Drive business results with these 3 truths around Diversity ๐๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ

April is "Celebrate Diversity" month! ๐๐๐ป๐๐ผ๐๐ฝ๐๐พ๐๐ฟ
By appreciating our similarities and differences, the month aims to get people to foster a deeper understanding of others, regardless of who they are, what they are, or how they live.
Not just for intrinsic value but because it's good for business.
How can this celebration translate to business growth?
Get ready to join a TRANSPARENT discussion to help employers, and their advisers, understand how leading organizations focus on DIVERSITY to drive better business results and how health equity, health literacy, and DEI play an essential role in organizations' workforce management.
The discussion will focus on the following three (3) conversations:
- Talent
- Health Benefits
- Culture
Paulo Glaudiano, an expert in Diversity and inclusion in the workplace, states in a March 2020 Forbes article that companies should consider how their levels of Diversity and inclusion impact all critical aspects of their business โ not just recruiting but also retention, operations, and sales.
Regardless of whether a company wants to diversify its talent because they believe in the value of being diverse, for compliance reasons, or plain outside appearance, there is an obvious economic advantage in hiring from a more diverse talent pool. The focus of increasing the supply of candidates lowers hiring costs, especially when there is strong competition for talent while providing a more comprehensive range of perspectives.
Hiring a candidate is similar to selling a product: you have a funnel with multiple stages. Many factors influence your conversion rate at each step, and any leads that may cause you to lose at a given scene cannot get fixed at subsequent stages.
However, a key difference is that each stage of your sales funnel gets influenced by a different function (e.g., marketing, advertising, pricing, sales, distribution). Employers' company's level of Diversity and inclusion affects all stages of the recruiting funnel, and therefore it has a compounding effect.
LET'S GO DEEPER
Lever, an Employ Inc. brand and leading Talent Acquisition Suite, released the 2022 DEI Through the Recruiting Lifecycle Report, highlighting how Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) impacts the employee lifecycle from initial hiring through long-term employment.
The Lever report found that many candidates experience biases during the hiring process, with 50% of employees believing their race, gender, or ethnicity has hindered them in securing a job. Black (59%), Asian (59%), and Hispanic (50.5%) employees were more likely than White employees (46%) to report hiring biases.
The report also reveals that 62% of employees believe they were interviewed for a job simply so that the company could meet diversity requirements. It's particularly true for Hispanic (71%) and Black employees (71%). Employer data supports this perspective, as 66% of employers acknowledge that candidates get interviewed to meet diversity quotas.
WHY IT MATTERS
This data pushes employers to assess how they're implementing their DEI efforts and how it's influencing their business decisions. It's undeniable that inclusive environments lead to happier employees, and it's no secret that happier team members are productive.
An inclusive workplace culture will help you attract a diverse set of talents but also help you retain the diverse talent you drew in the first place.
However, it's undeniable that many businesses must climb a few walls to become more diverse. Even if employers have an honest intention to build a more diverse workforce, there are challenges in the pool of candidates.
As Galiano states, if your company is not very diverse, there's a cause-and-effect dilemma: you can't just wave a magic wand to increase the Diversity of your existing team so that it can better recruit diverse candidates.
With this challenge in mind, companies can start setting goals in the right direction and build DEI initiatives that get them closer to a more diverse talent base. It doesn't need to be complicated. It just needs to be purposeful. Businesses can start by sharing a survey with employees to understand their current diversity metrics better.
Also, investing in employee development for underrepresented groups can address equity gaps increasing inclusivity. Businesses can implement employee resource groups and facilitate better quality staff training.
Let's face it. The positive impact of Diversity and inclusion is no longer debatable.
Not only is DEI a moral move in the right direction, but it is also wise from a recruiting, retention, and company growth standpoint.
2. HEALTH BENEFITSForget free massages, ping pong tables in the breakroom, or Kegerators.
These benefits and perks might sound appealing, but experts say they no longer signal a solid work-benefits package.
Inflation continues to rise, making "everyday life" expenses challenging. Layoffs are happening left and right, and economic uncertainty is here to stay. Most want to ensure their employer offers basic benefits like health insurance and 401ks.
Given the socio-economic differences within a workforce, more than simply offering a status quo health plan and a 401k is required. Those are considered table stakes at this point.
.Employers across the globe are pushing to be more equitable to their employees, and that involves providing a wider range of benefits.
Industry experts agree that there is an increasing focus on health equity, how an employer engages with the benefits they offer, and how they back up the talk around who they are as an organization.
Employees are starting to engage way more with the idea that benefits lead to culture and that their chosen benefits get used as a barometer. It makes companies think beyond raising salaries and evaluate how to keep pace with inflation. Employers are asking how to ease some employees' financial stresses and burdens through other means.
What would provide them with peace and supplement their lifestyle where they are in life right now? Employers understand they can have a whole suite of benefits, but if it isn't for employees' needs, it won't help them as an organization.
Candidates today ask questions upfront and want to know the details of health care coverage. Does it include reproductive health care benefits? How do you engage with travel for medical purposes? What do you think about it as an organization?"
WHY IT MATTERS
Inclusive benefits are a way of maintaining employees taking care of their unique needs, preventing, and treating diseases, promoting equality, planning their lives and future, and helping everyone feel they, and their well-being, are valued.
As the 2021 My Health Math article states, the ugly truth is that underrepresented groups have historically got marginalized in the workplace. Employers seek opportunities to drive meaningful change and end these ongoing injustices. One place to start is employee benefits. Benefits packages touch numerous parts of peoples' lives, from health assistance to retirement accounts to education assistance.
My Health Math suggests five (5) steps to get started:
1. Assess who is using and benefiting from employee benefits.Employee benefits can significantly impact employees and their familiesโ lives and increase their satisfaction and productivity at work. But if only some people use your benefits, you risk exacerbating inequities, explains Anton Gunn, an employer consultant, and expert on Socially Conscious Leadership.
Gunn recommends that employers look at their benefits and then analyze who uses them, breaking this down by income level, salary earnings, and demographics.
2. Engage a diverse team when discussing benefit optionsWho is involved in your company/organization's benefit decisions? Do they reflect the employee population you're trying to serve?
One way to promote equitable benefits is by talking to the people you want your benefits to support, which means engaging a diverse team of stakeholders.
3. Reconsider the benefits you offerOnce you've done your assessment and have your team, consider what changes you might make to your benefit packages. Microsoft's Director of Population Health, Amy Berk, MSN, RN, suggests asking the following questions:
- Do your health plans cover virtual care? It can increase healthcare access and improve health outcomes.
- Do you offer multiple health plans so employees can find one that suits their medical needs?
- Are mental health benefits available without an added cost?
- Do you offer wellness benefits?
- Have you looked beyond typical benefits to opportunities for education and childcare?
Once you've chosen your benefits, ensure people can understand them. After all, health benefits are confusing, so most employees are in the wrong health plan.
Better choices start with education.
But too often, employers don't give employees dedicated time to learn about their benefits and attend benefit meetings, explains Stacey Gordon, MBA, consultant, and Author of UNBIAS: Addressing Unconscious Bias at Work. "Give people the time to get the education to make informed decisions," she says.
Educate employees to become better health benefits consumers.
5. Provide transportation to healthcareIn 2017, nearly 6 million people in the U.S. delayed medical care because they didn't have transportation. Making it easier for people to get to the doctor can greatly impact equityโespecially given that transportation barriers most affect those with less money and those with chronic conditions.
Employers can play a significant role in removing transportation barriers, says Gunn. He suggests looking into onsite health care, providing health care shuttles, or reimbursing employees for the costs of getting to their appointments. When you have a healthier workforce, the costs will pay for themselves.
3. CULTUREIn a 2022 article by SHRM, Matt Gonzales states that good company culture is more than just snacks, perks, and benefits. According to recent reports, employees and job seekers increasingly view Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as key attributes defining a good company culture.
According to a survey by LinkedIn Talent Solutions, about 1 in 4 job seekers in 2021 said DEI is the most crucial investment area to improve company culture.
The report suggested that boosting DEI efforts to create a more diverse workforce helps employers build a dynamic relationship with employees, Matt says.
"A strong DEI presence creates a culture where employees feel empowered to be authentic and bring new ideas based on their unique knowledge and experiences," said Risha Grant, an award-winning DEI speaker and expert based in Tulsa, Okla. "You will not have a good company culture if DEI is absent."
Diversity allows workers from underrepresented communities to connect with their peers and feel celebrated. Grant said ineffective DEI efforts could cause these individuals to harbor negative views of their company's culture.
She said employees might feel their input gets undervalued in a homogenous culture. If companies continue to seek culture fits instead of culture additions, they may fail to compete with more diverse organizations in recruitment, retention, and innovation areas.
If your culture does not respect and includes workers based on their differences, even with the most outstanding recruiting efforts, diverse candidates will not thrive and will not stay.
LET'S GO DEEPER
Fortune 500 companies can implement DEI programs faster than "Mom and Pop" businesses. How can smaller businesses build a more diverse culture with fewer resources?
A May 2022 Forbes article helps address this challenge describing four ways early-stage companies can integrate DEI into their growing organizationsโjust like the giants do.
1. Include DEI in your company's guiding concepts, like your core values.The meaning of foundational resources like core values is to guide every aspect of your businessโhiring goals, vendor partnerships, product decisions, customer service, and so much more. Even and especially company culture.
Core values impact your company's brand and ability to attract and retain top talent. Findings from SHRM show that "94% of managers agree that a positive workplace culture creates a resilient team of employees." And when the work culture isn't positive? Employees start planning their exit strategy.
Your employee handbook is another excellent place to start creating an inclusive culture. Too many companies focus on compliance and forget about making their handbooks an extension of their culture.
Fun, engaging employee handbooks can be such a helpful tool in orienting employees to how you think and talk about your organization. Tap a small, diverse committee of employees who "get" the company's tone and culture to help craft the handbook. Someone with writing chops helps, too.
2. Choose benefits that reflect the culture you want to have.Once values get established, the more tangible work begins creating policies and providing benefits that reflect your desired culture. If DEI is at the heart of that mission, consider how different demographics, such as working parents, women, LGBTQ+ employees, and employees of color, might be better supported. You can accomplish this by offering benefits like paid time off, paid parental leave, mental health support, and inclusive health care.
Remember, too, that employees' needs are fluid and change to reflect internal factors like where they are in their lives and careers and external factors like what's happening in the world.
3. Practice accountability when hiringโeven if it makes hiring more challenging.Hiring for "culture fit" has become controversial among DEI-focused organizations (often, "fitting in" is code for hiring someone just like you). But values alignment, sometimes known as "values fit" or "culture add," remains crucial to building a team that supports a company's long-term DEI journey.
That means centering your hiring around searching for people who bring needed skill sets to your company and something extraโa new perspective, a different background, a needed voice that has yet to be represented and aligns with your company's mission and vision.
4. Tap into easy ways to get feedback from employees.Employee resource groups, town hall meetings, and Slack channels are less formal and more accessible for early-stage companies to get employee feedback and create an open culture.
They allow you to hold space for your employees to share their unique experiences without the additional resource overhead that a formal survey platform or partner might bring with it.
Another effective option for companies of all sizes is one-to-oneโwhen managers, an employee's direct line of support, can make their direct reports feel heard simply by listening to and validating their experiences. Take that feedback and make changes to it.
WHY IT MATTERS
When you decide to use Diversity and inclusion as a mindset rather than another action on your to-do list, you'll find that business-critical work like establishing core values, choosing employee benefits, and creating feedback channels take on new power. This power elevates and underlines what matters most in the pursuit of everything: a culture that supports the experiences of all employees.
BOTTOM LINE
BenefitsPRO states in an April 2022 article that the most successful organizations recognize that Diversity and inclusion spark innovation, increase productivity, and create a healthy, respectful workplace.
Greater Diversity and inclusion enable organizations to leverage the range of perspectives needed to address today's complex challenges.
Targeted, meaningful, and effective DEI initiatives make workplaces smarter and more successful while increasing job satisfaction, employee retention, and revenue.
Ultimately, companies must acknowledge the true power of Diversity and ensure that all individuals bring their authentic selves to work. Organizational change begins at the top.
Leadership needs to allocate resources to DEI efforts, even in uncertainty. Taking these steps shows employees that leadership is taking DEI to heart.
Employers need to have these three (3) crucial conversations about Talent, Health Benefits, and Culture.
The transformation in our workforce is here to stay and will keep evolving. Employers that invest in their employees by offering healthcare benefits that meet their specific interests, goals, and needs will lead to better overall health outcomes and business results by celebrating Diversity.
Resources:
- (n.d.). Celebrate Diversity Month โ April 2023. National Today. Retrieved from https://nationaltoday.com/celebrate-diversity-month/#:~:text=Celebrate%20Diversity%20Month%20is%20a,foster%20a%20more%20tolerant%20society
- Keck, J. (2023, March 3). Future business success: How diverse companies perform better. BenefitsPRO. Retrieved from https://www.benefitspro.com/2023/03/03/future-business-success-how-diverse-companies-perform-better/
- Callahan, C. (2022, November 21). A real focus on health equityโ: How employers plan to up the benefits ante in 2023. WorkLife Daily Briefing. Retrieved March 7, 2023, from https://www.worklife.news/dei/workplace-benefits/
- Case, T. (2022, March 10). Bosses ramp up perks and benefits โ But does it align with what employees really want? WorkLife Daily Briefing. Retrieved March 7, 2023, from https://www.worklife.news/culture/bosses-ramp-up-perks-and-benefits-but-does-it-align-with-what-employees-really-want/
- Hastwell, C. (2020, January 5). Racially Diverse Workplaces Have Largest Revenue Growth. Great Place To Work. Retrieved March 7, 2023, from https://www.greatplacetowork.com/resources/blog/racially-diverse-workplaces-have-largest-revenue-growth
- A Berckshire Hathaway Company (2022, November 3). Lever Report Reveals How DEI Impacts Hiring Through the Recruiting Lifecycle. Business Wire. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221103005979/en/Lever-Report-Reveals-How-DEI-Impacts-Hiring-Through-the-Recruiting-Lifecycle
- Gaudiano, P. (2020, March 23). 6 Ways Diversity And Inclusion Impact The Cost And Effectiveness Of Recruiting. https://www.forbes.com/sites/paologaudiano/2020/03/23/6-ways-diversity-and-inclusion-impact-the-cost-and-effectiveness-of-recruiting/?sh=7e9dee1a7a5c
- (2021, September 1). How to Use Health Benefits to Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). MyHealthMath. https://myhealthmath.com/2021/09/01/how-to-use-health-benefits-to-promote-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei/
- Reynolds, L. (2022, April 19). DEI: The new benchmark for employee benefits. ALM | BenefitsPRO. https://www.benefitspro.com/2022/04/19/dei-the-new-benchmark-for-employee-benefits/
- Gonzales, M. (2022, February 16). The Relationship Between Culture and DE&I. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/the-relationship-between-culture-and-dei.aspx#:~:text=About%201%20in%204%20job,a%20dynamic%20relationship%20with%20employees
- Mead, U. (2022, May 10). Four Ways To Integrate DEI Into Your Culture Early On. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2022/05/10/four-ways-to-integrate-dei-into-your-culture-early-on/?sh=170209b11e36