6 Ways to Ensure Your Workplace Culture Supports Your DEI Efforts

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are essential to business success and effective teamwork. The benefits of a diverse workforce include increased engagement, productivity, and creativity. On a broader scale, DEI initiatives expand perspectives, decrease skills gaps, and keep your team unified amid shifting markets. 

The value of DEI in the workplace can't be overstated, but you must also ensure your company culture can support it. Effective DEI practices require everyone's participation, from new hires to upper management. Explore our best company culture tips to improve DEI in the workplace. 

1. Consider Company Culture During the Hiring Process

Much of your company culture is determined in the hiring process, such as by the applicants you choose and their first impressions. Because of this, you should consider candidates' cultural add and fit within your organization. Though you should regard all applicants equally, it's beneficial to identify which professionals can add to your company culture. For example, a team with all male employees could benefit from a few female perspectives. 

Hiring a diverse team with different backgrounds, abilities, and thought processes vastly expands your organization's capabilities. However, you should extend this DEI approach beyond hiring and guarantee all employees are equally included on your team – especially new hires from underrepresented populations. As a result, you can expand the ideas within your company and avoid turning meetings into echo chambers.

2. Invest Time Into DEI Training

DEI training is critical for all managers and employees in the modern business world. Training should consist of more than discussing numbers and HR-mandated policies. Instead, they should extend into the various aspects of DEI, including its benefits and social dynamics. 

Every type of DEI training serves organizations differently based on their specific needs and work environments. For example, fully in-person offices will benefit more from one-on-one collaboration and body language communication training. Meanwhile, an organization with primarily international clients may need frequent cultural competence training. Starting with basic diversity training can help you identify your team's best growth opportunities. 

The following types of DEI training will teach you and your team how to improve workplace culture:

• Basic diversity training
• Cultural sensitivity and competence training
• Inclusive management training
• Harassment prevention training
• Unconscious bias training
• Empathy training
• Common ground training
• Accommodation and allyship training
• Community engagement training
   

3. Focus Leadership on Growth and Accountability

Inclusive leadership involves collaborating with your team, genuinely considering everyone's perspectives, and acting in your entire organization's best interests. To do this, you must recognize how your unconscious biases impact your decisions and company culture.

Some examples of workplace discrimination are indirect and unintentional, such as not understanding that certain words are considered offensive. However, employees and employers may be unwilling to learn more about how their words impact others if you approach them with pointed fingers. Instead, discussing others' perspectives from a positive, growth-focused mindset will make teammates more empathetic and willing to listen. 

Much of inclusive leadership focuses on growth, education, and accountability rather than blame. This DEI approach aims to keep the focus on team-building and the inclusion of everyone. As a result, leaders' priorities should naturally shift to supporting and accommodating everyone on their team, regardless of their background or abilities. 

4. Don't Forget About Neurodiversity

Genuine inclusion and diversity in the workplace comprise many layers, including neurodiversity. At a base level, workplace neurodiversity describes your organization's range of thought processes among neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals. Beyond that, effective neurodiversity asks you to embrace each other's strengths and share perspectives, practices, and experiences.

Unfortunately, many professionals still face ableism and stigmas at work, extending far beyond direct discrimination. Some company cultures are so focused on productivity and results that they overlook employees' needs and best work environments. This can seriously impair employees' confidence, motivation, and retention.

Effective neurodiversity in the workplace requires employers to pay attention to the accessibility, support, and processes in their organizations. Getting to know each individual's processes and needs can help you develop the best environment and culture for everyone's abilities. 

5. Guarantee Equity in Pay and Benefits 

The best professionals likely won't even consider your open positions if they believe they'll be undervalued or mistreated. Taking a critical look at your offered pay and benefits can help you gauge the equity within your team. As a result, you can identify shortcomings and establish a better company culture for potential employees. 

Pay equity certifies that all employees receive equal compensation for similar work, regardless of age, gender, race, or other characteristics. Whether it's intentional or unconscious, wage discrimination is unlawful and unfair to everyone on your team. A potential solution is salary transparency, which can help you develop better accountability and trust.

Beyond dollar amounts, equity should also extend to employees' benefits and treatment. LGBTQ+ employees are often the most ignored in benefit programs, even if everything looks the same on paper. This is because some healthcare plans don't automatically include same-sex spouses or domestic partners in their coverage. Providing health benefits for all employees and their families regardless of sexual orientation communicates your company culture is focused on DEI. 

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6. Measure the Success of Your DEI Initiatives

Your company culture should support your DEI programs from all corners of your workplace, which can be challenging to measure. Simply tracking one factor, such as your productivity reports or hiring statistics, doesn’t cover your overall DEI impact. 

Instead, you should keep an eye on all of the variables connected to your company culture, including:

• Employee productivity
• Employee retention
• Job applicants
• Internal growth
• External growth
• Pay and benefits
• Employee engagement survey results
   

Best Practices and Resources for DEI in the Workplace

Learning how to improve DEI in the workplace is an ongoing process. However, by practicing inclusive leadership, signing up for training, and paying attention to your employees, effective DEI may become natural for you.

Fortunately, you don't have to do this alone. Explore iHire's Employer Resource Center to learn more about developing a DEI strategy and improving company culture.