Diversity, equity, and inclusion: Understanding lived experiences
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You’d be hard pressed to find an HR or business leader in today’s working world who doesn’t agree that DEI is important. But when was the last time you looked beyond statistics to understand the lived experience of your diverse workforce?
No one should ever feel pressured to speak about their personal life, or like the onus is on them to champion rights if they identify with a minority community. However, HR and organisation leaders can create safe spaces for employees to share their experiences if they feel comfortable doing so. Establishing a DEI working group, or a community dedicated to a particular DEI issue such as LGBTQIA+ rights, and asking for volunteers, is one way businesses can give a voice in the workplace to those who would like to connect with others about DEI.
Understanding individual stories can be invaluable in helping HR and leaders shape how the business creates a truly inclusive workplace.
Gender imbalances
For example, a business might have decided that they need to increase their retention of female staff members. They’ve noticed that a lot of their employees who are mothers return to work in a part-time role, but don’t stay with the organisation for very long after returning. HR has spoken with managers to ensure these staff members aren’t overworked, and that they’re given flexibility in their hours.
But, by establishing a working group made up of these part-time mums, it’s revealed that their needs are very nuanced and there are lots of little things the business could be doing to increase retention. The employees just hadn’t felt like they had the right forum to express these ideas in the past.
Age assumptions
As another example, there might be an assumption in a business that older workers are all looking forward to retirement, and that’s what HR and managers should help this group of employees transition towards.
But, after speaking to one of their older workers and asking about their goals for the next five to 10 years, HR may discover that the employee is still deriving a lot of purpose and pleasure from their role, and that hearing about retirement support non-stop is actually causing them a lot of anxiety.
Ethnicity recognition
As a final example, an organisation may decide that they need to do more to make everyone feel supported in their business, regardless of ethnicity. HR and the business’ leaders have gone ahead and signed the business up to champion a charity that’s geared towards one particular ethnicity, failing to recognise that no one in the business identifies as part of that group.
The business is now presented with two problems: their employees from minority backgrounds feel like the organisation sees them all as one people, and, it’s now glaringly obvious that the business isn’t as diverse as it could be and that the focus should be less on charity donations and more on questioning why people from that ethnicity aren’t part of the business in the first place.
A note on using the term "minority ethnic":
BAME used to be used to refer to “Black, Asian and minority ethnic” people. It’s now been accepted that this doesn’t recognise that everyone grouped together as a “minority ethnic” has their own lived experience, and so this term isn’t a helpful way to progress DEI issues.
For reference, the UK government states:
“We do not use the terms BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) and BME (black and minority ethnic) because they emphasise certain ethnic minority groups (Asian and black) and exclude others (mixed, other and white ethnic minority groups). The terms can also mask disparities between different ethnic groups and create misleading interpretations of data.”[1]
A note from the editor
DEI is an evolving concern. I have endeavoured to represent the above issues with the correct language and examples, however I encourage you to reach out to me if I have inadvertently caused offence or if you feel the examples could be improved.
Shandel McAuliffe
Shandel has recently returned to Australia after working in the UK for eight years. Shandel's experience in the UK included over three years at the CIPD in their marketing, marcomms and events teams, followed by two plus years with The Adecco Group UK&I in marketing, PR, internal comms and project management. Cementing Shandel's experience in the HR industry, she was the head of content for Cezanne HR, a full-lifecycle HR software solution, for the two years prior to her return to Australia.
Shandel has previous experience as a copy writer, proofreader and copy editor, and a keen interest in HR, leadership and psychology. She's excited to be at the helm of HR Leader as its editor, bringing new and innovative ideas to the publication's audience, drawing on her time overseas and learning from experts closer to home in Australia.