Employee Engagement—The Inclusion in DEI
Inclusion is about making people count. It is about an organization’s practices and culture—how people act and behave toward one another and contribute to success, both individual and organizational success. When positive behaviors become the norm in an organization, employees bring extra energy and effort to their work because they're committed.
Being inclusive is giving employees a voice, a chance to be heard, and an opportunity to participate. Give them this, and they will stay engaged because they know they can make a difference.
Treat everyone with respect and professionalism, and they’ll respect the leadership and the organization.
So why is Diversity & Inclusion receiving such negative press these days?
Misunderstanding and miscommunication. The Supreme Court decision in 2023 regarding college admission practices considering a person’s race set off the debate. Workplace practices differ from college admissions. Race is merely one aspect of diversity which is multi-dimensional encompassing all the characteristics that distinguish us as individuals.
Misguided beliefs characterize diversity efforts as potentially discriminatory—providing preferential treatment to underrepresented groups or encouraging biases against white employees. Neither is true. Inclusion doesn’t discriminate. It means everybody—members of both traditionally represented groups (generally whites) and traditionally underrepresented groups (generally other racial groups).
Diversity efforts are multifaceted including many elements—outreach and community involvement, educational strategies, and measurements—that go far beyond merely increasing racial participation of the workforce or training.
Organizations want to establish equity by eliminating barriers and guaranteeing fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all their employees.
This negative attention can have a dangerous impact on employee engagement.
When employees are engaged and know they can speak up without fear of either retribution or ridicule, they bring innovative and creative ideas forward. Smart organizations recognize that the employees are often closer to the clients and customers than the leadership is—they understand their needs. Bringing ideas forward is healthy for all individuals because it allows them to grow. It’s also healthy for the organization’s growth and productivity.
When organizations retreat from recognizing the diversity of their individual employees, including their unique ideas, and retreat from making employees feel valuable—feel like they count, turnover is going to increase. They will experience the added costs of replacing the valuable assets that they let walk out the door.
Beyond employee engagement, the impact will be felt by customers, clients and investors who may likely react.
Customers will ask: Why should I spend my money for your goods or services? Consider that when Target announced its decision to scale back on diversity programs, the consumer reaction was immediate. Customers boycotted Target and there were protests at stores in several states. Now their CEO has stepped down.
Investors will ask: Why should I invest money in your company? Conversely, Costco held firmly to its pro-DEI position when activists tried to get shareholders to roll back efforts. The company’s board wrote a forceful and articulated argument urging shareholders to reject the proposal which they subsequently did. Costco saw no negative impact and its revenue and net sales were both up at least 9% over the same period in the previous year in their next quarterly earnings report.
If you value your employees, you value all people and the return on employee engagement will be great and allow your organization to thrive.