The Equity in DEI
In order to determine if policies create or exacerbate barriers, President Biden instructed Susan Rice, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, to “coordinate efforts to embed equity principles, policies, and approaches across the Federal Government.” The purpose: To identify systemic barriers hampering access to benefits, services mand procurement opportunities.
In his book, How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram Kendi discusses equity and policies. Defining equity in terms of race, it’s “when two or more racial groups are standing on relatively equal footing.” Any diversity dimension—sex, ethnicity, etc.—can be substituted. Policies, Kendi says, are the written and unwritten laws, rules, procedures, processes, regulations, and guidelines governing people.
Diversity, to many people, is simply about representation. Fill your pipeline and hire more members of underrepresented groups. Problem solved. That’s only the starting point, however. Every employee must have access to every employment opportunity the organization offers—training, benefits, and advancement, for example.
Moving beyond diversity, organizations must commit to equity. Often this is done through their policies, the mechanism that establishes fair treatment and equal access, opportunity, and advancement. Equity is the link between diversity and inclusion.
Policies do not guarantee equity. They must be examined to determine if they are working. President Biden’s executive order moves government agencies in the right direction—beyond workplace representation of underrepresented groups. Its goal is to identify problems. That’s great, but once identified, then what?
Inclusion—that’s the next step. How will the problems be fixed? Inclusion is how organizations live their policies, put them into action, and expect people to act and behave toward one another. If people are not behaving in accordance with the culture and values of the organization, the behavior must be addressed.
Leaders in any organization, cannot ignore DEI. The new generation of workers require it. A September 2020 survey from Glassdoor found that 76 percent of employees and job seekers said a diverse workforce was important when evaluating organizations and job offers. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has seen a rise in the importance of diversity and a diverse workforce among new graduates.
Now more than ever, organizations have to show these savvy job seekers that their commitment to DEI is real. Beyond just having a diverse workforce, they have to be committed to a long-term effort that will strengthen the culture and invite empowerment, participation, and contribution from all employees, especially those from underrepresented groups. That includes facilitating uncomfortable conversations about systemic racism and unconscious bias.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have grown in importance. That’s why one of the new chapters included in The Big Book of HR, 10th Anniversary Edition is devoted to this topic. The official publication date is January 1, 2022 (Happy New Year), but it’s available now for pre-order at https://tinyurl.com/ejjbkp69.