D,E&I policies must include older workers

Diversity, equity and inclusion has been climbing the agenda over the past few years.

This is because organizations have begun to realize that being a diverse employer is not just the right thing to do, but diversity of thought is good for business.

However, employers are also starting to learn that diversity alone is not good enough. In addition, companies must have inclusive, psychologically safe cultures that empower all employees to be themselves and share their perspectives freely.

A survey of 1,200 HR leaders in 55 countries by Aon shows that there has been D,E&I progress – 74% of said their organization had a D,E&I policy and 93% reported strong senior leadership support and sponsorship of D,E&I policies.

While executive support is essential to the success of D,E&I policies, so is employee awareness and engagement.

Aon’s head of advisory and specialty practice, health solutions, EMEA, Dr Avneet Kaur tells UNLEASH: “The results clearly demonstrate a positive correlation between employee engagement and DE&I commitment in action.

“Overall, 74% of companies have an internal D,E&I definition and policy. Highly engaged companies have a definition of D,E&I 82% of the time, compared to 65% for companies with low engagement”.

Aon’s report therefore calls on employers to focus on communication of their policies in 2023 – currently email and intranet are the most common communication strategies, but its time for HR tech to come to its own and drive greater awareness of D,E&I plans.

Spotlight on older employees

“Benefits offerings are a key part of that [D,E&I] conversation and strategy”, Dr Kaur shares with UNLEASH.

“To build truly inclusive health and wellbeing benefits, we recommend that HR leaders first audit their benefits and ensure that every demographic of their workforce—including previously underserved populations—has access to and awareness of these offerings.”

According to Aon, some of the demographics that have often been overlooked are the older generations.

Currently just 45% of the HR leaders surveyed said their organization engages older talent in mentorship programs to provide guidance to youngers, while two thirds offer flexibility around roles, location and working hours.

Ultimately, organizations that aren’t implementing these types of policies are missing a trick, especially since many of these workers returning to the workforce in a trend called unretirement.

Aon’s report stated: “Older employees have experience that younger talent can benefit from. This is an untapped area which can help improve employee engagement and retention for both older and younger talent.

“Asia Pacific is leading the charge in terms of providing flexibility in design of roles for older talent – such options will be key in managing the challenges of aging population and ensuring corporates continue to leverage experiential knowledge to build resilient businesses.”

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