Strategies for fostering an inclusive workplace culture while ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
The benefits of fostering a diverse work environment are undeniable: it can lead to higher productivity, greater financial success, and a better culture for employees overall. More companies are pushing policies and procedures that would increase the diversity of their workforce. However, the policies and procedures must be tailored to ensure compliance with non-discrimination laws. Below are a few strategies an employer can use to achieve the balance of fostering an inclusive environment while also adhering to legal requirements.
Understand the Legal Requirements
In order to effectively balance diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) policies that are compliant with relevant laws, it’s crucial to understand what exactly the laws require of employers. Laws impacting DEI include Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) laws, anti-discrimination laws, and accessibility laws. While coming at them from different points of view, these laws each prevent various types of discrimination in the workplace, including the application/hiring process, actual employment, and termination of employees. More and more relevant statutes are being passed, so it’s empowering to stay up to date on legislation and have a clear understanding of what compliance looks like under the relevant authority.
Training and Education
Once the employer understands the legal requirements, it’s important that this knowledge is distributed throughout the organization. Providing regular training to employees and managers on not only the laws but also DEI principles will ensure compliance at each level. This step is vital for any employee at any level who participates in the hiring, promotion, or termination process. There are countless resources available to companies that provide instruction surrounding DEI compliance, including training developed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) with the goal of understanding, preventing, and correcting discrimination in the workplace.1
Developing Diverse Hiring Practices
One of the biggest arguments against DEI initiatives is that they promote hiring individuals based solely on their status of being in a protected class under the laws above.2 There are tangible ways to have diverse hiring practices that do not include hiring individuals solely based on their protected status. For instance, pay attention to the wording of the job posting and ensure it doesn’t use words that attract a specific type of applicant while excluding others, or take steps to ensure the job listing is put in places where diverse applicants will see it.3 There are numerous online forums dedicated to aiming jobs specifically at underrepresented groups.4 Another easy way is to celebrate the diversity that your company already has. If a potential applicant researches a company but finds the workplace lacks diversity, they are less likely to apply; studies have shown that 67% of people say that diversity in a workplace is an essential factor to them when considering a job opportunity, and failing to show that your work environment also values diversity may result in losing out on potential applicants.5
Continuing Growth
Once an employer has a policy in place, it’s important to understand that policy cannot be stagnant. Continuous growth is crucial to ensuring the ongoing fostering of a diverse environment while maintaining compliance. Employers/Companies should collect data on their workforce demographics, hiring practices, promotions, and other metrics to determine what’s working and what isn’t.4 Again, the laws surrounding this topic are constantly changing and various case laws are shaping its interpretation, so it’s important to work closely with legal experts, human resource professionals, and DEI specialists to ensure a continuing understanding of what’s required under the laws while still working towards a companies DEI goals. This collaborative approach allows for diverse perspectives and will help mitigate noncompliance or complacency risks.
Navigating DEI initiatives and relevant laws and regulations is no easy task, but by integrating DEI efforts with compliance with employment laws, organizations can mitigate legal risks and reap the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce, including enhanced innovation, creativity, and employee engagement. Ultimately, fostering an inclusive workplace requires a proactive and holistic approach that prioritizes both DEI goals and legal compliance.