Diversity, equity and inclusion has climbed the agenda.
While organizations are making progress, they need to do more.
Find out why employers need to empower their workers to contribute to creating an inclusive workplace.
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Diversity, equity and inclusion (D,E&I) has climbed the agenda over the past few years.
Organizations are increasingly becoming aware that diverse and inclusive workplaces are better for business bottom lines.
As a result, employers are starting to focus more on D,E&I – and employers are recognizing this. According to a study by GoodHabitz, 61% of European employees recognize their employer’s progress on diversity and inclusion – this rises to 68% in the UK.
In addition, 64% of the 13,600 workers surveyed across 13 countries said that all employees are treated equally in their workplace – this increased to 71% in the UK and the Netherlands, and 76% in Denmark.
But despite this, employees are clear that D,E&I must stay high on the HR agenda.
73% of respondents told GoodHabitz that employers should pay more attention to these topics.
11% of workers also said that their gender affected their salary, while 8% in the UK still don’t feel comfortable discussing cultural differences with coworkers.
Empower your workers in D,E&I
While employees want their organization to do more around D,E&I, they admitted to GoodHabitz that they themselves should do more to contribute to creating a more inclusive and equitable workplace.
25% of European workers said they contributed a small extent to their company’s D,E&I efforts, 41% said they had a slight contribution, while 34% said their contribution was large.
This compares favorably to figures in the UK – where 11% said they made a very small contribution, 44% noted a slight contribution while 30% reported large contributions.
According to the report, “it takes both sides of the organization, the management and the employees, to build a bridge towards the envisioned working environment.
“Guidelines and a company culture can only work when employees embrace them and carry these out in their daily behavior, it takes two to tango!”
This begs the question: what must employers and HR teams do to empower workers to champion D,E&I?
Talking about the findings, GoodHabitz UK director Tim Segers commented: “It’s disappointing to see 7 out of 10 [UK] employees do little to nothing to contribute to the working environment they want their organization to embrace.
“Evidently, promoting and stimulating the right behavior, as well as setting up guidelines in terms of company culture and D&I should pre-eminently come from an organizational level.”
He continued: “Establishing guidelines and a company culture only work when they are embraced by employees in their daily behavior.
“Organizations need to take urgent steps to help build a bridge between policy and culture as they work towards the envisioned working environment.”
GoodHabitz’s report recommended: “To make sure your employees know how to dance with you, you first need to teach them the steps”, aka training in the soft skills.
61% of European workers agreed with the statement that online courses helped them to develop soft skills related with D,E&I – this increased to 68% in the UK.
