Companies that prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion are better equipped to serve their customers and attract top talent while meeting the needs of multiple audiences.
Goals set for DEI should be clearly articulated and publicly shared, with any progress toward these targets being celebrated as such.
Engaging employees in conversations regarding equality will encourage them to support company initiatives.
Promoting Inclusion in the Workplace
Though these terms may often be used interchangeably, they each have specific meanings. Diversity refers to differences; equity provides equal access; and inclusion fosters a sense of belonging. Organizations must focus on factors like promoting respect, providing welcoming environments and offering employees opportunities to thrive for inclusion to truly take effect.
Employees feel more engaged at work when they can express themselves freely while still being respectful of their individual backgrounds and experiences. Furthermore, having an open door policy allowing employees to approach managers with any problems or reach out directly for support is important; additionally companies offering flexible working arrangements with flexible benefits like childcare reimbursement or disability health coverage tend to be more inclusive environments.
Though some employers are still grappling with how best to employ a diverse workforce, others have discovered ways to make their workplaces more inclusive. They achieve this by making sure hiring practices are fair, providing ongoing training programs, and creating employee resource groups based on identity. Furthermore, these employers prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion goals as core company values.
Establishing an inclusive culture takes leadership commitment and active communication between employees. Many companies rely on employee surveys to assess whether their environment is inclusive; however, these polls typically only cover one or two aspects of DEIB and their results can be misleading as not everyone responds or provides feedback.
An inclusive company considers not only its employees, but also customers when designing products and services to meet the needs of different groups – for instance Microsoft designed its Xbox controllers specifically to cater to children who were missing limbs.
Inclusion thrives when senior teams lead by example and show compassion towards all employees, regardless of background, needs or process improvements. They offer open-door meetings and annual employee surveys so every voice can be heard by giving everyone an equal say in decision-making processes.
Microsoft
Tech giant Amazon is working to improve its Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts by prioritizing employee concerns in its DEI initiatives. Furthermore, they have pledged greater transparency regarding these efforts – this includes sharing data on employee demographics, pay, attrition rates and attrition rates as part of this endeavor. Furthermore, its goal is to reduce pay disparity between different groups of employees; although progress has been made, further steps remain.
The company has made hiring diverse talent a top priority and ensured everyone feels welcome at work. Furthermore, it embraced the notion of being an ally; that means supporting individuals from marginalized communities while fighting social injustice; this has resulted in increased employee morale and productivity.
Microsoft stands as an outstanding example of an organization that has made diversity and inclusion part of their corporate culture. They have invested in diversity initiatives for over a decade and seen impressive results: increased representation of women, ethnic minority groups and veterans in leadership positions as well as efforts toward eliminating or reducing median unadjusted pay gaps.
At its senior levels, it has made strides to increase diversity, with a goal of doubling its Black, African American, Hispanic, and Latinx managers and leaders over time. Over the last year alone, progress has been made towards its racial equity goals; additionally it is making steps to make its hiring process more inclusive by visiting more colleges than just its top-20 colleges that were visited previously; missing out on potentially talented candidates altogether.
Another effective way of encouraging diversity is through celebrating special holidays and events that are significant to different cultures and religions, such as National Hispanic Heritage Month, Diwali, Eid al-Fitr and Hanukkah. Celebrating such holidays shows employees that their company cares about them and their experiences while encouraging employees to gain exposure to different cultures and perspectives.
Unilever
Diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) is a business approach designed to create a more welcoming environment for individuals from various backgrounds. Employers that adopt DEI strategies may expect increased employee satisfaction and productivity as well as being more likely to attract customers and talent. There are various methods of promoting diversity within a workplace setting such as conducting unconscious bias training programs or hiring members from underrepresented groups.
Companies can take an equity-first approach to DEI by prioritizing providing equal opportunities for all employees regardless of their status or background. This can be accomplished through increasing representation in leadership roles, promoting more women into senior positions, offering flexible work arrangements for families who need extra time off for child-rearing commitments, or offering flexible working arrangements so employees can balance work commitments with family obligations. Using such strategies will ultimately benefit businesses by decreasing turnover rates and increasing retention.
Unilever has taken an approach of diversity and inclusion by setting targets across its brands, talent, communities and supply chain. They pledged only to use suppliers that pay their workers living wages; additionally they collaborate with non-profits like Bid Black to find talent to join its campaigns.
The company also seeks to increase diversity within its production teams. To do this, they collaborate with production houses that specialize in working with under-represented talent; these partners provide more opportunities for minority creatives while building reels of work – which is especially significant given that many minority creatives face difficulty finding work due to lack of reels and opportunities in the industry.
Survey results indicate that most employees believe promoting diversity to be beneficial for their company, but opinions vary across key demographic and partisan lines; men tend to view an emphasis on diversity as negative than female employees; while some employers appear reticent to hire candidates from underrepresented groups.
Recent events have intensified Google’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). A series of fatal shootings across New York, Texas and California has renewed violent racial hatred in American culture while making the work of diversity advocates all the more urgent. Melonie Parker, Google’s Black senior director of diversity shares how her team are supporting Google employees both locally and across the nation in this episode of The Equity Talk.
Google’s DEI efforts are driven by its desire to foster an inclusive workplace where all employees feel welcome and productive. Given Google is an international technology firm with offices worldwide, this goal becomes even more critical. As such, the company actively looks for new ways to make its workplaces more inclusive and welcoming for its workforce members.
An important challenge of this work lies in making clear to employees that increasing diversity is central to Google’s mission. CEO Sundar Pichai laid out several initiatives in his letter to employees, such as an enhanced multi-series training program on systemic racism and racial consciousness.
Google is taking steps to increase diversity within its leadership ranks, where women currently make up only 22% of senior managers. By 2025, it hopes to have attained 30% representation for underrepresented groups within leadership positions.
Google has struggled to meet its diversity goals despite numerous initiatives to promote diversity. Their public pledges do not match up with reality – as most of its employee numbers consist of male and Asian workers.
McKinsey recently spoke with Annie Jean-Baptiste, Google product inclusion leader responsible for making sure products take into account underrepresented and marginalized peoples’ perspectives. She shared some lessons learned through her experience.