bring all parts of themselves to work while providing an atmosphere where everyone feels they belong.
Equity refers to allocating resources fairly, taking into account historical inequities. This differs from equality which seeks equal treatment irrespective of circumstances.
An equitable workplace would aim to identify and remove obstacles that prevent women from reaching leadership positions, as well as narrow the racial disparities in technical industries.
Organizations that prioritize DEI tend to foster more diverse workforces and client bases, and are also more likely to thrive than those that don’t prioritize DEI.
Organizations seeking true diversity must not only prioritize recruitment efforts but also internal practices that support this. For instance, companies should include diverse candidates during interview processes and hire more women. They also need to foster an inclusive culture through learning and development (L&D) training or creating clear career pathways.
An effective approach to reaching these goals is through an EDI framework, which can be created by including DEI in a company’s mission and values; incorporating it into strategic plans; cascading it across departments; and using hiring processes which encourage more diverse applicants.
As organizations strive to develop new products and services with equity at heart, taking an equity-minded approach when creating these offerings is of utmost importance. Producing equitable products that are free from biases and accessible to people of different backgrounds can increase sales while expanding a company’s reach; additionally they help companies fulfill their inclusion pledges under COVID-19 and the Racial Reckoning of 2020.