Increasingly, companies are recognising the potential of D&I as an essential lever to business success
There has been a meteoric rise in conversations around Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) in the corporate world, thanks to social media, policy initiatives, progressive judgments and sustained efforts from global advocacy groups.
"Organisations equipped with a range of voices and perspectives throughout the ranks are better able to innovate, take risks, solve problems creatively, bounce back from failures, and turn challenges into opportunities," says a recent BCG report. In other words, a workforce that reflects the demographics of the customer base and the society is likely to be more innovative and better equipped to anticipate and respond to change.
Increasingly, companies are recognising the potential of D&I as an essential lever to business success. Although, both Diversity and Inclusion, appear to be intertwined, in reality, they are two distinct concepts. Diversity eludes to the characteristics and experiences that make one person standout from the other. Here, characteristics refer to surface level differences such as sexual orientations, race, ethnicity and gender identity. Experience on the other hand covers a broad range of topics such as a person’s socioeconomic background, upbringing, education and many more. Inclusion is the secret ingredient that makes a diverse workplace come alive. It helps in creating an environment, where people from all walks of life feel welcome and valued, i.e., no particular individual is denied access to resources based on the characteristics or experience that makes them unique.
So, how can companies make their workplace more diverse and inclusive?
Starting at the top with alignment to business objectives
It is critical for managers to have absolute clarity and alignment on how the overall D&I strategy links to the business strategy, since it plays a vital role in ensuring the success of the company’s D&I strategy. The experience created by leaders within their sphere of influence can enhance or decrease the D&I quotient for an organisation, and therefore it is important for mangers to be aware of how their own biases can play out at the workplace. Managers should go through a structured programme on managing unconscious biases that will help them not only understand their own biases but also control them and create awareness on positive behaviours that lead to more inclusive teams.
Instituting a formal D&I Council of senior leaders can help provide the required traction in fostering the required organisational change. D&I Councils help create a dedicated platform focused on diversity and inclusion priorities, including review of the effective governance of D&I programmes. The council’s oversight not only leads to strong alignment with the organisation’s overall business strategy but also helps promote human capital practices that support and create accountability for D&I results. The councils reporting to the CEO or a C-suite manager ensures the required legitimacy, ensuring integration in all aspects of the business.
Inclusion through employee policies and processes
Employee policies and processes are the bedrock to ensure all employees have equal access to opportunities and resources, thereby promoting a sense of belonging. This includes ensuring a baseline of fairness in pay and promotions across all employee cohorts. Additionally, employee policies can be enhanced and made available to a wider set of employees by looking beyond the standard acceptable norms of gender binaries, role, familial definitions, and stereotypes.
Offering a healthy psychological workplace through a formal framework to address any hostility is key to a safe working environment for employees. This provides employees with a clear channel of communication to voice their concerns and grievances and seek appropriate resolutions.
In trying to promote equity, the unintended consequence could be assumptions that opportunities and progression are not merit based and therefore it is crucial for companies to ensure no specific cohort is getting unfairly impacted – either positively or negatively. This helps in upholding fairness and meritocracy in all employee-related processes.
Monitoring progress
The only progress that matters is the progress that can be tracked. Organisation wanting to stay on course towards their commitment to the D&I journey, will need to have clear and reliable indicators to track. Only through regular monitoring of these indicators, an organisations will have clarity with respect to the gains made in a specific time-period and divert focus on the gaps, which the programme needs to address. The measurements must be comprehensive and should track various indicators such as gender representation, access to opportunities, and inclusion and equity scores. By establishing a robust monitoring framework, bias-related escalation can be avoided and a sense of safety and security can be promoted in the workplace.
Boundaries are vanishing in workplaces all around the world, and as we progress towards a more connected, integrated society, successful organisations will need a diverse range of opinions and ideas. Organisations that are working towards embracing diversity, will reap the benefits of their employees being more creative and with more innovative solutions to business problems. Inclusion, on the other hand emits a sense of belonging and engagement, which are critical determinants of worker happiness and retention. Diversity and inclusiveness, together in the workplace are ultimately beneficial to all stakeholders involved and should be a goal, that organistion should strive for.
(The article has been curated specially by Urvi Chhaya, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Limited especially for BW People publication solely)