13.3 Diversity and Inclusion Considerations in the Workplace

“Diversity is a process of creating and maintaining an environment that naturally enables all participants to contribute to their full potential
in pursuit of organizational objectives without advantaging or disadvantaging any one group.” Roosevelt Thomas

Diversity

Why do some teams work well while others do not? There are many contributing factors. For example, teams can mask team members who are not working (i.e., social loafing). Teams can be inefficient due to poor communication; they can have poor decision-making skills due to conformity effects; and they can have conflict within the group. The popularity of teams may result from the team halo effect: teams are given credit for their successes as a group. However, team members are blamed for failures (Naquin & Tynan, 2003). On the one hand, diversity can introduce communication and interpersonal relationship problems that hinder performance. On the other hand, diversity can also increase the team’s skill set, including skills that can improve team member interactions.

Diversity in the workforce takes into consideration the following factors:

• Religion
• Gender
• Sexual orientation
• Race
• Age
• Socio-economic status

With the workforce being a global marketplace, your company may have a supplier in Korea, another in Honduras, and employees in the United States, China, and South Africa. You may have coworkers of different religious, ethnic, or racial backgrounds than yourself. Your coworkers may be from other places around the globe. Many workplaces offer diversity training to help everyone involved bridge and understand cultural differences. Diversity training educates participants about cultural differences to improve teamwork. There is always the potential for prejudice between members of two groups. Still, the evidence suggests that working together, particularly if the work conditions are set carefully, can reduce or eliminate prejudice. Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) conducted a meta-analysis to examine whether contact between groups reduced prejudice between those groups. They found that there was a moderate but significant effect. They also found that, as previously theorized, the effect was enhanced when the two groups met under conditions in which they had equal standing, common goals, cooperation between the groups, and especially support on the part of the institution or authorities for the contact.

Many companies also include:

• Disability
• Personality characteristics
• Lifestyles
• Opinions and Perspectives
• Family Composition
• Education Level
• Tenure

When given a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey asking if companies have intentionally placed effort into hiring and promoting diversity, 55% of the participants responded yes. This data is indicative of the importance and prevalence of diversity measures. Companies also take steps to assess diversity before building hiring practices around it.

While diversity and inclusion are often categorized together, inclusion requires a more specific approach to building within an organizational culture.

Issues regarding employee sexual orientation have also been introduced into corporate diversity training in recent years. Because employees’ religious beliefs are protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers should be sensitive to balancing the rights of lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees and employees’ religious rights. Attempting to protect the rights of one group and not be perceived to disrespect another is a difficult situation for managers. To mitigate any backlash from some employees, employers should seek feedback from all groups to learn the best ways to accommodate them and should assess the organizational climate. Additionally, managers should explain how diversity based on sexual orientation aligns with the company’s strategic objectives and explain the company’s legal position with supportive reasoning.

The Human Rights Campaign (2023) reports that 81% of LGBTQ+ workers are out to at least one person at work, but only 48% are out to their Human Resources (HR) departments, indicating a trust gap. Transgender and non-binary workers are especially cautious about being out due to fears of discrimination and privacy concerns. LGBTQ+ workers are significantly more likely than non-LGBTQ+ peers to experience:

• Harassment and negative comments.
• Being passed over for promotions.
• Being fired or forced to leave a job due to their identity.

40% have hidden their identity at work due to fear of violence or stigma. Millennials and Gen Z, who are more likely to identify as LGBTQ+ and support equality, will make up two-thirds of the workforce by 2030. Employers must adapt to these changing demographics and values to attract and retain talent.

Inclusion

Inclusion is the methodologies and approaches within an organization that integrate its workforce and diversity, helping the people feel welcome and imbuing a sense of belonging. It is fostered and intentionally created as part of organizational culture.

Without inclusion practices, having a diverse workforce may not be an organization’s most effective practice or situation. For example, imagine having a diverse workforce that does not have an environment of openness and curiosity about one another’s varying backgrounds. Imagine a workforce that lacks the tools to do this. This is where inclusion comes in. Organizations can create best practices around inclusion to create a non-judgmental environment.

Inclusion assessments in organizations can be done around how employees perceive themselves as:

• Valued
• Accepted
• Respected
• Encouraged to participate within the organization

Gallup recommends the following three characteristics be in place to foster inclusion:

• Every member of the organization is treated with respect by each other.
• Management appreciates their employees’ and team members’ unique characteristics.
• The Leadership team is ethical and does what’s right.

Utilizing appropriate leadership strategies is another key to ensuring that employees are treated fairly. Leadership must sincerely value various opinions, and organizational culture must encourage openness and make workers feel valued. Organizations must also have a well-articulated and widely understood mission and a relatively egalitarian, non-bureaucratic structure. Having such a work environment will ensure that the attitudes and values of employees are aligned with those of the organization. In this way, culture serves as a control mechanism for shaping behaviors.

How to get serious about diversity and inclusion in the workplace | Janet Stovall | TED (YouTube)

Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action was first started and used in the United States in Executive Order #10925 and was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy on March 6, 1961. The purpose behind Affirmative Action was for government agencies and contractors to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” This law was pivotal because it required employers to avoid discrimination towards members of disadvantaged groups (at that time, it was primarily regarding race). Gender was added to the list in 1967, and the definition has since been expanded to include policies supporting members of disadvantaged groups that have previously suffered (and/or continue to suffer) from discrimination. Areas that Affirmative Action covers have also been expanded to include education and housing. Over time, opinions have been formed on Affirmative Action, and many misunderstandings have grown around it.

Despite many companies taking diversity and inclusion initiatives, there is much room for progress. There are still inequities in pay between genders. The disparities are more palatable in some industries than in others. The LGBTQ+ community is another population that experiences glass ceilings within organizations (a glass ceiling is an unofficially acknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession, primarily affecting women and members of minorities). This would be in both monetary compensation and promotion. A recent study by Gerrard et al. (2023) found that the glass ceiling exists even within the LGBTQ+ community. They found that both gay and straight men significantly preferred masculine-presenting gay men for high-status roles. Their research highlights that intragroup bias exists even among members of the gay community in that gay men may also perpetuate stereotypes that disadvantage more feminine members of their own community. These findings suggest that masculinity remains a key trait associated with leadership and status, even in contexts meant to promote diversity. This discrepancy calls for greater representation of feminine gay men in leadership and media to challenge prevailing stereotypes.

In some workplaces, tenure can become a gatekeeper—those who are newer or younger may find themselves overlooked for leadership roles simply because they’re seen as lacking experience. Meanwhile, in other organizations, older employees may face a different kind of bias—being passed over for promotions, discouraged from pursuing further education, or even laid off as they near retirement.

These situations are unfortunate, but they’re not unchangeable. There are meaningful steps organizations can take to create more equitable environments. For instance, many companies now identify as Equal Opportunity Employers (EEO) and openly post advancement opportunities to ensure fair access for all employees, regardless of age or tenure.

Final Considerations

Finally, some companies are international in scope. As such, American employees may find themselves traveling outside of the continental U.S. for work. Some companies are national, and employees may need to travel within the continental U.S. to other parts of the country.

In either case, it is best practice to research the culture of the geographic region where the employee travels. Cultures have varying rituals around greetings, food/dining practices, work ethic, and communication nuances. For example, one may greet employees and counterparts in Japan with a bowing procedure. However, in other cultures, bowing to a colleague may seem like a spiritual or even subservient practice. In the U.S., a customary greeting is shaking the right hand. In India, people tend to place their hands in front of their chest, palms facing each other in a namaste or namaskaar position. In some European countries, even in employee relations, greetings are done with a light hug and kiss on the cheek (regardless of gender). In some Asian countries, it is considered a sign of courtesy to make loud slurping noises while eating, to compliment the chef, and never to leave any food on the plate. In other cultures, such as the U.S., leaving some food on the plate is not as big a consideration.

Finally, your company may bring employees in from another region of the U.S. or the world. Similarly, a best practice would be to study and learn the culture from which these employees come. It would feel helpful and welcoming to take a curious attitude towards their culture, with a genuine interest in getting to know it so that the goals of the team and organization can be met with as minimal cultural clash as possible.

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