How do you get everyone to work together, be effective, and advance in their careers regardless of race, color, gender, or physical disability? It’s all about a diverse and inclusive workplace. Josh Bersin calls diversity and inclusion one of the hottest topics in HR.
- Diversity is different races, ethnic groups, gender diversity, age, religion, sexual orientation, and people with disabilities
- Inclusion is an environment of collaboration, support, and respect that enhances the participation and contribution of all employees.
Together, the two terms refer to the company’s mission, strategy, and practice of supporting a diverse workplace and leveraging the effects of diversity to achieve a competitive business advantage. It is like a tools for recruitment and selection.
Why are diversity and inclusion important in Europe?
In Europe, for many years there has been an influx of migrants from different countries of the world, which, of course, dictates its own changes in culture and requirements for jobs, and America as a whole is famous for its high-quality approach to completely different people.
For example, in many European universities, there are special rooms for prayers. For students who are interested in this, the university meets halfway and allows them to leave lectures for prayer.
According to Deloitte research, various generations have varied perspectives on diversity. Millennials see workplace diversity as a mix of various origins, experiences, and opinions, and they feel that leveraging these contrasts is what propels innovation.
Generations X and Y, on the other hand, view diversity in the workplace as a fair state of affairs, not always considering its relationship to business outcomes.
This trend will come to your company one way or another, and HR, together with the CEO, will simply have to do something in order to retain staff and use it as efficiently as possible.
What to do now, in order not to be without a team tomorrow?
Based on all surveys and studies, the main thing is communication and joint collaboration, which provides an opportunity for creativity and joint development.
I also suggest looking at some of Josh Bersin’s key strategies, including:
- Creating focus and strategy at the CEO / COO / CHRO level.
- Appointing a senior executive responsible for leading and disseminating the diversity and inclusion agenda.
- Create standards of employee behavior and hold leaders accountable for results.
- Educate people at all levels on the topics of diversity and inclusion.
- Integrating diversity and inclusion strategies into recruitment, performance management, leadership assessment, training, and talent management.
- Creation of a network of employees (for example, focus groups or a project management group) to scale the program.
- Establish transparent metrics to measure program progress, including metrics for recruitment, key performance indicators, compensation levels, and staff turnover.
If we talk about the role of HR in the topic of Diversity and Inclusion, then HR is the central figure here.
What should HR know and understand at the highest level?
- Integrate diversity and inclusion approaches into HR and company strategy.
- Lead a systematic approach in this topic throughout the organization.
- Use an understanding of diversity and inclusion to assess risk and shape organizational priorities.
- To contribute to the development of legislation in this area.
- Understand the value organizations place on inclusion and the value it creates for organizations.
Which aspects of diversity and inclusion are you able to measure?
Individual features or attributes can be defined as diversity. Inclusion refers to the actions that make the team feel welcome. This is when things can get a little complicated.
The majority of the time, diversity is easy to identify. However, because inclusion is imperceptible, determining whether or not your team feels included and welcomed at work will take a little more digging.
There are, however, a few approaches to assess both diversity and inclusion in your workforce to gain a better understanding of your staff.
Diverse dimensions can be measured in a variety of ways.
- Primary, which covers basic qualities such as age (generational diversity), race, gender, and sexual orientation; secondary, which contains secondary characteristics such as age (generational diversity), race, gender, and sexual orientation; and third, which includes
- Secondary information, such as educational attainment, married and parental status, and religious convictions;
- Workplace, including the employee’s job title, shift, and years with the company;
- Work habits, leadership style, and communication style are all aspects of style.
