BUILDING DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN THE WORKPLACE

As business leaders start to recognize the benefits to corporate culture and company success, the idea of diversity and inclusion (D&I) has continued to gain support in corporate circles in recent years. When we bring up these concepts, most OFHR leaders typically nod in agreement, indicating that they have crossed that task off their organization's list for workplace development. However, a close examination of workplace data reveals that only a small number of businesses have genuine commitments to inclusivity and diversity.

Think of variety as choosing football players for a club team from many nations and national teams. The abilities, qualities, and strategies of these football players vary, as do their cultural and religious backgrounds. Making sure that each player's strengths and skill sets are utilized to contribute to the team's overall success is as important as choosing individuals with various traits, and that is inclusion.

This is comparable to workplace diversity, where workers come from a variety of racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, sexual orientations, and educational and professional backgrounds. Eliminating all obstacles of prejudice and intolerance that may result from these disparities and utilizing the wide range of various experiences, skill sets, and personalities fosters both individual success and expansion of the whole company.

Employees that are very different from their coworkers thrive when they feel valued and respected in the workplace and the business gains from their special perspectives and abilities.

Few employers, though, have tapped into this potential.

My survey results show that there are not many companies or organizations with a strong culture of diversity and inclusivity; even though great strides have been achieved in developing an all-inclusive corporate culture, there are still obstacles preventing its general acceptance.

What strategies can HR managers and business executives use to promote diversity and inclusion at work?

Lead by Example

How ethnically diverse is your executive team? A decent place to start the D&I discussion is there. The composition of your C-suite and other leaders in your company sends a strong message to the rest of your staff about how important inclusion and diversity are to you.

Only 24 of the Fortune 500 businesses' CEOs were women, according to a recent survey by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), making up just 5% of all CEOs. According to the survey, only three of the 500 CEOs were black, three were openly gay, and one was a lesbian.

Are both men and women equally represented on your management and executive team? Do you fairly represent persons from different cultural and religious backgrounds in your senior executives?

It’s also not just in the numbers and representations, but also in understanding, recognizing, and curbing biases and prejudices that contradict the culture. Does your executive team model the corporate culture, or your team consists of individuals with palpable biases? It will be difficult infusing this model into the workforce if your leaders don’t set the paradigm.

This is where educating and training your leaders come in. For example, pharmaceutical giant Merck & co. Inc. organizes regular training in unconscious bias for executives and managers at every level. The training helps leaders to recognize this form of discrimination and its impact on the affected both as individuals and as a whole workforce. A global D&I team within the corporation also assesses organizational culture and values and trains managers in the effective management of various groups.

Make the Workplace Inclusive

How does the culture at work promote inclusivity? Does your workplace reflect your acceptance of and respect for various religions and cultural practices? Recognizing these variations and incorporating them into your process and structure can be a good place to start.

Do your Muslim employees, for instance, feel welcome at office gatherings and holidays? Or do you only celebrate holidays associated with Christianity, like Easter and Christmas, at work?

For instance, Bak USA's HR department hosts potluck dinners to recognize the more than 14 different nationalities that make up their workforce. These gatherings serve to promote the inclusive culture by showcasing the customs of some of their employees' native nations. Before the pandemic, Merck highlighted the variety among its almost 70,000 employees in more than 140 nations by giving presentations on how inclusion and diversity contribute to the company's financial performance.

You must recognize their demands and comprehend their views if you want to assure the inclusion and fair treatment of your diverse staff. Develop effective tactics to promote inclusivity by regularly conducting a thorough examination of the demographics of your business and the special requirements of different employee groups. These tactics are only successful when they cater to the requirements that are particular to your brand. Others may have a feeling of belonging when your HR team makes it simple for them to apply for a day or two off to celebrate a Jewish Holy Day. While constructing a specific refrigerator for Kosher goods could drive inclusivity for some employees, this may not be the case for everyone. Using these recurring surveys, learn what works best for your business.

However, you must pledge to strengthen anti-discrimination laws to support these actions. What happens if a worker is subjected to racial or religious discrimination at work? Does the perpetrator receive more severe punishment or just a slap on the wrist? These behaviours encourage and promote an inclusive workplace atmosphere. Integrate diversity and inclusion into performance management, evaluation, and hiring

According to research, bias permeates many aspects of the hiring process for new employees. While much of it isn't purposeful, it's influenced by unintentional racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice. The profitability of your business could be jeopardized in the long term if your hiring managers unintentionally reflect their personal bias during the hiring process. Making a blind system or algorithm to examine resumes that de-anonymize candidates are one method for de-biasing the hiring and evaluation process. When a hiring manager review resumes, all identifiable personal information including gender and religion is instantly erased. To make sure that hiring at various levels is as inclusive and varied as possible, you may also need to develop and monitor diversity targets. The establishment of an inclusive council is a further method for maintaining this culture. Influential executives who are passionate and committed to advancing and supporting an organizational philosophy 

Centred on diversity and inclusion should make up the council. If the council itself isn't inclusive, it will be pointless to promote an inclusive culture. The council must also be as varied as feasible.

The inclusion council would be active in assessing hiring, retention, and promotion rules as well as dealing with problems that affect minority employee groups. To maintain an inclusive work paradigm, the council must meet frequently to review policies, assess employee feedback, and provide suggestions and recommendations to the C-suite.