No diversity strand is untouched by Covid-19: why diversity & inclusion is more important than ever

Covid–19 is a virus that doesn’t discriminate and does not respect international borders. The spread of the virus is actually showing us that we have a lot more in common than we usually admit to. The effects of the virus are impacting everybody - from health to economics - without prejudice.

Responding to a crisis

Whilst businesses globally are figuring out how to respond to the pandemic crisis, a lot of their energy and focus is on managing their finances, ensuring that products and services can still be delivered and employees are safe. This is of course, the right thing to do. But what I am also seeing is that a number of business principles we’ve invested heavily in since the last global economic crisis, like diversity and inclusion, are unfortunately falling off the priority list. 

There are organisations that have made their diversity and inclusion leaders redundant or moved them back into general HR roles, cancelled or postponed inclusion interventions and managers reverting back to old ways of leading teams by leaning back on their non-inclusive unconscious biases. Some of these organisations have explicitly stated values about diversity and inclusion, but their choices and behaviours are no longer congruent with these values. It’s during these times of difficulty and crisis that we should be stress testing our organisational values. Not flouting them.

Fortunately, there are many businesses continuing to prioritise diversity and inclusion because they know that it’s not only the right thing to do (the ethical business case) but it will help them bounce back from this crisis better (for example, the financial and innovation cases of diversity). 

Inequalities in society

Covid–19 is shining a light on some of the inequalities we see in society. Workplaces play a really important role in challenging these inequalities. Workplaces educate employees on creating a fairer society, which they take back to their families around the dinner table after work. They bring diverse people together under one organisation to collaborate and work towards common goals, visions, missions and create safe cultures where people feel like they belong. Very often our workplaces are much more diverse than our personal circle of friends and family.

Both in the USA and the UK we are seeing a disproportionate impact on people from ethnic minority backgrounds by Covid–19. A recent BBC article highlighted that black African deaths are 3 times higher than white Britons from the coronavirus. An Institute of Fiscal Studies research shows us that several factors interplay to explain this predicament. For example, we see more black people in key worker roles on the frontline, therefore, at greater risk of virus exposure. Furthermore, 14% of doctors come from an Indian background (compare that to 3% of the working population being Indian in the UK) again being more exposed to the virus. Bangladeshi men are 4 times as likely as white British men to be working in ‘shutdown industries’ and black African households have lower than average household savings. Therefore, there is a disproportionate financial impact on these communities and households.

When we first entered lockdown in the UK I was hopeful that one of the ‘silver linings’ (I am generally an optimistic person) would be to see more men taking an active role in caring responsibilities. I was hopeful because I remembered the Equal Lives research that Business in the Community conducted where they said that if men took a more active role in caring responsibilities at home, then this could help close the gender pay gap in the workplace. In the report they said: “The gender pay gap does not exist solely because women take on the majority of caring responsibilities, but does increase significantly when there are children in the family. It is an accepted truth for both men and women: if men were more involved in caring, women could progress further in their careers”. I have spoken to many colleagues who are equally sharing caring responsibilities during lockdown, for example, a couple working in ‘shifts’ with one of them looking after the children in the morning whilst the other works and then swapping over halfway through the day. However, I have also spoken with colleagues who fear that gender stereotypes are still being perpetuated where women are doing a full-time job, home schooling the children and doing the housework whilst their partner is working upstairs in the study.

As somebody who was born with a rare neuromuscular disability (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) I have been very fortunate to have worked for employers embracing flexible working and working from home. In fact, working from home is much more accessible and inclusive for me than sitting in an open plan office. I have connected my home up to the Amazon Alexa so that I can control the comfort of my’ workplace’ with my voice (like turning the lights on and off or turning the thermostat up when I get cold). However, there are disabled people struggling with working from home during the pandemic. For example, in the UK there are concerns about the government’s Access to Work scheme continuing to provide the right levels of support that enables disabled people to be in employment. Also, seeing disabled women exposed to greater risk of domestic abuse (as they increase their dependence on others) and mental well-being affected from social isolation. Therefore, it’s really important that employers recognise that they may have employees that need personalised support rather than a blanket approach to remote working or employee well-being.

Intersectionality and the importance of inclusion

Covid–19 really is affecting all of us as it doesn’t discriminate. However, the above examples do show us that there is disproportionate impact upon certain members of our society due to our own social constructs. It’s also highlighting the need for businesses to recognise intersectionality and be wholly inclusive. Intersectionality recognises that we don’t just belong to one box, characteristic or category. I, for example, am male, disabled, white, gay and sarcastic (four of which are protected by UK equality legislation). But so many organisations approach diversity and inclusion as pillars, or strands and in silos. They focus on women in leadership this year, ethnic minority graduates the following year, LGBTQ+ individuals after that, then it’s mindfulness and eventually they might get around to disability.

Diversity is a given. Diversity includes everybody. We choose to be inclusive (or not). As business leaders we can decide to focus our diversity strategy on one group in society (for example, women in leadership) and overlook others (for now at least). Or, we can harness inclusivity to improve society and some of the dilemmas outlined above and to also bounce back from this pandemic and economic crisis.

As business leaders we can direct our businesses to improve the economic opportunities for young black men leaving school, employment prospects of disabled graduates (who are generally underemployed) or the safety and security of some LGBTQ+ people living at home with homophobic families.

As business leaders we can embrace diversity within our ranks to create cultures of respect and inclusion so that everybody has the opportunity to thrive. By enabling individuals to thrive our businesses will prosper and grow as we emerge from the pandemic. We can expect better decision-making during times of crisis, creative ideas and innovations that will future proof our organisation and creating a culture where people love working for you and then tell the rest of the world what a fantastic employer you.

About the author

Toby Mildon is a Diversity & Inclusion Architect and founder of Mildon, a consultancy and advisory business. Toby works with businesses to re-engineer processes and systems to minimise the impact of bias and build a culture of inclusion. Prior to setting up his business, Toby worked as an in-house diversity and inclusion manager at the BBC and Deloitte. Toby is the author of the bestselling Amazon book Inclusive Growth: Future proof your business by creating a diverse workplace. Inclusive Growth provides a practical framework that enables you to deliver a sustainable, diverse and inclusive workplace which allows your organisation to grow.