Why employee engagement is essential for creating a culture of diversity

 

The only way you’ll really get to the bottom of DEI issues is to devise diversity training to eradicate them and create a truly inclusive culture is by asking your employees. You’ll want to know not only the ‘what’ of the problem, but also the ‘why’, so you’ll need to use a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data. Send out diversity and inclusion surveys which include demographic metrics and open text; so that employees will be able to articulate their perspectives on what is going on, and supplement these with focus groups with leaders, managers and direct reports.

It’s essential for leaders to state:

why the research is being conducted

when the results will be communicated

what action will be taken as a result of the survey

How to tell if your diversity and inclusion training initiatives are successful

Your DEI initiatives should not stand in isolation from the rest of your company metrics. When you combine your operational (O) data with your experience (X) data you will get a complete picture of how diverse and inclusive your workplace culture is. The key metrics to look out for are:

Leadership diversity percentage: Is your management diverse at all levels, from the C-suite to line managers?

Retention: Are you keeping good people because they feel they have equal access to opportunities to upskill and advance in their careers?

Training program engagement: what is the uptake for your educational, continuous learning and mentorship programs? Has engagement increased as a result of diversity and inclusion training?

Employee feedback: How do your employees feel about the company culture around diversity, equity, and inclusion? How satisfied are employees with the DEI initiatives?  Which demographics are happiest with them, and which are not? Is the diversity and inclusion training sufficient? By identifying satisfaction gaps you can take action to close them.

Taking diversity and inclusion training a stage further…

Diversity training is more than just changing the hearts and minds of existing employees who may have had less exposure to a diverse mix of people. When companies are invested in creating a workplace culture of real belonging, they need to look at changing the demographic composition of their workplace, through:

Outreach (to diverse universities, colleges, and professional associations)

Mentorship programs for every employee

Hiring a diversity officer or focus group to manage and measure DEI strategies and outcomes

And finally…

Creating a diversity and inclusion training strategy that builds an organizational culture that everyone is proud of and feels they belong to is more of a marathon than a sprint. As long as you tie your DEI initiatives to your strategic goals, communicate clearly and transparently, offer ongoing training, learning and development, and measure your successes, that gold medal is in sight

Catalina Bere - TUA