Efforts to Make Diversity and Inclusion a Priority in Your Organization

Diversity and inclusion are two important concepts that bring a multitude of benefits to your organization and employees. Between a happier workforce, boosts in creativity and innovation, as well as improved decision making, a diverse workforce that focuses on making employees feel included is extremely important. However, if you find yourself unsure of where to begin, keep reading to learn various efforts on how to make these concepts a priority:

Develop a Plan

By creating and implementing core values and a plan dedicated to diversity and inclusion, you can set yourself up for success both in the short and long-term. An inclusive workplace model plays a major role in retaining employees and maintaining a diverse workforce. It is important that you first understand the difference between diversity and inclusion.

Diversity is defined as the understanding that each employee is unique and recognizing those differences. Inclusion pertains to truly understanding your employees and their needs. When you combine both of these concepts, you develop an inclusive workplace model that represents your entire organization.

When your employees come from diverse backgrounds or circumstances—think a native Spanish speaker or a breastfeeding mom who has just returned to work—it is important that you value each of their wants and needs to ensure they feel as comfortable as possible in the workplace. If at any point an employee feels as though they have to mask or hide parts of their identity or lifestyle, it can lead to poor motivation, engagement, and overall retention rates. 

Expand Your Recruiting Efforts

If you are looking to diversify your workforce, consider doing so at the beginning of your hiring process. Seek out and bring in a more diverse group of employees from the get-go to make both your new hires and current employees feel more represented. If you are unsure of how or where to begin, consider making your recruiting efforts higher a priority. 

While it may feel easy to rely on routine hiring processes, consider revamping your hiring strategy and actively seeking candidates outside of your normal scope. Take the time to both recognize and eliminate any biases you may have and give each candidate the opportunity to show you the skills they have to offer. 

You can also utilize a candidate referral program to help assist you in your search for new employees. While that may seem overwhelming or out of your element, a guide to employee referral programs can be the perfect tool to get you started. Programs like this can bring additional benefits to your company such as higher levels of employee satisfaction, and a boost in retention rate.

Foster an Open Company Culture

In most instances, employees that are unhappy and feel underrepresented, often leave their jobs for a more open workforce. It is important to create and foster an open company culture in which employees feel their true self is appreciated and accepted. This isn’t just a nice idea, either. Many executives believe positive company culture is a critical aspect of an organization.

Business leader and entrepreneur Robert F. Smith states, “You have to create a workforce process and a workforce environment that makes people feel not just invited to the party, but also asked to dance. It's a matter of necessity more than anything else.”

It is essential that you provide an environment in which employees feel comfortable no matter their:

•  Age
•  Gender
•  Race 
•  Religion
•  Sexual Orientation
•  Physical Conditions/ Disabilities 
• Cultural background
•  Country of origin

By getting to know and fostering good relationships with your employees, you can then learn about ways to increase your inclusivity and diversity. Something as small as implementing anti-discriminatory practices and policies will not go unnoticed or unappreciated. 

Evaluate Your Leadership Teams

It is important to be aware of the individuals who are leading your organization to success.

Representation across the company can make employees feel as though they are supported both personally and professionally. A survey by Boston Consulting Group https://www.bcg.com/publications/2019/fixing-the-flawed-approach-to-diversity found that among Fortune 500 companies, only 24 CEOs are women, three are black, and four are part of the LGBTQ community.

While you may not be able to directly influence who is part of your leadership team, you can encourage diversity and inclusion and make it an integral part of the companies goals and values. This is supported by other executives such as, CEO and Managing Director of Qantas Alan Joyce , who states “Diversity generated better strategy, better risk management, better debates, and better outcomes.” By remaining authentic, employees can then feel more comfortable having open conversations that can lead to individual and company growth in addition to the other benefits a diverse workforce can bring.

Of course, if you are looking to diversify your life as a whole, these tips can transfer into personal aspects of your life as well. By being willing to educate yourself and others around you, you open doors to allow a diverse and inclusive lifestyle to flourish.