Creating a global equality strategy can seem daunting, but it is essential for businesses that want to create a diverse, equal, inclusive environment where everyone can thrive and belong.
An effective global equality strategy must be part of the core business strategy and central to the organisation’s values in order for it to be meaningfully integrated into the daily business operations.
Diversity within a business refers to similarities and differences each individual brings to the table, including but not limited to national origin, language, race, disability, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, veteran status, and family structures.
Inclusion involves efforts and behaviours that can be cultivated and fostered by the organisation and all stakeholders that exist within it. It is when everyone despite their differences feels included and valued for their unique qualities and experiences.
Belonging on the other hand, focuses on the day-to-day experiences within the workplace that enables an individual to feel psychologically safe to bring their full, unique self to work.
Alongside this, an equality strategy seeks to give everyone equal access to opportunities and resources within an organisation but also seeks to do this through equitable methods that takes into consideration the disadvantages, barriers and obstacles that certain groups or individuals experience on the path to obtaining the same outcome.
A well-designed global equality strategy can show a company’s intentional dedication towards achieving its DEIB goals, but in order to really see and experience the positive impact, it requires patience, consistency and the willingness to adapt inline with the needs of individuals.
When drafting a global equality strategy, it is important to consider the following factors:
The purpose of the global equality strateg. What is the ideal outcome? Why is this strategy needed? How will it benefit the organisation and its employees?
How will the strategy be implemented? What expertise is needed to design and launch the strategy?
Who will be responsible for implementation? Some companies outsource equality teams or equality task forces to take ownership of implementing the strategy, while others create internal teams. If the latter route is of interest, it is imperative for those teams to be made up of employees from all levels of the organisation.
What resources will be needed? How will the business plan for staff participation, training delivery and development? Sufficient time should be allocated to focus on the strategy rollout, budgets, monitoring and timelines.
How will the strategy will be evaluated and amended to ensure it is always relevant? Has the strategy been adequately designed for contributing to the achievement of its objectives and expected results? What needs to be adapted? Is the strategy accepted by the stakeholders that matter? What lag and lead measures have been decided as a metric of success? Lag indicators are specific outcomes you want to achieve, eg. number of under represented groups within leadership roles. Whereas, lead measures are the behaviours and actions you want to encourage, if done correctly will contribute to the inclusive outcomes designed by the strategy.
Designing a global equality strategy requires a company to assess its ecosystem and current diversity state. This involves gathering baseline data across all areas and regions of the business, looking at its employee demographic data, as well as conducting surveys, listening sessions and focus groups with employees across all levels of the business to get their perspectives on the company’s climate.
When conducting these sessions, the key objective here is to listen and lean in with the understanding that others’ experiences may differ greatly from the status quo. Equality conversations tend to require levels of vulnerability, openness and trust, it is therefore essential that transparency and confidentiality are at the forefront of all planned activities throughout the strategy.
Another layer to consider is the analysis of the systems in which the company operates, including the policies, laws, structures, institutions, traditions and informal rules that govern how individuals behave within any given community and country. Equity is about acknowledging that most systems have been designed with an implicit bias resulting in a particular identity group benefiting whilst those outside of this group do not, and are therefore impacted negatively at a higher rate.
An effective equality strategy seeks to dismantle the company systems, rebuild and centre the design around human nature, and identities of those that have been pushed to the margins in the organisation in the past and present. Although a company may not be able to control and redesign external systems, it can focus on building a strategy that produces more equitable outcomes within the business for its employees and surrounding local communities to immediately benefit.
Once a company has a good understanding of where it stands, it can start setting goals for improving all areas across the business – paying close attention to different stages of the employee lifecycle, designing development and leadership programs for underrepresented groups, employee training to address topics such as unconscious bias, microaggressions, inclusive language and allyship as well as implementing a clear policy on the company’s expectations. This includes resources and tools for employees to leverage and report any concerns or requests for support.
Despite the challenges, the benefits of having a company equality strategy are vast. Not only does it make good business sense, but it also creates a psychologically safe place for employees to work in, resulting in greater employee wellbeing, retention, team cross collaboration, innovation and higher performance.