Our previous blog tackled why your business needs a diverse workforce. In this one, we look at practical steps to achieving diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Productivity, creativity, profits… these are just a few benefits of having a diverse workforce.
While it is everyone’s responsibility to create an inclusive workplace, it falls on management and leadership to spearhead cultural diversity and inclusion. As an executive leader, you can do this by setting up recruitment policies, allocating resources for diversity and inclusion, organizing training, and much more.
In 2015, almost half of managers said that they have higher priorities than focusing on diversity and inclusion initiatives. Having seen the myriad ways businesses stand to benefit from a diverse workforce and inclusive culture, not prioritizing diversity is detrimental for businesses. McKinsey’s data has shown that a third of the firms they have tracked over the past five years have significantly improved both gender and ethnic diversity on their executive teams, while the majority have stalled or gone backward. With all the different business challenges faced every day, it can be tempting to place diversity issues on the backburner. Firms that wish to succeed know that it is too risky to do that.
How to Make Diversity and Inclusion a Priority
When McKinsey took a close look at the companies in their data set that are achieving higher levels of diversity and benefitting from an increased likelihood of financial outperformance, the common thread for the diversity winners was a systematic approach, together with bold steps to strengthen inclusion.
In practical steps, here’s what that looks like:
- Turn the focus inward and begin with an audit of where your company is at when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Do you have a robust plan for D&I? What recruitment policies do you have in place? Have you built an inclusive culture that everyone in the organization is tapped into? Have you created a space where employees can share their opinions and concerns openly? Acknowledging your current stage allows you to assess what’s working, and what isn’t and also, the potential for growth that exists.
- Use your findings from the audit to develop a plan. It is important to seek company-wide input while putting together a plan because it is your people who will bring that plan to life day-to-day.
It is important as well to think through the following questions:
- How will you ensure representation across all roles, from managerial to technical, in the organization?
- How will you strengthen accountability for D&I amongst your leaders?
- How will you ensure that everyone in the organization feels that they can bring their full selves to work?
- How do you build D&I into your decision-making framework?
- What education and training are required to ensure your D&I plan succeeds?
- What resources will you need to allocate for your plan to succeed?
How To Hire A Diverse Workforce
As Glassdoor reports, eliminating university bias is one of the ways to open up your hiring process. If you have been picking candidates from only select universities, you may be closing yourself off to amazing candidates from other universities. Other useful insights that Glassdoor recommends for attracting diverse candidates include: marketing your diversity initiatives, going for culture add vs culture fit, and weaving diversity content into your company page.
How Reactionpower Can Help You
One sure way of minimizing bias is by partnering with diverse vendors.
Our amazing team of data scientists, devs, copywriters, and content creators bring a wealth of diverse perspectives, expertise, and experience. We have partnered with some of the leading bluechip tech companies in the world on a variety of projects, including addressing the lack of diversity in AI and machine learning.
Ready to get more done? Schedule your strategy session today.
