Workplace diversity makes business sense. If innovation is the word on everyone’s lips, a workforce comprising of candidates from every corner of the talent pool boasts a much higher chance of success than its homogenous counterpart. In 2018, firms who fail to promote inclusive values or hire a diverse mix of employees are at a competitive disadvantage.
Fortunately, figures from PwC suggest that more organisations are committed to diversity and inclusion than ever before, with 87% of respondents from their 2017 survey indicating that D&I had become a top priority within their business. Yet, despite progress on a global scale, even those leading initiatives to improve diversity still admit diversity remains a barrier to entry and progression for too many talented candidates.
While improving diversity may top the lists of leaders from a wide range of industries, the start of the new year, to many, represents a clean slate – a chance to start a-fresh. However, with a few weeks still left on the calendar before 2018 comes to a close, there are steps that employers can take to tackle these barriers and create an inclusive organisational culture.
-
Empower managers to champion diversity
Managers and team leaders should act as figureheads for diversity, but don’t be too quick to assume that they understand or appreciate the potential they have to inspire change within their team. As the key connection between senior leaders and frontline staff, managers should play a pivotal role in fostering an inclusive culture – but first, they must have a strong understanding of how to support all employees and which hiring practices may be detrimental in improving diversity.
Cultural training for all managers is a great start, but bear in mind that this is no tick-box exercise. In order to educate and empower managers with the relevant resources to drive organisational change, leaders must schedule regular meetings and conduct evaluations to assess reporting structures, employee feedback methods and recruiting processes. By making diversity a recurring conversation, managers become aware of their pivotal role in building a better culture.
-
Mentor high-potential talent
Businesses that excel in diversity didn’t achieve their objectives with a quota and an e-learning course on inclusion. Instead, they recognised the imbalance within their internal talent pipelines and put in place formal programs to encourage high-potential employees to grow with the business.
Mentoring programs can often be powerful in nurturing talent from a broad range of backgrounds as they provide individuals with role models to aspire to in an otherwise uniform culture. By developing a pool of leaders that are representative of the diverse values, social backgrounds, races, genders and sexual orientations of the population, organisations can inspire a higher level of engagement from employees and influence all high-performing talent to set their sights on leadership roles.
-
Make flexible working available for all as a default
Flexibility may have become a buzzword in the business community as of late, but it can’t be denied that organisations who fail to offer flexible working opportunities to their employees are at risk of stifling diversity. Simple adjustments to terms of employment can make all the difference in attracting talent to your organisation as arrangements such as these tend to indicate how much a business values their people.
Recent research from She’s Back, an organisation to help businesses access the untapped potential of women who took a career break, revealed that 84% of 1,100 women surveyed had the ambition to go back to work, but 75% didn’t believe there was enough flexibility to do so.
It may not seem like much, but practices such as modified daily start and end times, telecommuting and allowing for part-time work gives candidates the choice in how they accomplish their objectives. If well-managed, the benefits of allowing for flexible working could be significant – after all, an employee who feels they are able to balance their work and home commitments and excel in both is a productive employee, and that’s something no business should wish to turn down.