How companies can incorporate and prioritize DE&I year round

There are an infinite number of things that can be done to address diversity, equity, inclusion (DE&I) and belonging in a business. Focusing specifically on benefits, the following is an example of how HR strategy, ESG, and benefits are key to ensuring employees feel engaged and supported year-round.

1. Create and design DE&I not as a “program,” but as a division contributing to the company-wide strategy.

When DE&I is embedded into a company-wide strategy it creates permanence and a message to employees and others that it is a necessary way to operate. There is a misconception that embedding this as a company-wide goal takes away from the ability to focus on business objectives.

When Rihanna created Savage Fenty and Fenty Beauty for people of color, and all shapes, sizes and identities and intentionally focused on inclusion and belonging in her products her business did not fail, in fact she’s a billionaire. This is just one example of many.

If companies use a programming approach to DE&I, it feels like entertainment or something that is easily disposable. The inclusion and belonging of all people in the workplace is not disposable. DE&I professionals aren’t doing work for entertainment, but instead fighting the systems of inequality that have created barriers to the success of historically excluded groups. This applies to not only what I refer to as “The Big Three” – Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexual Orientation – but also to parents and caregivers dealing with the fallout of a global pandemic; in addition to neurodiversity as we grow to appreciate the various abilities of adults that are now in the workforce with autism, ADHD, anxiety and other ways that affect inclusion at work and all of the other multidimensional aspects of diversity.

Effective implementation of DE&I can also drastically improve company culture and success. According to McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2022 report, in just seven years, 30% of the workforce will be comprised of those in Gen Z and younger. Individuals from these groups place an increased focus on workplace flexibility, DE&I, culture and benefits expansion.

So, how are businesses addressing these concerns over the next five years without a company-wide strategy, and a team focused on inclusion and belonging to embed the right policies, changes and action steps towards these goals? If we fail to do so, these young professionals won’t need your company, they’ll start their own. The fastest rising population of entrepreneurs are Black women and people that are Hispanic/Latinx. We must be prepared to accept all.

2. Lean into Employee or Business Resource Groups and create a business supported structure around them.

ERGs or BRGs (formerly known as Affinity groups) still have a place in today’s business culture and structures, and in fact can help improve and innovate solutions for businesses across the globe.

I have heard critiques of the necessity of ERGs in a workforce that is moving quickly to a hybrid or full remote environment or even that they are divisive rather than creating community. However, evidence suggests that people, by nature, tend to gravitate towards people that look like them or share beliefs, interests, hobbies or even life experiences. If we take away the ability for people to find a community inside of their workplace, they will leave their jobs. This has become particularly important and impactful in the post-pandemic workplace.

According to McKinsey , 90% of Fortune 500 companies have ERG networks. Certainly, they can be spun as divisive but not so much more so than church on Sundays or lunchrooms across America during the school day. To further illustrate this point, I lean into the well-known theme song from the 80’s sitcom Cheers: “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. You want to be where you can see, your troubles are all the same…” This is the reason for ERGs in a nutshell.

What I will add as important here is this: we cannot continue to run ERGs as happy hours and March madness bracket opportunities. ERGs now need to connect to the business, but only if the business prioritizes employee voice and how it affects the overall engagement and success of its workforce and business. When businesses prioritize their ERG networks and give them value and space to contribute to business outcomes, the potential of the leadership growth, innovation, and motivation for those involved can change the face of the company culture. In my own personal encounters with employees in the corporate space, many of them openly acknowledge extensive ERG supports as reasons why they accepted their jobs. It is because they feel seen, heard, and know that they will be respected. What person does not want that feeling even at work?

3. Scrap your old benefits philosophy and approach for one that is more inclusive.

Deep breath here. The Gen X generation and up (meaning up to baby boomer, etc.) really want to cling to the “old way of doing things.” We were raised to work that one job until you’ve put in your 30 years, grab that nice pension, and sit back for the next 20-30 years and reap the benefits of your hard work. But our millennials and younger generations grew up in a whole new world where technology reigned supreme and now the globe was at their fingertips. Gone are the days where people stayed in their jobs because they felt like they had to stay. What is keeping these generations around is flexibility in their workday, and inclusion in their benefits and compensation packages.

Businesses must start to revise, innovate, and reignite packages that appeal to the current and future workforce. This includes pay transparency or posting ranges of pay. Seventeen percent of companies now post their pay ranges on job descriptions and that number is growing and larger in certain states and industries. It includes expanding family leave and changing language around those policies to include both parents and same-sex parents. Even if you don’t physically have a child, a newborn requires the same amount of attention; so, could that language change to “primary parent” for extended leave rather than the traditional maternity leave language.

Read more: The future of DEI: 4 new models for embracing neurodiverse employees

These changes also include expanding mental health access and opportunities. It is no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic drastically affected marginalized populations much worse than those that had access to superb health care and medications when needed. Couple that with the traumatic experiences of race-related deaths, mass shootings, an economic downturn, uncertainty and more in the last three years and it has taken a long-term emotional toll on parents, caregivers, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community and more.

It is the social responsibility of companies across the workforce to address these issues to keep employees engaged, improve levels of performance, attendance, and overall employee satisfaction. In my experience, these changes have been extremely impactful to people on a personal level and have made work – workable.

Amy Hull, Head of DE&I at Paycor