Most companies understand the benefits of diversity in the workplace, including greater innovation, higher productivity, more profitability, and a better culture. However, some employers treat it as little more than a buzzword to toss around in an attempt to seem modern. They don’t have concrete plans that will actually improve their workplaces, resulting in an empty commitment that doesn’t yield results.
Fortunately, it’s possible to create your ideal workplace that embraces diversity and supports employees from all walks of life. If you want to make sure you’re approaching diversity the right way, here’s what you need to know.
Diverse Hiring Isn’t Enough
Many companies assume that hiring diverse employees is all it takes to make positive progress in this arena. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Without inclusion and equity, any diversity hiring goals are almost guaranteed to fall short.
The main reason that hiring a diverse workforce isn’t enough alone is that it doesn’t ensure that employees feel respected, valued, and supported. That requires alterations to your broader company culture, something that doesn’t happen on its own simply because you’re hiring employees from more walks of life.
If you want your diverse hiring practices to succeed, coupling them with inclusion and equity is essential. That way, you can recruit diverse talent, and they’ll choose to stay on board.
Transparency Is Key
Many companies pay a lot of lip service to diversity, but they aren’t particularly open about the effectiveness of their policies and processes. If you want to make sure your employees trust what you’re sharing, then a higher degree of transparency is essential.
Along with discussing your commitment to diversity, talk about the nature of upcoming changes and why they’re important. Additionally, communicate honestly about the effectiveness of past efforts, and invite your entire workforce to openly share their perspective on the manner.
By being transparent, employers shine a light on their approaches, and that builds trust. By also ensuring that employees can safely discuss their thoughts, you gather valuable insights and create a culture where people feel secure taking risks. Together, that’s incredibly powerful.
Always Follow Through
In most cases, diversity goals and policies aren’t just about steps to make forward progress; it involves repercussions for workers that hold the company back. For example, biased hiring isn’t just frowned upon by companies; it’s outright illegal. As a result, many organizations openly state that there are penalties for exhibiting bias when hiring.
However, not all companies actually follow through on any repercussions. As a result, the policies begin ringing empty. That can cause employees to become disenchanted. Plus, it will inevitably harm recruitment as word spreads.
If your company says that biased actions have consequences, make sure those repercussions happen. Otherwise, those who would prefer to act in a discriminatory manner will continue to do so, as they aren’t worried about facing any penalties.
Plus, following through lets your employees know that they can trust you to take a stand against bias. Often, that goes far farther than you’d expect.
If you’d like to know more about how to approach diversity in the workplace the right way, the team at TempStaff can help. Contact us today.
