Why token DE&I efforts don’t work

Every February, celebratory Black History Month messages are plastered across company social media channels and emails – backed by little substance.

Companies waste up to $8billion a year on speculative diversity, equity, and inclusion programmes that fail black employees and divide teams – barely making a dent on racism at work.

Take action now and explore the scientifically-proven approach to creating successful diversity, equity, and inclusion at your company.

Anti-black racism in Corporate America

Deshawn. Latasha. Anyone else with a so-called ‘Black name.’

Research shows you’re more likely to get rejected from jobs in America’s biggest companies than if you have a ‘white name’ like Peter or Molly.¹

Once you’re in the job, you and most Black colleagues are likely to experience discrimination.^{2, 3}

When plotting your pathway to the top of the company, you see 1% of the chief executives and 3.2% of senior leaders being Black.⁴

Canada is similar. Across 178 corporations in Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary and Toronto, a 2019 study found only 0.79% of board members were black⁵ - despite Black Canadians making up at least 8% of those cities combined.⁶

Companies lose out heavily too

If diversity and inclusion is at the bottom of the to-do list because the bottom-line is sole priority, then more fool you.

Companies with the most ethnic diversity are 33% more likely to deliver above-average profits than those with little.⁷

That’s partly because inclusive companies are happier. Employees in highly inclusive companies are four times more likely to report high wellbeing, compared to those in less inclusive workplaces.⁸

Customers are watching your DE&I approach too. Brands with the highest diversity scores showed an 83% higher consumer preference.⁹

Make a real difference - how to create an inclusive workplace for Black employees to thrive

Build a psychologically-safe culture for conversations about race

Three-fifths of American managers don’t feel prepared to talk about race with their teams – the baby step to tackling racism.¹⁰

Lead from the front and encourage regular one-to-one or group discussions about race. But rather than a Q&A session, focus on sharing experiences.

Welcome any person – no matter their background – to share their own headwinds – the disadvantages they’ve experienced - and tailwinds – the positive opportunities that have spawned from their background.

By including everyone, you subtlety break down the identity threats and lay the groundwork for productive discussions about the pain caused by anti-black racism and the solutions to tackle it.

Adopt and promote true allyship

Give control to the young Black man who is regularly talked over in meetings, stand up for a new starter whose experiencing bullying and confront perpetrators who can’t keep their hands out of Black women’s hair.

Empower your people with the principle that inclusion starts with them.

Challenge them to use their unique advantages to help colleagues and unite to stamp down on incidences of exclusion they witness.

Words without consistent action are meaningless. Exclusion can be overt or pervasive, innocent or malicious – but it still hurts.

Focus on enhancing judgement, not unconscious bias.

Unconscious bias training can cause more harm than good.

Some people will go against the advice simply because they hate being told what to do.

Others will acknowledge their biases, but skip taking the necessary steps to doing something about them.

The rest will exit themselves from race-related conversations thereafter.

Changing the focus of DE&I training to improving judgement is far more productive.

Better decision-making is already an accepted part of becoming a better professional.

In addition to raising awareness of things that can derail a person’s judgement, sessions can help individual’s set tangible goals and actions that improve their logic and reasoning when faced with difficult situations.

Be objective and transparent when solving racism disputes

Your company’s policy on discrimination should be easily-accessible and digestible to all employees.

It should have clear definitions for what constitutes an unfortunate mistake or an intentionally malicious incident, and the consequential penalties that apply. And when incidences occur, they should be followed to the letter.

In support, an always-on approach to education and workplace cues on how employees should conduct themselves can help encourage more inclusive behaviour.

This sends a clear message to all employees that DE&I and anti-black racism is a top priority for your company.

Want more advice on enhancing your company’s DE&I approach? Read our free DE&I whitepaper The inclusion solution or speak to one of our experts – they're really quite friendly too.

References:

1. Patrick M. Kline, Evan K. Rose, and Christopher R. Walters, “Systemic Discrimination among Large U.S. Employers,” NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research, July 26, 2021).
2. NPR/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Discrimination in America: Experiences and Views of African Americans, January 26 – April 9, 2017.
3. “2021 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Business and Racial Justice in Canada.” Edelman (Edelman, June 28, 2021).
4. “Key Findings - Being Black in Corporate America - Coqual,” Coqual (Coqual), accessed January 31, 2022.
5. Dr. Wendy Cukier et al., “Diversity Leads - Diverse Representation in Leadership: A Review of Eight Canadian Cities ,” Ryerson University Diversity Institute (Ryerson University, August 2020).
6. “2016 Canada Census,” 2016 Census of Population (Statistics Canada, Government of Canada, February 8, 2021).
7. Hunt, V., Prince, S., Dixon-Fyle, S., & Yee, L. (2018). Delivering through diversity. McKinsey & Company Report. Retrieved April, 3, 2018.
8. Fletcher, B., & Pine, K. J. (2012). Flex: Do something different. University of Hertfordshire Press.
9. Williams, R. (2019). Study: Diversity in ads correlates to gains in revenue, brand perception.
10. Ilana Ron Levey, “Most U.S. Managers Not Fully Prepared to Talk about Race,” Gallup.com (Gallup, November 2, 2021).