As many larger companies are abandoning their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies, it creates an opportunity for small and mid-sized businesses to make space for minority workers in a wide range of demographics. Embracing a broader definition of diversity can attract the best talent with the widest perspectives, so you and your business can thrive.
Diversity Means More than Demographics
When business owners think about diversity, the first things to come to mind are generally race, ethnicity, and gender. While embracing these demographic differences can improve your company’s public perception and internal operations, they are not the way to bring diversity into your workforce. A broader definition of diversity could include less visible demographics like:
- Age
- Religion
- Sexual orientation or gender identity
- Physical ability or disability
- Socioeconomic background
- Life experiences (including veterans or formerly incarcerated people)
- Educational backgrounds
- Employment histories
Adjusting your hiring practice to ensure the full range of diversity can remove unknown blind spots or assumptions from your business operations. It will also open up all corners of the talent pool, helping you avoid unspoken biases.
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A Broader Definition of Diversity Welcomes Differences in Thought
Beyond issues of public perceptions, embracing diversity means welcoming people with different life experiences, perspectives, and priorities into the decision making process. This cognitive diversity is one of the unspoken benefits of making diversity a core value of your business. In many industries, it is easy for boardrooms to become echo chambers, where business owners and managers try to find new solutions by applying the same ideas and assumptions.
But by prioritizing cognitive diversity, and fostering a collaborative working environment, new hires and diverse workers are invited to bring their unique experiences to the brainstorming sessions, to test the status quo. Employees with ADHD, autism, or other types of neurodiversity, in particular can excel in divergent thinking. Parents, caregivers, and people with physical disabilities can help your company consider obstacles or limitations on your product you may not have considered. People with non-traditional work histories can also provide a different viewpoint based on their previous careers or life experiences.
Practical Considerations for Embracing a Diverse Workforce
If you have made a broader definition of diversity part of your business’s strategic planning, you need to be prepared to address the practical considerations that come with opening your doors to workers with different needs and expectations.
Promote Acceptance and Inclusion
Your existing workforce needs to be onboard with your goal of embracing diversity. You should be prepared to offer diversity and inclusion training to foster acceptance among your employees. Clearly articulate the company’s anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies, and make sure your employees know you value allyship, allowing your workers to support their minority coworkers without fear of retribution.
Consider adopting a formal mentorship program or sponsorship policy that encourage employee growth and training. By pairing experienced employees with new hires, you can give your workers one-on-one exposure to members of unrepresented groups, and give workers with less experience access to institutional knowledge. Similarly, sponsorship policies can encourage new hires and existing employees alike to advance their careers and deepen their understanding, giving your company the benefit of their knowledge and perspectives.
Offer Flexibility and Accommodations
Bringing on workers with neurodiversity, disabilities, or caregiving obligations will require reconsidering your company policies on everything from attendance requirements to work stations. Consider what is necessary for your employees to do their work, and where you can offer flexibility or accommodations to make success possible.
While state and federal laws require companies to make reasonable accommodations for people with diagnosed disabilities, these standards often fall short of giving employees what they need to do their best work. This means making it easy for parents to pick up their children after school, and possibly offering work-from-home options, as your industry allows. However, it may also include offering fidget spinners or noise-cancelling headphones to employees with different ideal working environments. Consider polling your employees about adjustments that would make their workdays easier, and what obstacles they face that you may never have considered.
Avoid Claims of Discrimination Using Transparent Policies
Embracing a broader definition of diversity does create more chances for misunderstandings. Leaders must lead by example, holding themselves and their workers to a higher standard of acceptance and inclusive conflict resolution.
This means that your company will need to adopt, implement, and enforce transparent policies for performance evaluation, conflict resolution, and employee feedback. All your employees – regardless of their demographics – need to feel like their concerns, suggestions, and experiences are heard and honored by the company and its leaders. Making the effort to make every team feel empowered will ensure that your team members bring their best to the business.
David Stanislaw is an organizational development specialist with over 25 years’ experience in creating diverse workplaces. Through business consulting and facilitation, David helps businesses embrace a broader definition of diversity in their teams and their leadership. Contact us to meet with David to move toward high organizational functioning today.
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