Ensuring an equitable workplace requires constant effort. DEI training courses can help your team and you gain more insight into topics such as bias, privilege, microaggressions and allieship.
Diversity equity and inclusion training helps employees understand, accept, and appreciate differences among gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, physical ability, neurodiversity, age and more. Furthermore, it promotes an inclusive work environment.
1. Increased Productivity
Establishing a diverse and inclusive work environment is key for any business, as it can increase productivity, retention rates and foster an inclusive work culture. Unfortunately, without adequate training diversity can be hard to attain.
Diversity, equity and inclusion training equips employees at every level of an organization with the skills necessary for working effectively with people from diverse backgrounds. It can also assist employees in recognizing any unconscious bias they might hold as well as address it proactively. Diversity training is essential if one aspires to ensure their workplace remains safe, respectful and inclusive.
Employers that take steps to promote diversity send an important signal to employees that their individuality and perspective are valued – this is particularly relevant among millennials and Gen Z employees, who tend to seek jobs with companies that embrace and appreciate diversity. By investing in diversity training sessions, companies can ensure they’re hiring and retaining top talent.
Lack of diversity training can have detrimental repercussions for an organization, including an erosion in employee morale and problems with teamwork and communication between co-workers; additionally, this lack can incur cost for recruiting and training new staffers.
Diversity and inclusion training can also reduce turnover rates within an organization, since happy employees tend to remain with their jobs longer. Retaining staff costs less money and increases profits. Training on diversity may help save both time and money in this regard.
2. Increased Retention Rates
Diversity and inclusion at work creates an atmosphere where employees feel like they belong, increasing employee loyalty to the employer and decreasing turnover costs for businesses while simultaneously helping recruit and retain top talent.
An inclusive workplace fosters greater cohesion and harmony for employees, reducing stress levels while creating an improved work environment. Increased employee morale contributes to higher retention rates and productivity gains; an effective training program should include both empathy building exercises as well as diversity-specific education to help employees understand how their actions may impact others.
Diversity training can also reduce workplace conflict. When everyone can empathize with one another, disagreements or making unjustified assumptions about other people’s backgrounds become less likely. Furthermore, such training helps decrease discriminatory tensions that could potentially lead to harassment or violence at the workplace.
Diversity training can increase collaboration within teams. When employees from diverse backgrounds come together, they can learn from one another’s perspectives and come up with creative solutions for the business.
Companies that provide diversity training may enjoy improved market reputation as well as more profit. According to a Deloitte study, companies with more gender diversity in leadership have an average 38% higher profit margin compared to companies with lower gender diversity in leadership. Furthermore, diversity training may help attract and retain younger workers; Deloitte conducted a study which showed Gen Z and Millennial workers place equal value on organizational societal impact alongside pay, benefits and development opportunities when considering job prospects.
3. Improved Communication
Diversifying a workforce brings about more perspectives and experiences, leading to better communication and collaboration. A recent study discovered that teams that are more diverse enjoy higher morale levels and are 35% more productive than teams with homogenous members. DEI training helps employees learn how to work effectively together despite any differences such as sexual orientation, gender identity, race or ethnicity, religion, physical ability, neurodiversity age or education status.
Diversity equity and inclusion training is proven to boost workplace morale by making employees feel understood and appreciated for their unique qualities. If employees feel treated differently, this could negatively affect both morale and productivity in the workplace. Likewise, DEI training provides leaders with tools and techniques for dealing with microaggressions and discrimination within their workforces.
Training helps employees recognize unconscious biases and the sources of inequality so they can take steps to ensure all of their peers are treated fairly. Furthermore, training teaches employees how to respond in situations when someone seems unfairly treated – this way reducing toxic environments altogether.
While traditional diversity training centers around awareness and understanding, DEIA training goes deeper by exploring the systems that lead to inequality. DEIA training is an ideal complement to other types of diversity training and can demonstrate organizations’ dedication to creating an inclusive workplace culture where everyone’s talents are appreciated regardless of background or identity. Topics covered by this type of DEIA training could include social identity awareness training, challenges related to structural inequalities and strategies for supporting marginalized groups. It can especially useful for leadership or people management positions as it equips them to create such an inclusive company culture that sets an example for others within an organization.
4. Better Customer Service
Employees place great stock in a company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion when considering prospective employers, so DEI training can demonstrate its genuine intent of creating a workplace environment where everyone feels respected and included.
Diversity of workforce is integral to providing exceptional customer service. When all people feel welcome and supported at the workplace, they are better able to address customer needs from various backgrounds; this is especially crucial in customer-facing roles which involve interaction with the public.
Diversity equity and inclusion training is an essential element of workplace success because it helps employees understand the effects of their biases and assumptions on other people’s lives and provides tools for challenging those of coworkers that may lead to discriminatory or unfair acts.
Companies that prioritize diversity and inclusion (DEI) are more likely to have a positive effect in the communities where they operate. A carefully tailored DEI training program will encourage employees to accept each other as individuals while working safely together in an inclusive environment.
Effective DEI training requires embedding it into your business culture and aligned with departmental and organizational goals. One effective way of measuring the impact of diversity and inclusion initiatives is through employee feedback or survey responses; simple questions like, “Are you satisfied with current training programs?” can give a good indication of employee appreciation of diversity and inclusion and can also identify any areas where improvements need to be made.
5. Increased Profits
Companies committed to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) consistently experience greater financial gains. A study by McKinsey in 2020 concluded that companies with more gender and cultural diversity on their executive teams were 25% more likely to outperform competitors. Furthermore, diverse employees often bring innovative ideas that contribute to greater productivity, innovation, and profitability for any given business.
No matter where your organization stands in their journey toward creating an inclusive culture, DEI training should be made compulsory for every member of their team. Not only can this help your employees identify their own biases and prejudices, but it can also teach them how to communicate more effectively with people from diverse backgrounds, lifestyles, values opinions and beliefs than themselves.
DEI training enables all employees to realize their full potential by challenging unconscious biases and creating an inclusive work environment, challenging unconscious biases, and making all feel like they belong. Furthermore, training needs to go beyond surface level awareness by covering power dynamics, unconscious biases, and systemic barriers as well as covering power dynamics more fully.
Bring in a DEI trainer, and your organization can ensure all employees enjoy an engaging, effective, and relevant learning experience. 360Learning’s DEI training platform enables collaborative peer-to-peer collaboration tools for teams within an organization to collaborate on creating customized programs to address any unique challenges or needs within it – so your company can start experiencing more inclusive workplace right away! Learn more about getting started with 360Learning online DEI training today by requesting a demo!