Honoring diversity and inclusion in your company is more important now than ever. Every employee deserves to feel valued and respected for how their uniqueness and contributions benefit the organization.
Your employees differ by gender, ethnicity, age, religion, race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and physical ability. They also have different talents, experiences, lifestyles, personalities, perspectives, opinions, family compositions, education levels, tenures, and worldviews. These differences help your company stand out from the competition.
You need to find ways for employees to add their personal voice and value to the workplace. Demonstrate that they are valued by including them in decisions, opportunities, and challenges. This shows employees’ interests are valued equally and their voices are heard.
Follow these guidelines to show your company values diversity and inclusion in its workforce.
Educate Senior Management and Leadership
Provide ongoing training for senior management and leadership to learn how to demonstrate diversity and inclusion.
- Senior managers provide the foundation for the environment the employees work in.
- These managers must assess the current environment, develop an approach, and implement plans to increase diversity and inclusion throughout the organization.
- Senior managers need to consistently demonstrate respect for each employee every day as an example for others to follow.
- These managers’ actions help create psychological safety for employees.
- Company policies and norms must encourage employees to express who they are and be celebrated for their attributes.
- Letting employees be their authentic selves increases motivation, engagement, productivity, and retention.
- A diverse and inclusive culture promotes mental health and functional operations.
- Employees can contribute their best efforts and reach their potential.
Train Managers
Provide ongoing training for managers to foster diversity and inclusion among their teams.
- Talk with managers about the reality of diversity and inclusion in your company.
- Point out why the issues are causing problems for your organization.
- Focus on specific actions managers can take in their daily management coaching and employee interactions to foster feelings of belonging.
Review Your Recruitment Process
Reduce the impact of unconscious bias in your recruitment process to increase diversity in your candidates.
- Use inclusive language in your job postings to attract more females, people of color, and people with disabilities.
- Remove personally identifying information from resumes so the hiring managers focus on the skills, experience, and qualifications for the role.
- Conduct panel interviews with multicultural employees asking the same questions and using a scoring rubric with room for comments.
- Request a work sample test to compare candidates’ results.
Request Employee Feedback
Ask employees how they feel about the company’s efforts to show it values diversity and inclusion.
- Regularly send out an anonymous survey to determine how employees feel about these topics.
- Encourage individual or small group discussions about the company’s work to show it values diversity and inclusion.
- Create a safe and supportive environment to ask difficult questions and receive honest responses.
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