Increasingly, companies of all sizes are dedicating millions of dollars to create workplace diversity programs. However, this heightened focus on inclusion and diversity is not always evident in the hiring practices at some companies. According to 2017 data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately two-thirds of employees in the fields of mathematics and computing were men. In addition, fewer than 15 percent of those employees were Hispanic or African American.
So how can companies create effective diversity programs? The debate rages on when it comes to what a successful diversity program should look like. In the following, we’ll take a look at a few of the characteristics of successful diversity and inclusion initiatives and how companies can employ some of these practices.
The Push for Inclusion in the Workplace
So why the push for inclusion? Money is one of the chief motivating factors for those in the C-suite to take workplace inclusion and diversity seriously. During the late ‘90s and early 2000s, some companies were targeted for their lack of diversity and discriminatory practices. Subsequently, training and diversity programs were expanded in the financial industry, and other industries took note and began to do the same. Early diversity programs consisted of a lot of trial and error, and the results made it evident that there was more work to be done. For example, in the commercial banking sector, the number of Hispanic employees rose by only 1 percent from 2003 to 2014, and the number of Caucasian women employed in this sector dropped by 4 percent. The number of African American men in this field decreased slightly, as well. Other sectors mimicked these statistics or witnessed only slight improvements.
The results of early diversity efforts made it clear that something was amiss in these initiatives. The truth is that inclusion initiatives do not inherently improve diversity. Since the 1960s, the approaches to diversity have remained largely unchanged, and these outdated methods are directly responsible for slow or non-existent changes. Aspects such as bias training can prove effective when properly executed, although many companies are unsure about how to go about doing so.
What Works
In recent years, some companies have been pushing to reform diversity programs. C-suite executives are looking for data-driven results and want to embark on initiatives that will improve the workplace in the long-term. Finding out what works in terms of diversity training involves a combination of research and real-world examples that leverage an employee-focused approach.
According to the 2016 Thomson Reuters Diversity and Inclusion Index, companies are becoming increasingly concerned with diversity, as well as with the overall effectiveness of these initiatives. The index examined diversity and inclusion initiatives at 5,000 companies and found that what seems to work best is a transparent approach. For example, some companies in the tech sector are focused less on bias training and more on interventional methods in order to improve inclusion. Bias training has—in some cases—shown to be ineffective and can even result in increased hostility among employees because negative messages are used in the training materials. Some of these messages make it clear that the company is only concerned with avoiding the legal implications of discriminatory practices. Employees at these companies may get the message that discrimination is wrong only because it could cost the company money.
Alternately, focusing on inclusion and intervention is a smart approach. Intervention training can help employees to identify biased and potentially discriminatory practices in the workplace and appropriate intervention strategies. Instead of focusing on theory, intervention-based initiatives help employees to step in when harassment or bias is occurring and provides them with the necessary tools and training to effectively de-escalate situations. These intervention-based programs also help to give employees a voice in reporting bias, which encourages them to say something if they witness discriminatory practices among their peers and management.
New and Improved Initiatives: A Shift in Focus
Previous approaches to diversity and inclusion in the workplace have only proven to be moderately successful, if at all. Many of the initiatives intended to increase diversity end up leaving some employees feeling even more excluded than they did before. In order to change the narrative when it comes to fostering diversity, decision-makers must make an effort to focus on initiatives that have been proven to work rather than to maintain the status quo. By encouraging employees to discuss their insights and by providing them with the necessary tools to recognize bias and speak out, your company can implement inclusion initiatives that work.
