HR today: diversity, equity and inclusion

Civil rights movements spreading across social media during 2020 and 2021 have been a huge catalyst in the re-prioritisation of this among businesses and individuals all looking to address what we can do.

96% of CEOs recently surveyed by Fortune/Deloitte said DE&I had become a “personal strategic priority”. This highlights again how business is very much becoming much more personal and people orientated. HR professionals are no different with 98% of HR professionals thinking a diverse recruitment strategy is important so it’s great to see everyone within UK organisations being on the same page

Diversity is not only important from a moral perspective but it does very much enhance businesses too, Harvard Business Review found that diverse teams are able to solve problems faster and are more likely to make good decisions, so it’s easy to see why the c-suite and HR are prioritising this.

Importantly for HR DEI needs to be seen entrenched in everything to do with company culture and not just a box-ticking exercise. All companies have these longstanding and entrenched procedural and operational biases - the idea of unconscious bias is really present in all of us and we need to ensure that we’re educating leaders and employees and taking steps to offer training and educational opportunities for everyone.

According to Google DEI is about “fostering a sense of belonging throughout the company” and “ensuring parity in performance reviews, promotions, and retention.” 

Google are obviously a huge company but this idea of looking at areas of the business such as performance management and current employee data on salaries etc. shows that 

Some simple interventions can start to have a significant impact. When inclusion is about how employees ‘feel’, then enhancing it is all about knowing your staff 

Innovate your HR to drive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Being able to actually report on statistics around your diversity will give you the ability to assess where you are, then you can look at where you want to be and start taking the steps you need to take to get there. Simple reporting on employee data is an absolutely essential part of any HR tools you use and will assist you here.

It is also crucial to make sure you are recording the correct information at the employee level. Finding an HR solution that will provide you with simple customisation of employee profile fields will mean that you can always track and record the information you need to know.

Creating a culture of consistency and fairness will really help to avoid any bias across your business. Take a look at your current processes surrounding performance reviews, promotions, salary reviews etc and work out a clear, defined process. Once you have this in place, ensuring it is always used and adhered to will mean there is a clear level of fairness across your workforce.

Training, Development and Awareness! Sometimes some training or resource sharing is all you need to raise awareness of topics such as unconscious bias, or fair practises. Making sure you have a system that allows for easy access to company policies, training documentation and awareness initiatives will empower your staff to get themselves clued up on performing better. To make a real difference when it comes to DEI, you need your workforce on board!

So Gartner has stated that a “Sense of belonging” coupled with people feeling that they are listened to is a winning combination when it comes to Inclusion. So how can this really be achieved through systems and processes? For starters, you can give your employees a place to voice their opinions, this could be through performance reviews, 360 feedback or providing the ability to give feedback throughout the year. You may also want to look into employee surveys and then publish the results and action points through your HR solution so everyone has full visibility and you leave yourself accountable for the actions you promise to deliver. 

There are lots of ways that HR software can help with DEI, but it is crucial to make sure you lead from the top and put the right tools in place so your staff can follow.

How can Appogee HR help?

Here’s a closer look at how some of the features we offer in our tools can help you with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Appogee HR Essentials: Our core HR management solution and includes employee profiles with employee self-service fields to update any information you wish to record and report on, including gender, race, salary or anything else, company document management (to hold all of your policies or any document including policies pertaining to DEI) as well as intelligent reporting and also includes Appogee Leave. 

Appogee HR Success: Our advanced HR software package includes Appogee Leave and Appogee HR Essentials and additionally enables you to fully run performance reviews (or any other kind of review) with templates for consistency and fairness across your business. 

Get started right away with your 14 day free trial or book a demo with a friendly member of our team.