DEI has become a point of brand differentiation. Organisations that don’t use it to bring about real change risk self-harm.
What sticks in your mind about this year’s International Women’s Day? For many organisations it’ll be the memory of scrambling to delete tweets of support before they were detected by the Gender Pay Gap bot.
The story of how the bot came to be is instructive and illustrates the risks of diversity-washing.
Francesca Lawson, a PR and marketing professional, created the bot because she felt uncomfortable but unable to challenge requests from senior leaders to post messages of support for women on IWD. Messages that didn’t reflect the way the business valued its own female employees.
Now a freelancer, Francesca created the bot to encourage employers to “stop posting platitudes about DEI and start fixing the problem”. The bot picks up each time an organisation tweets their DEI credentials and retweets its gender-pay gap in return. Touché!
Other examples of diversity-washing are commonplace - brands jumping on the latest social justice cause, issuing statements of solidarity or hosting feel-good events, without any real attempt from within the organisation to further the goals of that group. The intention behind these initiatives is doubtless well-meant but rarely leads to meaningful solutions.
Today, employees are unafraid to call out virtue-signalling PR when it doesn’t match their own experience. Leaders need to be alive to the harm this does to their business and focus instead on solutions that remould DEI challenges from within.
Four danger zones
Against the current trinity of soaring living costs, skills shortages and childcare crises, paying lip service to DEI exposes an organisation to four major risks.
- Talent loss- In a new survey, two-thirds of employees (68%) said they would look to change jobs if their company had an unfair gender pay gap or no DEI policy (ADP, People at work 2022).
- Lack of gender-balanced boards- McKinsey research shows that gender balanced boards outperform male-dominated boards. Despite this, female talent pools – the very place senior and board level talent is grown – are shrinking. A toxic combination of the pandemic and the current childcare crisis is hitting women’s careers hard. Organisations that don’t have family-friendly policies or a culture that encourages men as well as women to share care responsibilities will struggle to achieve gender-balance at board and senior levels.
- Alienation of manager-worker relations– the cost-of-living crisis is hitting the lowest paid workers the hardest. CIPD research shows that employee benefits are one of the most effective ways to boost the overall financial position of workers outside of an actual pay rise. Yet in many organisations the lowest paid workers don’t have access to the full range of benefits enjoyed by higher grades and are the least likely to be aware of benefits on offer or how they benefit them.
- Unable to innovate or service clients– without a diverse workforce it’s not possible to effectively service the needs of a diverse customer base or spot emerging opportunities.
The vast majority of staff that work in DEI chose to do because they passionately want to make a positive difference in their organisation. So what can leaders do to support them to achieve this?
“Two-thirds of employees say they would look to change jobs if their company had an unfair gender pay gap or no DEI policy.”
Mitigate risk
Get real – develop a well-rounded picture of what employees and customers think about how diverse, equitable and inclusive your organisation is. Gather internal data-driven insight including any gender or ethnic pay gaps, promotions and pay rises. Use employee networks to understand which elements of DEI they think the organisation is doing well and which need working on. Invite feedback from clients and customers.
The insight you gather will be worth the investment. Use it to shape an action plan, prioritise DEI resource and evidence good news stories with confidence.
Review family-friendly policies. Are they gender neutral or assume the mother will be the primary carer? Next take an honest look at your culture. What do your stats tell you about who feels comfortable taking extended parental leave or flexible work? What could you do to actively encourage dads to equally share care responsibilities?
Review any new hybrid and flexible working arrangements. We know that flexible work is effective at keeping women in the workplace after they have children but not for career progression. Organisations that don’t take time to understand why this is and put measures in place to address barriers to progression risk baking the existing motherhood penalty into new ways of working.
Offer inclusive employee benefits – The cost-of-living crisis has exposed the magnitude of financial inequality in the UK today. Inequalities that are mirrored in the workplace.
Check your employee benefits offer is inclusive. That employees have access to all major benefit categories irrespective of grade. For example, offer benefits that support health or wellbeing at variable price points to increase affordability for lower-paid workers.
Don’t make assumptions about the support an employee may or may not need. Such decisions are frequently made by senior staff, cushioned from the impact of the crisis by a larger salary. Talk to staff across all levels of the organisation to find out what support they most need.
Monitor impact – of DEI initiatives against base-line data. Use the results to inform workforce planning – do we need to attract talent that is more representative of our client base? If our workforce is representative of our client base, do we have an inclusive culture that drives the benefits of a diverse workforce?
“The insight you gather will enable you to promote good news stories with the confidence they won’t turn into a PR nightmare.”
Traditionally during periods of economic downturn, the stock response from many organisations has been to drop or cutback DEI resource. The backdrop to this economic recession means that organisations that cannot afford to lose talent will need to prioritise DEI.
Geraldine Gallacher, CEO, ECC
