How to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace

Look for unconscious biases in your organization

Whether you’re the CEO, an HR director or a mid-level manager, take the time to look around and uncover biases throughout your organization. Walk through the lunchroom and note whether people spend their breaks with diverse team members or each table contains separate groups.

You should also look at your various departments and the characteristics of the people in them. Is your IT group full of men? Do women dominate HR? Is accounting led by white males but full of women staff members? All of these situations are examples of potential bias.

While you can’t force your staff members to associate with a diverse group on their lunch break, you can implement activities encouraging team members to get to know one another during company time. Group activities can promote stronger relationships between staff, leading to better blending among employees over time.

Leaders who notice poor department diversity should look to HR to build a better talent pool for new employees. They should speak with their hiring managers and encourage them to look past stereotypes and consider diversity when building their teams.

Incorporate unconscious bias training for managers & employees

Various organizations offer unconscious bias training for managers and employees. This type of training works by alerting people to their inherent biases and helping them avoid decision-making based on those biases. 

For unconscious bias training to work, it must not use shame or blame in its instruction. Individuals who go through the program shouldn’t feel bad for possessing a bias they’ve likely held all their lives. 

Instead, employees will learn what their biases are and develop techniques they can use to overcome them when making essential decisions, like hiring or promoting team members.

Create affinity groups in your organization

An affinity group is a type of club or a subset of your organization whose members all identify with a specific ethnic group or gender. The group regularly collaborates to discuss issues they encounter in the workplace and share their experiences with other team members. 

Affinity groups can alert management to significant issues in the workplace. For instance, group members could notify executives when they see a female colleague denied a promotion despite her strong performance. Similarly, African Americans who feel marginalized by a team leader might voice their concerns.

An affinity group can drive significant change in the workplace, especially if given a platform to do so. Their presence can ensure minorities, women and those with disabilities feel a stronger sense of inclusion in the organization.

Set up a listening circle for your team

Another way to promote inclusion is through listening circles. Essentially, a listening circle is a meeting designed to encourage team members to share their thoughts and viewpoints. During the listening circle time, participants share stories or anecdotes about their lives or discuss their opinions concerning a specific topic.

Before setting up a listening circle, it’s essential to identify who to include, as well as the purpose of the meeting. If a significant change has recently occurred in your organization, like a change to the executive leadership team or a location closure, a listening circle allows employees to express any concerns or questions they have.

Listening circles can also help team members better understand the people they’re working with. For instance, if you’ve recently hired new team members or are merging departments, a listening circle can be a great way to encourage people to get to know their new teammates. 

Offer mentoring programs 

Mentoring programs are a great way to ensure all employees get the support they need to advance in their careers. You can ask volunteers to mentor interested employees in lower and mid-level positions, giving them greater access to the knowledge they’ll need to progress.

Mentorship is particularly effective for employees from diverse subgroups or for women. For instance, connecting a high performer in a lower-level position with a higher-level female executive can give her the positive guidance she needs to become more vocal in the organization.

Incorporate diversity & inclusion in accountability metrics

One of the most important ways to promote diversity and inclusion is through various accountability metrics, including customer support surveys and employee feedback. 

Accountability metrics provide an objective means of understanding whether diversity and inclusion are genuinely present throughout the organization or whether they need more attention.

Customer surveys should incorporate D&I measurements into their inquiries. For instance, a retail organization could ask specifically whether the customer felt welcome visiting a retail outlet or if employees ignored their needs. 

Employees should provide their feelings concerning D&I and whether they’ve encountered any biases or discrimination the company can improve upon at the workplace.

Host a cultural potluck

Another method of encouraging workplace inclusion is food. Everyone loves food, and sharing it at work is an excellent opportunity to explore different cultures and attitudes.

You can encourage participants to bring foods that reflect their ethnicity. For instance, someone from a German background might bring bratwurst and sauerkraut, while someone with a Latino background might bring empanadas or tamales. 

Sharing food often leads to discussions about an employee’s unique culture, whether they’ve grown up within the U.S. or immigrated later in life. It’s a great way to learn more about people’s backgrounds, any special traditions they follow and the countries they’ve lived in.