Diversity and Inclusion – Empower your workforce, strengthen your employer brand

Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) is gaining importance in human resources (HR) and employer branding. But what does D&I actually entail, and what benefits can companies expect from implementing it into their HR- and communication-practices?

In this article, we answer the following questions:

• What is Diversity and Inclusion?

• How do biases work, and why are they a problem?

• What are the pitfalls of companies permitting biases in their processes?

• How does D&I strengthen your employer brand?

Diversity and Inclusion – the basics

Diversity and Inclusion as a concept is becoming increasingly important for many companies. In short, it describes a company’s efforts around (and success in) attracting, retaining and empowering employees from all sorts of different backgrounds. Particularly, it addresses those belonging to groups usually considered as marginalized.

The ideal of diversity, specifically, promotes recognizing and celebrating differences between people, mainly in regard to attributes such as their sexual identity, gender, religion, nationality or ethnicity. Note, however, that diversity always refers to the description of a collective. Individuals are not diverse, but unique.

To promote Inclusion, we first have to ask whether individuals feel included or excluded within a group, i.e. the company. For example, even in a diverse environment, people can feel marginalized and excluded. Inclusion should therefore be promoted as a joint approach with diversity. 

How biases hurt the people affected by them

Diversity and inclusion do not ensue naturally. As a company is run by people, and human beings are flawed, more often than not, they will act on certain personal biases. In regard to D&I, these biases will revolve around how employees think about or act around people based on their perceived social group. Often, but not always, this may happen to groups other than one’s own. For example, a man may have certain biases against women, a white person against persons of color, cis-people against trans-people, etc. This does not mean that people consciously consider others of such groups as less valuable, that they actively hate or try to harm them. In many cases, biases can be unconscious to the ones that hold them. They can also manifest in a variety of forms.

Affinity biases, for example, occur when hiring managers favor candidates who are similar to themselves in terms of background, interests, or experiences, such as being from the same ethnic group, having graduated from the same university, or having the same sex or gender. Stereotyping, on the other hand, happens when someone bases their judgement of a person on certain traits that are falsely assumed to apply to all (or most) members of their group. Such generalizations cause harm, regardless of their connotations. For example, while people of color may suffer the consequences of their false stereotypical association with ‘lazyness’, people of asian descent may suffer from the pressure put on their group often being perceived as a ‘model minority’ or excelling in certain fields such as math or physics.

How biases hurt companies

While the harm done to the individuals and groups discriminated against should be reason enough to actively work against such biases, companies should also consider how they are hurting their own business.

Notably, companies in which recruiting is driven by bias may miss out on valuable talents and be prone to mishiring. Besides favoring less-than-optimal candidates, another problem of biased-driven hiring is that it promotes uniformity and curbs innovation. Where people come from similar social backgrounds and hold similar worldviews, they will also struggle with thinking critically and creatively. A workforce that is thus inclined will find it harder to come up with new and unconventional solutions, which economic challenges often demand. Additionally, the company may suffer increased staff turnover, as employees working there (both from marginalized and non-marginalized backgrounds) will usually, consciously or unconsciously, become upset with how biases are shaping the working climate for the worse.

In the long turn, letting biases run freely will cost a company a lot of money. It will also hurt its employer brand, as both current and potential employees will notice these shortcomings and leave or refrain from applying in the first place.

How D&I strengthens your employer brand

Companies that actively support D&I in their workforce may benefit from it by strengthening their employer brand. 

First, talents of all backgrounds may cherish to work in a diverse and inclusive environment in and of itself. A company that publicly promotes its D&I efforts should thus attract more (and potentially better) talents. Second, its D&I policies will signal to talents from marginalized groups that they are welcome in the company. This will give them a feeling of safety, appreciation and belonging. These effects will effectively increase the company’s talent pool. Additionally, it should reduce existing employees’ willingness to change jobs, reducing the company’s turnover rate.

As a result, companies that invest in D&I will not only reduce their long-term costs, but will also enjoy all the productivity benefits of a more satisfied, creative and committed workforce.

Five D&I tips to foster a positive employer brand

Achieving Diversity and Inclusion in a company is not a one-time task, but an ongoing challenge. Often, getting started may be the hardest part. However, as with many corporate tasks, to do something at all may be more important than to do it perfectly. Thus, here are our five quick tips to get started with considering D&I in your HR-processes and to strengthen your employer brand:

1. Infuse D&I into your everyday communication: Whether people feel included and appreciated in a company has a lot to do with how they are addressed and treated in everyday interactions. For example, using gendered language in your official communication to your employees or including an option to state their preferred pronouns in their E-Mail signature can be an easy step to recognize and celebrate different gender identities in your company and make women and non-binary people feel seen and heard.

2. Train your employees on D&I matters: Taking Diversity and Inclusion seriously can be challenging for employees, even if they are willing to do so. Thus, it might be a good idea to give them some extra help. By organizing D&I trainings with external tutors, you create a regular opportunity for your employees to refresh and improve their knowledge on D&I matters or ask questions they would normally hold back.

3. Standardize your interview questions: Bias in hiring often manifests itself during job interviews by the questions applicants are being asked. Notably, questions revolving around personal characteristics will allow interviewers to form more biased opinions than those focused on assessing specific job-related competencies. Thus, setting up standardized questions clearly tied to a position’s respective main tasks can help recruiters to focus on an applicant’s actual strengths and weaknesses and avoid falling trap to their own biases.

4. Mentoring programs and Employee Resource Groups: As employees from marginalized groups are often unintentionally set back even in the most diverse and inclusive corporate environment, they profit from special support. Thus, in larger companies with significant numbers of employees for certain social groups, it can be helpful to set up specific employee resource groups (ERG) or mentoring programs for these communities, to make sure that their inclusion happens in an organized, effective way.

5. Make Diversity and Inclusion part of your corporate culture: Okay, this one sounds more like an invitation to run a marathon. However, when it comes to changing your corporate culture in a lasting way, we suggest to follow the ages-old tactic to “fake it till you make it”. In other words, when starting on its D&I journey, your company should first declare these values as intended goals in official documents such as your corporate code of conduct or your code of ethics. Even if your company is not yet fulfilling these ideals perfectly from the start, it will make them “official” and give them the visibility that will encourage employees to take initiative and engage in their realization.

Was this article helpful? If you are facing similar or other challenges with your employer branding, we’re happy to help. Contact us for more information or to arrange a first meeting with our experts!