8 Tips to kick start your diversity program

Look briefly at the ASX Top 200.

You’ll find an over representation of white men in senior executive positions after a glance. There are few women, there are no ethnic minorities, there is one LGBITIQ representative, there are no indigenous Australians. The same can be said for a host of minorities. Australia is a diverse country with an overwhelming lack of diversity where it matters; senior management and positions of power and wealth.

Diversity is about ensuring that everyone within an organisation is considered worthy, capable and able to perform, regardless of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or any other factor that is separate from their ability to perform at work. In the corporate world, diversity is more than just hiring a few staff from minority groups. True diversity is also about inclusion.

Inclusion is not just hiring people that are different. It is actively putting in place systems that help them assimilate into the corporate culture and helping them feel included and integrated. If you are hiring minorities to a tick a box and they feel like they don’t belong, that they’re not included in your organisation, they will leave and your company culture will become unengaged and toxic.

Diversity is not just something that’s nice for an organization, to tick a “social-responsibility-aren’t-we-a-nice-company box”. Diversity effects the bottom line. It’s inflates returns for shareholders. Diversity should be a priority to any orginisational head. It’s proven that companies that are diverse make more money and achieve their orginisational goals.

If you want to learn best practice strategies to cultivate a diverse and inclusive workforce, attend Konnect Learning’s Leadership in Diversity & Inclusion Forum.

Organisations that are more diverse do better financially, on morale, on staff satisfaction and performance. McKinsey & Co’s Diversity Matters report found the following:

• Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.
• Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.
• In the United States, there is a linear relationship between racial and ethnic diversity and better financial performance: for every 10 percent increase in racial and ethnic diversity on the senior-executive team, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rise 0.8 percent.
• In the United Kingdom, greater gender diversity on the senior-executive team corresponded to the highest performance uplift in our data set: for every 10 percent increase in gender diversity, EBIT rose by 3.5 percent.

Diversity makes sense. So why aren’t more organisations focusing on it.

Many organisations give a nod to diversity, without any tangible follow through. They say they’ll do something; put preliminary programs in place and then claim, “Well we tried”, without actually digging into why or why not their programs were successful. Diversity means changing a whole company, from the top down. It takes executive support, continuous reporting and improvement to truly understand where programs go wrong and implement corrective measures.

It also involves understanding that hiring for diversity is only one side of the coin. Inclusion is the key to driving and engaging a diverse workforce. To get diversity, you can’t forget to inclusion strategies.

While integrating a more diverse workforce is no small feat that cannot be achieved with a few tips, I’ve outlined what I think are the most important diversity strategies to include in your program design.

1. Focus on culture

It’s not enough to fill a quota. If you focus on a pipeline of diverse employees you’re not considering what will happen when they’re employed. It’s not just about diversity, it’s about inclusion. Onboarding. Company culture. Your culture will determine whether your diverse employees will stay. Is your culture accepting, do they use slang that would offend? Look at your organization as a whole, where are their problem areas.

1. Leadership support

Is diversity in your organization a “HR” issue, or are management at all levels behind it? Are your managers and executives held accountable for diversity metrics? Do you review your metrics regularly and analyse what/who is effective and reasons why this is? If it’s not, is that person really onboard?

1. Are your majorities supportive of your minorities?

Diversity for an organisation isn’t a woman problem, or an indigenous problem or a LGBTIQ problem. Whatever level of diversity you are trying to achieve, does the majority of the organization see that as a priority. Is it important? Elizabeth Broderick understood that gender equality couldn’t happen without the support of men. Men had to understand it was important for them, for the business and for all employees as a whole. It is only when the majority support the minority that can change really occur.

1. Keep metrics

Like any business initiative, if it is not measured there is no evidence that it is working, or not working. That means putting in place SMART goals. Do you want to achieve a quota of minority groups by a certain date? Do you then want to measure their contentment? Do you want to be notified of minority resignations and incorporate metrics on why they weren’t engaged? Whatever you deem important to measure, you need to make sure it is done regularly and produces meaningful decisions.

1. Unconscious bias

Everyone has bias. It’s how we interpret and understand the world. It’s how we categorise, sort and understand the what’s around us. Many employees leave jobs because they feel there is a bias, conscious or unconscious, that prevents progression and success. Never forget, managers have a direct impact on the happiness of their employees.

1. Job descriptions and recruitment practices

Is your job description actually deterring qualified candidates? Subtly changing the wording of your job description can attract or detract candidates. Have you experimented, analysed the data and tailored your approach accordingly? Also, what is your interview process like. Does it deter some minority groups? Are there ways to make it more inclusive?

1. Sponsor talent

If you assign your identified talented candidates with a sponsor and ensure they are publicly promoted, it goes a long way to advancing minority candidates. Sponsored candidates feel recognised and appreciated, but also like they are given the skills to navigate hidden company rules and cultural practices. They are more likely to stay.

1. Flexible work practices

Many employees, especially women, feel stigmatised for taking advantage of flexible work practices to provide care giving or see to work commitments. If your company culture looks down on this, or worse, if the promotion process views the taking of flexibility in a negative light, then having them in the first place is fairly hypocritical. It flies in the face of what you are actually trying to achieve.

Never forget; no one, no company or organisation, has it perfect yet. We’re all on the journey. Also never forget; the more you work on continuously improvement, examining the results and reassess from there, the more likely you will succeed.

Finally, don’t forget to attend Konnect Learning’s Leadership in Diversity & Inclusion Forum for the most up-to-date strategies from the leading orginisations in this arena.