Using employee voices to elevate DEI strategies
A truly impactful DEI approach must incorporate and encourage sharing of employee experiences.
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have been at the forefront of corporate social responsibility discussions for the last few years, and many organizations have begun taking steps to address these topics. While there is no set blueprint for developing an impactful DEI strategy, a good place to start is by engaging employees in discussion to understand what your plan should achieve.
Related: DEI: The new benchmark for employee benefits
It is too easy to rely on an HR or communications team to craft a plan that sounds good. A truly impactful DEI approach must incorporate and encourage sharing employee experiences. Often, this requires broadening how we think about DEI to find subjects that resonate with employees.
Refine as you go
Fear is the biggest hurdle preventing organizations from launching DEI initiatives. Some companies struggle with setting performance metrics for fear they will fall short of their goals, while others have trouble getting buy-in from various levels of the organization.
DEI strategies don’t have to be static. They should evolve over time as priorities shift. As the old adage goes, “you have to start somewhere,” and the time has long passed for organizations to take action to address diversity and inequities.
The DEI journey at my company has followed this type of “adjust as you go” philosophy. We started by conducting a companywide survey and focus groups. During this exploratory process, our CEO took an Action Pledge and we planned our first Day of Understanding, where we heard from outside speakers and our employees about topics important to them.
This year, we’re bringing back the Day of Understanding, inviting internal speakers to share their experiences, and hosting small breakout sessions that create safe spaces to discuss meaningful topics. We’re having honest conversations with employees and job candidates to understand what’s important to them inside and outside of work so we can create an environment that supports authenticity and prioritizes mental health. We’ll continue to adjust our tactics until all current and prospective employees feel seen, heard and accepted for who they are.
Broaden your DEI thinking
My company has expanded our DEI perspective because our conversations with employees revealed unexpected commonalities they were eager to address.
For example, two employees who are parents of children with autism spectrum disorder recently hosted a discussion where they shared some of the challenges their children (and they as parents) have faced in being treated equitably and inclusively in everyday life. The session was impactful because coworkers heard directly from their peers about aspects of DEI that they perhaps hadn’t considered before.
The more people share their experiences, the broader our understanding of DEI issues and better our employees’ mental health will be.
Encourage authenticity
To build an inclusive workplace, we must create an environment where people feel comfortable being their authentic selves without fear of repercussion.
One way we’re working towards this at my company is by having open conversations during the recruitment process. We want to be sure we’re attracting diverse candidates, so we’re taking time to speak candidly about roles, work environment and candidates’ specific experiences and values so new hires come into their role feeling accepted starting on day one.
We’re also having to think through how to keep authenticity top of mind throughout their career journey and establishing mechanisms for longer-tenured employees to have opportunities to share their voice.
It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the breadth of issues that fall under DEI, but its important organizations act now to support employee understanding and mental health. Building a culture that encourages authenticity and elevates employee voices provides an opportunity to take DEI efforts to the next level, making overarching themes and concepts feel real and close to home. Creating an equitable and inclusive work environment is an ongoing initiative — and one of the best things we can do to ensure long-term success is to get our employees engaged and talking about what matters to them.
Julie Bank, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is chief people officer at Brighton Health Plan Solutions. She has more than 20 years of experience managing HR for growing businesses and is a 2021 recipient of the OnCon Icon Award, presented to the top 50 human resources professionals worldwide.
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