A DEI strategy is under the broad term of employee engagement, a way to include varying types of employees that can help bring more talent into the workplace and help create a positive environment.
In this article, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at what DEI is and how important it is to implement it into the workspace.
What Is a DEI Strategy
The three pillars of DEI are Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion of employees with varying backgrounds.
Diversity helps describe differences among employees; it introduces the concept of having a group of people with differing social, physical, psychological, and cultural attributes.
Equity provides employees the same rights, opportunities, treatments vary, and advancement as their colleagues, regardless of race, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
Inclusion is the result of letting people with diverse backgrounds work together; these members are valued as a part of the organization; however, it does not mean that the employees are automatically accepted, welcomed, or appreciated.
Importance of DEI Strategy
Many studies have shown that implementing DEI strategies in the workplace has led to a boost in the performance and morale of employees compared to those that have not implemented a DEI strategy.
Due to the inclusion of diversity, studies show that these teams are found to be more innovative and help make better decisions. They also have a higher rate of stakeholder returns than non-inclusive companies.
DEI initiative companies have also been found to have more brand awareness throughout the corporate world than those that do not include employees from varying backgrounds.
Organizations that don’t implement this technique are more likely to miss out on unlocking their employee’s full potential and abilities.
DEI goes beyond the training mentorship, modules, new policies, and programs. It helps create a diverse and inclusive workplace where all the employees feel heard by sharing new and unique perspectives.
The employees are also found to respect one another and focus more on working together rather than against each other.
Employees who don’t feel heard in their workplace are eventually bound to leave. Leaving the company can be a bad influence as other company members will follow in their footsteps if the environment continues to be negative.
The Benefit of the DEI Strategy
With an accepting change in the workplace environment, a DEI strategy comes with many benefits that positively influence a company’s environment. Here are a few benefits which can bring a change in the environment:
● Extensive Talent Pool
By allowing different people from different backgrounds to work together, there is a diverse group of talent that people can express with the help of an accepting environment.
When people are allowed to thrive and let loose their creativity, the development can help the company bring a change in their products or services which can help fuel employee morale after seeing the results of their hard-earned labor.
● Employee Engagement and Satisfaction
Employees can find themselves engaged in giving their optimal best efforts, allowing them to be satisfied with their work at the end of the day.
● Higher Retention and Lower Turnover
By allowing your employees to let out their creative output, you allow them to become more engaged in the work they provide, leading to more employees staying for a longer time in the company and spending fewer days on vacation or avoidance from work.
● Better Decision Making
With an input of varying ideas, the employee’s extensive work can help in the decision-making abilities of the company, proving to be far different from the competitors in the market.
● Greater Innovation
New ideas sprout when the employees are given a chance to express their creativity. Giving employees a chance can lead to greater innovation ideas that optimize workflow. The space to provide ideas can encourage the rest of the workplace.
● Enhanced Financial Performance
By providing more optimized work, the individual’s work hours can create maximum output, which the company can benefit from.
● Ability to Outpace Competition
After all, when receiving the most output possible, you can help your company perform better than the competitors as it can help raise the profits earned in the business.
5 Steps to Foster DEI in the Workplace
Leaders in the workplace have a responsibility to help in employee engagement by following DEI strategies. They can enact objectives, strategies, and accountability to help measure DEI in the workplace.
Here is a 5 step guide on how to plan out a DEI strategy:
1. Commit DEI Efforts with a Company Vision
Creating a company vision helps create an encouraging alignment and adoption focus on the environment around the workplace. By communicating this vision, the team members can promote the energy in their work.
Moreover, a company vision should include a mission statement, vision statement, core values, and key differentiators.
2. Identify DEI Objectives And KPIs.
Measuring DEI is done by the set objectives of DEI. You should track its data. Some ways of identification are surveying the employees, tracking diversity in recruiting efforts, and using annual employee engagement surveys.
The help of data analytics is an effective way to collect analyze and report DEI’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) over time.
3. Create DEI Strategy
The DEI strategy must define the company’s purpose, mission, and values; it should list the metrics, establish governance and define leadership roles and team encouragement.
4. Schedule Checkpoints
Organizational change requires constant change and refinement of goals; checkpoints should be set to track the progress and ensure that the DEI initiatives are leading to change. Strategy refinement is necessary for many initiatives to meet the objectives set by leaders.
There should be regular DEI check-ins, analyzing the strategy’s success and failures, collecting feedback, and refining the DEI strategy after the collected data and information.
5. Don’t Give Up On DEI
DEI should be the top-of-mind for leaders. Change can only be seen after a while. Instead, You should check it constantly to perceive its progress. During the check-ins, leaders should always assure the employees of the improvements seen by the strategy.
Ensure collaboration with outside organizations, stay informed on the initiatives, continue prioritizing the DEI strategy and celebrate the milestone with teams.
Conclusion
Regarding the progress and expansion of your organization, the inclusion of DEI goals within the workplace should be the main goal. Whether it’s the public audience, investors, stakeholders, or job seekers, it is necessary to mention your company’s DEI goals to offer a sense of inclusion.