Newsletter Article
Member Benefit
Published Thu Sep 01 2022
Employees want more than empty gestures when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace. Sure, it’s great to include a rainbow in your logo during Pride Month, but instead of symbolic actions, employees want to see real systemic and structural changes. What does this mean, exactly, though? And how can organizations move the needle? Start by understanding that all your employees experience the same workplace, but that doesn’t mean they are experiencing the workplace in the same way. Sometimes, these differences can be striking. According to a recent Gallup poll, 75 percent of Black employees in the US say they’ve experienced discrimination in the workplace due to their race compared to 42 percent of White employees. Women report much higher rates of burnout than men, and the percentage of LGBTQ employees that feel their employers genuinely care about their well-being is 10 points lower than their non-LGBTQ counterparts. To address this, employers need to understand that DEI is not a check-the-box exercise and that it does not exist peripherally to how the business is run. Your culture, after all, isn’t what happens in a day; it’s what happens every day. Start by asking yourself four questions: What is your commitment? What changes will you make? How will you track progress? How will you sustain progress? There is no silver-bullet solution when it comes to DEI strategies, but by making it part of your corporate DNA, employee experiences will improve across the board.
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