Diversity in the Workforce

While progress in diversity, inclusion, and equity has been made, there is clearly a lot more work to do.

Diversity is when differences are present within a collective group. Individuals represent different identities from race and gender to age and socioeconomic background. Diversity exists in relationship to others.

Inclusion is making sure individuals with differences feel welcomed and valued. Just because you have a diverse workforce doesn’t mean every employee feels like they belong.

An equitable workforce recognizes that not every employee has had access to the same opportunities and seeks to correct this imbalance.

All three work together to create a sustainable and fair workforce for the future. Diversity, without inclusion and equity, is insufficient.

Creating and maintaining a diverse, inclusive and equitable workforce needs to be a thoughtful process and continuous effort. Here are several ways you can work your way towards a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce:

1. Clearly define and break down your diversity initiatives. What are some goals that you want to accomplish? For example, maybe you want your workforce to be 50% female in the next 5 years. In that case, conscious efforts need to be made during the hiring process. Seek different avenues of recruitment and make sure you’re interviewing x amount of women. Clearly-defined goals will help guide your efforts.

2. Use data to get buy-in from upper management. Sometimes it can be difficult to begin a diversity initiative in your workplace due to push back from senior management. Perhaps you’ve hired a Chief Diversity Officer and they think the job is now done. Provide data to prove that x amount of your workforce is still from the same background or that out of the last 10 people you hired, they are all x. Concrete data will serve as hard proof for senior management that change still needs to happen.

3. Listen to your employees. Create a safe space where employees can be vocal without repercussion. If someone is feeling uncomfortable, being called racial slurs, or getting sexually harassed, there needs to be processes in place that ensure these concerns are heard and taken action upon.

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