It is important to recognise and accommodate the chosen families of LGBTQ+ individuals, ensuring that policies reflect the organisation’s commitment to inclusivity rather than engaging in ‘pinkwashing’ and not actually following through with meaningful interventions. Business leaders and their employees should proactively advocate for inclusive policies, regardless of whether it directly affects them, to ensure that discrimination is challenged actively rather than relying on those concerned and affected to speak up.
Hiring, promotion, and retention processes
Embracing openness and transparency into the hiring, promotion, and retention processes is vital to create an authentically diverse and inclusive work environment. One way to achieve this is by implementing blind recruitment practices, where certain aspects such as names, contact details, nationality, gender, sex, age or disability are not disclosed. It is also important to explain why you request such personal data and how you plan to use it, and which elements from these will remain blind, ensuring candidates understand the significance and purpose.
When collecting personal data, businesses should use inclusive terms that allow individuals to provide their preferred pronouns and self-describe their titles instead of ‘othering’ them. This approach helps create a safe and welcoming environment for all candidates.
Tracking the demographics across all levels and departments to gauge the retention rate of diverse employees can highlight levels where people disengage and spotlight pinch-points areas that need interventions. Tracking also ensures there is a determined focus on pay equity across the business, which can include trigger mechanisms to highlight divergence.
Tracking progress
Data plays a critical role in monitoring and evaluating the progress in DE&I efforts. Without data, it can be challenging to assess whether there is a cause for celebration or a need for further action. It is nearly impossible to account for any gain or stagnation in this process.
Businesses should consider conducting anonymous surveys every year, if not every six months, to collect valuable, qualitative information from their employees. It might be an uncomfortable read, but it allows those in power to assess the progress, identify areas of improvement, and determine whether their initiatives are driving positive change.
Addressing Bias and Discrimination through Training and Development
Raising awareness is key to understanding and addressing bias and discrimination in the workplace. While staff members or networks from specific communities often attend DE&I training and events, they’re equally important for dominant employee groups and leadership teams who have the privilege, power, and influence to drive cultural change. All levels of the business should promote and support inclusive initiatives, ensuring a comprehensive understanding and commitment to addressing bias.
To address unconscious bias throughout all levels of the business, I recommend having compulsory DE&I training for all company levels. It is vital to keep updating each DE&I training with new learnings and concerns that employees may have shared in the anonymous surveys. DE&I conversations and working practices need to become mainstream, instead of being seen as silo endeavours for HR, staff networks and marginalised communities.
Address underrepresentation within the profession
Recognising that diversity extends beyond surface-level representations is essential for all businesses. For instance, while cis-gendered gay males may be more visible within the LGBTQ+ community, queer women, bisexual people and the transgender community remains underrepresented and minoritised. However, addressing this can be challenging as it often means navigating through and against multiple dominant cultures simultaneously.
To promote greater inclusivity, develop strategies to acknowledge and support the unique experiences and challenges these underrepresented groups face. Implementing industry and corporate-level initiatives, such as setting targets for gender diversity at the board level or increasing representation of ethnic backgrounds, can also help drive a cultural shift towards greater diversity, which includes diversity of thought as well as lived and learned experiences. Additionally, it is essential to reassess employee benefits from a diversity lens to ensure all the offerings are valuable to your employees.
Policies are the foundation
HR teams should review or rewrite policies to ensure they incorporate inclusive and up-to-date language that promotes parity. This involves focusing on genuinely inclusive policies, such as considering shared parental leave, accommodating trans individuals’ medical appointments or surgery and extending inclusivity beyond gender policies.
