The Snack BOxD: December Digest - Why opting out of DEI is no longer an option

This is the?Snack BOxD, a highly digestible digest from me, Nenuca, CEO at?Better Organizations by Design (BOxD) . Every month I send a round-up of ideas and?insights on how to create healthy, high performing organizations. If you like this kind of thing or found me by accident, get your snack on and?subscribe here .?

This month's menu:??Why opting out of DEI is no longer an option.

As we head into 2023, I am filled with optimism for the work we do at BOxD. When I co-founded this company, my goal was straightforward: I wanted to make work better. For everyone.?

That’s why I have been so encouraged to see a groundswell of new research that bolsters the case for myself and others driving for organizational effectiveness and the intersection of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. In short, I’m not alone in my desire to make companies better (more effective, more inclusive, more profitable).??

And the data has spoken!?

Here are some key takeaways from?Indeed & Glassdoor’s 2023 report ?about workplace trends:

• Hiring challenges are here to stay as candidate supply remains tight.
• Remote work isn’t going anywhere.
• Compensation is still the top priority for job seekers.
• Employers that promote wellbeing at work are more attractive to a labor pool that has a lot of bargaining power.
• DEI focus has stalled, even as younger workers are expecting their employers to do more.?

This last one almost took my breath away.?

“Nearly two-thirds of workers in the Indeed and Glassdoor survey of US workers said they would consider turning down a job offer or leaving a company if they did not think that their manager (or potential manager) supported DEI initiatives.”?

READ THAT AGAIN.?

No matter how you slice it, if you opt-out of DEI then you’re risking massive attrition and leaving more than half of the talent pool on the table.?

I get it. This feels like “extra” stuff that has to happen after the “real work” gets done. But at this point, we have enough data to show that designing your organization for inclusion is decidedly not just bonus stuff, and it gets companies more than just brownie points.?

And let me tell you, the leaders of the companies I partner with know this. They know which economy they’re playing in. They know that the team with the best players wins.??

To get the best players, the leaders I work with know that you have to make your company a place where people can (and want to) contribute at their peak. A place where amazing people want to stick around.?

This is not the stuff of fairy tales - I have seen these culture transformations firsthand many times over the course of my career!??

At any given moment, the BOxD team is working with leaders who are actively transforming their company culture into something spectacular. And because these leaders’ mindsets are oriented toward their people, their companies are able to deliver unimaginable value to their people (and, by proxy, their customers).

So if you hire a consultant, for one thing, this year, let it be DEI because most people (understandably) will not know where to start on?inclusive org design . And 100% of people can benefit from an expert third-party perspective that can drive progress responsibly and measure it in ways that will mean something great for your strategy.?

Who said you can’t have your cake and eat it too? Let’s talk about your 2023 DEI strategy so that you can be the change you want to see AND get ahead of your competition.

5 Questions You Can Answer to Assess Your DEI Readiness

Investing in DEI as a key element of your business strategy–not a checklist item–enables greater company rewards. A strong DEI strategy supports talent retention, better innovation, more effective problem solving, and decision making which will positively impact financial performance.?

And we probably don’t have to tell you that good intentions alone won’t produce results. According to Gartner,?only 40%?of employees agree that their manager fosters an inclusive environment.??

Is your company ready for this?

How to make sure woke-washing doesn’t hurt your DEI strategy

We’ve all been on the receiving end of a snap-back when we haven’t used our language precisely. You feel like a little kid who’s been put in the corner.??

And this kind of competitive hyper-woke vigilance can actually undermine the DEI goals you’re trying to accomplish. Why? Because equity work requires constant learning and reflection. When you’re scolding, you’re not teaching. When you’re scared or stressed, you’re not learning.?

Not to mention, if you’re not part of the marginalized group you’re advocating for, you may be inadvertently (and inappropriately) centering?yourself.?

To transform symbolic solidarity into meaningful action requires a whole other set of skills and behaviors that have nothing to do with retaining encyclopedic knowledge of all the harms and horrors of the world.

How bias is degrading your DEI strategy, and what to do about it

The organizations that succeed in creating inclusive, prosperous environments are the ones that design for it. The ones that bother to measure progress. The ones that know how strong human bias is, and build multiple barriers to prevent it from worming its way through the system.?

To illustrate, we want to introduce you to the Swiss cheese framework.

What We're Reading

Tech layoffs are disproportionately hitting HR and DEI teams. That could spell trouble for companies ?(Fortune)

This is something that worried me early on when the layoffs started piling up. Just as people in these critical culture-change roles started to get their footing, age-old assumptions about “pure overhead” came rearing their ugly heads!?Trust me when I say that it’s going to be VERY painful to build these teams– and trust– back up from scratch. When the economy recovers, companies that divested from talent and DEI strategy are going to be playing catch-up. Big time.?

Effective employee resource groups are key to inclusion at work. Here’s how to get them right (McKinsey )

More good news… ERGs are working! Those of you fighting tooth and nail to carve out extra time to spend leading and participating in these groups can put this feather in your cap and rest well tonight! ERG leaders have long felt undervalued for the work they do to champion belonging, so we are happy to see this supporting research that validates their impact.

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