Moving Beyond Equal Opportunities

“Equal opportunities employer” a statement we are well familiar with, we use it in all our job ads, but is that enough to be a diverse and inclusive company???

To start with we need to ask ourselves what is diversity in an organisation? As we celebrate Pride this month, it is important to acknowledge that diversity is evolving and looking at it from the perspective of ‘variety of people with diverse backgrounds and cultures’ is just too vague and will not set your organisation up for success.??

Shifting the dial from the agenda of achieving whatever equality and diversity metrics your organisation is looking to achieve, to being a truly diverse and inclusive organisation is a journey. The start is looking internally at your workforce and understanding their background, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, career pathway, gender, interests. What do they tell you? Is your organisation diverse, or is there a pattern in the individuals you tend to employ? And more importantly, can they bring their true selves to work unconditionally???

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace have been discussed and researched to great extent. The benefits to an organisation of having a diverse team are numerous. Increased creativity and innovation increased internal company advocacy, better decision making, and greater financial returns are just some of the rewards when compared to companies that do not embrace diversity and inclusion.??

On that note, here are some suggestions on how to improve diversity and inclusion in your organisation:?

Start with your job ads: Candidates are more likely to respond to job ads where they see themselves reflected. Reconsider your requirements as candidates in the minority groups tend to apply only when there is at least an 80% match. What are really the ‘essentials’ vs the ‘nice to haves’? Did you know some words can have masculine or feminine connotations? Ideas to keep them neutral include the use of you/your and they/their, and parental leaves instead of maternity leave. Outside of gender biases you should consider if your job ads are age friendly or appealing more to a young/old audience???

Disability is another aspect of diversity, are you using a font that is easy to read? Are you accommodating candidates with disability in their application process? Are you using a clean and easy to understand language? You should also consider your channels of advertising and apply the same thought process. These are just a few questions you should have in mind when reviewing your job ads.??

The next step would be looking at your interview process and how can you eliminate biases. Do you have clear guidelines and a standardised interview process? Is the interview panel reflective of your organisational diversity???

But most important is a spotlight on your internal policies and processes. Are they fostering a diverse and inclusive culture? Some things an organisation can consider are:??

Ensure you offer internal training and support to leadership and employees around how they can promote diversity and inclusion internally.?

Offer opportunities for growth and development so that your leadership team is reflective of the diverse culture.?

Align your benefits to the diverse workforce. Some organisations offer surrogacy assistance, flexible working arrangements for returning parents and so on.??

Create and support internal communities and networks to encourage collaboration and representation.??

Walk the talk - actively sponsor and partner with companies and communities that are founded and operate within this space. Us at E-Frontiers, we have partnered with The Open Doors initiative since 2018 to provide support to individuals from marginalised backgrounds, creating pathways to work through training, education, employment, and entrepreneurship.?

I’m curious to hear about some of the initiatives in your organisation that promote Diversity and Inclusion??