Throughout the past few years of the pandemic, organizations have witnessed a multitude of new and emerging trends impacting employees. For many organizations, there is an increased focus on building diverse and inclusive work environments for all employees. This is aligned with a recent poll of 1,000 full-time US employees by Workhuman, where as many as 66% agree that their employer's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) strategy impacts how long they stay in the company. Yet, even for employers with DEI efforts, only 24% of employees believe their employers are actually doing something about diversity and inclusion at the workplace. In the same vein, a recent survey by Josh Bersin revealed that as many as 80% of Human Resource (HR) professionals feel they are just "going through the motions" with diversity and inclusion.
As organizations prioritize building a diverse and inclusive workplace, how can the DEI efforts successfully make an impact?
The answer lies in a three-prong strategy:
Empower your employees to be a part of the change.
Establishing a diverse and inclusive workplace should not just be a Human Resources' initiative, but one that empowers every individual employee to play their part in building an inclusive and psychologically safe workplace.
Diversity and inclusion should start at the root of what it means to be human, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, culture, gender or ability.
By focusing on each individual employee's unique strengths, skills and talents as the starting point, your efforts become timeless and outlasts the shifting trends around you. Your employees will be more likely to get behind a cause they can relate with and have something unique they can bring to the table.
Sustainable diversity and inclusion efforts do not victimize certain races over others.
An authentic approach to equity and inclusion does not pit different races against others. Doing so results in an unsustainable environment that does not promote racial harmony at the workplace.
Experience the "You can Play in my Sandbox" e-course difference:
You can Play in my Sandbox is training that empowers employees to be a part of change in 3 important ways:
You can Play in my Sandbox begins at the root of what it means to be human.
Regardless of race, ethnicity, age, culture, gender and ability, the basic needs of every individual human being is universal – the need to belong and be heard. When we know and feel that we belong and are heard, we can start to empower inclusion at the workplace.
You can Play in my Sandbox helps employees recognize that inclusion is a two-way street.
Knowing and feeling that we belong and are heard is a two-way street. Many diversity and inclusion training today focus only on one half of the process – how to engage with others who are “different” from us. How this is received is an important part of the equation that determines if real change can happen.
You can Play in my Sandbox empowers EVERY employee to be a part of the solution.
The result is all employees embrace a growth mindset by taking responsibility for understanding others and being engaged, starting with what they can influence - their own response. When everyone contributes, we can harness true power to change our workplaces for the better.
You can Play in my Sandbox consists of 5 modules (sandboxes), each complete with video lessons with closed captioning, personal reflection exercises, quizzes at the end of each module to reinforce learning, and a print-ready workbook with key concepts you can follow along:
Develop | Empower | Inspire
You can Play in my Sandbox is Diversity, Equity & Inclusion training where every employee understands their impact in the organization and is empowered to contribute to success.
