10 Diversity Strategies to Implement Right Now

As a small company with a diverse workforce, Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) is a topic close to our hearts. In 2022 we attended a panel sponsored by Roche and Novartis, and learned that a more diverse and inclusive organisation benefits not only productivity and employee morale but also leads to up to 58% growth and innovation, making a strong business case for equality.

Here are ten steps to make your organisation more inclusive and diverse, inspired by the panel discussion:

1. Define your company's vision of D&I: Tailor D&I metrics to suit your organisation, involving the whole company, addressing gaps in leadership diversity, and examining HR diversity ratios.
2. Embed D&I into actionable pillars: Integrate D&I throughout the organisation, beyond grassroots groups or ambassadors, with strong senior leadership buy-in for impactful change.
3. Address unconscious bias in recruitment: Encourage reflective and objective hiring decisions to avoid biases based on appearance, ethnicity, and gender.
4. Prioritise equality in hiring emergencies: Avoid sacrificing D&I efforts for quick hiring decisions during urgent recruitment needs.
5. Influence suppliers: Request D&I statements and policies from suppliers, fostering widespread change and attracting larger customers.
6. Ensure gender pay equity: Publish transparent gender pay analyses and adapt pay accordingly.
7. Make D&I mandatory through governance: Establish statutory requirements and build a culture that champions D&I.
8. Integrate D&I into employee surveys: Include inclusion questions in annual satisfaction and engagement surveys.
9. Incorporate D&I in company behaviour and appraisals: Embed D&I advocacy into performance reviews and set measurable goals.
10. Collaborate for faster change: Share D&I best practices with other companies to create more effective transformations.

Additional strategies from the panel include 'listening groups,' where employees share experiences to raise awareness of discrimination, and 'reverse mentoring,' where underrepresented employees mentor senior leaders to educate them on their experiences and drive change.

Want to learn more?

For more insights read our full article on LinkedIn.