Positive progress may be happening within the top global companies, but most organisations have far to go in achieving diversity in the workplace. At present, only 1 in 15 people from an ethnic minority background in the UK are in a management position, and the number of female senior leaders remains disturbingly low.
True diversity demands a sustained commitment to transforming workplace culture; it requires leaders to make real changes in the way they attract, recruit, retain and promote talent. Of course, devising and implementing a strategy to increase diversity and inclusion in an organisation takes time – something that many leaders will agree is in short supply. While most executive-level professionals share the view that their workforce should be more inclusive and representative of their diverse audience, an opinion alone will do very little to solve the problem.
If they are to implement concrete solutions to improve their diversity profile, leaders shouldn’t pass the buck to the HR department; nor should they save the prospect of culture and systems change for a rainy day. This is where the role of a diversity officer becomes essential: rather than an item at the end of a meeting agenda, diversity becomes the sole focus of a dedicated professional.
Global tech firms such as Facebook, Salesforce and Airbnb are already reaping the benefits of a devoted Chief Diversity Officer – a senior figure whose entire remit centres around improving diversity. So far, the addition of this position has brought about a number of key changes:
Transforming the workforce
When German tech giant SAP hired former economist Anka Wittenburg as their Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer in 2013, only 19.8% of leadership roles in the business were occupied by women. Upon joining the firm, Wittenburg developed a three-to-five year strategy to raise this figure to 25% by 2017 and rethink the balance of SAP’s workforce.
Her strategy encompassed four focus areas: gender intelligence, generational intelligence, cultures and identity and differently-abled or disabled people. By 2016, SAP were already on track to hit their target, with female workers accounting for 24.1% of senior roles in the company. In the same year, SAP further created 100 internship positions for refugees – all of which were filled with several of these hired full time. SAP also committed to recruiting more than 600 workers diagnosed with autism by 2020.
While diversity is not a numbers game, it’s clear that Wittenburg’s influence has already inspired drastic change within their recruitment and retention strategies.
Improving attitudes
Beyond hitting quotas, hiring a Chief Diversity Officer has been proven to have positive consequences in regard to attitudes in the workforce. Naturally, unconscious bias is an issue that takes time to truly overcome: however, with an experienced professional devoted to driving behavioural change, an organisation has a far better chance at removing unconscious bias from their culture.
When brought into the role, the key responsibility of a Chief Diversity Officer will be to research, apply and promote diversity initiatives throughout the workforce. This might come in the form of training programmes or dedicated workshops that seek to aid staff in understanding the challenges that workers from minority groups face in a professional capacity.
Further to this, a diversity officer might prioritise the introduction of mentors and role models from minority groups to provide inspiration, motivation and guidance to employees from all races, genders and cultural backgrounds.
Creating systemic change
Raising awareness of the issue makes for a great start, but often, the best way for a CDO to influence change in workplace attitudes is to put pressure on executives to implement policy change. When diversity and inclusion are woven into the fabric of a company’s guidelines, expectations are set at an early stage and the culture grows in accordance with the foundations leaders have laid down.
It might be the introduction of a flexible working policy or the creation of employee networks to encourage greater discussion, mentoring and support for people from lesser-represented groups. Chief Diversity Officers are also best placed to implement and enforce zero tolerance policies in the workplace – a key component for any company handbook.
If you’ve been contemplating whether or not to recruit a Chief Diversity Officer, ask yourself this: without a talented professional to fill this role and ensure targets are met, can you guarantee that any meaningful change will take place in your organisation? If the answer is no, you know what to do.