Tag: DEIJ

Creating a meaningful employee experience is about supporting employees throughout the moments that matter most in their careers. Whether you’re overseeing the hiring process, onboarding, or promotion decisions, being empathetic and DEI-minded is key to securing their continued engagement. 

Recent studies have shown how DEI training improves employee experience, leading to 2x engagement. According to a Changeboard report, they have been proven to work 12% harder, are 19% more likely to stay longer with the organization, and collaborate 57% more effectively with peers. 

So how do you maximize this DEI upside? A DEI training strategy that elicits buy-in at all stages of an employee’s journey, not just the beginning.

Prioritizing DEI across the talent lifecycle

With the future of work changing, traditional one-and-done trainings are no longer effective. Insincere interactions with management drive employees to disengage. Employees are seeking companies that are actively and authentically committed to DEI topics.

Our research has found that DEI training improves employee experience when it is A) modern and sincere and B) integrated across the entire employee lifecycle, not just during onboarding.

Here are our recommendations for when and how to engage employees with DEI training: 

Start with the interview process

A DEI-minded hiring experience makes new employees feel confident that the organization they’re entering shares their values. And this couldn’t be more important — according to a recent CNBC survey, 56% percent of people today won’t even consider working for a company that doesn’t share their values. 

If a hiring manager mishandles an interview, a values-minded employee will not only refuse the offer — they will warn other applicants by posting on social media or popular review sites like Glassdoor.  

If your applicant pool is diverse but your team is not, or you suspect bias in any part of your hiring process, consider removing names from resumes and standardizing your interview process. To keep hiring managers on the call, we recommend incorporating data-enabled technologies that consistently monitor and analyze progress. Training hiring managers on how to prioritize equity is critical to building an inclusive talent pipeline.

Create a welcoming onboarding experience

75% of organizations today incorporate some kind of DEI training into their onboarding process. But in 2023, just checking the box doesn’t earn employee buy-in. You can measure the ROI of your DEI training by regularly collecting data on your employees’ attitudes and human skills. 

For example, suppose your program emphasizes perspective-taking by showcasing how individuals from diverse backgrounds perceive workplace scenarios. We recommend conducting a survey six months later to gauge the extent to which participants have retained the knowledge.

Some data-powered platforms even do this for you, functioning as “skills centers” where employees can access DEI training on-demand and receive continuous feedback over their talent cycle.          

Build skills for career growth and advancement

In a constantly evolving workplace, the most effective DEI training teach employees about the significance of human skills, like inclusive leadership and empathy. These programs emphasize that cultivating these skills is crucial for unlocking individuals’ career ambitions.

And it’s true — as AI reshapes job descriptions, the “hard skills” required to perform certain roles will change, but human skills such as communication and collaboration will remain key. Additionally, they are transferable across industries, giving employees agility as market conditions fluctuate. Establishing an arena where employees can practice and hone these skills on-demand has a proven impact on building more engaged and resilient teams.

Create an experience that makes employees want to stay

Employee churn costs companies an average of $1 trillion per year. Forward-looking DEI training programs can keep talent engaged by working human skills into their performance incentive structure. 

This shows employees that their contributions to an inclusive culture will help them reach the top. The improvement in human skills will mean more constructive performance reviews and more empathetic managers. Half of employees who quit do so because of bad managers, according to a recent survey.

Next steps? Future-forward DEI 

The best DEI programs are mindful that the difference between a jaded employee and an engaged one is in the details.

Making a DEI program on-demand and tech-enabled gives workers the time to practice their human skills and see the real-time impact of the things that matter. By harnessing the perspective-taking power of immersive technologies, you can equip your team with the necessary resources to develop into empathetic and detail-oriented leaders. By embedding these trainings across the talent lifecycle, people leaders are sure to see how DEI training improves employee experience.

For more information on how to embed DEI training across the talent lifecycle, check out our recent guidebook:

Download the Guide

HR Exchange brought together Praxis Labs Co-founder & CEO Elise Smith and Syndio CEO Maria Colacurcio for a thought-provoking conversation about how to bring data and learning together to create meaningful outcomes for diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) initiatives. 

In part one of this Q&A, read what Elise has to say about Praxis’ philosophy of the workplace, how DEIJ impact drives business value, the power of immersive learning, and much more. Then, check back for part two, where Maria delves deeper into analytics, intersectionality, and pay equity. 

Maria Colacurcio: To start, what brought you to this work? What does workplace equity and inclusion mean to you? 

Elise Smith: Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice work is personal work for me, not just because of my lived experiences, but those of my family. 

When I think about what an equitable and inclusive workplace looks like and what it means, I like to unpack what we’re all driving towards: The goal is to have a more just workplace and a more just society. How we get there is by removing the barriers to equity and inclusion, and really driving towards better outcomes for everyone. 

That’s not just for the people who work in our companies, but for the people we’re serving as well. We remove those barriers by first identifying what they are, then by uncovering gaps and the distance that we need to travel to close them. 

And it all boils down to investing in our people to achieve those goals. This is something we’ve thought deeply about at Praxis Labs. How do we embed equitable and inclusive policies, practices, systems, and structures from the very beginning of our company? 

It’s not just about hiring diverse teams — although that’s a great place to start. It’s ensuring that we can support those teams across the employee lifecycle by giving them the tools and access points they need to progress in their careers and feel like they belong. The way we do that is by offering training and development. 

Working across differences and knowing how to show up in difficult conversations is not something we innately know how to do. So we need to provide more opportunities to learn and to lean into these types of empathetic, human-centered leadership. 

The bottom line is that equitable and inclusive workplaces work for everyone. They steer us towards a future of work where people feel valued enough to bring their authentic selves to work, and in turn bring their best and brightest ideas. That’s where teams get their competetive edge. 

MC: How do you address the argument that this is just “woke capitalism?” That DEIJ isn’t fundamental for businesses and organizations to get better or be more durable, more profitable, or able to overcome the volatility that’s currently happening. How do you respond to that? 

ES: Often, workplaces are the most diverse spaces we enter — the first time we have to interact and work across differences. Sometimes people think about diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) training as only helping folks who come from underrepresented backgrounds or marginalized identities. I think that’s the wrong way of looking at it, because DEIJ work is really about helping all people collaborate and work better together. 

DEIJ is about helping us feel comfortable expressing our ideas, understanding barriers that prevent people from reaching their potential, and creating and challenging each other so that we can have the best outcomes. It’s about being more innovative, more profitable, and more durable. 

It all starts with human skills that we often refer to as “soft” skills. It starts with being able to step into a courageous or difficult conversation and acknowledging intersectional identities and systems of structure and power when they’re at play. It’s also being able to feel confident in those conversations and in making decisions knowing that you aren’t causing harm. 

I hear the concern around “woke capitalism” that it’s “just one more thing to do.” But really it is all about driving value — because people success is business success

MC: What do you think about data and training working hand in hand? Especially because you are doing this immersive experience that’s so different from the one-off training that is immediately forgotten. Can you talk about what you’re seeing from some of your clients’ experiences? 

ES: Often, asking folks to invest even more of themselves into the workplace to achieve inclusive outcomes can feel like a lot. That’s why it’s important for L&D and DEI leaders to make learning personally and contextually relevant to learners. And they also want to know that their investment will yield meaningful results. 

That’s why our approach to training and development starts with the evidence. What’s in the research? What are we seeing academically in practitioner work? What are interventions that are actually proven to move the needle on DEIJ?

Then, instead of the one-and-done training format that we know doesn’t work, we develop continuous and reinforced learning and practice moments, which are directly tied to long-term memory building and connecting learning theory to real-world action. 

Data and analytics is integral to this work. We look at not only how folks are progressing in and completing content, but how they’re growing on our competencies and how they’re feeling about their workplaces’ culture and policies. 

We put folks in the driver’s seat by giving them self-directed learning. They’re able to go through workplace scenarios and practice encountering barriers to equity as themselves, as a bystander, and as someone complicit in the incident. They get to practice self-advocating or advocating on behalf of others as an ally or upstander, as well as repairing harm after making a mistake. 

The immersive experience of going through multiple perspectives in workplace scenarios is really core to building empathy for experiences different from your own. It’s also core to being able to identify barriers to equity in the workplace, as well as being able to actually intervene in the moment. 

Beyond learning and practice, we get a lot of feedback from our partners around employees’ experiences within their workplaces. We ask how they want to see equity and inclusion prioritized, and then we’re able to give feedback to that client, and further break down those insights by demographic factors such as race, age, and gender.. 

For example, one of our clients used our platform data to realize that Black and Latinx women weren’t accessing mentorship and sponsorship opportunities the same way other demographics are. Equipped with this data, leaders were then able to ask: how can we create and invest in those communities and ensure they can take advantage of growth opportunities? 

It’s also about understanding how you can use existing pulse surveys and people analytics to measure learning impact. One of our clients was able to filter a recent employee engagement survey by managers who went through our training compared to managers who didn’t. They looked at differences in inclusion surveys, engagement scores, and how their teams felt. 

They found that folks who went through our trainings were more likely to practice inclusive and equitable behaviors and create teams that feel more included. The ultimate result was people who feel like they belong, and who are more likely to stay and recommend others to work there. 

MC: I’d also like to ask about folks that have been the recipients of consistent microaggressions or have been in situations where they don’t feel as included or as if they belong. What happens to them, in terms of engagement, when they watch their leaders or their colleagues go through this training and actually start to change?

ES: As a Black woman myself, I don’t always feel comfortable standing up and then naming when something’s amiss. Being aware of those moments helps me understand areas that I can improve and be a better advocate for myself and on behalf of others.

What we hear from a lot of folks who share similar intersectional identities of the characters in our learning experiences is the value of being seen and validating their lived experiences. Being seen is one of the most powerful ways that you can feel that you belong and that you’re included. 

Another thing that we hear from these learners is that they feel like a burden was removed from them. So often when you come from a marginalized identity, there is a burden of proof that you are experiencing mistreatment in your workplace. 

You are sometimes asked to share out trauma, to share out pain, to share out moments of bias or discrimination for the education of your colleagues. Many of our learners say that it’s such a relief to not have to play that role, that these immersive experiences can help with that education and empathy-building. 

Lastly, it’s about practice. It’s not just building up the muscle to self-advocate. It’s also about having conversations with your colleagues and teams about why self-advocacy isn’t always a solution. We often need to zoom out from the interpersonal level to focus on systems and structures, and how those can be improved to support equitable and inclusive workplaces.

 

“Nothing about us without us.” This is the global slogan for the disability rights movement. It means that nothing should be decided for people with disabilities without their presence, participation, and inclusion. 

While the movement has achieved a great deal of progress since its founding in the 1960s, people with disabilities still face many challenges in the corporate world. They face exclusion from decision-making and also from consideration within workplace diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice initiatives. 

In fact, according to a report from the Return On Disability Group, while 90% of companies claim to prioritize diversity, only 4% consider disability in those initiatives. This is a staggering statistic considering the CDC’s estimate that 1 in 4 U.S. adults—61 million people—live with a  cognitive, physical, or emotional disability that impacts major life activities. 

Companies cannot consider themselves truly inclusive if they continue down this path. And it hurts them from far more than just a PR angle. To remedy the issue, business leaders must first understand the challenges people with disabilities face in the workplace. And then take concrete, informed actions to better recruit and retain a truly diverse workforce.

Diagnosing the Problem: Obstacles to Disability Inclusion in the Workplace

For many people with disabilities, the obstacles begin before they even get the job or enter an office. Even the application process can be extremely exclusionary. Example issue areas can include: 

• The format of the application
• Online accessibility
• The language used in job descriptions
• Requirements for physical tasks (even when the role does not demand them)
• In-person interview requirements (even when remote is allowed)  

These items are often coded and hard to detect by the average, well-meaning person. They could even reflect an unconscious bias that needs to be unpacked.

Even when a candidate successfully navigates the application process and gets the job, a lack of accessibility presents major challenges. This can range from holding a work event in an inaccessible location to forcing people to quickly read small text in a presentation. Careful consideration of these obstacles is especially relevant now that many companies require at least a partial return to work. 

Just as harmfully, people with disabilities often face microaggressions and a general lack of understanding from organization leadership and colleagues. While this is true for members of any underrepresented group, it can be more pronounced for people with disabilities who are often excluded or glossed over in DEIJ trainings.

Taking Accountability: How Leaders Can be Advocates for Disability Inclusion in the Workplace

In light of the challenges people with disabilities face, there are many ways an empathetic, emotionally intelligent leader can show up as an advocate and ally for disability inclusion in the workplace. Here are five actionable activities leaders can do to create a culture where people with disabilities can thrive:

 1. Collect employee experience data on people with disabilities

Research and data can help you build sturdy foundations for an intentional, high-impact strategy. Consider including questions on future employee pulse surveys that help you understand the following points:

• What policies, practices, and activities contribute to inequities? 
• Do disabled people feel valued as their whole selves, including their differences?

Just like any other employee, people with disabilities want to be valued and appreciated for what they bring to the table. In this evaluation, leaders should be particularly cautious that messaging and practices do not communicate pity or tokenism.

2. Educate employees on disability inclusion

This can look like making sure your current DEIJ training adequately centers disability, or finding additional training that does. It’s particularly important for anyone involved in hiring to consider accessibility throughout the recruitment process. 

Education about disability inclusion can lead to innovation and can help companies connect with a severely under-tapped talent pool. The unemployment rate for people with disabilities is higher than for the rest of the US population. 

Ernst & Young, for example, created a specific hiring program focused on autistic and otherwise neurodiverse people. Hiren Shukla, the executive who founded the initiative, said EY has saved over 3.5 million hours on work process optimization thanks to its Neuro-Diverse Centers of Excellence. 

3. Create Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) for employees with disabilities 

ERGs not only provide support for employees with shared characteristics or life experiences, but play an outsize role in wellness, community advocacy, and building dialogue across an organization.

For people with disabilities, they are crucial for creating dedicated time for discussing disability inclusion in the workplace and encouraging leadership to engage with the subject. Also, since many disabilities are invisible (and only 39% of employees with disabilities disclose them to their manager), this can literally create visibility and transparency within the company.

4. Make sure physical accommodations are in place and accessible 

This is a great example of when to be proactive rather than reactive. When leaders are proactive about supporting employees with disabilities, it can remove the burden of needing to ask. Information such as the location of accessible bathrooms should be easily available to everyone in an organization. Digital resources, like login information for a company’s mental health app subscription, should also be readily available. 

Presenting this information in a centralized way, like in an employee onboarding packet or a dedicated section of your company’s intranet can improve access and use.  

5. Consider your company’s products and services

If applicable, reflect on the products, goods, and services your company creates and how it can better serve and support people with disabilities. Not only is it the right thing to do, but being inclusive is a great way to attract talent, build an authentic brand, and have a more resilient business.

Not to mention, having more diverse employees at a company also leads to more diversity of thought. The lived experience of people with disabilities can lead to otherwise overlooked business breakthroughs For example, Microsoft created a captioning feature on its products because their own employees demanded it, and it has exploded in popularity on its Teams app since the start of the pandemic. 

Leading With Empathy as We Face New Challenges

In the past few years, we’ve seen enormous strides in how business leaders are prioritizing DEI initiatives. As of July 2022, every single Fortune 100 company has DEI initiatives outlined on their respective websites. 

Yet many companies face increasingly worrisome talent shortages, exacerbated by the pandemic and the still-unknown long-term effects of COVID and long COVID. Corporate and DEI leaders simply cannot afford to continue ignoring people with disabilities, both for moral and economic reasons. 

Most importantly, we can all heed the “nothing about us without us” call to lead with empathy and action.