Display your Powered By Diversity badge shows your talent, potential talent and customers that you are doing great things in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Sending out The Employee Assessment immediately qualifies your organisation for The Powered By Diversity Membership badge to display on your website, email signature, pitch decks, communications materials and packaging.

It also entitles you to join the Powered By Diversity Community and feel part of a group who are all working towards a common goal.

4. Remind them that Employee feedback is pure gold

The most powerful way to build any relationship and make someone feel valued is to listen.

Another hallmark of a good leader is to ask questions. It’s the best way to show your team that you recognise they’re more than just cogs. “Hey, how are things going?” And then, for God’s sake, listen.

Gary Vaynerchuk, founder and CEO of VaynerMedia.

The act of simply asking employees what they think using The Employee Assessment is powerful, but acting on it is gold.

The overarching idea is for organisations to show that they are listening to employees by setting out your plan for how they will use the feedback employees gave via The Employee Assessment to work towards equality, diversity and inclusion.

We recommend updating all employees regularly on progress, and asking for their help in solving problems.

Opening your ear to employees to find out what’s going right and wrong is smart business. There’s real gold in well-intentioned criticism from a loyal employee. The only way you’ll get the gold is by actively listening.

Barbara Corcoran, founder of The Corcoran Group.

Feedback about what’s going well is great, but as a business it’s likely you’ll already know what’s going well.

What’s not going so well is the golden information you need to try to find out if you are going to truly root out problem areas and effect change.

People want to feel needed and acknowledged, especially for a job well done. And if someone is feeling lost or frustrated, it’s even more important to hear their point of view. Take care of your people first, and they’ll take care of your business.

Dottie Herman, CEO of Douglas Elliman

5. Explain why diversity is important at work

In short: Diversity will help you better serve your customers 

13% of the UK belong to a Black, Asian, Mixed or other ethnic group. 

If your organisation is for profit then in financial terms this ‘13% of the UK’ equates to a collective spending power of 4.5 billion pounds per year. 

2.7% of the UK population aged 16 years and over identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). 

If your organisation is for profit then in financial terms, the LGBT community’s purchasing power in the UK is currently estimated to be at 6 billion pounds per year.

Over 18% of the UK population identify as disabled. 

The spending power of disabled people and their household continues to increase and is estimated to be worth £274 billion per year to UK business.

There are over 2.8m Muslims in the UK and British Muslims have an estimated spending power of £20.5 billion

Just over 50% of the UK population is female and women now drive the world economy. Globally, they control about $20 trillion in annual consumer spending. 

• Can your organisation afford not to represent these customers?

• Do you currently have enough employees who deeply understand these customers’ needs?

• Do you currently have enough employees who know what these customers want?

• Are your products being created to appeal directly to them?

• Are you reaching them where they are?

• Are you speaking their language?

• Are they satisfied with your service? 

Diverse organisations know that having plenty of different members of their “diverse” customer groups actively engaging in the discussions around the tables where the decisions are being made will result in them being more likely to be able to answer ‘yes’ to all of the questions above. 

6. Explain why inclusion is so important at work

Inclusion is what enables the crucial part of the paragraph above about the value of diversity. You need a diverse group of employees actively engaging in the discussions around the tables where the decisions are being made. Without inclusion this won’t happen.

Bringing diversity into your organisation without focussing on inclusion is essentially an exercise in creating a more diverse “look” to your organisation. It’s surface level and it’s not going to make EDI magic happen. Without inclusion, bringing in diversity is a pointless exercise. 

Inclusion encompasses many things, one of the most important ones we measure at the Powered By Diversity is feeling valued for your authenticity. 

Feeling valued for your authenticity means not only can you show up as yourself every day at work, but you are valued for doing that. People respect and appreciate you just as you are. If you have never had to pretend to be someone you’re not, play down or ‘cover’ an area of yourself or your personal life then you have probably always been valued for your authenticity. 

There are many reasons why employees not feeling valued for their authenticity is a negative thing at work, one of which is that employees use so much energy trying not to be themselves, that they become less productive. They are also less likely to feel psychologically safe to ‘stick their heads above the parapet’ and offer opinions and ideas, disagree or point out things that could be improved. 

Without inclusion, the views of your diverse workforce are less likely to be heard, acknowledged or acted upon. Without inclusion your diverse hires won’t be able to help you to reach your customers or the populations you serve. 

Without inclusion there’s no point aiming to create a diverse workforce. Your “diversity hires” will more than likely come to the same conclusion and either succumb to the organisation’s group think or they’ll give up and go somewhere their diversity of thought and perspective will be valued.

7. Cover how increasing inclusion will bring business benefits

Our assessment goes deep into the many aspects of inclusion, The headline is that high scores in inclusion and belonging can ultimately lead to increases job performance, reduction in staff turnover, and a decrease in employee sick days, increase in innovation, customer service, organisational pride and overall productivity.

Below we pull out a few in detail and how they can benefit your business: 

BELONGING

Workplace belonging can lead to an increase in job performance, a reduction in staff turnover, and a decrease in employee sick days.

Research has found that being ignored at work is worse for physical and mental well-being than harassment or bullying. The same research by the University of British Columbia also found that ostracism (being excluded or ostracised) was a significantly more accurate predictor of staff turnover than harassment. The research also uncovered that people underestimate the negative impact of exclusion. In the study, people consistently rated workplace exclusion as less socially inappropriate, less psychologically harmful and less likely to be prohibited than workplace harassment.

AUTHENTICITY 

Authenticity means living your life according to your own values and goals. Great scores on our authenticity questions can mean that the goals and values of the organisation match with those of your employees.

Authenticity is also often described as ‘bringing your whole self to work’. Creating a culture where employees feel like they can be themselves completely can be a key factor in getting those all-important unique perspectives; the most diverse ideas will never get heard if your employees feel the need to be just like everyone else.

Authenticity is also about not having to ‘cover’ parts of yourself in order to fit in. Where authenticity is low, there is a risk that employees are wasting precious energy in trying hard to fit in and not slip up - this is energy that could be directed towards solving problems or coming up with innovative ideas.

FEELING VALUED FOR YOUR AUTHENTICITY

Research has shown that feeling valued (defined in research as "worth, accorded to an employee by one or more others") is prized higher by employees than income, opportunities and time off.

High scores in this area are important for driving two key things:

Unleashing the value of your diverse workforce: Diversity should never be about just seeking to recruit people in order to fill quotas. Diversity is about bringing in people who think differently, have different perspectives and who are different to each other.

The benefits of bringing in a variety of differences can only be truly realised if people are brought into a culture where their authenticity is valued.

ncreasing engagement: Research has found that the strongest of all drivers for engagement was as sense "feeling valued and involved". Dr Julia Claxton conducted a further study into the phenomena of feeling valued at work and found that one of the key places feeling valued was highest, was in cultures in which there's a mutual feeling between colleagues of feeling "invaluable in their own right as a person" - in other words, an engaged workforce is one in which employees feel valued for being their authentic selves.  

COMFORT EXPRESSING OPINIONS

High scores in this area is essentially unlocking a return on your investment in hiring for diversity: Truly valuing diversity is valuing the unique perspectives, opinions and ideas that individuals bring. If those opinions are never heard, recruiting for diversity is a wasted effort. Ensuring employees feel comfortable expressing their opinions is essential in order to see the benefits of having a diverse workforce. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY

In environments where psychological safety is high, employees are more likely to "ask for help, admit errors, and discuss problems". With this definition in mind, it's easy to see how psychological safety is essential for the crucial discussions that are needed in order to get to release the value of diversity, and enable inclusion. 

Comfort expressing opinions has been cited in research as an indicator of psychological safety. In her famous paper Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams, Amy Edmondson of Harvard University defines psychological safety as "a shared belief held by members of a team, that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking". Psychological safety in D&I is less about team engagement and more about creating environments for learning and conversation, which are both crucial for releasing the value of diversity, and enabling inclusion. 

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORT 

Good social and emotional support has been linked to good physical and mental health and wellbeing, higher productivity and more successful careers. 

Research shows a robust relationship in which social and emotional support from others, can be protective for health. High scores in good social and emotional support is likely to mean a workforce with better mental and physical health and less time off due to ill health.

Studies have proven that workplace friendship can enhancing feelings of happiness, excitement, trustworthiness, joy, and sympathy (ref1, ref 2, ref3).

In addition to better health and happier employees, having social and emotional support has also been found to enable employees to achieve more successful careers.  

8. Share some lessons from our most successful organisations

We’ve learned a lot from our most diverse and inclusive customers, here are some key points to share:

THEY DO NOT FEAR THEIR EDI DIAGNOSTIC DATA

Harvard Business Review asked hundreds of employees to design the best workplace on earth and one of the top results was free flow of information.

“The organization of our dreams does not deceive, stonewall, distort, or spin. It recognizes that in the age of Facebook, WikiLeaks, and Twitter, you’re better off telling people the truth before someone else does.”

The Powered By Diversity platform has an easy to use Action Plan tool where you can add, in 1 click, the recommendations we give you. We recommend analysing your results (either with us or by yourself if you prefer) and sharing some results with employees, in the form of your Powered By Diversity action plan.

Some leadership teams are dedicated to total transparency, some see giving out information on a need-to-know basis as important to maintaining focus. Others are reluctant to worry staff with certain information or to identify a problem before having a solution. Some feel an obligation to put a positive spin on even the most negative situations. All of these mindsets have merit and you are best placed to decide whether - and how - to share your results, which is why you have full control of them. 

However your organisation decides to share your results of the Employee Assessment, one thing you know for sure is that you haven't let a fear of what you might find out, prevent you from getting this vital data.

OUR MOST DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE ORGANISATIONS MAKE EMPLOYEES PART OF THE SOLUTION

“Explain what you’re doing and what challenges you face. Often, [employees will] come up with good ideas for how to overcome your obstacles in the process”.

Tim Draper, VC, founder of Draper Associates and DFJ

There’s no harm in asking employees for help, in fact, this is an excellent way to engage employees and convince them that you are serious about closing gaps.

Here are four ways our most inclusive members recommend getting practical about solutions:

• Ask your diversity and inclusion groups for help, ask them to focus on coming up with ideas to address specific issues you find.

• Form diverse teams from across the business to focus on specific areas.

• Empower your teams to solve problems that you can’t solve alone. Support them to make decisions and implement solutions themselves.

• Give teams the trust and autonomy to do a great job, often the trust and freedom to solve problems is the only thing a leadership team needs to give in order to see great results.

OUR MOST DIVERSE AND INCLUSIVE ORGANISATIONS DEVOLVE RESPONSIBILITY

Devolving the power and responsibility to teams and imbuing them with the freedom and trust to solve problems themselves is a hugely powerful tool not just for EDI - but for general engagement and productivity.

9. Remind them that EDI is about marginal gains

The Powered By Diversity EDI diagnostic process was developed to allow organisations to benchmark themselves, plan, make improvements, and then measure the impact of those improvements year on year.

Powered By Diversity Founder Cat Wildman says: 

One of the common themes we found when researching our equality framework was that a lot of organisations just didn’t have the data they needed to test whether the “small things” they were doing were working. The only metric they were using was their gender pay gap.

The trouble with looking at such a huge metric like the gender pay gap is that it’s unlikely to move significantly in a short period and there are so many variables that could affect it that it’s a very unscientific metric to use to measure smaller initiatives.

One of the things we were keen for Powered By Diversity to make sure of, was that the marginal gains that come from doing a lot of really great “small things” are not lost through lack of data. There’s a risk that without being able to see a direct benefit, great, smaller initiatives may be abandoned. One of the aims of Powered By Diversity is to give organisations a focus away from just 'The Gender Pay Gap' and towards their own detailed diversity, equity and inclusion data, so that even the “small things” can be measured - in a number of ways.

10. They can leverage the positive PR if the Employee Assessment

“People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, something they can believe in. I’ve worked in organizations where people try to brainwash me about the virtues of the brand. I want to work in an organisation where I can really feel where the company comes from and what it stands for so that I can live the brand.”

Harvard Business Review

Simply taking the first steps into the Powered By Diversity EDI Diagnostic process is a huge show of commitment to EDI and will show employees, customers and competitors that you stand for more than making money.

Show some positive results or improvements year on year and it makes a fantastic success story.

This story is great, not only for internal motivation and morale - and to engage staff further, but could also raise your organisation’s profile externally.

Take to the stage and talk openly about your achievements, encourage employees who have been involved in the changes to do the same - better still ask us and we’ll run an event with you - for your employees, customers or clients.

Join in with the huge swell behind diversity, equity and inclusion and become a company who openly stands for it.