What works in DEI efforts (and what doesn’t)
- Establish a workplace culture that ensures all employees are productive
and supported, rather than focusing on any one culture. - Create a relationship-based culture by rewarding collaboration and teamwork rather than competition.
- Provide accommodations, flexibility, and support for work-life balance to all
employees. - Replace discrimination and harassment complaint processes with ombudsman programs or anonymous online complaint reporting systems.
- Use technology to do blind hiring by redacting applicants' characteristics,
names, and addresses from resumes. - Hire multiple staff at the same time (cluster hiring) to increase diversity of new hires and reduce tokenism and stigmatization.
- Take a skills-based approach (rather than degree-based) to hiring by rewriting job descriptions and focusing interview questions on a candidate's skills.
- Be explicit about your organization’s commitment to inclusion and
representation in job postings. - Proactively recruit in underrepresented communities by advertising open positions in locations that are likely to be seen by members of those communities.
- Identify clear pathways for promotion and advancement.
- Reduce ambiguity in performance reviews and performance-based rewards.
- Encourage all staff to engage in management training so everyone is set
up for the possibility of promotion.
- Avoid mandatory training, which can reinforce stereotypes and be negatively perceived.
- Offer voluntary and ongoing diversity training that is focused on history, facts, and tangible actions employees can apply to their work.
- Use validated instruments to measure whether DEI outcomes are achieved
through training.
- Develop formal mentoring programs that are offered to everyone and match employees based on interests and skills.
- Create and support employee resource groups for underrepresented staff,
including those from different cultural backgrounds, abilities, and ages. - Consider reverse mentoring programs where newer employees mentor more
experienced employees to support learning new technology and transfer of
institutional knowledge.
- Track metrics like representation, employee satisfaction, and retention rates.
- Ensure sufficient oversight of diversity efforts by holding leadership, at all levels, accountable.