World Day of Cultural Diversity – three steps for businesses to improve their DEI program
Society has changed the way people work - whether that’s through a new hiring process or new working location preferences. And, if one thing is for sure - if employees feel unhappy, they’ll leave.
To recognise World Day of Cultural Diversity on 21 May, Emily Miner, Ty Francis, and Susan Divers of LRN Corporation have put together some tips to help diversify your workers.
Thanks to social justice movements and the pandemic, global companies are trying to improve their new policies and find new ways to enhance diversity in their workplace. LRN Corporation has curated a new DEI Program, allowing clients to find fresh and new ways to ensure that they have an effective DEI initiative. The program was based on their Benchmark of Ethical Culture report, which revealed how people felt about their workplace, especially during the pandemic.
“Culture is more than ping-pong tables and flexible work schedules. Culture is shaped by a multitude of factors, including creating a sense of belonging and respect for all employees, such as through intentional DEI initiatives, the ease at which employees feel empowered to speak up and contribute, how your firm manifests its purpose and values in a multi-stakeholder context, and how your leaders role model and reinforce these ideas. According to a recent Tallo survey, 87% of Gen Z employees say DEI strategies are very important to them. But how are those strategies really playing out across your organisation? While there are many ways to collect data, the best is to simply ask your people. How can your organisation promote cultural diversity and dialogue? Listen and learn from your team. Ask everyone—from senior leaders to middle management to individual contributors—questions about how they experience your company’s culture. Doing so helps identify gaps that need immediate attention in access to people, tools, resources, and training. Gathering and analysing data illustrates objective insights and can let you know where and how to intervene.”— Emily Miner, Director, LRN Corporation
“Organisations creating an inclusive, diverse culture have an increasingly competitive advantage when attracting and retaining top talent, according to McKinsey. This aligns with our findings at LRN that organisations with the most ethical cultures outperform their peers by up to 40% across key business metrics like employee retention, customer satisfaction, innovation, and growth. They keep and engage top talent because they put their values first.”
— Ty Francis, MBE, Chief Advisory Officer, LRN Corporation
“Looking to promote more cultural diversity in your organisation? Start with your values. The most crucial factor we have identified in our work is that a values-based approach sustains ethical culture. Values transform culture and impact behavior; rules merely set the minimum standards. Inspiring your workforce to embrace respect for others is substantially more powerful than 5 lb. rule books. Building an ethical culture offers a kind of framework to look at developing and promoting further dialogue on respect and diversity. Tracking cultural progress over time is particularly important to make ESG, DEI, organisational justice, trust, and other pillars of ethical culture stronger. But, above all, look at your values and start with that.”
— Susan Divers, JD, Director of Thought Leadership for LRN
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