The 10 Commandments for Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

By Stephanie Smith and Tina Wells

You’ve heard it before: management says, “we have a diversity department/ a diversity specialist/ diversity executive.” Then you look around the office, and the employee pool is as diverse as a box of plain doughnuts. 

To be a diverse workplace in 2019 means more than just a few people of color sprinkled throughout an office space. It means hiring women, men, transgender, mothers, seniors, and people of color to help create products and businesses that serve all types of people. It’s making people feel a part of a company’s development in a tangible way. It’s tapping their talents and perspective regularly across all work-related platforms (not just tapping their brain when a minority client comes knocking). All this while creating a safe and welcoming space for their existence.

There isn’t a quick fix to solving diversity issues, but there are many ways to be more inclusive in the workplace. First step—loosen up! Employers shouldn’t be so scared of doing the wrong thing that they do nothing towards being more minority-friendly.

To help hiring managers and executives achieve better multicultural representation at their companies in more thoughtful, authentic ways—and have a chuckle at some not so successful diversity measures--  we bring you Elevation Tribe’ s 10 Commandments of Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace:

1. Thou shalt not say, “my best friend/neighbor/co-worker from my first job/high school running back/college roommate was [insert color reference here],” especially in interviews with POCs. Knowing one POC does not mean you know them all. You cannot claim some sort of expertise in POCs by saying you know one.

2. Thou shalt not use slang colloquialisms in job postings or interviews with people of color--or anyone, frankly--in an effort to look cool, but then have no knowledge of what said colloquialisms mean.  No ‘lit.’ No ‘queen.’ Not now. Not in the office.  Ever.

3. Thou shall not bring up Kanye West in job interviews. Or Bill Maher. Or Lena Dunham. Or other popular but polarizing cultural icons. Somewhere along the way someone will say something the other won’t agree with. Just don’t go there.

4. Thou shalt not shorten full versions of ethnic names in an effort to make them easier to pronounce for yourself. Show respect to the person you’re interviewing by asking them the correct pronunciation of their name. If you know how to say Emily Ratajkowski, you can pronounce a candidate’s name.

5. Thou shalt not hire diversity candidates, only to fire them days, weeks, or months later due to behavior outside of what’s allegedly deemed acceptable. The only thing worse than hiring someone because they’re diverse is firing them because they said or did something many years ago that does not sit with the status quo. There’s this thing called Google that you can use to check them out before you hire.

6. Thou shalt look for diverse talent where that talent lie--i.e. The Wing, Jopwell, ADCOLOR, NABJ, NAAAP, Girls Who Code, The Second Shift, etc. Expand your talent recruitment efforts beyond the usual channels… like your boss’ daughter’s lacrosse team roster.

7. Thou shalt educate thyself on what is happening in various cultures and ask questions about hot topics that you may not have perspective on. Thou needs to show a curiosity, concern, and empathy about others different from themselves.

8. Thou shalt not hire a diversity and inclusion (D&I) executive to panel hop. You know who you are, spouter of statistics. These are the people who show up at conferences to talk about the problem at length (quite eloquently), but offer no solutions (“The work has only begun!” “There’s so much more work to do!”), dressed to the nines. We don’t want to see more of you in 2019.

9. Thou shalt not program diversity panels with non-diverse panelists. Panels on diversity are great. Diverse panels on diversity—who also present tangible solutions--are better.  

10. Thou shalt not take this all too seriously. Listen, we’re two women of color very serious about diversity in the workplace, but we’ve all got to loosen up a bit. At the end of the day, we all want a work environment where we feel comfortable, can be ourselves and can enjoy collaborative relationships. That means we have to give each other the benefit of the doubt.

And in the spirit of giving, we thought we’d give you some quick takeaways you should explore to find amazing diverse candidates:

1. Grab a coffee on a consistent basis (weekly, monthly) with POCs at your company, and ask them off the record how to recruit more people like them. BE INTENTIONAL.
2. Create relationships with career advisors at HBCUs. Let them know you want to recruit and want to create an environment where POCs can thrive in your organization.
3. Do not leave it up to the D&I exec to create all D&I strategies for your company. That is too much pressure for one person. Create a committee, from every level within the company, to work together on the inclusion side.
4. If you create a culture of inclusion, you will become diverse. Inclusion in the future should include artificial intelligence, people of all different ages, races, identities.