As you know, creating a culture of inclusion and innovation is essential for a thriving workforce. But this isn’t as simple as hiring a set quota of minorities so as to appear diverse.
So, how can you achieve true workplace diversity? We’ll show you.
The good news is, it really isn’t as difficult as you may think. You only need to follow a few simple steps, which we’ve provided in this guide. To learn how you can foster inclusion and innovation in the workplace, keep reading.
1. Start By Standardizing Your Interview Process
When you think about it, your interviewees are the future of your company. Thus, fostering a culture of inclusivity must start with your interview process.
Specifically, you want to standardize the way your company interviews applicants. This ensures that the process is the same for every applicant, every time, no matter who is conducting the interview. In other words, it leaves no room for bias.
2. Make Sure Your Recruitment Process Is Unbiased as Well
Furthermore, many job candidates are eliminated due to bias even before the interview. What we mean is, your recruitment process might be unintentionally biased.
For example, perhaps you normally recruit from a job fair at a local college where most of the students are white, upper-middle-class males. Then, if you obtain enough applications, you stop looking. In this case, very few minority candidates even get the opportunity to apply.
And aside from where you recruit, how you recruit matters as well. For example, when you publicize job openings/descriptions, are they available in multiple languages?
Also, you might have many positions available that can be sufficiently performed by those with certain handicaps, like deafness or partial paralysis. What, then, are you doing to let handicapped job-seekers know this?
Be sure to advertise job openings to a diverse range of demographics, just as you would when advertising products and services.
3. Do Not Standardize Your Culture
If you make the culture guidelines at your company too strict, it crushes the individuality of your employees. Encouraging everyone to conform to the same idea of what an employee at your company should be like is, by definition, biased. This is the exact opposite of inclusivity.
Instead of this, try to think about how each employee adds something new and unique to your workplace culture. Try to identify these special properties and nurture them.
This lets employees know that their differences are advantageous and important. Ultimately, this culture of inclusion and innovation is excellent for the morale and the psychological health and safety of your team.
Create a Culture of Inclusion and Innovation With These Tips
As you can see, creating a culture of inclusion is not impossible—far from it, in fact. These steps are not difficult at all and only require a few simple changes to the way you run your company. So, as soon as you’re able, make a plan to apply these new practices to promote diversity in the workplace.
Next, do you want to learn how to start an import business? Or, you can find out why outsourced accounting is vital for your company. Check out these and other great topics on our Business blog.
