Introduction
Diversity and inclusion performance goals are hot topics in today’s workplace, especially for employers who want to attract and retain top talent. Recent studies show that companies with diverse workforces tend to outperform their competitors. However, many businesses still don’t understand how to use these goals effectively. That’s why we’ve put together this list of nine tips for setting up effective diversity initiatives that give you the best chance at achieving your desired results:
1. Openly commit to diversity and inclusion performance goals
Diversity and inclusion are two of the most important aspects of a modern business. Achieving both is necessary to enable innovation, increase employee engagement, and improve your company’s bottom line. But setting diversity and inclusion goals can be challenging—and doing so without having a clear understanding of what you want to achieve can lead to frustration and failure.
The following steps will help you put together your diversity and inclusion performance goals:
- Openly commit to diversity and inclusion performance goals by setting measurable targets for recruitment, retention, promotion, engagement (e.g., employee satisfaction surveys), etc. This can be done by creating a formal statement on paper or online that outlines your commitment in this regard; for example: “We commit ourselves fully towards building an inclusive environment where everyone feels comfortable working together irrespective of their race/ethnicity/gender/sexual orientation etc…
2. Share a business case for diversity and inclusion performance goals
Sharing a business case for your diversity and inclusion performance goals is essential. Sharing the business case with employees, customers, and suppliers helps demonstrate why you must include diverse perspectives in your organisation.
- Share with employees: Your employees will be asked to help achieve these goals, so they must understand why this is personally important for the company and themselves.
- Share with customers: Customers can advocate for diversity and inclusion initiatives if they feel the company cares about their needs or values.
- Share with suppliers: Suppliers can have different vantage points about how best to approach diversity and inclusion practices.
3. Promote leaders who commit to diversity and inclusion performance goals
- Encourage leaders at all levels to commit to these goals.
- Recognise and reward those who exemplify the principles of diversity and inclusion performance goals in their everyday work lives.
- Show support for achieving diversity and inclusion performance objectives by recognising their success as a team or department, getting them promoted, or helping them move into new roles where they can continue this work.
4. Support hiring and promotion programs focusing on diversity and inclusion performance goals
This is one of the most important things you can do as a manager or company owner because it means you support hiring practices that increase diversity. This can be achieved in several ways, including:
- Recruiting employees from underrepresented groups into your organisation through targeted outreach efforts or other recruitment channels (such as LinkedIn Premium)
- Implementing a program that tracks hiring activity for each department within your company, giving you insight into how diverse your staff is
5. Establish and enforce supplier diversity initiatives that support diversity and inclusion performance goals
The benefits of supplier diversity initiatives are clear: They have helped companies to increase the total number of suppliers from which they purchase goods, services, and supplies. Many organisations also use their purchasing power to influence supplier behaviour concerning product innovation, sustainability, safety, and other factors. And having a diverse supply chain can help ensure that products meet the needs of all customers (including those who are part of a specific demographic).
6. Encourage senior managers to be active in the community, community organisations, charities, etc., to promote and foster diversity and inclusion performance goals, among other things
This may seem obvious, but it’s worth pointing out that promoting diversity requires more than just addressing the problem. Diversity initiatives should also address long-term solutions such as effective leadership development and career paths for people from underrepresented backgrounds.
7. Develop accountability for diversity and inclusion performance goals among your employees
Develop accountability for diversity and inclusion performance goals among your employees by creating consequences for non-compliance with policies or initiatives that support these goals.
- Make sure your employees know what is expected of them.
- Ensure you have a clear understanding of the consequences of not meeting the expectations you have set.
- Make sure such rules are fair and reasonable.
- Make sure they are applied consistently across all departments throughout your organization, including senior leadership roles like yours!
8. Recognise employees who exemplify the principles of diversity and inclusion performance goals
Let’s say your company commits to diversity and inclusion. You have a performance goal in place, but you want to recognize employees who exemplify the principles of diversity and inclusion in their everyday work lives through awards, written commendations, and gifts. This is where a recognition program comes in handy.
Recognition programs are designed specifically for your organization’s culture and can be customized for different events or milestones that show appreciation for employee achievements or service.
Recognition programs include:
- Employee Awards — Acknowledge employees who demonstrate exemplary job performance through certificates/plaques/awards (non-monetary).
- Service Recognition — Celebrate years of service with gifts from flowers to teddy bears (non-monetary).
9. Incorporate diversity training programs that are customised to the nature of your business
Incorporate diversity training programs that are customised to the nature of your business; train all employees on how to support a diverse workforce through a combination of classroom instruction, video conferences, web-based training, etc., as part of an overall training program that supports the achievement of diversity and inclusion performance objectives.
Diversity Focus’s mission is to empower workplaces to create equitable and inclusive cultures through research, consulting, training, e-learning, workshops, and executive coaching. Using a holistic and research-based framework, we strengthen workplace culture and engage with all aspects of the company, including senior leadership. We believe that inclusive workplace cultures can be enhanced, developed, and sustained with the right approach. We tailor our strategies to address organisational needs identified through research. By building the capacity of senior leaders and staff, we collaborate to create inclusive workplace cultures that foster safety and belonging.
Conclusion
Diversity and inclusion performance goals are essential to the success of any business. If you’re looking for a way to improve your company culture—and increase employee engagement with one another—then implementing diversity training can be an excellent first step. In addition to helping employees understand their own biases and how they affect others at work, this
training also helps teams better understand how they can work together more effectively to achieve shared goals or objectives. With these tips, we hope you’ve gained some insight into how you can implement effective diversity training programs into your daily routine so that everyone benefits!