Creating a Culture of Diversity and Inclusion

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The first step in creating a culture of diversity and inclusion starts even before the “employee” is an employee yet—this is through decisions made about recruiting and hiring.

The idea of diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the workplace has become a hot topic over the last decade. But what exactly does it mean? And furthermore, what is its value within the workplace? Is it just a hot topic of the moment, or does it produce tangible benefits for companies, employees, and profitability?

Let’s start by examining exactly what diversity and inclusion is, and what it isn’t. Diversity in the workplace is not simply a synonym for achieving racial/gender quotas, and not a means of just “checking a box” during the hiring process. “Diverse” employee pools refer to employee characteristics such as race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and parenthood status. Creating an environment in which people with these respective characteristics and the intersectionality of those characteristics feel valued and protected can seem like an impossible lift, but with a commitment and an actionable plan, it can be achieved. From hiring to employee morale to retention, there are numerous avenues for exploring diversity and inclusion initiatives. 

Creating a D&I Culture for the Employee Lifecycle

Let’s approach the roadmap for creating a culture of diversity and inclusion by going through the typical employee “lifecycle”—from hiring, to performing the work the employee was hired to do, to retention and promotion. 

The first step in creating a culture of diversity and inclusion starts even before the “employee” is an employee yet—this is through decisions made about recruiting and hiring. An organization attending on-campus college job fairs at historically black colleges and universities, for example, can garner a larger number of job applicants, and significantly shift the makeup of the applicant pool for a particular position. An organization that reaches out to specialized interest groups within a particular space also can help diversify an applicant pool, and eventually the makeup of employee demographics. Women Who Code, a women’s tech group with the stated mission of “inspiring women to excel in technology careers,” would be an example of an excellent resource for a tech company bringing aboard a new Web developer, for example. Tessa Ann Taylor, an engineering manager for The New York Times, wrote an article for the newspaper, speaking about her rethinking of the hiring process after she became a manager and was building her own team. Taylor had a key revelation when she realized the potential pitfalls in relying primarily upon job candidates who had been referred to her by other New York Times co-workers. She wrote, “One of my first tasks as an engineering manager was to fill my old role by hiring a software engineer. I’d experienced the hiring process as a candidate, interviewer, and referrer of candidates, but this was my first experience as a hiring manager. Watching applications and referrals roll in allowed me to see firsthand that, without a specific eye on diversity and inclusion, it is incredibly easy to end up with a homogenous group of candidates. Had I accepted my initial candidate pool as is, I would have almost exclusively interviewed people from over-indexed groups. This experience also really drove home one reason homogenous teams and companies stay homogenous: the pressure of interviewing and hiring referrals.”

The New Rules Summit

In 2018, The New York Times hosted an event called the New Rules Summit. This event pulled together business executives and policy experts together for an intense and wide-ranging brainstorm session to propose actionable items to help encourage diversity and inclusion in the workplace, specifically for women. This summit went far beyond the predictable ideas of quotas and minority outreach, and suggested specific ideas addressing workplace satisfaction, promotion, and retention. A New York Times article entitled, “Moving Forward,” which covered the summit, quoted some of the suggestions made by the business leaders at the New Rules summit. Some policy ideas offered specifically addressed the idea of what inclusion looks like for working parents. To quote The New York Times article, “To ensure that consistent and fair opportunities are provided to parents over the course of their careers, corporate managers from the executive level down have a responsibility in recognizing that a variety of current managerial, technological, and cultural norms must change. To begin, organizations must offer paid leave to all employees seeking family or medical leave. Additionally, work (including tasks, titles, and organizational structure) can be structured so it benefits working parents, as well as the organization. Flexible schedules, or investments in telecommuting technologies, could assist in this.” 

Additionally, the creation of affinity groups at organizations can serve as a means for a company to remain tuned into the concerns and ideas of minority groups at companies. Tech giant Google boasts more than 13 affinity groups, known as “Employee Resource Groups.” These groups include the Black Google Network, Women @Google, and the like. With the creation of affinity groups, an organization could, for example, create a space in which these employees could suggest specific ideas or initiatives for the company to further aid in its diversity and inclusion efforts. Having an environment in which minority employees feel valued, respected, and listened to is key to retaining minority talent. 

Pay Equity

Another big issue that has been hotly discussed recently is the idea of pay equity in the workplace. Employees, whether minority or otherwise, are not hopeful about growing with a company that appears to be compensating employees unequally. Numerous companies have come out in the last few years with various initiatives to ensure pay transparency within their respective organizations. Johnson & Johnson, a South Carolina insurance firm, has been uniquely innovative in this space. Johnson & Johnson has created a document that is disseminated to its employees yearly. This document lists the salaries of every single Johnson & Johnson employee, as well as their respective health plans, annual bonus, and even how much paid time off each employee is allotted. This method and other similar measures help to retain minority hires, taking a significant step toward achieving a culture of inclusion, where employees feel fairly treated, regardless of their background.

The D&I Advantage

Recent research has shown the considerable advantages for companies taking specific steps to craft a culture of diversity and inclusion in their workplaces. Forbes Magazine cites a statistic that diverse workplaces generate 19 percent more revenue than non-diverse workplaces. McKinsey and Company, based on its own research, states that “companies in the top-quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 21 percent more likely to outperform on profitability.” 

Bernard Coleman, a thought leader in the diversity and inclusion world, and head of Diversity and Inclusion for Uber, is quoted as saying, “Diversity in isolation is not effective; to be successful, it must always be paired with inclusion.” 

Diversity and inclusion truly is a “package deal.” For companies to create a culture of diversity and inclusion, there must be a full commitment to both concepts and specific, intentional, and sustained actions to achieve both.

Kia Roberts is the founder and principal of Triangle Investigations, an investigations group dedicated to conducting confidential fact-finding investigations with sensitivity, attention to detail, and with the assistance of tech. Using years of legal expertise and a newly developed high-tech approach, Triangle conducts its workplace investigations via Telli, an easy-to use, exclusive app for employees to lodge allegations of workplace misconduct.