Diversity, equity, and inclusion are much more than buzzwords nowadays. Indeed, DEI initiatives have finally become an integral part of every organization’s planning and operations. And through this process, companies are seeing that DEI efforts have improved the collaboration, company culture, employee retention, and outcomes within their teams and within the organization across the board.
The importance of DEI work can’t be overstated. But it can be difficult for entrepreneurs and small-to-midsize businesses to know where and how to get started. Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives cannot be reduced to simple numbers and demographics, such as hiring people of color or attempting to add more LGBTQ+ individuals to your in-house teams and departments.
The lack of simple solutions is part of what makes this critical organizational area difficult for companies and startups to address. Should you devote your attention to increasing DEI efforts in hiring? Does your current team represent and reflect your goal of having a diverse workforce? If so, how can you maintain and continue to foster an inclusive workplace? And how do we as a company define diversity, equity, and inclusion?
To help you gain a better understanding of diversity and inclusion initiatives, and perhaps even learn more about where to start, we reached out to a handful of our partners and expert contributors in human resources, workplace culture, employee engagement, and onboarding. With as many questions as there are, our panel wasn’t able to answer every single one.
But their advice and experience should give you a great starting point as you embark on the important work of fostering and creating an inclusive workplace, whether you’re concerned about the recruiting process or any other organizational procedures and structures.
DEI Initiatives–Focusing on the Individual
One of the key shifts that our experts recommended was to move away from the outdated model of teams or departments as discrete units, and instead focus on viewing, considering, and appreciating each employee as an individual person. Welcoming people from different backgrounds and enhancing the employee experience requires taking each person for who they are, how they feel, and how they can fit into and enhance the workplace culture.
Sarah Perry, Senior Marketing Director at Third Angle, was one of our panelists who honed in on the importance of each individual. From the recruiting process to the hiring process, onboarding, retention, and employee engagement opportunities, each person is affected differently.
“Practicing inclusion is best done at an individual level. Treat each person how THEY need to be treated, with respect to others of course. Each person has their own experience, and learning about those experiences makes supporting and developing that person SO much easier. Most of all, remember that we’re all human, and no one is perfect.”
–Sarah Perry, Senior Marketing Director at Third Angle
Anna Thiele, Leadership Strategist at Deliberate Directions, also emphasized the importance of considering and acknowledging each person as an individual but had some additional advice for employers to consider when getting started on DEI strategy and DEI efforts.
“Budget time for your employees to get to know one another. Doing so will allow them to see the diversity in their own spaces. Try spending one hour each week giving different employees a space to share how they grew up, how they faced adversity, how they feel different, or the things they face at home which can make it hard to show up for work the next day.”
–Anna Thiele, Leadership Strategist at Deliberate Directions
Communicating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Whether you have DEI initiatives in place already, or you are beginning to develop your DEI efforts, remember that communicating them is a key part of the process. Both internally and externally, letting people know about your commitment to diversity and DEI strategy is a very important piece of the puzzle.
Internally, you may want to communicate to current employees about employee resource groups, highlight the unique experiences and backgrounds of your staff, and even how you plan to address inequities, mental health needs, and education on everything from unconscious bias to the different backgrounds and experiences of millennials versus other generations.
Externally, your DEI communication is not about boasting or generating buzz based solely on a well-polished statement of your commitment to diversity. Instead, your external communications about DEI have an impact on new hires, the recruiting process, hiring process, decision making, and more.
“The first thing I recommend is making sure that you don’t just tell people about your commitment to diversity; you have to show it. First impressions are very important, both to customers and internal teams. Internally and externally, a company that can show diversity from the management level to all other levels can impress both customers and employees.”
–Henri, Marketing Director at LRDG Toronto Marketing Agency
Communicating about DEI practices in your organization is not only about showing how you already support and foster diverse, inclusive practices. It can also be about the support and options you offer to help employees from all different backgrounds, such as flexible work accommodations, remote work options, and more.
“Having a diverse workplace starts with hiring. And that includes making all hires feel welcome when they start. When hiring, make clear what opportunities exist for job seekers. For example, if a position is WFH and has flexible hours, highlight how this may be a good fit for new parents who need to balance child care. If you have a robust training program, it could be a good fit for veterans re-entering the workforce. Have a peer mentorship program for underserved populations? Advertise that. And if your company does not have any of these things, that’s what you need to work on; actually making your workplace supportive of all kinds of people.”
–Brandon N. Towl, CEO and Head Writer at Words Have Impact
Additional DEI Advice from Our Experts
Our experts had still more advice; tips for employers, human resources professionals, and decision-making stakeholders throughout companies, much of which did not fit neatly into any specific category.
“Don’t rely so heavily on interviews or peer reviews. Research shows that these can be heavily biased, especially against candidates of various ethnicities, sexual orientations, and more. Additionally, references and peer reviews do not add significant information when it comes to hiring or promotion decisions.”
–Brandon N. Towl, CEO and Head Writer at Words Have Impact
Conversations with your team members don’t have to be solely about work or projects or timelines. Everyone has a life outside of work, and each of us brings our whole selves to work each day. Learning about each other, then, is one of the keys to fostering a collaborative and inclusive work environment.
“There is an opportunity to realize the humanity and diversity in everyone, from a neighbor to a coworker. When we empathize, we begin to work better together, bicker less, and see the humanity in each of us. Once you learn how your employees face adversity, specific to the environment and culture of the company, implement what you can. Of course, it is impossible to appease everyone, so at the minimum, continue creating spaces to hear individuals’ stories and celebrate them constantly.”
–Anna Thiele, Leadership Strategist at Deliberate Directions
And when it comes to the changes and programs you initiate as part of these DEI efforts, remind yourself and your employees that change can be a good and beneficial thing.
“My best advice is to embrace change with open arms. DEI work is already fast-paced, and with the new millennium, it’s only going to get faster. When you run into a situation where you don’t quite understand someone or their lifestyle, just remember those choices don’t actually affect you. It’s when we’re around people who are different from us that we see what makes each one of us special.”
–Sarah Perry, Senior Marketing Director at Third Angle
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work Starts Today
Without question, there is more to learn, and there are more conversations to be had, about how DEI work can benefit our employees, your teams, and your company. And of course, there is a great deal of work to be done everywhere, no matter how long a company has made inclusiveness and diversity a part of its approach.
Companies and organizations from the Forbes 500 list to your local corner market are beginning to see how important it is to consider, learn from, and respect the unique factors that make each of us our own person. Even organizations renowned for their existing DEI policies and programs continue to learn from and improve their efforts. And in the process, they find the benefits and positive impacts that these programs have on business outcomes and organizational health.
Fortunately, these are just a few of the experts we work with here at UpCity. From work-life balance to partnerships, workplace diversity measures and metrics, employee webinars, and much more, we collaborate with human resources and DEI experts who can help your organization begin to create a robust approach to continually improving diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives with your organization.
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