Creating your company’s effective DEI structure by busting myths

In the ever-changing landscape of the workplace environment, employees are now recognizing their full potential in their careers. To further help your employees and your company to reach opportunities for career development, implementing DEI in the workplace and busting the myths related to that ethos can help.

What is DEI?

DEI or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is an ethos that sheds light on giving your company leverage on diversity, creating meaningful relationships through equity, and maintaining a healthy work environment through inclusion.

Diversity allows the presence of different voices in your team regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and socioeconomic class. Applying equity shows that your company values processes and programs that are fair and impartial, providing equal opportunities to everyone in the workplace. Finally, practicing inclusion ensures that everyone feels a sense of belonging as they work towards the company’s goal. This establishes the fact that employees are comfortable and supported by the organization as they continue to be themselves.

To further understand the practice of DEI in the workplace, busting the myths and misconceptions are important. Knowing what is DEI and what DEI isn’t can help you figure out the best ways you can construct and implement a strategy for your company.

Myth #1: DEI is a one-time initiative

DEI is not a one-time big-time action plan. It requires thorough planning and strategy making for lasting organizational change. It affects different elements of the business like recruiting, promotions, pay equity, and company culture. Having perpetual DEI improvement also means that the company is willing to make and stick to changes when the previous strategies don’t produce the desired outcome anymore.

DEI increases leader credibility, employee loyalty, and worker retention by practicing the ability to listen to your employees and creating a workplace they are happy to work in. It also addresses challenges, like cultural differences, that may arise and reduce staff turnover and expenses making it a two-way street of improvement for both the organization and the employees.

Myth #2: Diversity equals inclusion

A company can practice diversity but not practice inclusion. Diversity is about dimensions while inclusion is a process. It can be compared to an analogy that diversity is having different pieces and inclusion is making those pieces work together cohesively. For example, Forbes reported on Under Armour’s allegedly toxic workplace culture. Among the complaints was that the work environment was not inclusive to female employees. CEO Kevin Plank addressed the company’s missteps and stated that “the company is largely comprised of women, with females representing a portion of the board of directors (22%) as well as the company’s leadership (about 33%).” This, however, did not address the claims that the company doesn’t foster a sense of inclusivity for their otherwise, diverse pool of employees.

Simply put, diversity is useless if it’s not coupled with inclusion. Companies cannot just practice diversity then call it a day. There’s consistent effort to ensure that the diversity of your talent pool cooperates to have a sense of unity towards your company’s desired outcome.

Myth #3: Equity is the same as equality

Equity creates empathy in the workplace. To some, they might be synonymous but equity and equality are two very different things. Equality is merely giving everyone the same treatment or benefits but equity provides the idea of fairness and impartiality. Practicing equity makes your employees understand that you know that they have unique needs and that you strive to support those specific needs. It gives rise to rethinking existing systems and mitigating disadvantages experienced by minorities.

Myth #4: DEI is about hiring less qualified individuals

Practicing DEI in recruitment enables your team the innovation it needs to move forward and ride the wave of trends and times. Moreover, thinking that DEI is about hiring less qualified individuals creates an implicit notion that minority groups are less qualified. That is not the case. In the topic of race, a study by researchers in Northwestern University, Harvard, and the Institute of Social Research in Norway, found that white applicants receive 36% more callbacks than equally qualified African Americans. Seeing the disparity from this example opens the avenues to questions about misconceptions in hiring when discrimination of gender, race, and age are practiced.

Myth #5: Discrimination is only about gender, race, and age.

It’s common to see discrimination towards gender, race, and age in the workplace but discrimination also involves marital status, disability status, single parenthood, vaccination status, socioeconomic background, and sexual orientation. Diversity involves evolving hiring and working practices to create a distinct talent pool.

Myth #6: DEI is limited to recruiting

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are not only applied to recruitment even if it is essential to talent acquisition strategies. It informs employees and the company of opportunities and risks and builds best-in-class teams by having different voices, ideas, and opinions present. It gives the avenue to realize that all perspectives are heard and gives space for employees to grow their careers.

Myth #7: DEI is about exclusivity rather than inclusivity

DEI is not about attacking employees that currently experience higher benefits than others. It’s not about creating a mindset of “us vs. them” in the workplace. It offers a broader perspective to everyone across the line and elevates company culture as well as community connection. Fostering an atmosphere of understanding and support for everyone benefits rather than causes problems. It’s about creating a culture where everyone can thrive and contribute to the success of the organization.

Having a DEI program in your company can positively help your business revenue, operation, and philosophy. It furthers the notion that your company knows how to take care of your clients and employees when you apply your DEI program to your clientele as well. Knowing the benefits of having a DEI strategy in place urges you to make better decisions for your team and your company.

Kalibrr is a recruitment technology company that aims to transform how candidates find jobs and how companies hire talent. Placing the candidate experience at the center of everything it does, we continue to attract the best talent from all over, with more than 5.5 million professionals and counting. Kalibrr ultimately connects these talents to companies in search of their next generation of leaders.

The only end-to-end recruitment solutions provider in Southeast Asia, Kalibrr is headquartered in Makati, Philippines, with offices in San Francisco, California, and Jakarta, Indonesia. Established in 2012, it has served over 18,000 clients and is backed by some of the world’s most powerful start-up incubators and venture capitalists. These include Y Combinator, Omidyar Network, Patamar Capital, Wavemaker Partners, and Kickstart Ventures. For more business and recruiter advice, follow Kalibrr on Facebook and LinkedIn