As layoffs and hiring freezes continue to plague industries, talent teams that wish to emerge stronger engage in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) programs.  

A recent study showed that the relationship between diversity and the likelihood of financial outperformance has strengthened over time. 

Workplace Equity is all about empowering employees and creating a fair playing field for all employees. When organizations encourage workplace equity, they get the competitive advantage of hiring diverse talent. 

What’s the difference between Equality and Equity in the Workplace?  

Equality refers to giving everyone equal opportunity, but workplace equity refers to a fair representation of the same opportunities available. Equity, in a nutshell, equalizes the playing field. 

These terms are a subset of the wider goal of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEI&B). DEI&B is an umbrella term for initiatives, policies, strategies, and practices used by businesses to create and maintain an equitable workplace. 

With organizations globally adopting DEI&B into their work, it is essential to understand the underlying benefits of this new work culture. Studies conducted by global universities and industry analysts indicate the benefits of DEI&B in the organization, including: 

• Higher employee engagement and productivity 
• Better financial performance 
• Faster problem solving and reduced conflicts 
• Access to a broader pool of perspectives, thoughts, and ideas 
• Better brand reputation and so on

How to Create a More Equitable Workplace 

Creating an equitable workplace requires more than just data; it requires persistence, research, feedback and much more. Let’s find out how to create a more equitable workplace using 5 data-driven strategies for 2023. 

#1 Create a Fair and Inclusive Interview Process

Interviews are the doors to your company’s workforce, and if talented individuals are overlooked unfairly, it can hurt your company significantly in the long run. An interview process that is fair and inclusive shows the candidate that the company culture not only supports DEI&B, but also integrates it in all parts of business. 

Here are a few recommendations to create fair and inclusive interview processes: 

• Keep specific skills in mind for the role, but broaden your requirements in other areas such as soft skills, location etc. 
• Prepare candidates prior to interviews and try to reach them via their preferred channels (e.g. email, phone etc) 
• Try to remain gender neutral and be mindful of people’s pronouns to avoid assumptions around someone’s identity. 
• Please be mindful of the digital divide and be considerate if a candidate is not as tech-savvy as they’d expect.  

#2 Ensure Fair and Unbiased Candidate Assessment

While many companies claim to be 100% fair in their assessment, chances are unconscious recruiter’s bias can affect your talent. It is critical to stay vigilant and keep fairness at the top of your mind. Through our extensive experience in the Talent market, we’ve discovered a few ways to ensure fair and unbiased candidate assessment. 

• The Hiring team has to be made aware of their own biases and should be helped to break down the roots of these biases. 
• Blind hiring should be considered seriously as one of the top-notch ways to ensure fairness and minimize bias. 
• An objective, structured interview process is required. This includes a set number of interviews, questions and every candidate walking through the same process. 
• Our best bet still would be a bias-free talent intelligence tool that can minimize the legwork and maximize your outcomes. 

#3 Create More Inclusive Workplace Policies

As you work to become a more diverse organization, you should do a deep dive into your current practices and give your workplace a full evaluation. New policies may need to be made or the old ones may need to be changed across the board. 

For example, job descriptions should be written in a way that reaches as many people as possible when posting openings. Consider posting these job descriptions and sending recruitment specialists to a wider range of job fairs, community hiring offices, and outreach programs. 

Some of the best inclusive strategies we can recommend include: 

• Allowing people to take time off for cultural/religious holidays that the company may not recognize. 
• Offering on-site day-care for single parents and occasional time off for family activities. 
• Reviewing your office set up to build an all-inclusive facility, such as the availability of gender-neutral restrooms. 
• Allowing the option for flexible work hours, work from home and other work models for employees in need. 

#4 Create Mentorship and Growth Opportunities

Hiring a diverse workforce is important, but mentorship programs are a key part of workplace diversity programs that make sure everyone has a chance to move up. 

Employees with good potential should be provided with mentors, no matter their age, race, gender, or other factors. If a company-sponsored mentorship program isn’t possible for your company, there are other ways to provide similar opportunities, such as: 

• Help your employees improve their jobs by paying for their continuing education and reskilling goals. 
• Connect employees to resource groups, such as those for young professionals and women in leadership. 
• Ensure your leadership team is also diverse by hiring and promoting people from different backgrounds to those roles. 

Even though these are all great ways to encourage diversity in the workplace, it’s always important to lead by example. When a company’s top leaders are directly involved in programs or initiatives to improve diversity and inclusion at work, employees take notice. 

When a company establishes itself as having a culture that fosters diversity, it becomes more attractive to minority talent and potential customers. A company with a diverse workforce is generally more likely to understand the needs of a diverse customer base. 

Draup is an AI-powered  talent intelligence  platform leveraged by Fortune 500 enterprises to gain timely talent insights & prepare comprehensive strategies to incorporate D&I into their organizations. 

Using  Draup’s Diversity Navigator, HR Leaders can visualize ethnic and gender diversity across business operations, geographies, and job roles. By utilizing the insights from Diversity Navigator, HR leaders can also plan out the career paths of minorities and achieve actual diversity and inclusion.