What exactly do we mean when we say, "diversity and inclusion"?
What is diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and why is it so important? We look at how huge businesses are dealing with these difficulties and how you can, too. Plus, read on for five recommendations on how to use Workplace's community-building potential to foster a sense of belonging using the platform.
Why is Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace Important?
Diversity, or the practise of recruiting people with various identities, is widely recognized as critical to a company's long-term success. That's because a diverse workplace means your organization can help you tap into a range of experiences and opinions that may help you create better products and provide better services to your clients. However, recruiting methods are only the beginning. Maintaining and sustaining a diverse workplace requires cultivating a sense of belonging among individuals from all backgrounds.
This is where the concept of inclusion comes into play. To establish a stronger work culture, inclusion means valuing, maximising, and engaging differences. Not every diverse organization is inclusive, and when businesses fail to invest in inclusion, their employees suffer.
Diversity and inclusion (D&I) may provide everyone a voice, promote psychological safety, and establish community when they work together. It all boils down to who gets to participate, how decisions are made, and who has the power to affect outcomes. Read the tips below to discover how you can further your D&I initiatives by leveraging technology.
1. Create resource groups for employees
Employee resource groups are a terrific way to bring people together who have a common identity and to create a support structure for people who may be underrepresented in your organization. For example, LineZero has a Workplace Group called “Women at LineZero” to help give people a safe space to discuss issues and celebrate successes as it relates to women in the Workplace.
2. Share D&I resources with every member of your organization.
Employee handbooks and onboarding documents on Workplace can be housed in the Knowledge Library, which serves as a consolidated location for vital resources. For example, you can make a new category for inclusion and wellness resources in your Knowledge Library and share it with the entire company. If you’re not on Workplace, you can still put this tip to use by leveraging your organization’s internal communications platform, whatever it may be. Here are some examples of things you can include in the Knowledge Library on Workplace:
- The objective and strategy of the company's D&I initiatives
- Links to online training programmes
- Employee and people management guides
- Resources for mental health and wellness
- Links to more information
3. Organize live Q&A sessions with D&I specialists.
Host inclusion strategy Q&As with CEOs, D&I specialists, and employee resource group leaders, and use Live Video to broadcast the event to the entire organization. For example, with the Live Q&A tool on Workplace, leaders can answer employee queries in real-time, and you can promote audience participation with comments, replies, and polls.
If you're not on Workplace, make sure you're using a tool that allows you to broadcast your Q&A session around your organization’s D&I initiatives to every member of your team. It’s also incredibly important to leverage a tool that allows for two-way feedback so that inclusivity is embedded into the chosen platform itself, giving everyone on your team a voice.
4. Use captions to make video content more accessible.
By adding subtitles to all D&I videos produced by your organization, you can effectively remove barriers to video content. That's why Workplace makes adding subtitles easy!
On Workplace, both live and pre-recorded videos have captions available. They can be turned on automatically, regenerated, translated, and changed, or captions can be manually added with the use of an .srt file.
If you're not on Workplace, look for a tool that can easily translate verbal content to written content.
5. Empower your people to share their pronouns.
An effective way to empower your employees to be their authentic selves is to support how they self-identify.
The Status tool on Workplace is a wonderful method to let your coworkers know what pronouns you use. You can update your status on Workplace with your pronouns (he/him, she/her, they/them, etc.).
If you’re not on Workplace, you can still utilize this tip! For examples, employees can update their pronouns within their email signature or on your internal communications platform.
Getting Started: Attend LineZero’s Free Webinar, “Technology’s Role in Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace”
According to a McKinsey study, companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile. DE&I initiatives also improve organizational culture and boost innovation and resilience, not surprisingly.
What's been apparent is that technologies play a significant role in rolling out and continuing the momentum of DE&I initiatives in enterprises. Creating ideas around DE&I initiatives and securing a buy-in may be the first step but without a sound implementation plan, it is not feasible to realize a tangible, positive impact on the organizational culture and bottom line.
Join the webinar on September 30th, 2021 to understand how technologies can enable, empower, and amplify your DE&I initiatives. Specific tips and use cases will be shared so that you can envision how your DE&I goals and objectives can turn into your reality.
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