Enhancing Workplace Inclusion: Strategies and Tools for Continuous DE&I Improvement
Enhancing Workplace Inclusion: Strategies and Tools for Continuous DE&I Improvement
Written by: Paula Antalffy 4-5 minute read
Introduction
In today's corporate world, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) have become buzzwords, with companies investing billions in various initiatives aimed at fostering a more inclusive workplace. However, according to a recent report by MindGym, these well-intentioned efforts often fall short of their promises.
Research Methodology
The report employs a comprehensive approach, combining both primary and secondary data sources to evaluate DE&I initiatives.
Primary Data Collection: Surveys, questionnaires, and Implicit Association Tests (IAT) assess perceptions and unconscious biases among employees.
Secondary Data Analysis: A literature review and case studies provide context and real-world examples of DE&I programs.
Statistical and Comparative Analysis: Quantitative and comparative analysis evaluate the impact and effectiveness of various DE&I practices.
Expert Interviews: Insights from industry leaders and subject matter experts contextualise findings and offer practical advice.
Pilot Programs: Evaluation of pilot interventions within organisations to monitor their impact on attitudes and culture.
Key Statistics
$19 billion: The annual expenditure on diversity training in the United States.
Despite significant investment, the representation of minorities in management has seen minimal improvement over decades (e.g., Black men in management roles in the US increased from 3.0% in 1985 to only 3.2% in 2016)
Part 1: The False Promise of Popular DE&I Methods
Part 1 of the MindGym report, titled "False Promise," critiques four widely used DE&I methods: unconscious bias training (UBT), employee resource groups (ERGs), quotas, and whistleblower hotlines.
Here’s an overview of their findings:
Unconscious Bias Training (UBT)
What is unconscious bias training?
Unconscious Bias Training (UBT) is a program designed to help individuals recognise and address their inherent biases - which is something they are often unaware of. The goal of this training is to reduce discriminatory behaviour by increasing awareness of unconscious prejudices.
UBT is a popular method used by management to help ensure fairer decision-making and build a more inclusive and equitable environment. However, despite its popularity, MindGym’s report indicates that UBT actually often fails to create positive lasting change. For instance, a Wharton study found that participants of UBT did not significantly change their behaviour in nominating colleagues for mentoring or recognition.
What’s more, UBT has even been shown to backfire in certain cases. The report suggests that awareness of biases can make individuals more prejudiced in the long term. In a controlled experiment, participants were actually shown to become more biassed following UBT training.
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
What are employee resource groups?
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are voluntary, employee-led groups that aim to provide support and foster a sense of community within the workplace. These groups are often created based on sharing common characteristics or experiences, such as gender, race, life stages or sexual orientation. These groups are often able to provide employees with valuable support and are able to bolster the sense of community within a workplace - which is especially important in hybrid and flexible teams.
However, these groups also have their shortcomings.
Unfortunately ERGs can create new lines of exclusion and even exacerbate grievances among non-members. They also struggle to address the needs of individuals who belong to multiple minority groups. For example, a gay, black woman may feel she does not have a true space within a women’s group, primarily talking about heterosexual women’s experiences, or an LGBTQ+ group, which might be predominantly focused on white gay men’s issues.
The effectiveness of ERGs are in question within the report, as they often focus on one single dimension of diversity. They often fail to acknowledge and promote the more holistic inclusion needed across companies to ensure every member of a team feels heard and valued.
Quotas
What are quotas?
Quotas are mandated targets for the representation of underrepresented groups within an organisation. These targets often set by organisational management are put in palaces to promote diversity by ensuring a minimum level of inclusion. In the short-term having these targets can drastically help increase diversity and challenge management to cast a wider net for finding new talent, which might be outside of their traditional hiring pool.
However, in the long-term, this approach can have significant negative consequences.
Firstly, quotas have been shown to have a negative impact on the engagements of employees who do not benefit from them. Employees who do not represent minorities, may feel that their experience and skills are undervalued or even ignored if meeting quotas is put too into focus.
Secondly, quotas can lead to scepticism from existing employees about beneficiaries and their abilities. This can make employees feel stigmatised and even incompetent if handled wrong.
Arguably, the best way to avoid these issues is to get rid of rigid quotas. Setting measurable targets of inclusion and tracking the progress long-term, will help ensure that the right candidates are hired for new roles and given new opportunities while also being able to increase diversity within the organisation.
Whistleblower Hotlines and Zero Tolerance Policies
What are whistleblower hotlines?
Whistleblower hotlines are mechanisms that allow employees to report unethical behaviour, misconduct, or violations of company policy anonymously. These channels can either be provided using a third-party provider or using anonymous online forms to report incidents internally. These channels are intended to promote a culture of accountability and integrity.
While these policies aim to protect marginalised employees, they can create a climate of fear and retaliation, sometimes harming those they intend to support. They can have unintended consequences, causing stress for whistleblowers and putting management in a difficult situation - of how to address issues without accidentally unveiling who reported an incident. What’s more they can easily be misused for personal gain rather than company benefits.
Part 2: The Inclusion Solution
In a world, where the existing efforts to make the workplace truly diverse and inclusive, what is the solution, when the tried and tested solutions set out in part 1 are proving to be far less effective than hoped for. Mindgym’s report suggests using a science-based approach to enhancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) within organisations. This approach is all about understanding and overcoming the shortcomings of the traditional methods spoken about above.
But how? The report outlines methods which emphasise identity, and ensuring people feel valued for who they are as the first step of creating a more diverse workplace. This means fostering a stronger sense of belonging within the organisation.
Core Principles: The inclusion solution is structured around four cornerstones that aim to build a more diverse and truly accepting workplace:
Value Variety: Organisations need to recognise that differences between their people are infinite and not all of these differences have the same impact.
Step Up: Businesses must emphasise that everyone has a role in fostering belonging, avoiding the division of people into "angels" and "villains."
Judge Wisely: Management must actively educate individuals on cognitive biases and how to mitigate them.
Forbid and Forgive: Leaders must make sure they are direct in distinguishing between misbehaviour and mistakes - therefore promoting a culture of learning and growth.
Implementation Strategies
The report outlines some approaches that any business can take to create and sustain workplace inclusion. These strategies are focused on continued effort, consistent communication, targeted engagement, and integrated experiences to effectively promote DE&I.
Continuous Engagement
Approach: DE&I should be treated as a continuous, iterative process rather than a one-off initiative. Business should view DE&I in a similar way to maintaining physician fitness - an ongoing activity that needs regular maintenance.
Activities: Consider implementing regular workshops, training sessions and discussions to ensure the DE&I stays at the forefront of people’s minds. Use micro-learning techniques such as brief, frequent training to reinforce key concepts over time,
Example: Organisations like Google and Deloitte have adopted continuous learning models that integrate DE&I content into their regular training and development programs.
Consistent Narrative
Approach: Develop and maintain a clear, consistent narrative about the importance of DE&I, which is mindful or and tailored to different audiences within the organisation.
Communication: Leaders should personalise their messages to resonate with various groups, from executives to entry-level employees, ensuring that the narrative aligns with the company's wider values and goals.
Example: At Procter & Gamble, senior leaders regularly communicate DE&I priorities through company-wide emails, town halls, and internal updates. These consistent comms reinforce the message that DE&I is integral to the company’s mission.
Employee Engagement Campaigns
Approach: Create tailored initiatives that align with employees' values and interests to foster engagement and commitment to DE&I goals.
Campaigns: Design campaigns that involve storytelling, sharing personal experiences, and highlighting the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workplace. Use surveys and feedback tools to measure engagement and gather ideas for improvement.
Example: Salesforce runs the "Trailblazer" campaign, which celebrate employees who lead DE&I initiatives and encouraging others to share their DE&I stories.
Integrated Experiences
Approach: Combine live and digital interactions to create a seamless and holistic DE&I experience for employees.
Methods: Utilise a blend of in-person workshops, virtual training sessions, and digital resources, such as e-learning modules and interactive platforms, to reinforce DE&I principles.
Example: Accenture uses a mix of virtual reality simulations, online courses, and face-to-face workshops to deliver DE&I training. This is created to ensure that employees have multiple touchpoints with DE&I content.
Key Statistics and Results
MindGyms report also shares a number of illuminating statistics about how the success of a more holistic approach to DE&I can be tracked in numbers.
Engagement: Companies that continuously engage employees in DE&I initiatives report higher levels of employee satisfaction and retention. For example, organisations with active DE&I programs have a 22% lower turnover rate compared to those without such programs.
Performance: Consistent communication and engagement in DE&I efforts have been shown to directly influence better business performance. Firms with inclusive cultures are 1.8 times more likely to be adaptable and 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in their market.
Feedback: Regular feedback and adaptation of DE&I strategies lead to improved effectiveness. Companies that adapt their DE&I approaches based on employee feedback see a 20% increase in the perceived inclusiveness of their workplace.
Part 3: It’s not all doom and gloom
It is important to note that despite the disheartening statistics shared by mindgyms report, DE&I efforts and policy changes are crucial! What’s more, they HAVE already had a significant impact on diversity and inclusion within today’s workplace.
A survey published by the Pew Research Center in 2023 with almost 6,000 participants explores the attitudes and experiences of employees related to DE&I. The research delved into the benefits and challenges of these initiatives across different groups.
The survey revealed a huge amount of data to back the positive impact of DE&I on people, company culture and even company profits. Here are just a few of those stats:
Workers Feel Management Effort: More than half of workers (54%) say their company or organisation pays about the right amount of attention to increasing DEI. This is showing that employees are feeling the efforts made by managers to create more diverse, open and inclusive workplaces.
Good Policy Making Track Record: A majority of workers say their employer has policies that ensure everyone is treated fairly in hiring, pay or promotions (61%). Existing policies put in place are clearly already helping employees feel that they work in a business.
Enhanced Innovation and Creativity: Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians. Pews research suggests this is due to diverse teams fostering greater creativity and innovations. This is due to the unique solutions and ideas created by a wide spectrum of viewpoints.
Improved Decision-Making: Teams with diverse members make decisions that deliver 60% better results compared to non-diverse teams. This is due to teams with individuals from diverse backgrounds being able to evaluate information more thoroughly and give a wider range of opinions around the decision making process.
Increased Employee Engagement and Satisfaction: Employees in inclusive companies are 2.7 times more likely to be highly engaged at work. A culture of inclusivity, where employees are valued and respected are seen to relate directly to higher levels of engagements and job satisfaction. What’s more, employees who believe their organisations are truly dedicated to their DE&I commitments are more likely to feel loyal and motivated. This also reduces turn-over rates.
Broader Market Reach: Companies with higher diversity in management earned 19% higher revenue than their less diverse counterparts. This is because organisations with a more diverse perspective on their market, are able to serve and understand a wider base of customers. A workforce which reflects the diversity of its wider community is able to provide more accurate insights into the preferences and needs of its customers.
Improved Reputation and Brand Loyalty: According to recent data, 75% of Americans believe it's essential for companies to advocate for racial and ethnic diversity, with stronger support from Black and Hispanic communities than from White communities. This is an important factor to consider when implementing DE&I policies. As job seekers place greater importance on inclusive and equitable work environments, companies that do not prioritise DE&I initiatives will struggle more to attract and retain top talent.
Part 4: Putting Continuous DE&I Into Practice
MindGym’s report highlights the necessity of a fresh approach to DE&I for businesses aiming to truly enhance workplace inclusivity. Their insightful report helps highlight blindspots within the DE&I space and helps navigate the complex challenges that come with this policy area.These challenges lie in establishing ongoing touchpoints, workshops, and surveys to ensure efforts are both continuous and effective.
However, it's important to also note the ways in which DE&I efforts have already helped create more inclusive, diverse, creative, representative and profitable workplaces. Therefore, the conclusion from existing data around DE&I shouldn’t be that it is a fruitless endeavour.
Instead businesses need to start thinking about DE&I policy making as the messy, human process it is. A process which needs to be tackled from a variety of perspectives at once. This is where modern solutions like the myday, come into play - helping management navigate the complex steps of true DE&I policy change.
myday is a highly customizable, user-friendly tool that helps businesses foster a more supportive and inclusive workplace with ease.
How Does myday Help Achieve Long-Term, Effective DE&I Initiatives?
Continuous Communication: The myday platform provides management with a centralised hub to communicate DE&I initiatives, share links to the latest training, and stay connected with employees' feelings about inclusion within the company.
Pulse Surveys: With pre-made and custom surveys seamlessly integrated into the app, myday allows companies to keep their finger on the pulse of employee sentiment. This feature helps track the effectiveness of inclusive initiatives.
Easy-to-View KPIs: myday enables management to monitor key DE&I metrics regularly, ensuring that initiatives are working and making necessary adjustments based on real-time data.
Fostering Belonging: The app's intra- and inter-company tools facilitate connections among employees on important issues, creating supportive, safe spaces where they feel truly seen and heard.
A Wider Goal: myday incentivizes employees by rewarding them with Planet Points for completing training, participating in community-building activities, and prioritising their well-being. These points convert into real-life charity donations, encouraging teamwork and giving back to causes they care about.
By leveraging myday, businesses can implement a dynamic, ongoing approach to DE&I that promotes a genuinely inclusive workplace culture.
Want to learn more about myday and how we can help elevate your wellness strategy to the next level? Book a call with our team today!
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