It’s high on the agenda and with Diversity and Inclusion becoming a C-suite priority! There is a fine balance that that HR and People teams need to strike when taking the lead on driving diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and making sure your organisation is effective.

It is becoming increasingly evident that as a People function, HR’s role is to lead and influence diversity and inclusion in the workplace. HR is an integral function which has a strong cross functional component to its operations. That’s why it’s essential to not only design but also drive policies to identify a diverse talent pool that can take the organisation forward.

It is also HR’s responsibility to foster and nurture an environment where all employees have a strong sense of feeling valued and included. This in turn helps strengthen the recruitment strategy – therefore making the organisation attractive to talent.

HR and People teams have a central role to play in motivating the rest of the business. They can help other departments to start thinking about different opportunities the whole organisation can create for promoting diversity and inclusion.

Where HR is becoming increasingly talent-focused and more engaged in the recruitment process, creating awareness across the organisation to think along the lines of openness, inclusivity and diversity will go a long way, bearing long terms fruits for the brand.

We need to believe that HR is all about talent which includes everyone — talent is not a select few. Employees may have varying capabilities, but that does not in any way discount their potential.

HR needs to be the guiding light and the organization’s north star, leading the organisation to ensure the right talent is in place to achieve the organisational goals. And this needs to be supported with a strong value statement, systems and processes in place. As a People function, HR can help by recognizing the disparities and identifying gaps. This is best done through evidence-based decision making built on data on gender, pay, and recruitment.

Awareness through exploring leadership’s role and training on eliminating bias are strong starting points for HR, but we need to do more than that.

Reflection is Key

HR leaders need to review areas where diversity and inclusion may be an area of development:

• Recruiting: Are we actively getting a diverse candidate pool?
• Interviewing: Are people who aren’t a ‘culture fit’ being screened out by certain leaders?
• Internal mobility and succession planning: Do we have a process and way to do this easily, and allowing people to self-identify into opportunities?
• Learning: Do we have a continuous learning programme for all our employees? Do certain groups tend to get more advantage from the programmes?

Important Questions

HR and People leaders ask themselves the following questions to help with the reflection:

• What do our teams have to say in our engagement surveys and what are the statistics saying?
• What are our top three big strategic priorities and how will those priorities drive business performance?
• How is diversity and inclusivity represented in our organisational values?

Richard Branson, the CEO of Virgin, believes that the traditional profit, customer and colleague formula has to be remodelled. How you treat your people should be central to your modus operandi. It should be as important as how you treat your customers, or even more! Branson believes that if you look after your colleagues or employees, they will look after your customers, who will then look after the profit. So it’s a win-win situation for all!

This is why diversity and inclusion needs to be a central part of our organizational ethos. It should be at the heart of how we do business, how we conduct ourselves and what we believe in!

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