Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are essential to creating a workplace environment that supports all employees. DEI requires creating policies that promote inclusion within the workplace; providing training on inclusive behaviors; and cultivating an equitable work environment.
An inclusive workplace requires addressing implicit biases in performance reviews and budget allocation as well as revamping procedures such as recruitment, promotion and onboarding.
1. Unilever
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) practices aim to increase fair treatment and full participation from people from groups that have historically been underrepresented or discriminated against. Such efforts might involve making sure your upper management doesn’t consist entirely of white men; or providing mentorship programs for young professionals in your workplace who identify as minorities or have disabilities.
DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) differs from other corporate initiatives because it goes beyond meeting a quota or percentage of minority employees. Instead, DEI encompasses multiple aspects relating to social identity (i.e. which group one belongs to) as well as experiences of discrimination or exclusion. As a result of its complexity and multifaceted nature, it can have numerous definitions within companies; some use one term interchangeably while others have separate initiatives dedicated to each aspect of DEI.
Successful equity initiatives provide an essential framework for ensuring equal treatment across an organization, such as talent screening, hiring practices and workplace standards. Businesses that integrate equity initiatives into their culture will enjoy better diversity and inclusion outcomes such as increased employee satisfaction levels and greater productivity.
An organization that embraces diversity will strive to make its processes, culture and environment as welcoming as possible for its employees and clients. This may involve providing training on unconscious bias or developing an inclusive process with regular reviews to identify any barriers that impede inclusivity.
Some companies also provide diversity and inclusion workshops or educational opportunities to ensure their employees understand the concepts surrounding diversity and inclusion. This can help employees recognize how their own social identities may unconsciously shape how they interact with colleagues, including biases that they unintentionally hold onto; then address these biases for positive changes to occur within their work environments.
2. Salesforce
Salesforce prioritizes diversity equity and inclusion throughout their policies, procedures and culture. Each year they conduct an annual pay equity study to detect gender-related disparities; support employee resource groups; provide training on unconscious bias and inclusion for their entire workforce; as well as having a chief equality officer responsible for overseeing diversity equity efforts at Salesforce.
Diversity, equality and inclusion are three concepts that work in concert to foster an environment welcoming of people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, ages, abilities and experiences. Equality refers to giving everyone equal rights and opportunities while inclusion goes further by acknowledging not all people have access to equal resources – this approach is often called an “equity lens”. If a job description states “Masters degree preferred,” an equity lens could help recognize that not all potential candidates had equal access to higher education allowing the company to provide comparable levels of support and encourage equal levels of support among potential candidates from potential.
Organizations looking to strengthen their DEI practices may benefit from hiring a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO), creating an Employee Resource Group or initiating mentoring programs. Employers can also adopt inclusive hiring practices such as using blind resumes that obfuscate personal information like socioeconomic status or race; or post jobs listing skills accessible to everyone. One best practice is establishing a transformation committee composed of diverse members dedicated to creating a more DEI-centric organization. This committee can assist management and employees in creating strategies to meet company goals and objectives as well as devise ways of implementing any new initiatives such as training or mentorship programs.
4. KPMG
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has become an increasing focus for many organizations. But what exactly does having a DEI framework in place mean? McKinsey provides three components of DEI that define this concept of DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion.
Diversity means providing everyone access to equal resources and opportunities; equity means addressing inequalities; and inclusion is about creating a welcoming atmosphere where all feel welcome and valued in their workplaces. All these aspects work together to foster an environment in which every employee feels appreciated in the workplace.
Richards emphasizes the need for organizations to look at DEI initiatives with an eye toward the larger picture when considering them. Diversity should only serve as the initial step, she notes; inclusion and equity must follow suit if diversity remains an obstacle to productivity within an organization. For instance, an organization might boast a diverse workforce, yet fail to address issues of inequity effectively and find that employees are suffering due to this oversight.
Another way of measuring DEI’s effect on companies is to look at how they recruit their staff and offer training programs. For instance, if a business only recruits people with bachelor’s degrees as employees, they could miss out on many talented people from HBCUs or other institutions with master’s programs with which they could recruit candidates with more extensive expertise – perhaps from master’s programs.
KPMG has collaborated with various nonprofit groups, such as the African American Directors Forum and Latino Corporate Directors Association, in order to expand its talent pipeline. KPMG also participates in community outreach events like track and field days at historically black college universities (HBCUs), targeting early career learners. Finally, its employee networks enable employees to connect, foster allyship and foster feelings of belongingness among its own ranks.
5. GE
Diversity, equity and inclusion are essential concepts in creating an inviting and respectful workplace for employees of all sizes. Diversity refers to differences among people; equity ensures access to opportunities and resources; inclusion focuses on making sure all employees feel as though they belong.
Diversity is often the focus of an organization because its effects are easy to measure and most visible aspect is often its hiring practices. Unfortunately, diversity alone does not ensure an inclusive workplace; even hiring more women and minorities would not guarantee welcoming and equitable conditions in an organization’s culture. If they hire more of them but fail to support or promote them as desired then their diversity goals have not been fulfilled.
For companies to thrive, diversity, equity and inclusion plans must be comprehensive. This involves hiring practices, policies and creating an inclusive culture; as well as addressing unconscious biases such as racism or sexism while simultaneously mitigating microaggressions. Furthermore, an efficient system must exist for monitoring and reporting on performance is also essential.
The General Electric (GE) legal department boasts an innovative diversity program, leading to dramatic shifts in its in-house attorney demographics. Particularly, Hispanic and Asian lawyers increased from 8 to 17, or 113%; female and minority partners increased from 60 to 172; while diversity management attorney was hired full-time to promote diversity within the firm; additionally they require their nine top billing law firms provide reports regarding diversity within their teams who worked on matters for GE matters – specifically gender, racial, and ethnic diversity of partners working on those matters who worked on them and what reports they provided regarding diversity such as gender breakdown by gender, race or ethnicity for every partner who worked on matters for them GE matters – for transparency reasons!