We see diversity and inclusion as a trend in society, cinema, politics, entertainment, and education.
More progressive organizations are utilizing diversity recruiting tools, incorporating this agenda into their development strategy, digitizing the results, and publishing open reports on diversity and inclusivity indicators. In this post, we’ll learn what a D&I strategy can do for a company, what inclusive leadership is, and how financial and HR metrics with diversity hiring platforms can help. You’ll learn how to create frameworks, communication and learning best practices, and how to work with benefit packages, among other things.
Creation of structure.
If you want to transition to diversity at work, it will require a change in the way you do things. Therefore, someone must be responsible for this.
The structure depends on the size of the company, but you need to have something in place. For example, Envato, the parent company of Tuts+, has appointed a Diversity & Inclusion Advisor who is responsible for leading these areas within the company.
Large companies will probably need an entire department; for smaller startups, maybe it’s just part of the responsibility of the owner or a key employee. The bottom line is to make a commitment and allocate time and resources to implement change so that your diversity policy goes beyond the article and becomes a reality. We’ll look at what some of these changes might look like as we continue the tutorial.
Choose focus.
As we mentioned, there are many different dimensions of diversity. Do you plan to work with all of them at once or process them one by one, paying more attention?
Microsoft, a large company, has a broad approach: seven major groups of employees and more than 40 networks of employees work in different areas.
Focus on four themes:
- Gender
- LGBTI
- Mental health
- Prejudice
Of course, there are other areas where the company wants to make progress, but for now, the goal is to see a significant impact on these four.
Adopt a policy of equality and enforce it.
Okay, no problem. Every company should have a policy to inform employees of their right to be free from discrimination in the workplace. In many places this is a legal requirement.
But if you’re truly committed to diversity, you’ll want to go further. As part of the introduction for new employees, be clear about what is normal and what is not, so that everyone understands what is expected of them and what kind of support they can expect from you.
It’s important to take drastic action if people behave in ways that don’t align with your company’s values. If you manage diversity well and have a healthy workplace culture, then these incidents should be rare. But when they happen, you need to make sure you take them seriously – it’s an important part of making sure everyone feels s
Support everyone.
For your commitment to diversity and inclusion to truly take root in your organization, you need to involve the majority of your employees.
Explain the benefits of diversity for the company and employees as a whole to counteract the notion that it is only meant to help certain groups. Use some research on how this gives your company an advantage, or talk about the importance of diversity in terms of alignment with company values.
Of course, communication goes both ways. Talk to your employees and listen to them. While you are committed to diversity and inclusion, people may have legitimate concerns about how you do it. Listen to these concerns and have a sincere, open conversation. You can learn something and improve the program.
Be fair.
Are your employee benefit packages fair to everyone? For example, if you offer health insurance or other benefits to employees’ spouses, does that include same-sex partners? Are you giving your employees enough flexibility, parental leave and childcare so that they can balance their work with raising a family?
Let’s go back to the dimensions of diversity we covered in the previous example and re-evaluate your employee benefits in terms of these areas (or your chosen areas of focus, if you’re being more focused). What do employees in the company benefit plan need? If you don’t know, do surveys or other research to find out.
