Resource Guide for Implementing Diversity in Your Workplace
Compounded by a shrinking talent pool and an increasingly diverse customer base,
diversity in the workplace is quickly becoming a bottom line business imperative.
The most certain way for your organization to benefit from diversity is to incorporate
diversity into the way you do business. That means conducting a thorough review of all
organizational structures, processes, and policies that set up your employee for success.
This resource guide will provide suggestions for integrating diversity practices in all
aspects of talent management, from recruitment to retention. This way, you too can reap
the benefits of attracting and retaining a diverse workforce.
Getting Started
Before you can effectively integrate diversity in your organization, determine the exact
outcome for which you are striving. Consider the following:
What you would like the program to achieve
 Draw links to your organization’s mission, vision, values, goals, and objectives.
 Decide how you will develop and implement diversity. For example, will you focus
on developing a few select initiatives across the company, or will you develop a
full set of initiatives and only pilot in one area of the company?
Assess the resources required
 Gain input into the diversity plan and approach taken from senior executives and
line managers. This will increase buy-in into the program and accountability
across the organization.
 Identify and involve other individuals and departments that can help you
implement the diversity plan.
Gauge where are you are now
 Gather information about your company’s current environment as this creates a
starting point for objective setting and prioritizing. You may wish to review:
o Corporate and business plans.
o The demographic profile of current employees.
o The prevailing culture of the company, including previous workplace
diversity performance.
o Existing human resources policies and practices, such as recruitment and
selection practices, anti-harassment strategies and performance
management schemes.
o External factors that will affect the organization during the program. For
example, a downturn in the market, a shortage of skilled labour, etc.
Where do you want to be?
 The above information will provide you baseline data you can use to measure the
success of the workplace diversity program. Your next step is to set out the
program’s intended outcomes, such as:
o
A commitment to the company’s diversity principles.
o
o
The value that the diversity workplace program brings to the company.
For example, will the diversity program broaden your labour pool so that it
is easier to attract qualified talent, provide innovative ideas and fresh
perspective, strengthen the company brand, etc. How will you measure if
this value has been realized?
Integration of diversity principles in business and human resources
practices and systems.
Selecting a Program
Once the program's objectives have been agreed to, strategies and initiatives that reflect
the company’s business and Human Resources needs can be identified. Initiatives can
span all the human resources processes that an employee will experience during their
employment with the company. However, the most effective way to decide on which
initiatives to implement is by reviewing the company’s current employment systems for
gaps. These gaps will give you a system for prioritizing initiatives based on greatest
benefit to the company.
The following six step approach can be used to review employment systems.
Step 1: Establish a Committee
One of the most important steps in implementing a diversity strategy is including
employee opinion and feedback in all steps of the process. A process that includes a
cross section of employees (employees from different departments, at different levels) is
more likely to generate employee support for implementing diversity. The first step is to
form a representative committee of employees, who will have a voice in reviewing
employment systems and the selected programs that result from this review.
Step 2: Create a Communication Plan
An effective communication plan is essential to raise awareness and communicate
information about the company’s diversity goals and objectives. You will want to identify
and document the type, timing and amount of information you will share throughout the
project.
Step 3: Collect Data
A review of Human Resources policies and practices should be undertaken to identify
any barriers that may unintentionally exclude members of designated groups. The
review should encompass policies for all groups of jobs to ensure that these policies are
consistently and fairly applied in all circumstances.
At a minimum, the company will want to examine employment policies and practices
relating to recruitment and selection, employee development and general employment
policies. A more in-depth review can include reviewing policies and practices related to
recruitment, selection, training and development, promotion guidelines, job evaluation,
compensation and benefits, employee performance, health and safety, and other
existing employment policies.
Each of these areas should be reviewed based on questions relating to the legality, jobrelatedness, adverse impact, accommodation, and consistency of application.
Step 4: Gather Employee Feedback
Employees are an excellent source of information for finding out how policies and
practices are really applied in the organization. Focus groups, one-on-one interviews,
anonymous employee surveys are all excellent sources for further understanding any
strengths, weaknesses and gaps of existing Human Resources policies and practices.
All information gathered must be handled with utmost confidentiality and integrity, and
with an eye to communicating the purpose and intent of soliciting this feedback. If
conducted properly, not only will this information provide an inside look at the employee
experience, it will also increase employee support for the initiative.
Step 5: Analyze Data and Provide Recommendations
Employment legislation and HR best practice benchmarks should be applied when
analyzing data. The outputs of your analysis should include a report containing action
plans for the elimination of any employment barriers identified; recommendations for
program implementation; and a timetable for each action item. You should also identify
examples of existing Human Resources policies and practices that exemplify positive
contributions to implementing diversity. You are now well positioned to implement the
decided upon programs.
Implementing the Program
There are numerous, policies and resources that you can use to implement diversity in
your workplace. Regardless of the programs you choose to implement, all programs
should have a link to the following components: strategy, structure, and people.
Strategy
The program must be linked to the organizational strategy. The answer to ‘why’
implement the program should be based on the support it provides to the broader
organization. For example, it could be said that implementing diversity training is the
right thing to do. Which it may be, but that’s not the reason you should implement
diversity training. The reason you would implement diversity training is that it
communicates the company’s expectations around creating and supporting diversity in
the workplace. Employees are more likely to stay with a company which offers a
supportive work environment, which in turn, offers the company a competitive edge in
retaining talent. Similarly, all programs being implemented should have a similar logic.
That is, the program is being implemented because it aligns with specific company goals.
Structure
Structure refers to the framework around which the company is organized, for example,
how leadership is chosen, how decisions are made, and how information is
communicated. Existing structures can greatly impact the success or failure of diversity
programs. Aligning diversity initiatives with the prevailing structure will greatly enhance
your chances of sustaining the diversity initiative so that it becomes part of how the
company conducts its business over the longer term. You may wish to ask yourself the
following questions in determining how and to what extent structures will impact diversity
initiatives:
 Is this a new company with few structures in place, or an established
organization with many structures?
 Is the organization considered relatively small or large?
 Are employees located in a single location or geographically dispersed?
 Does the company have experienced leadership, or is the leadership team
relatively new and still developing?
 How is information typically communicated – formal communication channels, or
through the grapevine?
 Does the company currently have successful human resource programs or
practices in place? If so, what does it take to make an initiative successful?
 Are employees motivated to remain with the organization, or do we typically
experience a lot of turnover?
People
Since individuals ultimately make up the culture and prevailing atmosphere of any
organization, understanding the current employee profile is central to creating successful
diversity initiatives. The first step is to understand how employees feel about the
company.
 Do employees work together, thereby fostering familiarity?
 Do employees understand what behaviours are expected and rewarded?
 How employees feel about the prevailing culture and atmosphere?
 What types of programs employees want and value?
 If employees are committed to remaining with the company?
Answering these questions will provide clarity as to what programs and practices are
most needed. You may also want to implement additional practices that are necessary
to further embed diversity in your company. In this case, you’ll want to assess the
readiness of employees to accept and adopt additional diversity initiatives. Identify the
extent that diversity can be embedded:
 The employee base is diverse throughout the company and across functions (e.g.
minority groups are not highly concentrated in a specific function or type of work)
 Do managers give equal consideration to skills and abilities and do not include
irrelevant data or personal biases when making hiring decisions.
 Managers support flexible work arrangement and other existing policies intended
to accommodate a diverse employee base.
 Managers and employees consistently treat one another with dignity and respect.
Ultimately, ensuring ongoing support from senior management, employee involvement,
and ongoing communications will play an integral role in ensuring that diversity initiatives
can be sustained.
Communicating the Program
How you communicate is as important as what you communicate about diversity. This is
because used appropriately; language can serve as a powerful tool to reflect the
company’s beliefs, and influence the attitudes and behaviours of its employees. No
matter what programs you choose to implement – whether they are standard company
policies, employee development tools such as performance reviews and feedback, or
diversity marketing and communication material – make sure the language used is
consistent with the company’s diversity message. Following are some suggestions to
help you develop respectful and impactful communications.
Avoid….
 Adjectives that suggest a negative
image e.g. The aged / elderly.
 Forms of address that are considered
slang e.g. Indian, Eskimo.
 Grouping language that implies one
gender is inferior e.g. man and wife.
 Job descriptions that identify gender
eg: the engineer will finish his report.
 Language that focuses on a single
characteristic rather then the whole
person e.g. the Jews.
 Putting a characteristic before the
person e.g. wheel chair bound.
 Stereotyping job roles by gender e.g.
The secretary…she….
 Using words that suggest that a
program or policy is viewed as offering
out of the ordinary privileges e.g. do
not use words such as special needs.
 Words that denote masculine or
feminine characteristics e.g. Foreman.
 Words that patronize men or women
e.g. best man for the job.
Instead Use….
 Use neutral descriptors e.g. seniors.
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Use professional language e.g.
Aboriginal, Inuit.
Use language that recognizes men and
women as equals e.g. spouses.
Job descriptions that identify the role
eg: the engineer will finish the report.
Language that puts the person first e.g.
the Jewish community.
Words that recognize the person first
e.g. Person who uses a wheelchair.
Gender neutral reference e.g.
Secretaries…they / he or she….
Words that suggest a program is
available to all employees as required
e.g. refer to programs as providing
accommodation needs.
Use gender neutral language e.g.
Supervisor.
Use gender neutral language e.g. best
person for the job.
Program Evaluation
You will want to monitor your progress to ensure that the initiatives you have
implemented are having the desired impact. This information will enable you to make
any necessary adjustments to ensure the program’s continued success. Monitoring can
take various forms; of course the more methods you apply to monitor, the more accurate
information you will source.
Both quantitative and qualitative data can be used to assess the effectiveness of the
diversity program. You can compare the information you will gather after you’ve rolled
out the program to the baseline data you gathered during planning stage to assess the
amount of impact the diversity program is having. Some methods you may wish to use to
gather your data post program rollout include:
 Changes in employee data such as absenteeism, retention rates, number of
diversity related complaints, etc.
 Employee feedback obtained through formal surveys, informal feedback and
conversations.
Assess the impact your program is having on a regular basis, and at least annually. The
initial evaluation is only a starting point, and your results are bound to change with
changes you make to the program, changes in the employee profile, as well as business
and even external market changes. Keeping a pulse on outcomes will ensure the
continued success of the diversity program.