Category: Talent Acquisition Strategy

In the modern workplace, companies are placing greater emphasis on diversity and inclusion initiatives to strengthen organizational adaptability, gain competitive advantage and reduce legal risks. Despite this trend, many companies still struggle with racial and ethnic discrimination and policymaking.

In fact, According to data collected by the EEOC, $112.7 million is collected from employers for racial discrimination violations on average each year. In this post, we outline what constitutes racial and ethnic diversity, its benefits to companies and best practices when it comes to implementing and monitoring a racial and ethnic diversity policy in the workplace.

The Benefits of Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Workplace

Companies increasingly understand the value of recruiting and retaining diverse employees, as these workers play a critical role in a company’s ability to adapt, grow and sustain a competitive advantage in the modern business landscape.

However, some companies fail to recognize the benefits of having a racially and ethnically diverse workforce. Factors such as prejudice and stereotypes towards certain racial or ethnic groups, whether conscious or unconscious, can lead to discriminatory practices in hiring.

What’s more, to combat prejudice and internal resistance, companies need to create a business case for diversity by outlining the benefits of a racial and ethnically diverse workplace such as:

• Gains in worker welfare and efficiency
• Reduced turnover costs
• Fewer internal disputes and grievances
• Improved accessibility to new and diverse customer markets
• Higher productivity and increased revenue
• Increased innovation
• Development of new products and services
• Improved company reputation management
• Greater flexibility and adaptability in a globalized world
• More efficient risk management (e.g. legal risks due to non-compliance)
• Prevention of marginalization and exclusion of categories of workers
• Improved social cohesion

Companies are more likely to reap these benefits when they go beyond meeting the minimum requirements for legal compliance. Companies should strive to understand both the social and cultural complexities inherent in embracing diversity and strive to be diversity leaders in their industry.

Key Racial and Ethnic Diversity Definitions

To effectively improve racial and ethnic diversity in the workplace, companies need to understand some of the key terms and definitions including:

Racial Discrimination: Racial discrimination in the workplace can be defined as any exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose of impairing an employee’s ability to exercise their rights to equal standing in the workplace.

Ethnic Group: The term “ethnic group” refers to a group of persons whose members identify with each other through such factors as common heritage, culture, ancestry, language, dialect, history, identity and geographic origin.

Ethnic Minority: Ethnic minority does not only refer to ethnic groups that are a numerical minority. Instead, it refers to any ethnic group that is not dominant socially, economically or politically.

Implicit Bias: Also known as unconscious or hidden bias, implicit biases are negative associations that people unknowingly hold. They are expressed automatically, without conscious awareness.

Inclusion: Authentically incorporating traditionally excluded individuals and/or groups into processes, activities and decision/policy making in a way that shares power.

For more diversity definitions and terms, visit Racial Equality Tools.

Employer and Employee Responsibilities

Both employers and employees have responsibilities when it comes to promoting and monitoring racial and ethnic diversity policy in the workplace. Both stakeholders have to work together to ensure the success of a company’s diversity initiatives.

Employer Responsibilities

Employers should act as facilitators and purveyors of knowledge to improve relations among their diverse workforce. Employers should also continuously work on the development of diversity policy and implementation. Management should also be trained to ensure the improvement of awareness on racial discrimination and ethnic diversity in the workplace. Furthermore, employers can help build the capacity of managers to ensure that the ethnic diversity policy is effectively applied within the company.

Employee Responsibilities

Employees and organizations tasked with protecting workers rights should lobby companies for strong ethnic diversity policies, ensuring that all workers enjoy equal opportunities at all stages of the employment cycle, including access to employment, training, promotion and retirement. Employees also have an important role in raising awareness amongst themselves on the right to a workplace free from racial discrimination and in supporting their coworkers when they issue complaints.

Introducing Racial and Ethnic Diversity Initiatives in the Workplace

Improving racial and ethnic diversity in the workplace often challenges the values and worldview of current employees. For this reason, introducing diversity initiatives is both challenging and necessary for companies looking to create a more inclusive corporate culture.

How companies introduce racial and ethnic diversity initiatives matters. To successfully introduce diversity initiatives, companies need to take a structured approach that involves assuaging feelings of uncertainty about the future of the company and effectively communicating new policies aimed at protecting workers belonging to certain racial and ethnic groups.

At the same time, companies should communicate realistic expectations to members of minority groups regarding the new policies to ensure they understand the goal and scope of the initiative.

Companies can communicate new racial and ethnic diversity policies by creating a consistent message delivered and sent to all hierarchical levels through email, internal media networks (including social media) and placing posters in high traffic areas. Messaging should also be designed to accommodate the different languages and literacy levels of employees to ensure everyone understands the new policies.

Creating an Effective Response to Complaints

Making it easy for workers to raise complaints helps demonstrate a fair and concerted effort to understand their concerns and issues surrounding diversity. If it can be shown that the complaints procedure is confidential, backed by prompt and effective action to investigate and settle them transparently and seriously, there will be not only greater acceptance of the policy but also greater commitment to practice the policy throughout the company. There are two processes to resolve complaints:

Formal Process

A formal complaint process is one that provides a written summary of the full investigation to the complainant and the alleged offender. Both parties should be given the opportunity to provide comments on the content of this summary before the full report is finalized. The final report should include who was interviewed, what questions were asked, the investigator’s conclusions, and what possible remedies, sanctions or other action may be appropriate.

Informal Processes

An informal process involves conciliation, mediation, counseling or discussions in order to resolve complaints. Peer mediators should be used instead of HR staff to facilitate dialogue between the parties but not making any recommendations, sanctions or hand down rulings.

In addition to the two processes of resolving complaints, companies should also look to the following persons, departments and organizations for help in resolving diversity-related issues:

Focal Point: Regardless of the size of a company, it is important to have one or more officials dedicated to overseeing that diversity policy is upheld. These “focal points” should be reliable, approachable and respected by staff and management, such as members of the executive board, department heads or employee relations staff. The size of the company will determine the number of focal points and how many workers are covered by each one.

Human Resources: If a company is large enough to support a human resources, transformation or diversity department; then consideration should be given to appointing the main focal point from within these departments.

Unions: If the employee base for a company is comprised of members of a union, they will need assurance that they have union support to raise issues regarding racial discrimination. Some workers, therefore, prefer to call their union representative when dealing with discrimination issues. Companies need to make sure that they have open and clear channels of communication with unions representing their employees and an established protocol when it comes to dealing with ethnic diversity policy.

Call Center: For large companies, it may be cost-effective to establish a call center for employees who are not yet ready to lodge a formal complaint with focal points, human resources or their union. These employees can anonymously contact the call center if they wish to voice concerns and seek further advice about an incident. Call centers can also be an effective means of monitoring incidents to ensure they are being tracked and followed up by managers who are responsible for the work or by the department where racial discrimination is alleged to have occurred.

Conclusion

To thrive in the current diverse times, companies need to lead the way in inclusion by creating workplaces that promote and celebrate racial and ethnic diversity. By creating diversity-friendly environments, companies gain an advantage in the competitive search for skilled talent.

On June 26, 2015, the United State Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that state-level bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional, ushering in marriage equality nationwide. However, despite the inroads made towards LGBTQ+ rights, many companies are still playing catch up when it comes to hiring, supporting and understanding the value of LGBTQ+ employees.

While there are legal protections in place to protect LGBTQ+ employers from discrimination in the workplace in many countries, in over half of the world, LGBTQ+ people are not protected from discrimination under workplace law. In a survey by the Center for American Progress (Cap) in 2022, half of LGBTQ+ and “sexual and gender diverse” people reported experiencing some form of workplace discrimination or harassment due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. This rocketed to 70% for transgender respondents. In the UK, 40% of LGBTQ+ workers and 55% of trans workers have experienced harassment, compared with 29% of heterosexual, cisgender employees.

These issues are not only troublesome for LGBTQ+ individuals in the workplace, but they are also bad for businesses. In this post, we outline the value of hiring and fostering a positive workplace environment for LGBTQ+ employees.

The Importance of Workplace Diversity

Today’s workforce has become increasingly diverse. Companies are more aware of the benefits of hiring talent from various backgrounds and the incredible contributions these employees bring to the workplace.

A well-managed diverse workforce will both reduce costs and generate greater profit, with companies that employ a diverse workforce having 35 percent higher financial returns than national averages according to a McKinsey report on workplace diversity. This clearly illustrates the importance of diversity in the workplace not only for a company’s culture but also for its bottom line.

Diversity does not just mean including women and persons from diverse racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds; it also means that businesses can benefit from hiring LGBTQ+ employees and creating a supportive atmosphere for them to thrive.

Workplace Diversity: Benefits for LGBTQ+ Individuals

For starters, LGBTQ+ supportive policies will have an instant effect on individual employees, consequentially creating less workplace discrimination and improved comfort about being openly LGBTQ+ at work.

According to a survey conducted by the Williams Institute, The Business Impact of LGBT-Supportive Workplace Policies, LGBTQ+ employees who feel the need to hide their identity in the workplace often feel greater levels of stress and anxiety causing health issues and work-related complaints.

By creating an LGBTQ-friendly workplace, companies can reduce stress and improve the health of LGBTQ+ employees, increase job satisfaction and create more positive relationships with co-workers and supervisors.

Workplace Diversity: Benefits for Businesses

Following the individual benefits, organizational outcomes will also improve. Employers with LGBTQ-friendly workplaces will benefit from lower legal costs related to discrimination lawsuits as well as lower health insurance cost, through improved health of employees.

In fact, a study by Out Now Consulting, LGBT 2030 – LGBT Diversity Show Me the Business Case, states that the U.S. economy could save $9 billion annually if organizations were more effective at implementing diversity and inclusion policies for LGBTQ+ staff.

By recruiting LGBTQ+ candidates, companies will open up the talent pool to more potential hires, making finding the right talent for a company easier than if they ignored a large and talent-rich demographic.

How to Successfully Recruit LGBTQ+ Individuals

Learning how to recruit LGBTQ+ individuals is the first step in creating a more LGBTQ-friendly workplace. To recruit LGBTQ+ talent, businesses need to tailor their recruitment approach to meet the unique expectations LGBTQ+ individuals have when in a job search. Below are three ways to better recruit top LGBTQ+ talent.

Do Market Research

To better understand the unique concerns and needs of LGBTQ+ individuals, businesses need to identify positive factors that appeal to LGBTQ+ candidates along with the negative factors that repel them. A good way to identify positive and negative factors is by surveying current LGBTQ+ employees. If a company lacks a large enough sample size, they can acquire survey data from third parties or diversity consultants. Companies should take the data and insights gleaned from surveys and polls to craft LGBTQ-friendly messaging in job postings and recruiter communications, so the target audience feels comfortable considering employment with the organization.

Create an LGBTQ-Friendly Recruitment Process

To successfully recruit the best LGBTQ+ talent, companies need a comprehensive approach that includes tailored LGBTQ-friendly employer branding and diversity-oriented talent acquisition professionals experienced in assessing diverse candidates. Companies can also focus efforts on recruiting LGBTQ+ interns and offer them the opportunity to join the organization full-time after the internship is completed. By creating a more LGBTQ-friendly recruitment process, companies will ensure that LGBTQ+ individuals are more likely to accept offers of employment.

Employee Referrals

Employee referrals can be a strong LGBTQ+ recruitment source. Companies with employee referral programs should adopt a diversity-focused approach that includes LGBTQ+ candidates. Companies should publicize this focus to employees, letting them know that the company is actively searching for and encouraging the recruitment of LGBTQ+ candidates to fill positions.

Workplace Inclusion Programs for LGBTQ+ Individuals

Creating a diversity inclusion program is one way of helping LGBTQ+ employees and other diverse members of a company feel welcome and comfortable at work. A well-run inclusion program should support LGBTQ+ individuals in the workplace by offering workshops, training and support from both management and HR. The overall goal of inclusion is to make LGBTQ+ employees feel safe and like an integral part of a company.

Companies can also collaborate with outside LGBTQ+ organizations and charities and encourage both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ employees to participate in events sponsored by these organizations. By aligning company values with those of LGBTQ+ organizations, companies can show their commitment not only to LGBTQ+ employees but also to supporting equality in the community as well.

Diversity and inclusion policies and programs can also save a significant amount of money spent on new talent recruitment and training by helping retain great talent. Furthermore, a more diverse and open workplace will increase creativity, which will lead to innovation and new ideas.

Conclusion

As the world becomes more accepting and understanding of the LGBTQ+ community, people expect businesses to do the same. Companies who work towards change to create a more acceptable and tolerant environment will gain the respect and loyalty of employees and the public-at-large. While there is still a lot of work ahead, there are a rising number of companies that understand that equality is good for business.

Only 5% of organizations say they’re succeeding with their DE&I initiatives. Download our free research report, Diversity & the Candidate Experience: Identifying Recruitment Pitfalls to Improve DE&I Outcomes, for insights into how to improve diversity recruitment outcomes.

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace is becoming more important as organizations look to create workplaces more reflective of current demographic trends. According to a survey conducted by McKinsey and Company, businesses with a diverse workforce are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above industry medians. Organizations can also use diversity and inclusion programs to better meet compliance obligations and generate higher morale amongst employees. To create an effective diversity and inclusion program, companies should consider the following.

Benefits of Diversity and Inclusion Programs

Diversity and inclusion programs provide companies with the opportunity to tap into the strengths of their workforce.

According to a survey conducted by Glassdoor, 67 percent of job seekers said a diverse workforce is important when considering job offers and 57 percent of employees think their companies should be more diverse. This means that companies that implement a diversity and inclusion program are more likely to attract top talent.

Embracing diversity and incorporating it into overall corporate culture has many benefits, such as introducing broader perspectives informed by the personal experiences of employees from various backgrounds into the workplace. Companies employing a diverse workforce also have a competitive advantage when it comes to hiring talent and attracting customers by embracing individuals from all walks of life.

Diversity and Inclusion Program Stakeholders

In order for a diversity and inclusion program to succeed, HR professionals need to secure buy-in from senior management. Obtaining buy-in requires HR professionals to outline how a diversity and inclusion program will help the company reach strategic goals, laying out the business case for the program.

Once buy-in is secured, roles and responsibilities will need to be assigned to diversity program stakeholders, so all parties involved understand their roles and what’s expected of them. For example, managers assigned the responsibility of assisting in a diversity and inclusion program rollout should be tasked with generating a dialog between themselves and employees to ensure a commitment to diversity is not only upheld by management but with non-management staff as well.

HR professionals may also want to create a diversity council or committee composed of employees from all levels. The committee or council’s duties should include defining program goals, promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace and holding stakeholders accountable for outcomes. The employer should provide the committee with a clear mission, defined budget and expectations/performance goals.

In the absence of a diversity and inclusion committee, an employer can designate responsibility for the above tasks to management or consider hiring a diversity and inclusion specialist to run the program.

Diveristy Program Planning Begins With Conducting an Internal Census

The first step an organization should take in implementing a diversity and inclusion program is conducting an internal census to better understand the demographic make-up of the organization. To conduct a proper census, organizations should include information from all of the major federal and state protected groups including:

• Race
• Gender
• Religious affiliation
• Disability
• Sexual orientation
• Age
• Nationality

Beyond government protected classes, other demographic information collected should include:

• Education level
• Years of experience
• Family status
• Languages spoken

To collect information needed for an internal census, companies should refer to EEO data collected for compliance obligations. However, data pertaining to non-compliance demographics will require conducting surveys where employees will need to self-identify voluntarily.

Self-reporting may prove difficult, as employees may not feel comfortable sharing personal information. To successfully conduct the survey, organizations must clearly communicate that the information requested is to help create a diversity and inclusion program. This will engender trust and assuage suspicions from employees who may feel uncomfortable with the process.

Once the data from the internal census is collected, it should be compared to the data available on the labor market. Organizations should look for gaps in diversity and then draft a plan to hire more members of underrepresented demographics.

What Should a Diversity Training Program Include?

Once an internal census has been conducted and all relevant data collected, areas of concern and underrepresented demographics can be identified. To begin addressing diversity issues, companies should review demographics such as age, sex and ethnicity to see if each group is properly represented throughout the business. Organizations can begin by asking the following questions:

• Is management overrepresented by one demographic?
• Do certain departments have trouble hiring certain demographics?
• Are employees at one location less diverse than at others?

Organizations should also turn to employees to gain additional information on diversity and inclusion concerns and to learn employee attitudes on workplace culture.

Implement Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives

After areas of concern have been identified, companies should look to implement diversity and inclusion initiatives to address issues and to create a more comfortable working environment for all employees.

Examples of diversity and inclusion initiatives are changes in company policies and practices, staff training, targeted recruiting and employer-sponsored diversity and inclusion awareness events. The organization must develop an action plan to implement these initiatives by setting realistic goals and starting with the elements that have the greatest business value or that are readily achievable to build momentum for the initiative.

Organizations should approach managers and equip them with messages to inform, educate, engage or empower employees where appropriate. The communication plan should incorporate executive presentations, social media posts, internal newsletters, intranet and email communications. The organization should use metrics and success stories to connect the diversity and inclusion efforts to its own goals and strategic diversity plans.

Types of Diversity and Inclusion Programs

Diversity and inclusion programs need to reflect the demographics of a company to better serve employees. There are many types of diversity and inclusion programs that are designed to address the special considerations that arise in a diverse workplace. For example, if a company is looking to hire more women in management positions, creating an outreach program that seeks to scout top female talent and groom them for success in leadership positions can help achieve this goal. Companies can also implement targeted diversity initiatives for veterans, ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities and others.

Measure Diversity Programs Outcomes

To make sure that diversity and inclusion initiatives are having a positive impact, it is imperative for organizations to measure the results of the programs that have been implemented. Outcomes such as an increased representation of identified groups and improved employee satisfaction are two of the most important metrics to track. Other measurements, such as improved employee retention, public recognition and awards can also indicate how an organization is performing in its diversity and inclusion program.

Some efforts may seem intangible, but some measures can indicate the success levels of action items. If diversity training is implemented to increase retention, employee retention can be tracked over time, and employees can be surveyed to determine if the training was a factor, and how much so, in their continued employment.

The results of the initiatives should be communicated at all levels to demonstrate the return on investment and value-add to the organization. Communication tools can include infographics for senior leadership meetings, memos to staff and company videos for potential candidates.

The ability to manage a diversity and inclusion program will only become more important as workplace diversity continues to increase. Organizations that take to time to diversity plan and have created successful diversity programs will have a leg up when it comes to hiring talent and increasing company revenue.