Creating A Work Environment That Supports the Retention of Underrepresented Groups

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Retaining individuals from historically underrepresented groups can be a big challenge for organizations that place a lot of effort in diversity recruiting but do NOT offer the culture and the environment that supports inclusion. Employees from historically underrepresented groups look for a sense of belonging and a work environment that assures them that their progression will not be impacted by biases.?

If you are noticing a lack of consistent support for underrepresented populations within your company then I recommend you watch this video I published on my YouTube channel a few weeks ago. In this video, I discussed the skills and tools needed to support the retention of underrepresented populations. You can also find the video directly on the Increase Diversity by Jenn Tardy YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe when you visit!

Don’t have time to watch the entire video? Here are the key takeaways:

Key Takeaway #1: Environment Always Wins

When you are thinking about the retention of top talent at your workplace, there is one simple rule: Environment Always Wins! It is surprising how many companies still do not understand how crucial a workplace environment is to the overall happiness of their employees. There is also one other rule that you need to always remember: People leave terrible managers, not companies. The reason why people leave bad managers is that oftentimes, the manager is responsible for creating or enabling other team members to develop a toxic workplace environment, leaving affected employees to feel unmotivated and not able to be their best at work.?

Key Takeaway #2: Challenge Yourself

So, what do you, as a recruiter, as a manager, and as a leader, do about understanding your work environment and how can you make your company a place that excels in employee retention? First of all, even if you believe that you have a great work environment, I want you to challenge yourself and ask one fundamental question: For Whom??

You need to ask questions like:

• Who does your work environment most benefit?
• Who do you have to be to experience a great work environment?
• Who does your workplace environment enable to bring their whole self to work, without having to assimilate?
• Who gets inverted into the good old boys' network??

Is there a trend of exclusion that you are seeing when trying to answer these questions? Does everyone have equitable access or is it the same folks each time? Make a note of that.

Here are some other questions that you can ask:

• Who gets to see themselves in leadership roles?
• Is there enough diversity and representation of different communities in senior management or is there visible bias?

You also need to ask questions about the personal and professional development of your employees. You must ask questions like:

• Who typically feels included on the team and among their peers?
• Who has a voice that gets heard?
• Who gets fair access to internal opportunities?

Before I share the next key takeaways with you, I want to talk about a freebie that I have for you called 5 Ways Leaders Can Support Historically Underrepresented Groups in the Workplace. It is an infographic that you can print and keep for your reference and it is downloadable for free.?

Key Takeaway #3: Internal Opportunities

Speaking of internal opportunities, you should ask questions like:

• Who sees fairness and opportunities given?
• Who receives mentoring and sponsorship to help them grow?
• Who receives constructive feedback and insights on how to get to the next level?

These are a lot of questions that you should be asking and, to be honest, each answer can result in a plan to be in place to ensure that underrepresented groups do not feel excluded and treated differently. While you will be able to get answers to some of the questions simply by observation, others will require you to conduct surveys with the entire team. Only then, once you have that data, can you truly begin to increase diversity by way of retention.?

Join me in the comments: I want you to tell me which areas have you seen the most bias against underrepresented populations in your workplace. Let’s start a conversation below.??