Diversity and Inclusion - How To: Create a Culture of Equality
Diversity in the work place goes beyond gender and race, it comes down to the often ‘unseen’ exclusions, that only a shift in culture can address and improve. Increasingly, employers are coming to recognise the business benefits of improving the level of diversity and inclusion within their workforce.
1. Understanding the definitions and how this can positively impact your workforce
Diversity is about valuing, recognising, respecting, and including individual differences and how this adds value to the work place. Inclusion is ultimately about building a culture where everyone feels included. Therefore, diversity is about respecting what makes people different- inclusion is what is feels like.
2. Information gathering
Start by understanding what the definition of diversity and inclusion is in your business. Introducing anonymous ways to gather personal data can be a great way to get this information, whilst protecting the anonymity of your staff. This is the starting point for conversations about the current culture. Culture is after all just a set of behaviours and attitudes created by the people who are part of it.
These values need clear definition – what is and isn’t acceptable culturally, needs clearly defining and being led from senior management- this inclusiveness is going to engage your employees quickly, you’re going to get more productivity and it creates a greater accountability for behaviour.
3. The moral and commercial drivers
This issue starts with the simple fact of how your staff feel – and this goes back to engagement. Ultimately the happier people are, the higher their attendance rate will be , the better they will preform and the company will be more profitable.
Diversity and inclusion adds to the commercial benefits. Keeping your staff productive and happy ultimately adds profit to the business, as losing someone in any business will incur a rehiring cost, coupled with the loss of that person’s relationships across the business.
4. Creating a diverse workforce
Few businesses are considering professionals from overseas and those that have worked in different industries and backgrounds, this has the potential to bring in new ideas and unique skills.
Taking steps to attract diverse candidates to your company is a key factor in developing a diverse workforce. This could include writing job adverts so the language doesn’t discourage certain candidates from applying.
5. Be aware of conscious and unconscious bias
Unconscious bias can have an underlying effect on decisions when recruiting for your business. Different approaches can be used to reduce this, including:
Assessing blind CVs (removing certain information like gender and name)
Reviewing information with a board group of stakeholders
Engage the services of a professional recruiter
Doing the above allows employers to develop a workforce with a broad range of backgrounds, increasing the likelihood of bringing in new ideas and creating a highly productive workforce
6. Broaden the candidate pool
Many organisations only advertise on traditional, industry platforms limiting the audience. Setting out and promoting your employee through wider audiences on social media could improve the diversity of your candidate pool.
Diversity and inclusion is a sizeable challenge for any organisation, especially those that have previously been less diverse and demonstrably exclusive. Treating everyone fairly to nurture talent, imbuing the corporate culture with true inclusiveness and equality while bringing new services to an increasingly discerning diverse public is complex.
However, the process of inclusion engages each individual and makes people feel valued as being essential to the success of the organisation. Evidence shows that when people feel valued, they function at full capacity and feel part of the organisation’s mission. This culture shift creates higher performing organisations where motivation and morale soar.
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