5 DEI initiatives every workplace needs

When organizations invest in DEI initiatives, everyone benefits – employees, business leaders, and the organization as a whole. In this article, we’ll explore five DEI initiatives every workplace should prioritize to thrive. Read on to learn about the benefits of diversity, equity, and inclusion at work and understand how to integrate these impactful initiatives into your organization.

1. What is DEI and how to develop it?
2. Building a diverse workforce
3. Fostering an inclusive environment
4. Offering workforce development
5. Developing a DEI strategy
6. Measuring the impacts of your DEI initiatives
7. How to shape the future with diverse, inclusive workplaces?

What is DEI?

Let’s start by breaking down what diversity, equity, and inclusion mean for the workplace:

• Diversity: DEI starts with various people who bring different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to the team. This can come from a diverse mix of ethnicities and sexual orientations, as well as gender diversity.
• Equity: This refers to the fair and just treatment of all people regardless of background or identity, which ensures everyone can access the same opportunities. 
• Inclusion: This means creating a welcoming and supportive environment where everyone feels valued.

How to develop DEI?

DEI initiatives help organizations gain a competitive advantage by creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce. Let’s go over 5 ways to accomplish that.

1. Building a diverse workforce

Statistics show the more diverse an organization’s talent pool, the better its financial performance. This also helps everyone feel like they belong. Let’s explore a couple of ways to build a diverse workforce.

Inclusive hiring practices

It all starts here. Inclusive hiring attracts and retains diverse candidates from underrepresented groups. Here are a few tips:

• Use standardized job criteria so hiring managers can evaluate applicants fairly.
• Write job descriptions with inclusive language and avoid gendered terms.
• Implement a blind recruitment process where names, genders, and other revealing information are removed from resumes before review.

Overcoming unconscious bias

Unconscious bias includes unintentional preferences and prejudices about others and is a roadblock in creating a diverse workforce. It may creep into the hiring process or workplace interactions and contribute to unequal treatment or opportunity access for employees.

Organizations can overcome unconscious bias by:

• Providing staff with unconscious bias training to increase awareness of personal biases and their impact on decision-making
• Fostering a culture of open dialogue where individuals feel comfortable discussing their biases and experiences
• Implementing structured processes and predetermined criteria in hiring, selection, and performance evaluations rather than relying on gut feelings or personal preferences

2. Fostering an inclusive environment

This ensures all team members feel valued, respected, and productive regardless of their background. But what does fostering an inclusive environment look like? Let’s go through a few key aspects.

Inclusive workplace culture

Here are some ways to make your workplace culture more inclusive:

• Demonstrate leadership’s commitment to a diverse and inclusive culture by stating it via company-wide emails, events, and blog posts, and support those statements with actions discussed here.
• Offer and support diversity training for employees to increase awareness and understanding of your organization’s DEI efforts.
• Celebrate and respect different cultures and traditions by creating a calendar that highlights diverse holidays or sharing the history and significance of these events for employee enrichment. 

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

ERGs are voluntary, employee-led groups that promote diversity and inclusion within a company, like support and networking opportunities for employees of diverse backgrounds. Examples of ERGs include groups for women, LGBTQ+ individuals, or racially and ethnically diverse employees. Encourage ERGs in your organization by:

• Providing funding and resources for their formation and ongoing activities
• Communicating the existence of ERGs to all new employees
• Collaborating with ERGs to generate content and events that engage and include everyone in the organization

Supporting diverse needs

Employees have various needs that organizations can and should support. Showing support creates a safe space and benefits the company by increasing psychological safety. Organizations can support diverse needs by:

• Offering flexible work arrangements to support parents, caregivers, and employees with diverse needs
• Providing mental health resources and encouraging open conversations around mental well-being
• Implementing policies and training to support neurodivergent employees and individuals with disabilities

3. Offering workforce development

Offering career development opportunities to your employees boosts their morale and productivity and makes them more likely to stick around. But as a DEI initiative, it also fosters internal growth and advances employees from diverse backgrounds, which can promote workforce equity. Let’s detail a couple of key development opportunities that support DEI.

Mentorship programs

These bring employees together with experienced professionals within the organization to help them grow their skills and advance their careers. Mentoring benefits both the mentees and mentors and encourages the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and perspectives. 

Examples of mentorship programs might include one-on-one relationships within the company or group mentoring sessions where multiple employees can learn from a single mentor.

DEI training

DEI training is essential for organizations committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. Educating employees on DEI concepts and practices fosters an inclusive environment and improves employee engagement. Organizations can implement DEI training by:

• Offering workshops and seminars on various DEI topics, such as unconscious bias, inclusivity, and cross-cultural communication
• Partnering with external DEI experts to customize programs for the organization’s unique needs
• Implementing diverse training styles, like online modules or interactive group sessions, to cater to multiple learning preferences

4. Developing a DEI strategy

A well-crafted DEI strategy is an important aspect of any business strategy since it provides direction and concrete goals for fostering an inclusive environment. Here’s how to create a successful DEI strategy that supports your business objectives.

Assess current DEI

Start by assessing your organization’s current diversity and inclusion landscape. Compile and evaluate demographic data, workplace culture, policies, and practices and identify areas for improvement. Gather input from employees through surveys or focus groups to understand a variety of perspectives.

Set goals

Next, set company-wide DEI goals that align with your organization’s values and long-term vision. For example, you might commit to increasing the representation of underrepresented groups in leadership positions by a certain percentage within a specific time frame or strive to improve the retention rate of employees from these groups.

Establish accountability

For your DEI strategy to succeed, identify key individuals or teams (like human resources or a DEI committee) to oversee implementation, track progress, and report on metrics. Accountability helps maintain focus and commitment to the DEI goals and fosters a sense of ownership throughout the company.

Engage leaders and stakeholders

Support from all organizational levels is essential for DEI efforts to resonate company-wide. It also encourages buy-in from senior managers, who can ensure management as a whole is held accountable for DEI success. 

Engage leaders and stakeholders in DEI initiatives by:

• Creating a diverse committee of employees from all levels to implement and promote DEI in the workplace
• Keeping the entire organization and its stakeholders informed and updated on the progress of DEI goals
• Inviting feedback and ideas to improve DEI strategy and initiatives.

5. Measuring the impacts of your DEI initiatives

Measuring your outcomes can let you better understand what works and what doesn’t, and how to adjust your strategy for the best results. Let’s look at a few ways to measure the impact of your DEI strategy.

Track progress

Using data to track relevant metrics about your DEI progress is key to understanding the effectiveness of your DEI initiatives. Some metrics organizations can track include:

• Demographic data, including the representation of diverse groups in various roles and leadership positions
• Retention rates of employees from underrepresented groups
• Participation levels in DEI programs, training, and ERGs

Measure profitability

Determining the profitability of your DEI efforts can help demonstrate the value of investing in diversity and inclusion. Measure profitability by looking at:

• Increased innovation and creativity resulting from diverse perspectives
• Improved market reach, as diverse teams can better understand and cater to diverse customer bases
• Higher employee engagement, which can lead to increased productivity and decreased turnover

Communicate with employees

Understanding the employee experience not only increases employee engagement and productivity – it also ensures your DEI strategy is working. This measurement can provide insight into employee engagement, job satisfaction, and retention rates. It also helps to share the progress of your DEI initiatives with employees to ensure transparency and accountability. 

Some ways to communicate with your organization about DEI efforts include:

• Conducting regular employee surveys or pulse checks to gauge how people feel about DEI efforts, workplace culture, and their sense of belonging
• Hosting focus groups or open discussions that encourage employees to share their experiences, feedback, and suggestions
• Sharing DEI goals and regularly providing progress updates

How to shape the future with diverse, inclusive workplaces?

Embracing DEI is an ongoing process. Start with a strategy for fostering a diverse team and an inclusive, equitable environment, support it with employee development, then track and share your progress. These focused efforts can provide immense benefits. 

Every work environment’s DEI starts with management. Find world-class executive education programs, read news and analyses about the global business world, and find resources to help you advance your business management career at IMD. 

Check out IMD’s Changing Employee Behavior Program here!