Editorial
Organizations today are increasingly focused on supporting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). More recently, a fourth letter has been added to the abbreviation — B, for belonging. The four terms may seem like synonyms, but they are not, and understanding the differences among them can lead to a more diversely skilled and effective workforce. Technologies are now appearing that help organizations take advantage of the rich differences among the people organizations employ.
Technology catalyzes the four aspects of diversity and inclusion differently:
- “Diversity” speaks to the broad spectrum of differences that individual employees bring to the workplace, such as race, gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity and physical ability.
- “Equity” refers to the practice of ensuring that all employees receive fair treatment in all things and equal access to opportunities for advancement.
- “Inclusion” relates to feelings of being both welcomed and personally safe. It typically manifests as organizational efforts to deliver different services and tools to serve different populations, such as flex work, gender-neutral restrooms, not scheduling mandatory after-hours events that working parents have to miss, not orienting workplace culture and activities around alcohol, being mindful of physical ability and invisible disability differences and so on. Most of these happen as a consequence of greater awareness, and that awareness can be facilitated with technology-based tools.
Related Article: The Future of Work is a Chance to Do Better with DEI
Belonging, then, is the end result of D, E and I: When a business and its employees demonstrate welcoming behaviors and practices, an employee can feel genuinely welcomed and valued for the skills, insights, experience and knowledge they bring to the business — and for which they were hired in the first place.
Tech and the Bottom Line
Belonging matters not only on a moral level or because it creates a stronger social fabric, but also because it’s good for business. A 2021 Deloitte study found that a stronger sense of belonging led to a 56% increase in job performance, a 50% reduction in employee churn, a 75% reduction in sick days taken by employees and a whopping 167% increase in employer net promoter score.
What role, then, does technology play as a catalyst for DEIB efforts? A large one, as it happens.
HR often suffers from the same concern that plagues the worlds of AI, cybersecurity and every other sector: the very real, but often unseen or ignored, presence of unintentional human bias — especially when it comes to recruiting and hiring. These biases tend to be personal blind spots — we can’t see them because we can’t see them — and they lead to unintended inequities because they unfairly influence decision-making practices.
For example, consider the glaring lack of women in corporate leadership positions around the world, not to mention the all-too-obvious pay gap that still exists between men and women. This is bias-based, it’s wrong, and technology can help fix it, starting at the other end of the pipeline.
Talent acquisition is universally considered to be the most critical stage to develop a diverse workforce, and it begins with job role definition. But because these definitions are not held to any kind of standard, and because they often include non-essential requirements, candidates who apply or who consider applying are unnecessarily limited. Using technology to standardize job descriptions and open position postings can help.
Related Article: Is DEI Sustainable In the Workplace?
A technology-based “vetting process” made as bias-free as it can possibly be can also help — although taking the bias out of software can very much be an uphill battle. Over-reliance on technology can lead to different problems, so it is critical to recognize that human oversight of technology-centric processes is a key element of a successful model. Technology is an aid to, not a replacement for, human judgment — but a very powerful one.
Another area where technology can play a key role in organizational efforts to inculcate DEIB practices is metrics and analytics — “that which gets measured gets managed,” as the old adage goes. But let’s be clear: metrics and analytics are only as good as the people reading them and acting on what they say.
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Put another way: Metrics and analytics are really nothing more than the behind-the-scenes tools that make humans aware of issues they need to address, including DEIB compliance. But let’s also be clear about that word I just used — compliance. If DEIB is nothing more than a compliance activity, then something is rotten in Denmark, as the Bard says.
When all this sugars off (a term used up here in Vermont, referring to the boiling of maple sap in the spring to create syrup), technology is a powerful tool to create awareness and human action, on the road to making the workplace more — human. Caveat princeps (let the leader beware): a workplace known for its DEIB environment may have used technology as a catalyst along the way. But ultimately, human action, not technological incursion, is what got it there — every time.
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