The Intersection of Wellbeing and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Part One

If there was one good thing that came from the pandemic, it was the spotlight put on wellbeing and mental health. Now more than ever employers are adapting to the notion that looking after employee mental wellbeing is in their duty of care just as much as physical health and safety.

However, there still seems to be a disconnect between intention and action, as highlighted in the Revolutionaries of Wellbeing “State of Workplace Wellbeing 2023 Report ” published earlier this month, in which 65% of respondents agreed that poor wellbeing had caused people to leave their workplace.

What’s that got to do with DEI? Well, turns out - quite a bit! As put by Talent Culture , DEI and wellbeing is a ”junction where belonging, health, happiness, and productivity live.” One heavily influences the other, and vice versa.

The Intersection of Wellbeing and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Part One

Welcome to my first two-parter. As I got writing it dawned on me just how deep I could go this topic! One edition would simply scratch the surface. So I decided to break it down over two.

Poor employee wellbeing can often be a symptom of an organisation that is not inclusive, where people don’t feel they can be authentically them in order to belong.

I recently read an article by the Harvard Business Review that really resonated - “To Curb Burnout, Design Jobs to Better Match Employees Needs ” . The article explores job stressors that can have a detrimental effect on employee wellbeing, causing exhaustion, cynicism, and ineffectiveness. These occur when there is a mismatch between the job and basic human needs, such as competence, belongingness, and psychological safety.

I mapped these out on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a framework commonly used to explain both the wellbeing needs we have as humans as well as how humans are intrinsically motivated.

The stressors that the article explores fall into six categories - Workload, Control, Reward, Community, Fairness, and Values. It came as no surprise to me that I could think of ways that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion influence each of these categories.

1. Workload

Consider office “housework” - all the less glamorous, behind-the-scenes tasks that keep things running but seldom come with visibility, reward or recognition. Employees are unlikely to make a name for themself being the Chief Dishwasher Unloader or most skilful note-taker, nor is this work likely to lead to a promotion, pay increase or any real career advancements.

There are a number of studies across numerous industries that point to the fact that unfair task distribution disproportionately affects women and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) employees.

It can be really hard to see this dynamic taking place in the teams you lead, after all, you can’t be everywhere, all the time, observing. But make sure that doesn’t lead you to believe that it isn’t happening. Here are some steps you can take, as a leader, to help identify disparities and course-correct.

1. Identifying what the “housework” is in your team. Make a list of tasks like scheduling meetings, taking notes, ordering food, organising social activities etc.
2. Set out to determine whether anyone is doing more than their fair share. You could send your team members a short survey asking them how often they do each task and how much of their time it takes. Or in your next 1:1 ask about times they had “housework” assigned where their colleagues were asked to do the value-add work. Make sure you create a safe space. Tell them why you are asking so that they know they’re not going to be called out for not “being a team player”. You are listening to understand, not to rebut.
3. Correct this imbalance, and take the responsibility to assign work equally. Don’t ask for volunteers for mundane projects and tasks, rather establish a system that ensures that everyone takes turns owning behind-the-scenes work to allow everyone the opportunity to own the value-add work that gets them noticed.
4. Lastly, hold everyone accountable for ALL the tasks they’ve been assigned. “Just not being a details guy” should be addressed like any other performance issue.

Without this course correction, it can easily be assumed that those in the spotlight i.e. giving the presentations, are the more capable employees than those in the background i.e. preparing the presentations. Which often is not the case!

2. Control

Think of control as the autonomy and flexibility needed to do your best work. When employees have a choice as to how, when and where they work they can accomplish a lot more.

Often flexibility is seen as a “benefit for working parents”. While it’s 100% true that the ability to plan my workday around my caregiving responsibilities allows me to do my best work (I have the utmost respect for working parents who managed back when being physically present in the office from 8am - 5pm was the only way!), It’s not only parents benefiting.

Consider an employee with a mobility impairment who may find catching public transport during rush hour extremely difficult or a neurodiverse employee who needs a solid block of uninterrupted focus time every day - which is challenging to get in the office. Even simply morning people vs. evening people. My husband does his best work between 8pm and midnight, whereas I’ll be up at 5am making lists and jotting down ideas.

Most office-based businesses will have put in place flexible work policies since the pandemic but to commit to the type of flexibility that increases productivity make sure of the following.

• Don’t be rigid with flexibility. There is no one-size-fits-all that will work for every employee. Offer flexible work that is truly flexible. Saying you can have one day working from home each week and that day is Wednesday - is not flexible.
• Don’t only offer flexibility to an exclusive group i.e. working parents. That’s likely to cause resentment and will create more inequity in the workplace.
• Encourage your team members to share their own working preferences and commitments outside of work. If you don’t know that Mike drops dinner to his elderly mother on Thursday afternoons - it’s hard to accommodate for that.
• As a leader, set your own personal boundaries, model behaviours and lead by example. Put visible blocks in your calendar for things like daycare drop-offs, family dinners, doctor’s appointments and push back when inevitably someone tries to book over that time. Employees will start to follow suit.

3. Reward

A reward mismatch is when an employee doesn’t feel they are receiving appropriate recognition or opportunities. This is definitely one of the more meatier topics when it comes to workplace DEI. Unfortunately, we all know the gender and racial pay gap is still alive and kicking here in 2023.

There’s a lot that goes into achieving pay parity as an organisation. Systems need to be designed and built intentionally with a DEI lens. There’s no silver bullet, but here are some starting points for those organisations early on in their journey.

Are you collecting and analysing data?

Compensation and promotions data can help you identify potential disparities based on gender, race, ethnicity, and other demographic information. Collecting and reviewing data should be a regular exercise to track progress and identify any emerging disparities.

What is your organisation doing to ensure pay transparency?

Being transparent with employees on how compensation is determined and providing a clear breakdown of salary bands and other components that make up compensation packages can hold organisations to account and ensure their practices are fair and equitable.

Regular compensation benchmarking to ensure positions are properly classified and compensated according to their responsibilities, skills, and market value should be part of any standard remuneration review cycle.

If you have the data, consider reporting wage gaps via the Mind the Gap registry. Again, it holds organisations to account but it also shows a willingness and commitment to closing that gap.

How are you ensuring performance reviews are conducted in a fair, transparent, unbiased way?

I recently wrote a post on this topic. Check it out here: “Objective Performance Reviews: Tips for Fair Assessment “.

I’ll wrap it up there for this week and pick up again next time to cover Community, Fairness, and Values.

Ngā mihi,

Sian