D&I Flashcards
What is Diversity?
The similarities and differences between individuals, accounting for all aspects of ones personality and individual identity.
3 Types of Diversity
- Legacy: traits that are recognizable
- Experimental: based on living experiences
- Thought: diff perspectives results from education/background
Diversity of Thought
This view focuses on valuing the unique perspectives individuals bring to orgz.
Visible v. Invisible Diversity Traits
Visible: generally those external physical characteristics that are easily recognizable. (ethnicity, race, gender, nationality)
Invisible: attributes that are not readily seen, such as diversity of thought, perspectives, and life experiences. (education, family status, values, beliefs, working style)
Equity
- Refers to a focus on promoting fairness and justice via orgz structure
- Distinct from the notion of equality.
- The goal of equity is not to provide everyone with the same level of support, which would be equality.
What is Inclusion?
The extent to which each person in an orgz feels welcomed, respected, supported, and valued as a team member.
*Happens only when orgz culture recognizes and appreciates everyones skill and talent.
Inclusion v Diversity
Diversity asks who do we bring into our orgz?
Inclusion asks how do we make them feel welcome when they get here?
What is Covering?
When an orgz recruits a diverse workforce but, consciously or otherwise, promotes assimilation rather than inclusion.
Covering Affects Workers’ Behavior Along 4 Dimensions:
- Appearance: blend in
- Affiliation: avoiding behaviors associated with their identitiy group
- Advocacy: avoiding engaging in advocacy
- Association: avoiding associating with members of their identity group
Benefits of D&I
- Improved creativity and innovation
- Recruitment and retention: widens your net so much more
- Market strengths
- Branding: employer branding w/ recruiting
- Global integration and local differentiation: being inclusive to local aspects
Embracing Diversity
An Org must truly embrace diversity and integrate varied lifestyles, beliefs, and needs into its business culture to lead to true change.
*D&I must be ready at the least, to realign itself with new directions and, ideally, be positioned to inlfuence the direction stretgic changes take!!!
Policies & Procedures to Promote Diversity
HR’s Challenge is to ensure that every policy applies equitably and fairly across:
- All diversity dimensions including gender, sexuality, race, cutlure
- All functions including IT, finance, manufacturing
- All global locations
What are Dynamic and Inclusive Workplace Characteristics?
Multigenerational Multicultural Multilingual Multitalented Multigendered
Developing an Inclusive Workplace
- Educate your leaders
- Form an inclusion council
- Celebrate EE differences
- Listen to EEs
- Hold more effective meetings
- Communicate goals and measure progress
*DEI is not an HR thing, its an everybody thing
Leadership Buy-In
DE&I must demonstrate ability to play a critical role in achieving business goals
*Must go beyond general truths about benefits and specifically link to orgz mission, vision, and business objectives
Executive Sponsorship
This must be real, active, and long term commitment for the effort to succeed
*Many sponsor initiatives such as ERG groups
Allyship
- Should exist at all levels of orgz
- Allies can be relied on to model empathy and be ambassadors for change
Unconscious Bias Training
- Designed to illustrate biases that an individual may hold
- Works to reduce or remove inequalities through education
Mentorship
- Can benefit both mentor and mentee
- Provides opportunity to build strong and deep relationships with others
Psychological Safety
- Refers to feeling able to speak up, question, ask for help, admit mistakes
- Makes individuals feel valued and allows them to feely contribute
Preferred Gender Pronouns
- Traditional pronouns are being phased out by orgz
- Being replaced by gender neutral pronouns such as they, their, them
- Can create feelings of inclusiveness among non binary - Orgz culture shift
- Best practice is to ask people how they want to be referred to by others and to respect that decision
- This decision may change over time
Evolution and Integration of DEI
- DEI initiatives should be integrated with standard orgz operations.
- Initiatives should be measured, revised, and reevaluated
- Focus on diversity issues will change over time
Conscious Bias
- Individual understands they have it
- Results in intentional behavior
- May manifest as physical and verbal harassment or other actions
Unconscious Bias
- Individual is unaware of the bias
- May not result in over or deliberate action but still informs decision-making process and behavior
- Everyone has unconscious bias
Forms of Bias—Making assumptions
- Gender based discrimination
- Gender Identity bias
- Sexual orientation bias
- Racism
- Stereotypes
- Ageism
- Ingroup/Outgroup bias
- Affinity bias
- Social comparison bias
- Extroversion/Introversion bias
- Neurodiversity bias (learning disabilities-thinking differently)
- Micro aggressions (a joke)
Other DEI Concerns
Imposter Syndrome: feeling that success is due to luck, not skill
Covering: defensive behavior when a workforce promotes assimilation rather than inclusion
Cultural Taxation: additional workload generated for members of underrepresented groups due to a requested participation in DEI efforts
Workplace Solutions
caregiver option, workplace flexibility policies, paid leave, tuition reimbursement, student loan asst, location rooms, prayer room, closed captionining, wheel chair ramps, gender neutral restrooms.
EE Surveys
Surveys to assess inclusion should examine:
- Overall DEI efforts/culture
- Hiring and Recruitment
- Career development
- Personal experiences
- Policies and procedures
- Suggestions and comments
Common DEI Metrics
- Gender diversity
- Race Diversity
- SHRM Empathy Index
- Retention Rates for Diverse EEs
- Diversity of External Stakeholders
*Personalize this, what makes sense to measure at your work place? Might be some of the ir might be all of these.
Pay Measures
Pay Audits: Analyze pay info to see if sets of individuals are paid less or more than others on average. *Good to identify pay gaps.
Pay Equity Reports: Disclose results of a pay audit. *Pay equity refers to salary paid to similar positions examined through lens of one or more dimensions of diversity
Pay Transparency: Important to pursuit of pay equity. *Includes publishing pay scales—this helps EEs feel that their pay is equitable in the workforce.
