How to Make an Inclusive Workplace with an IDEA Strategy
It has been shown that incorporating inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA) into your organization drives better performance and creates a more innovative environment.
So how do we create inclusive initiatives that could lead to beneficial outcomes for all? Not only will you have happier, well-balanced employees but your company’s bottom line is likely to show a significant improvement!
Benefits of Inclusion for the Organization
Inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) are four values that are meant to support different groups of people, such as those from different races, ethnicities, religions, abilities, genders, and sexual orientations.
📝 Note that while the term “DEI” is commonly used, when we’re putting inclusion first, we talk about it as IDEA. You can read more about the acronyms of DEI here.
Organizations strive to be a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment as they’ll be able to respond better to challenges, gain more talent, and receive insights for different markets. It became a top priority in most organizations, building IDEA into their policies and hiring practices.
Implementing inclusion is important to support your organizational growth. Here are some benefits you can gain by keeping IDEA in mind:
There’s a correlative relationship between diversity and business performance. Companies with a more diverse workforce are more likely to have above-average profitability and outperform companies in their industry.
Organizations have better chances of winning top talent from diverse backgrounds.
Improve decision-making process, speed, and quality. Diversity brings more perspective into your discussions, leading to better creative thinking.
More insight into diverse consumer bases and communities.
According to research, companies committed to DEI initiatives are able to improve employee motivation and satisfaction by 75%.
Improve the company's image, which can ensure talent and customer retention, as well as government support.
What to Tackle First - Aligning Your IDEA Strategy
Before you jump into creating your first IDEA initiative, you may want to align it with your organization’s overall strategy. Here are some action items your team can begin with:
Assess Your Organization as a Whole
What is its current position when it comes to its values, cultures, policies, and practices? Begin to gather your data on demographics and existing initiatives and ask, “What is lacking in your organization that can act as an obstacle to a more inclusive workplace?”
Find the Pain Points that You’re Trying to Solve
Identify gaps and stand-out issues, such as hiring practices, policies, promotion opportunities, facilities, and others. You can look at this internally by asking your stakeholders or externally by examining your industry.
Create a Vision and Mission Statement
Think about for the IDEA initiative that will close the gap or pain points and align it with company values. IDEA statements should be an extension of your company’s overall business vision and mission. It needs to represent the changes that your company will undergo and where it aims to be in terms of IDEA.
Get Leaders and Managers Involved
When it comes to IDEA, leadership commitment is key to transforming the workplace to be more inclusive. Educate them on the benefits of a diverse team and get their opinions on IDEA initiatives. Then define their roles in the IDEA strategy and what are the expectations from those roles. Leaders will feel more empowered to make informed decisions and be more inclined to set a good example for their teams.
Research and Benchmarking
Start by researching your industry and benchmarking your peers. Find data from research vendors or open sources for factors like compensation and industry demographics. You could also research other companies’ IDEA initiatives by browsing their company websites and finding commonalities to adopt. Try to aim for companies with excellent standards and good results in IDEA. Who knows, you might find new ways to change your policies and practices to attract more talent or market.
Goal Setting
The last part of planning and designing your IDEA efforts is creating measurable outcomes or goal setting. These goals will be tracked by the IDEA council to evaluate the programs and make adjustments as necessary. Some examples of these measurements could be recruitment and hiring metrics, employee retention and engagement metrics, diversity and inclusion metrics, training and development metrics, and community engagement and outreach metrics. These metrics should align with the vision and mission created, periodically evaluated, and adjusted according to results. You should also involve leaders in setting these goals, just like you would normal KPIs.
Implementation Phase: 6 Ways to Put Your IDEA Strategy into Action
Develop Policies, Standards & Practices
Create a code of conduct to let your employees know how they’re expected to behave in the workplace. It should be based on fairness and equity, and open for discussion with all employees. Your policy should also define terminologies related to IDEA so that everyone speaks the same language.
2. Establish a Governance Body or IDEA Council
IDEA is something that will involve everyone in the organization, but it still needs a governing body to track progress and oversee the implementation. The governing body should be led by the top management team (CEO) because it’s a corporate-level effort.
The unit should consist of people with diverse perspectives and from different functions of the organization to provide insight into DEI. Most organizations create Employee Resource Groups (ERG), which act as a bridge between management and employees to support the success of IDEA initiatives.
3. Training & Education
One of your action plans should be training and education, making sure everyone is well-informed and all policies are socialized. The IDEA council could also work with the HR team to analyze training needs in the organization, creating specific courses for different needs.
4. Recognize & Reward Employees
Your policy should include providing recognition and reward for employees. These rewards should be given with IDEA in mind, giving specific rewards according to employees’ needs. For example, support leave for new mothers or mental health support for employees.
5. Recruitment & Retention
One of the most important IDEA initiatives is recruitment and retention policies. The aim should be to provide equal opportunities and promote fairness in the process. For example, redacting personal information during the initial selection of recruitment can lead to a less biased process and more diverse candidates.
6. Community Engagement
Tailor your efforts and policies according to the community you’re serving or working with. Create community partnerships and involve locals to increase our social capital, trust, and reputation with stakeholders.
Importance of Communication and Transparency
During the implementation phase, your IDEA program needs to have clear communication and transparency. Organizations that are transparent about their progress are more likely to gain trust and build a culture of inclusion in the workplace.
Internal communications can determine how you shape your organizational culture. The IDEA council and internal communicators should make the organization a safe space for everyone to share their voices. Efforts regarding the IDEA initiatives should also be included in a company-wide communication to involve all stakeholders.
Instead of giving out warnings or punishments, reframe the way you talk about IDEA into a positive and benefit-led narrative to avoid any reluctance or restraint from stakeholders. Highlight that inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility will ultimately be beneficial for the company in the long run.
The IDEA council can create a feedback mechanism where all stakeholders can give input without fear of retaliation. This can be in the form of suggestion boxes, anonymous surveys, and focus groups. Stakeholders can communicate their worries, while the IDEA council can monitor their progress. Listen to stakeholders and their input as to how it’s going so far and use it as data for continuous improvements in the IDEA program.
Instead of having the IDEA council as the owner of every initiative, it is imperative that other stakeholders also be accountable for the results. That’s why we made sure that leaders are committed, employees are well-informed, communications are open, and goals are set as a measurement of progress. That way, everyone will take ownership of the efforts and the success of IDEA initiatives doesn’t just fall into the council, but for the company as a whole.
Evaluating and Adjusting: Continuous Improvement in IDEA Initiatives
To drive continuous improvements, we need to evaluate and adjust the goals and strategy of our IDEA initiatives. These are components that need to be a part of the evaluation process
Metrics and measurements - We’ve set our goals and KPIs for the initiatives, it’s time we measure and compare it with our results. Evaluate these results and analyze the gaps to see if you need adjustments for the next period.
For goals that are not met, you need to analyze why they fell behind and devise a strategy to overcome it. You might need to change the measurements or the variables if they’re not applicable. On the other hand, you can set more aggressive measurements for goals that you’ve successfully surpassed.
Feedback analysis - Aside from metrics and measurements, you also need to analyze the feedback received from internal communications. Perceive them as qualitative results and turn these inputs into a starting point for your next IDEA initiatives if applicable.
Create a progress report - Gather all the data you’ve received and create a progress report. It should encompass the whole process, from vision/mission, and goal setting, to results and analysis. Disseminate the report to all stakeholders and discuss the findings with them.
Adaptation and innovation - The last step of the cycle is to adapt and innovate. Conclude your findings, discuss with stakeholders, and decide on the next chapter of your DEI efforts. Just like how you started, this should be a collaborative effort between the DEI council and everyone in the company to ensure accountability. Set those goals and start the process all over again for continuous improvement in your IDEA initiatives.
From creating the vision and mission to evaluation and continuous improvement, this creates less tension and increase commitment company-wide, increasing the success of your IDEA efforts!
