Inclusion Not Just Diversity
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Several organizations have launched initiatives to promote Diversity. Why do we need to build diversity in the workforce? If the consumer group is diverse, having the same diversity represented in the employee groups makes it easy to develop the product which is aligned to the consumers. This makes sense for consumer goods but how does his pan out in case of industrial goods. Taking the argument further, if the buyer group is not diverse, does it still make business sense to drive diversity in the organization?
In my opinion, the single reason to drive diversity is about providing a non discriminatory employment experience. Equal opportunity is the strongest reason. To be denied employment based on any criteria other than merit is discriminatory and illegal in many countries. How do we implement this in the workplace?Most employers start with hiring targets that encourage diversity. The usual measure is to define the representation of the “diverse” group within the organization to mirror the percentages in which they are represented in the society in which the organization is operating. For example: If African Americans represent x% of the population, the diversity programs aim to eventually have the same percentage of African Americans among the employees. The issue is based on the assumption that education levels and skill sets are represented in equal proportion in the population.
To make diversity work, there are two conditions to be met. Let us take an example. If you are looking to hire surgeons or doctors for a hospital, the assumption is that
a) The diverse group is represented adequately in the population of qualified surgeons who are keen to work for the hiring organization.
b) The diverse group is represented in that population in the same percentage (here is the catch) – to allow for normal selection/ rejection rates.
If either of the two conditions is not represented in the population then it defeats the purpose and spirit of the diversity program. The first criterion is the necessary condition. The second is the sufficient condition. A good measure to look for is to see if the selection and rejection rates are the same as that of the other groups.
The other challenge is to define what element of diversity should the employer pursue? There are visible and identifiable elements of diversity eg Gender, Age, Disability etc. There are those which are not visible and more difficult to identify. For instance: Educational background, Sexual orientation, Economics Status, Political Orientation etc. Gender diversity in the employee population is usually the first of the diversity initiatives to be launched.
All too often I have seen organizations focus only on launching the diversity initiatives without focusing on how to build an inclusive environment that supports diversity. Having just one process – the staffing process focus on diversity will limit success of the initiative. How do we address needs of the diverse group as far as their on-boarding is concerned? What about their mentors? And yes, please do not have them be mentored only by “diverse” leaders. Women employees do not only need to be mentored by women managers. Making them successful is not just the other women’s obligation, it s also for male managers to partner in the success of the diversity initiative. Performance management, succession planning, etc are all processes that need to be examined to see if they are being inclusive. Inclusive does not mean having varying standards for individuals. It means focusing on development to give everyone a fair shot at the opportunity. As soon as you consciously drive a diversity initiative in the workplace, the policies, infrastructure, opportunities etc will need to be amended to address the needs of the “minority”.
Every HR process needs to be examined to see what measures would reflect progress and fairness in the diversity program. So while it may be good to check for percentages of diverse employees at all levels of the organization, it is just as important to see that the performance standards are not varied to “accommodate” an increase in diverse candidates. It may be better to examine what is missing in the talent nurturing and mentoring process that makes it difficult for enough diverse employees to progress at the same rate as the rest of the employees.
Diversity programs by definition try to include the minority (in whichever way you define the term) in the mainstream. Think about it, we are all minorities in some way, and mainstream in some other aspects. As minority, we would like to get a helping hand that prepares us adequately to run the race with everyone else, but we do not want the performance standards changed. That is the essence about a successful diversity program.