In our last blog we discussed a few ways to increase inclusivity within organizations right away, but we also emphasized how these efforts must continue beyond February to have a positive impact. With that in mind, here are a few more steps organizations can take to ensure diversity, inclusion, and equity efforts are effective both today and tomorrow.

Review your hiring practices

Many organizations hire for “culture fit,” which can create unconscious biases that need to be addressed. Culture fit sounds logical at first–who doesn’t want an instant connection with their coworkers?–but it can unintentionally lead to a relatively homogenous workforce. This not only limits opportunities for female and minority candidates, it also limits an organization’s ability to innovate.

2X

Men are twice as likely to be hired by both male and female hiring managers.

50%

Caucasian candidates are 50% more likely to receive a post-interview callback than African American

Don’t fall into this trap–racially and ethnically diverse companies are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders and are shown to outperform industry norms by 35%.

Use surveys to gather initial and ongoing feedback

Do you have a sense for how your organization is performing on diversity and inclusion? Do you have insight to how your team feels you’re doing? Navigate’s survey tools can help you assess your population, develop your initial strategy, and build out your program. This begins with our diversity and inclusion survey, which gauges your employees’ feelings today, and can be continued with Pulse Surveys to provide ongoing check-ins to your improvement. These Pulse Surveys are completely customizable, quick-hit surveys that allow you to gather ongoing feedback by asking the same questions over a series of time, about any topic you wish. Use them to chart the evolution of your employees’ feelings and address them in real time. If possible, it’s also a great idea to create a diversity and inclusion council made up of multiple roles, backgrounds, and departments within your organization. This group can help leadership assess survey results and brainstorm appropriate solutions

Communicate your strategy and set expectations

Be open about your strategy and end goals so your workforce knows what to do. The right communication strategy will help your employees understand your company’s stance on diversity and inclusion, their role in your overall strategy, and the resources available to them. This is vital if you want to generate engagement and results, and it requires a well-developed campaign – 86% of all employees cite ineffective communication as a reason that workplace initiatives fail. With five generations in the workforce, different preferences in delivery method, and new work-from-home policies, proper communication can be a tough task. But these efforts are made easier with an online hub that can consolidate your resources, especially when that hub includes communication capabilities to deliver your message through multiple mediums. Navigate can help your team connect to your D&I resources and to each other, even if they remain remote.

Create a community connection

Studies have shown that fewer than 10% of mid-size companies use their community involvement programs to drive engagement, and incorporating your community work into your wellbeing program is a perfect way to solve this problem. Through a tool like Navigate’s customizable incentive tracking table, your employees can easily review all of the community options available to them, track their activity, and even earn a reward to motivate continued participation. Getting your employees involved with your community allows them to see the impact of their actions, taking your D&I efforts out of the training room and into the real world.

Want to learn more about how a wellbeing program can complement your diversity and inclusion strategy? Reach out to Navigate’s business development team to Book a Demo.

Already a client and want to launch your D&I Survey today? Reach out to your account manager!

Sources

https://blog.clearcompany.com/12-diversity-hiring-statistics-rethink-your-decisions

https://medium.com/hr-blog-resources/top-5-workplace-diversity-statistics-2f4ba1d03a2e

https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/book-blog/pages/how-community-involvement-can-boost-employee-engagement.aspx

https://www.expertmarket.com/phone-systems/workplace-communication-statistics