Diversity and Inclusion: Ways Leaders and HR Take an Active Role in Addressing Needs of Employees
In this interview, we hear from WorkTango’s co-founder Nadir Ebrahim.
Nadir is passionate about helping organizations put their people first and building equitable workplaces. He has spent the last 15 years building HR technology and advisory companies that enable organizations to improve their employee experiences.
Nadir co-founded WorkTango in 2016 with Rob Catalano – a solution that makes it easy to collect authentic employee feedback, instantly gain insight about people and culture, and inspire leaders to take proactive action. Nadir is also an avid basketball player and fan, cyclist, and loves spending vacations out in nature.
Q: As some companies begin to take a hard look at diversity and inclusion within their workplaces, can you share with us why it’s important for HR to take a leadership role in ensuring organizations are equitable?
A: Today’s workplace is far different from the industrial era where many of our systems and HR practices were first created. As the owners of these systems, it is our responsibility as leaders in HR to evolve antiquated systems to be more equitable. It’s time for us to consider how processes like recruiting, compensation and performance management might be holding back marginalized groups. According to LeanIn Org, Black women in the U.S. are paid 39% less than White men and 21% less than White women. This statistic is an outcome of systems we in HR typically have accountability over. This is a massive problem and has implications within our organizations and society.
Q: How can HR take an active role in addressing the needs of their employees when it comes to diversity and inclusion?
A: First and foremost, listen to your employees! Creating a culture and safe space for your employees to feel empowered to provide feedback about equity will enable you to identify challenges within your organization. Over time you will begin to recognize that many of the resurfacing issues are a direct result of the unconscious biases of your employees and leaders.
Secondly and perhaps most importantly, prioritize the voices of your most marginalized employees. This is where your key insights lie when it comes to diversity and inclusion (D&I).
Lastly, every employee listening strategy is only as effective as the actions that come from it. It is important to acknowledge employee issues as an organization and subsequently create a plan to address the challenges that your employees may be facing.
Q: As employers continue to have employees work from home, how can organizations measure for diversity and inclusion remotely?
A: The shift to work-from-home amplifies the need to measure all aspects of the employee experience, especially when it comes to D&I.
Many organizations are evolving their employee listening and measurement approach from a traditional annual engagement survey to more frequent active listening focused on all layers of the employee experience, including diversity, equity and inclusion.
Active Listening is a short anonymous survey (bi-weekly, monthly, or even quarterly) that offers employees the ability to provide feedback on matters that are most relevant to them. The power of this shift is that it supercharges accountability throughout the organization and can really help bring focus to specific aspects of the employee experience like D&I. If leaders are aware that each survey will include questions specific to diversity, equity, and inclusion, you’ll quickly see them make it a focus and shift behaviours organization-wide.
Q: Why is it critical to actively listen and measure employee sentiment around equity and inclusion rather than just focus on diversity demographic metrics to better understand the Employee Voice?
A: Diversity measurement in isolation can result in more equitable recruiting and hiring practices but doesn’t result in inclusive employee experiences. It’s the difference between just having a seat at the table and having a voice at the table that is valued. This focus on just diversity metrics limits your insight into representation and is why many corporate D&I initiatives have failed to have a material impact.
Representation is crucial, but the workplace is far more complex. To truly understand the employee experience across intersectional data, organizations also need to measure and hear the employee sentiment around equity and inclusion. This type of analysis can inform people strategy and hold leaders accountable for building a strong sense of connection and belonging – the key to an engaged workplace. It can also help identify discrimination, harassment, micro-aggressions, unconscious biases and other barriers that prevent marginalized groups from succeeding within the organization.
Q: What are some questions employers can ask when measuring for diversity, equity & inclusion?
A: Here are my top 5 favorite questions to ask employees.
- Our organization attracts, develops, and retains people with diverse backgrounds (Rating scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree)
- I can bring my authentic self to work including all parts of my background and identity. (Rating scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree)
- I feel like I belong at my organization. (Rating scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree)
- There are opportunities for me to grow and advance in my career at my organization regardless of my background and identity. (Rating scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree)
- How can we further enable diversity and inclusivity within our organization? (Open-ended question)