FREMONT, CA: Human race is vast and diverse, and businesses across all industries worldwide need to consider the inclusion of a diverse workforce to maintain a better and more efficient work environment. Business leaders are highly concerned about the significance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in organizations. According to several analysts, DEI primarily impacts the growth and development of an organization as it includes a diverse mix of leaders providing better discussions, decisions, and results.
Let us understand the various practices enterprises can follow to teach the importance of DEI in workplaces.
Switching to empathetic leadership: Maintaining a productive work environment requires understanding an employee's state of mind. Empathizing team members during organizational changes can bring positive outcomes regarding creativity, innovation, and engagement. Empathetic leaders must include DEI practices in workplaces through various strategies and processes. As per the research done by Catalyst, 50 percent of employees feel comfortable and inclusive with empathetic leaders who include DEI, in contrast to the 17 percent of the workforce who works with non-empathetic leaders.
Empower chief diversity officers: DEI inclusion is best done by chief diversity officers who understand the requirements better and help organizations prepare strategically to include diversity and inclusion in the workplace. DEI professionals can seamlessly bring change to the organization internally and emphasize DEI's importance to employees. But the challenge remains with empowering DEI professionals with financial and HR functions for introducing change within an organization.
Include DEI in branding: Top five companies in fortune 500 lists include DEI practices in their organizational structure and skillfully utilize them while promoting their brands. These organizations have observed improved employee performance, engagement, satisfaction, and reduced attrition rates.
An organization with DEI branding tends to attract better customers and employees from diverse groups to enhance organizational strength and power.
Make the workplace more accessible: According to U.S. labor law research data, approximately 17 percent of differently abled employees do not find themselves suitable for workplaces, as most businesses fail to provide provisions for disabled employees. Employers must have inclusive practices such as empowering HR professionals to create policies for disabled employees, proper communication about the policies inside an organization, making proper office infrastructure for the comfort of disabled employees, and allowing flexible working models for better productivity. Organizations can benefit from the inclusion of differently-abled employees through their expertise and dedication to work.
Despite having all DEI policies, companies can still struggle to succeed if proper mentoring of employees is not done. Business leaders must ensure strategic training and mentoring of employees within organizations about various DEI policies and laws to successfully include diversity, equity, and inclusion in workplaces.
