If a business wants to shine in today’s business environment, then creating diversity and inclusion strategies in the workplace is critical. It is essential to have both to succeed in the business environment as having one without the other can cause an uproar. There are a number of benefits that diversity and inclusion can bring to a company such as recruiting more top talent, retaining the talent, reaping the rewards of innovation and promoting employee engagement.
Fostering diversity and inclusion strategies can sometimes be easier said than done in certain businesses, especially those who already are suffering from a lack of talent and diverse workforce. Although having a diverse workforce can enable your business to become more creative and perform better, they can struggle to implement effective strategies that will help them do so.
Using inclusive language in your job descriptions is imperative if you want to attract more women into your organisation. Avoiding gendered language like masculine words such as dominant and challenging or specific pronouns can discourage women and LGBT candidates from applying to your job roles. The use of inclusive language should be incorporated into other forms of written communication and not just job descriptions. For example, you should ensure to use inclusive language in emails and letters as people in the workplace will want to address how they want.
Being aware of unconscious biases is excellent as when you implement certain strategies within your company you will understand that you will still see things in a certain way. Challenging them by putting into place effective strategies within your organisation can help you in removing the unconscious bias you may be reflecting into the business. The strategies to improve diversity and inclusion can be measured so you are aware of how your company is changing.
There are a few reasons as to why it is beneficial to educate leadership and management and have them attending diversity and inclusion workshops. To start, it is seen as one of the least diverse areas of a company and is mainly dominated by white males, which is certainly the case in the tech industry. Secondly, leaders play a big role in shaping company values and deciding on strategies for the organisation to implement. Therefore, if diversity and inclusion goals are set by a top-down approach then it is likely that they can be implemented company-wide.
Discussing opportunities for mentoring can help with attracting and retaining diverse talent in your organisation is one of the most effective diversity and inclusion strategies to implement. The majority of women and underrepresented groups don’t feel like they have the chance to grow and therefore end up leaving mid-career as they don’t feel valued or challenged. Therefore, bringing in a mentoring scheme for those who want to progress can help employees achieve personal development and bring success for the business. Having mentors can help those to overcome challenges and potentially progress into leadership or senior roles.
Celebrating the current diversity culture within your organisation through designating a day to all of the ethnicities within your organisation can help to retain diverse talent. It also ensures that you are bringing inclusion to your organisation as everyone will feel valued and appreciate each other’s home country. It is also important to celebrate events such as International Women’s Day, Gay Pride celebrations and International Day of Person with Disabilities. Doing this shows that your organisation values and supports diversity and inclusion and can help you to attract more talent.
Providing your employees with diversity training will make them more aware of what constitutes a diverse and inclusive workplace. It is a perfect way of demonstrating how each other can contribute to help the business grow and succeed. It also makes your employees aware of how they should value each other regardless of their age, gender or ethnicity as they are all equal. This will not only help your organisation foster more diverse and inclusive strategies but it can also encourage others to think of new ways to help increase diversity in the workplace.
Expressing your core company values can help to attract diverse talent into tech, as long as your company values reflect a business environment that is inclusive to everyone. Applicants will always look to access and view your company values before deciding on applying for a job role or not. People today are looking for a great place to work that allows for opportunities to progress and a healthy life-work balance. Therefore, showing how inclusive and diverse you are or by demonstrating how you are implementing diversity and inclusion strategies to improve can aid success when employing.
Creating an environment that is suited to everyone is mainly down to the leadership team and communication. Leadership must be committed to ensuring the working environment is inclusive to everyone at all levels of your organisation. Communicating new diversity and inclusion policies internally and externally and providing training will ensure that the working environment will be suited to everyone. Workplace diversity is unavoidable and therefore it is essential that you bring inclusiveness when creating an equal working environment.
Listening to employees is one of the main things a leader will need to do in an organisation. Although implementing diversity and inclusion strategies will have to be discussed amongst senior positions, it is the employees who will benefit or suffer from those decisions. Creating anonymous surveys for employees to fill out is a great way of getting their opinion on what they would like to see in their organisation.
It can beneficial to include some employees in the hiring process as a way of increasing diversity and inclusion within your organisation. Employees can provide you with a broader view of what potential employees may bring and they may identify skills sets which you may not. Involving employees in the hiring process will also make them feel that they are valued and that their opinions count when making important decisions for the organisation.