DEI, the acronym for diversity, equity and inclusion, is any policy or practice designed to make everyone feel welcome and ensure they have adequate support to perform at their best in the workplace.

Diversity is a term that refers to a variety of different characteristics within a group of people. In the workplace, diversity could mean different characteristics in race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age and socioeconomic background.

Equity is the quality of being fair, and recognizes that every individual has different circumstances and experiences, but resources and opportunities are allocated to reach an equal outcome.

Inclusion is the practice of making people feel a sense of belonging at work and ensuring everyone has their voices heard.

Combining these three elements, DEI recognizes the value of diverse voices and emphasis that company success stems from inclusivity and employee wellbeing. When DEI initiatives and programs are implemented, employees feel comfortable in sharing unique perspectives, they respect one another’s individual needs and supports, and they can reach their full potential without any limits. 

This article dives into the purpose and goals of DEI training, the steps involved in planning and delivering DEI training, as well as showcasing different case studies that highlights the successes DEI Training has provided to various companies throughout the world.

Goal of DEI Training

DEI training is to help workplaces become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, particularly for employees from underrepresented and/or  marginalized communities.

DEI training is typically meant to increase employees’ awareness of inequality and bias through education and resources, recognize and unlearn implicit bias, and influence how employees behave and communicate with each other. DEI education can also help to change or modify old policies and practices to help limit discrimination and exclusion in the workplace. 

Statistics on Importance of Diversity Education

• A survey found that 70% of job seekers consider a company’s commitment to diversity important when evaluating a potential employer.

• Gender-diverse companies are 15 percent more likely to surpass industry median financial returns (McKinsey).

• 27% of ethnic minority respondents believe they have faced obstacles in their career progression at their company due to who they are, compared to 20% of white correspondents (European Network Against Racism). 

• 38% of respondents with disabilities believe they have faced obstacles in their career progression at their company due to who they are (CHRC). 
  
  

Types of DEI Training

There are many different ways DEI Training can be delivered to accommodate everyone’s learning styles and increase accessibility in the workplace. A few DEI training types include: 

1.Awareness-Based Training 

This type of training aims to make employees aware of the importance of DEI in the workplace. It works to highlight employees’ own prejudices, and their cultural assumptions about others, while also providing statistics and useful resources. This type of training uses case studies and experiential activities as the main method of education and way of spreading awareness. 

2. Skill-Based Training

This type of training aims to help develop and improve employees’ knowledge when navigating DEI in the workplace. It teaches different ways to adapt and communicate with colleagues from diverse backgrounds. 

3. Workshops

Workshops and seminars provide a unique opportunity for participants to think critically and be hands-on with what they are being educated on. Especially for those who collaborate and work together, a workshop that shares insight into DEI techniques can help create a sense of belonging among its participants. Coming together as a team can improve productivity and company morale. 

4. Seminars and Conferences

Attending conferences and seminars is an excellent way to learn new things and gain insight which may challenge your way of thinking. Seminars and conferences are usually hosted by specialists or guests that are highly educated on a certain DEI topic, or they may share their personal experiences to help you gain knowledge about them. Not only is this a chance for you to become more educated, but it is also a great way to network with other professionals in your field.

5. Online Courses/E-Learning

E-Learning involves generating opportunities to learn about DEI to elevate our individual and collective consciousness. By delivering consistent training to all employees and measuring individual and collective impact. E-Learning tools can help change attitudes and behaviours, which is vital in turning DEI strategies, policies and goals into a reality. Online training gives employees more independence, control and flexibility. Instead of organizing training in-person sessions and pulling employees away from their scheduled work times, they can learn at their own pace.

Benefits of DEI Training

There are many benefits to delivering DEI training. The following are explanations of different ways in which DEI training is beneficial to your company: 

1. Enjoyable work environment: Supporting DEI in the workplace can help employees feel safe and respected regardless of their personal beliefs, backgrounds or experiences. Promoting an understanding and acceptance of many differences through DEI training will not only make employees feel respected, but it can also help to increase teamwork and create healthy, professional relationships among colleagues. 

2. Increase revenue: Administering DEI training can increase your company’s growth and profitability. When employees feel safe, heard, and respected, their job performance increases because they are more willing to work, and they have better decision-making through inclusive leadership.

3. Cultivate innovation: Companies that assert DEI training in the workforce have the benefit of getting perspectives and ideas from people of different genders, ages, cultural backgrounds, religions and abilities, which can greatly boost creativity and innovation. DEI training further enables the opportunity of nonlinear novel thinking and adaptability that is needed to cultivate innovation. 
   
   

How to Implement DEI Training

The following are a few steps you can take to ensure you are on the right track when introducing DEI trainings and techniques into your workplace: 

1. DEI on the daily: It wouldn’t be effective if DEI only occurred for a few hours a couple of times a year. In order to promote DEI and be a better ally in the workplace, DEI training needs to be administered and talked about on a frequent basis. This could be through organizing diversity and inclusion events that are accessible for all to attend, acknowledging observances throughout the year, sending DEI articles out weekly, and respecting each other’s differences. As a reminder, if your company decides to host any event, it should be ensured that participation is never mandatory. 

2. Be direct and inclusive about training goals: In your DEI training, aim to have clear and specific goals to avoid any confusion or discouragement to any employee. It is also important to be accessible when training modules are administered and provide accommodations if needed so all employees have equal access to learning. 

3. Be Engaging: There are a variety of ways to present DEI training. It is important to engage employees and interact with them as much as possible. Build as much rapport as you can with the audience, so you know how to optimize focus and collaboration. This could be by including interactive learning tools, doing team activities, showing training videos, etc.

    

4. Post-Assessment and follow-up: A post-assessment is an evaluation that takes place after the training in order to ensure continuous training improvement, and to assess the content that was covered. Based on the results and feedback from these post-assessments, training can be adapted to improve DEI training in the future. Having a follow-up after the training is over provides participants with further support and skill development, reminds them to practice the skill(s) that were covered in the session, and gives them an opportunity to ask any further questions.

5. Be patient and understanding: Although seeing change and progress right away is satisfactory, it does not happen right away. Any effective change in the workplace will take time, but ultimately, this change will be worth it. DEI training will always be an on-going effort, and it is important to remember that we all make mistakes and nobody is perfect. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and experiences, and some may learn DEI techniques faster than others. Always be patient, kind, and understanding to all colleagues in any given situation. 

How to Make DEI Training Effective

The main goal of DEI training is to form a positive work environment with no judgment,  where all colleagues feel safe and comfortable in their own skin. Although DEI training cannot completely change an individual’s personal beliefs, it can have the potential to raise awareness, and provide education on how to accept differences among fellow employees.  

Below are ways to make sure DEI training is effective:  

1. Know your workplace: Companies should focus on what is relevant to their unique employment community rather than run a DEI training that is very general and universal. It is important, when planning out training, to have a sense of employees’ interests and the morals of the company. Knowing your employees and showing them a genuine appreciation for them and their interests, preferences, needs, and wants will build a sense of trust within your company. Identify specific organizational and employee challenges that need to be focused on, and then find strategies for the training to provide that support. 

2. It takes the whole team: In order to make progress, change comes from not only the front-line team but also the board members. Employees will follow and imitate the actions of their company leaders. Even though leaders might not be seen on a daily basis, they also need to support the commitment to DEI in the workplace. This could mean by attending DEI workplace events, hosting inclusive meetings, promoting equitable leadership, and being apparent in the inclusive hiring process. 

3. Encourage active allyship: It is every employee’s responsibility to be an active ally to their fellow colleagues and to take action if any discrimination in the workplace is observed. Ensuring that everyone has been taught and given relevant resources will help them know how to intervene in negative situations appropriately they witness. All employees should feel comfortable and empowered to speak out and support each other. 

4. Monitor, Measure, and Share Results of DEI Strategy: Organizations that take steps to quantify DEI success go beyond keeping track of the attendance from the training. Taking the initiative to actively monitor measures such as turnover rates among underrepresented groups, sending out surveys on whether employees feel as if they are working in an inclusive environment, and keeping note of the number of discriminatory behaviours, are just a few ways to measure and monitor DEI success. All employees should be kept up to date with any information about progress on DEI strategies and goals to keep them informed. 

Barriers to Implementing DEI

It is not an easy road when it comes to DEI implementation. As with many things, there are often unexpected hurdles in the way of success. Here are some barriers your company may come across during the process of DEI training: 

1. Promoting change might not lead to change: Diversity training may impact how workers think and feel. That doesn’t always translate into changing how they act. Changing beliefs, emotions, and behavior is hard and cannot necessarily be forced upon someone. Furthermore, unconscious bias that you and your employees aren’t even aware they have is also a huge barrier.

   Conversations around unconscious bias can often be uncomfortable when people might not fully understand that their way of thinking could be a discriminatory issue. That’s why DEI training must include understanding unconscious bias so employees can at least become aware of them. From there, employees can work to identify when those biases are shaping decisions and behavior.

2. Budget Restrictions: In some cases, companies may not have adequate funding to execute training and provide the necessary resources for maintaining a fully inclusive and accessible workplace. A way to address funding concerns is to build a business strategy plan that lays out the policies and practices that need to change and the amount of cost that will be associated with it.

   Justify the importance of these DEI initiatives and the specific details of the budget. The more evidence, statistics, and information you provide to prove that the DEI strategy plan will have measurable effects, such as cost savings and growth opportunities, the better your chances of getting your budget approved.

3. No Priority: There may be times when management may feel like DEI initiatives aren’t a priority because they may not be aware of any adjustments needed or they feel like they are already doing enough to address DEI issues. This is why it is vital always to monitor and assess efforts that the company is putting in place and to measure employee sentiment with short, targeted surveys that can be presented to leaders.

   Educate management on turnover rates, employee satisfaction, and other quantitative data points so they are constantly kept up to date and can take better action to promote DEI training. 

Case Studies on DEI Training at Work 

There are many companies that are making DEI training a priority, and each embraces diversity in many different ways. We’re going to take a closer look at four companies around the world that are excelling when it comes to DEI:

1. Johnson & Johnson: J&J works to help create inclusive work environments. Their DEI motive is “to maximize the global power of diversity and inclusion, to drive superior business results and sustainable competitive advantage.” This is executed by providing employee resource groups, mentoring programs, and through a website known as “Diversity University,” which is a website that helps employees understand the importance of collectively working together. 

2. Mastercard: This company consistently makes it into the Top 10 of DiversityInc’s “50 Best Companies for Diversity list.” Mastercard firmly believes that “diversity is what drives better insights, better decisions, and better products. It is the backbone of innovation”. 

3. Coca-Cola: At Coca-Cola, diversity is seen “as more than just policies and practices. It is an integral part of who we are as a company, how we operate and how we see our future.” Not only do they do DEI training, but they also have a variety of other programs, such as a Diversity Speaker Series and a Diversity Library. At Coca-Cola, there is a parental benefits policy implemented where six weeks of paid leave is extended to all new mothers and fathers. This policy was advocated by ‘Coca-Cola Millennial Voices’, a group of young employees ensuring there is a healthy level of employee retention in millennial consumers and staff members.

4. Marriott International: Marriott International wanted to create an inclusive guest experience to its workforce around the world. This company was named as one of the “World’s Best Multinational Workplaces by Great Place to Work,” LGBT inclusion is also a top priority for Marriott International. They received that ‘Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality’ accolade when they earned a perfect score on the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, a widely recognized benchmark for diversity and inclusion.”

Conclusion

DEI Training is crucial to recognizing biases, and motivates positive behaviors and attitudes. To encourage a workplace culture that promotes an inclusive work environment for all, companies must implement ways to improve DEI in the workplace and remember that diversity and inclusion in the workplace is an ongoing and everyday process.