How to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace

Creating a workplace where every employee feels valued and included isn’t just the right thing to do – it's also a recipe for innovation, collaboration, and success. Promoting diversity and inclusion takes more than a one-time training program. It demands a sustained commitment to building a company culture where individuals from all backgrounds can thrive together.

Whether through celebrating cultural milestones, designing more inclusive policies, or providing inclusive benefits, there are countless ways to make your workplace a better, more welcoming place for everyone. Ready to level up your diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging (DEIB) game? Let’s dive into some practical and impactful strategies for how to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

The business case for diversity and inclusion

While fostering a workplace where every employee feels valued is a noble goal in itself, it also delivers measurable benefits for business success. If you're aiming to secure executive buy-in for DEIB initiatives, here are a few compelling reasons to make the investment:

• Greater financial performance: Companies with more gender and ethnic diversity on their boards significantly outperform their peers.
• Improved sense of fairness: Fewer than three in 10 employees (28%) strongly agree that their organization treats everyone fairly. DEIB initiatives can help close this gap and improve employee trust.
• Higher employee engagement: Inclusive workplaces drive greater employee engagement. Employees who feel included are significantly more committed and invested in their work.
• Better psychological safety: A focus on diversity and inclusion has been tied to creating psychological safety, an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing ideas, taking risks, and innovating.
• Attracting top talent: 76% of job seekers and employees say they value a diverse workforce when evaluating companies and job offers.

For a more in-depth look at all things DEIB, check out our complete guide to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Otherwise, read on to discover our top strategies for fostering an inclusive workplace.

10 ways to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace

If you want to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace, but aren’t sure where to start, here are ten DEIB best practices. Each of the following strategies will help your organization build a workplace in which every employee feels heard, seen, and valued.

1. Incorporate diversity into recruitment plans

To build a diverse team, you first need to attract diverse candidates. And, your current hiring practices could unintentionally be discouraging them from applying. To help your business draw in top talent from all backgrounds, here are some effective diversity recruiting strategies:

• Craft inclusive job descriptions: Minimize jargon, use gender-neutral language, and focus on concrete skills and qualifications rather than unnecessary requirements.
• Highlight your commitment to DEI: Include a statement about your company culture and dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion in every job posting.
• Partner with inclusive organizations: Collaborate with groups like historically Black colleges and universities, women in STEM networks, veteran organizations, and others to expand your talent pool.
• Adopt a diverse candidate slate policy: Ensure that candidates from underrepresented groups are included in the final candidate pool for every open position.
• Offer competitive, inclusive benefits: Provide perks that appeal to diverse candidates, such as flexible work options, caregiver support, and family-building benefits.
• Standardize interview questions: Use consistent interview questions to give all candidates an equal opportunity to showcase their expertise and potential.

By implementing these strategies, your business can create a hiring process that attracts diverse talent and ensures all candidates are evaluated fairly, helping you build a stronger, more inclusive team.

2. Create inclusive policies and practices

To ensure individuals feel valued and supported throughout their entire employee journey, create and maintain inclusive policies and practices at every stage. Here are a few initiatives to help your organization foster a more welcoming work environment:

• Develop fair compensation and promotion standards: Establish transparent, equitable pay criteria so all employees have equal opportunities to grow and be rewarded within your organization. Culture Amp’s Career Paths tool stores and shares role descriptions and competencies across the entire organization so employees can easily understand what they need to do to reach the next level of their careers.
• Allow for flexible work arrangements: Flexible schedules and work options can support employees with varying needs, especially parents and caregivers.
• Provide inclusive parental leave: Use gender-neutral terms like “primary caregiver” and “secondary caregiver” in your policies to better accommodate same-sex couples, adoptive families, and diverse parenting roles, ensuring all employees feel supported during this important chapter of life.
• Design an inclusive office: Offer dedicated nursing rooms for mothers, quiet prayer rooms for employees with religious needs, gender-neutral restrooms, handicap-accessible spaces, and a variety of work areas that cater to both collaborative and independent working styles.
• Offer inclusive healthcare benefits: Deliver inclusive benefits like fertility and family-building support for same-sex couples, transgender care, childcare and caregiving benefits, and more to help every employee get the healthcare support they need.

By implementing these inclusive policies and practices, your organization can create a supportive company culture where employees from all backgrounds feel empowered to thrive – in both their personal and professional lives.

Want to learn more about inclusive healthcare benefits? Check out Culture Amp’s progress in building a trans-inclusive workplace.

3. Establish employee resource groups (ERGs)

Employee resource groups provide employees with shared identities or experiences a space to connect, share insights, learn from one another, and support each other in the workplace. These groups often drive:

• Connection: ERGs allow employees to connect with like-minded colleagues from across the entire organization, fostering a sense of community and belonging.
• Education: ERGs often organize company-wide initiatives and events to educate colleagues about cultural holidays, diverse perspectives, and critical issues impacting their communities.
• Personal growth: ERGs frequently offer leadership roles, volunteer opportunities, and mentorship programs, enabling employees to develop new skills, expand their networks, and grow both personally and professionally.
• Organizational growth: ERGs can advocate for their communities and partner with HR to develop inclusive policies that support diverse groups across the organization.

Common ERGs include groups for Black, Asian, and Latine professionals, veterans, parents, women, individuals with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ employees, although this is not an exhaustive list.

Ready to start your own ERG? Check out our step-by-step guide on how to start an employee resource group.

4. Invest in diversity training programs

Building an inclusive culture is key to retaining diverse talent. One effective way to foster such a work environment is by organizing regular diversity training programs. These programs educate employees about the impact of unconscious biases and how to identify them, promote empathy by encouraging understanding and respect for different perspectives, and equip employees with actionable strategies to create a more inclusive workplace. Investing in diversity training not only empowers your team to grow but also creates a stronger, more unified organization where everyone feels valued and supported.

5. Address unconscious biases

As defined by UCSF’s Office of Diversity and Outreach, unconscious biases are “social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness.” These biases subtly influence opinions and actions, often leading to unintentional inequalities in the workplace.

For example, imagine a manager deciding between two equally qualified employees for a promotion. Both have identical skills and experience, but one happens to have attended the same college as the manager. This shared background could unconsciously sway the manager's decision, creating an unintended advantage for their fellow alum.

While everyone has unconscious biases, they can learn to mitigate their effects through bias training. These programs help employees recognize various types of bias and become more mindful of how they influence workplace interactions. With this knowledge and these skills, managers can lead their teams more effectively and make fairer, more equitable decisions.

6. Define leadership’s role in inclusion efforts

Inclusive cultures start at the top, with leadership setting the tone and leading by example. Here’s how leaders can actively drive inclusion across the organization:

• Train managers to foster inclusive teams: Equip managers with essential skills like active listening, unconscious bias awareness, and leading with empathy. These skills enable them to create environments where every team member feels valued and heard.
• Appoint executive sponsors for ERGs: Executive sponsors provide ERGs with increased organizational visibility, support, and advocacy, ensuring the groups’ voices and initiatives get the internal attention they deserve.
• Make DEIB an organizational priority: Embed diversity and inclusion into your company’s strategic objectives. This can include appointing a Chief Diversity Officer, publishing public annual diversity and inclusion reports, and setting measurable organizational DEI goals to track progress.

When executives champion diversity, it demonstrates a top-down commitment that inspires the entire organization. Clearly defining and embracing leadership’s role in inclusion efforts can help your managers and senior leaders pave the way for a more equitable and welcoming workplace.

7. Celebrate cultural events and milestones

One way your organization can show its support of diverse employees is by celebrating special cultural events and milestones as a company. This could take many forms, like:

• Hosting a mooncake-making activity to honor Lunar New Year
• Organizing company-wide volunteer opportunities for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Inviting guest speakers to share insights for Women’s History Month
• Sponsoring a float in a local Pride parade
• Bringing in henna artists to celebrate Diwali

Recognizing and honoring different backgrounds and cultures fosters a sense of belonging and inclusivity, helping to build a stronger, more connected community within your workplace.

8. Use employee feedback to shape inclusion efforts

To truly understand the employee experience and assess the performance of your diversity initiatives, go straight to the source: your employees.

Regularly collecting employee feedback through engagement and DEI surveys provides valuable insights into what life is like at your organization for people of all backgrounds. These surveys help you identify what’s working well and where there’s room for improvement. By tracking employee sentiment over time, you can transform this feedback into actionable strategies, creating a workplace that better supports and serves your team.

Learn more about how to build a more inclusive future with diversity and inclusion surveys.

9. Promote diverse viewpoints in decision-making

When creating new diversity initiatives, it’s essential to incorporate perspectives from across your organization. Consider building focus groups with employees from a variety of demographics to share their thoughts on the employee experience at your company, discuss challenges, and brainstorm new ideas. You can partner with your ERGs for this purpose, too!

Incorporating diverse viewpoints into your DEIB decision-making allows your business to gain firsthand insights from underrepresented groups and gather feedback that goes beyond surveys. This approach helps you develop initiatives that truly resonate with your workforce to build a culture of inclusion and belonging.

10. Track and measure diversity initiatives

By collecting and analyzing key metrics, your organization can gain valuable insights into how your DEIB initiatives are working and identify areas for improvement. Here are some common diversity and inclusion metrics to focus on:

1. Hiring data: Track candidate diversity across your entire hiring pipeline, from applicants to final hires. This can help you understand where diverse candidates drop off in the process and allow you to pinpoint potential biases and areas for improvement.
2. Promotion data: Make note of what type of individuals are advancing within your organization. Analyze the demographic breakdown of promotions, as well as different levels of management, to understand if certain groups disproportionately grow within your organization. Performance review calibrations can be helpful for ensuring that employees are being fairly assessed for promotions.
3. Compensation data: Compare employee compensation across similar roles and experience and address any disparities to ensure your organization is compensating all employees fairly. Using pay bands is another way to introduce more equitable and transparent compensation practices.
4. Employee survey data: Use employee engagement and DEIB survey data to gauge how supported and included your employees feel working at your company. By analyzing employee feedback data by demographics like age, race, sexuality, and gender, you can discover disparities in experiences and sentiment and take steps to improve your workplace for all employees.
5. DEIB participation: Monitoring attendance and involvement in DEIB initiatives like diversity training sessions, educational programs, workshops, and cultural events can indicate employee buy-in and organizational commitment to fostering an inclusive culture.
6. Turnover data: Analyze turnover rates across different demographic groups to identify potential retention issues. If certain groups are leaving at higher rates, take swift action to investigate and address the underlying causes to keep more employees from leaving.

These metrics provide invaluable insights into the experiences of your diverse employees, helping you uncover potential challenges that may be negatively impacting their wellbeing or pushing them to leave. Addressing these issues will help you create a workplace where every employee feels valued, recognized, and empowered to thrive.

Build a more inclusive workplace with Culture Amp

Promoting diversity and inclusion in a meaningful and lasting way requires making it a core priority across your organization. This means integrating it into everything you do, including the HR technology you rely on everyday. With Culture Amp's employee experience platform, you gain access to DEI survey templates, advanced analytics, and bias mitigation tools – seamlessly embedded throughout our platform at no additional cost.

Ready to make a lasting impact on your workplace?

Book a demo now to learn firsthand how your organization can become a champion of diversity and inclusion with Culture Amp.

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