As with your mission statement, creating and publishing a diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) statement can serve as an underlying guideline for your company. Make it accessible for candidates as well as customers by posting it publicly online or as a standalone Google Doc document.
Aligning DEI goals with your company vision will enable your organization to understand the significance of increasing DEI for both its community and employees.
Mission
Contrasting with a mission statement, which conveys a company’s future vision, diversity, equity and inclusion statements are written to demonstrate commitment to creating an inclusive environment. They outline specific steps the company plans on taking to accomplish this goal – such as training programs or policies designed to promote equality – along with any necessary training requirements and outreach programs that support it. Such statements should also tie back in with core values and mission of an organization.
Beginning by writing a draft statement and revising as necessary to ensure all stakeholders are comfortable with it, make necessary revisions as necessary, and get feedback from multiple sources about any shortcomings in its language. A draft doesn’t need to be perfect but should be clear and concise – getting input from various stakeholders reading over it and giving their thoughts is also useful for creating effective statements.
A comprehensive diversity statement should cover a range of issues, including religion, gender, race/ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation and age. Furthermore, this document must address how the organization will support employees from underrepresented groups to reach their full potential and realize their full potential.
Another key consideration when drafting a DEI statement is how your organization will track its progress. Smart organizations will include statistics about diversity initiatives on their website to demonstrate that they are making strides toward meeting their goals – this shows employees, communities and the world at large that you care.
Keep in mind that while DEI statements can serve as effective recruiting and retention tools, they should never be used as justification for institutions’ diversity efforts. When institutions use diversity statements to justify diversity goals they send a negative signal to those populations they hope to attract.
Instead, institutions should strive to foster an environment which is welcoming to everyone regardless of differences that separate them. This can be accomplished by acknowledging and welcoming everyone’s unique strengths as well as providing equal access to education and employment; also supporting individuals through programs or activities such as mentoring and networking.
Vision
An organizational culture should foster acceptance and inclusion; an inclusion statement sets this precedent by outlining commitment to diversity and its implementation within an organization, along with setting specific measurable goals that can help achieve them.
As part of any company’s vision or mission, many choose to incorporate diversity and inclusion as core principles of their operations, creating a sense of pride and responsibility among employees. Furthermore, it’s crucial that organizations recognize barriers faced by marginalized groups while working on breaking them down.
To craft an effective and meaningful diversity statement, it’s crucial to consult both internal and external stakeholders. Doing this can provide leaders with valuable insight into the challenges and opportunities within their organization, helping them formulate an actionable diversity statement.
A quality diversity statement should provide a definition and explanation of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (EDIB), as well as how your work, research, teaching, and service activities reflect these values. Some organizations may provide important data such as percentage of women or people of color in leadership positions to demonstrate tangible progress they’re making towards these values.
Once your diversity statement has been approved, it should be placed on the company website and strategically located so it can be easily found by potential employees and customers. Furthermore, consider including it into job descriptions and marketing materials to increase its effectiveness.
Statements should be concise and direct so visitors will immediately grasp your commitment to creating an inclusive culture. Adding links to any public-facing diversity reports or initiatives would also be advantageous.
Finally, diversity statements should be reviewed regularly in order to make sure the company remains committed to inclusive practices.
Values
Your diversity equity and inclusion statement should convey the core values of your business – such as caring, honesty and respect – which support the goals of DEI policy. This will enable employees to grasp the importance of such initiatives while inspiring them towards common goals.
Your organization must acknowledge and embrace everyone’s individual viewpoint in order to foster an inclusive workplace environment. By celebrating and respecting differences, your company can better meet customer and community needs as well as build a more cohesive and collaborative team which in turn improves productivity and morale. Developing a diversity and inclusion statement which embodies your company values can also serve as an effective means of creating engaging workplace environments.
Begin by outlining what Diversity & Inclusion (DEI) means to you. Your mission sets the tone for all company policies, so it’s crucial it aligns with your diversity & Inclusion strategy. Your mission can also serve as a way of identifying which types of people to support in your organization, as well as steps taken to ensure they have equal access to opportunities within it.
Your statement should recognize your commitment to supporting marginalized groups both within your community and workforce, and outline any specific plans you have in place for promoting inclusion such as hiring practices, training programs or mentorship opportunities. Furthermore, your statement should indicate how you plan to track progress on DEI goals through regular reports, surveys or other accountability measures.
Make sure that you include a definition and support plan for diversity. A strong diversity statement should acknowledge all aspects of diversity such as race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age sexual orientation disability as well as inclusion – welcoming all people into your organization with open arms and affirmations of their experiences.
Your statement should conclude with a clear plan of action, making the statement more effective by outlining what steps will be taken over the coming year to meet DEI goals and evaluate success. Include any public-facing data like diversity reports or metrics so as to demonstrate you’re walking the walk.
Goals
As you craft a diversity statement for your company, setting goals for its initiatives is vitally important. Setting targets helps transition from intention to action and monitor progress over time – while simultaneously showing the value of diversity equity and inclusion (DEI). Involve employees when setting your diversity equity and inclusion statement goals; whether forming committees or consulting employee resource groups as they help establish realistic and meaningful targets that represent DEI within your workplace.
Your company should also explain how it plans to meet its goals, for instance if your goal is “decolonizing pedagogy”, you might change course readings and curriculum in order to include voices from marginalized communities in classroom discussions. Your goals should also be measurable and realistic so that you can track progress over time; finally, share any lessons learned so as to further improve on future endeavors.
Once your diversity, equity, and inclusion statement is complete, it’s crucial that it becomes public knowledge. This could involve posting it online in blog form or issuing a press release; alternatively it could be distributed internally among employees or posted onto an intranet portal – this will help your company become more inclusive while drawing new hires in.
Though creating a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) statement can be daunting, it will allow your company to attract talent from diverse backgrounds while cultivating an atmosphere of equality and respect within your workforce. Your company needs a DEI statement that fits its goals and culture; otherwise, any efforts made could be seen as “fluff” rather than real change. Be careful when copying a diversity statement from another company; while it might inspire your workforce, it could also clash with its values and strategy. Instead, follow these steps to create an original diversity statement tailored to fit the values and strategy of your own business – this will ensure the sustainability of diversity initiatives within it.