Learn from leaders at Lumofy how a strong learning culture and a feeling of inclusion through personalized learning paths can drive employee retention. 

Getting Clear on DEI

In order to build an organization based on diversity, equity and inclusion, organizations need to be clear on what it means. 

Diversity is the collective of different experiences that people bring to workplace culture. This includes not only race, gender, age, etc., but also personality characteristics such as introvert vs. extrovert, working styles, and more.

Inclusion means how we value people with their diversity – making sure they feel welcome and creating a culture of belonging where everyone can thrive.

Equity tends to be confused with equality. Equality means giving people the same tools and same rights – treating everyone the same, regardless of differences. Equity, on the other hand,  means considering each person’s unique characteristics and needs, and giving them personalized tools and resources based on these differences.

Once organizations are clear on the definition of DEI, they can begin incorporating it into their learning strategies.

How to Incorporate DEI into the Workplace Learning Culture

A common strategy regarding DEI is for organizations to start creating programs and strategies based on what they think they know about diversity, equity and inclusion. But unfortunately, this doesn’t always work out as intended. In fact, billions of dollars are spent on ineffective DEI-based programs. 

3 Common DEI Derailers 

Here are three common reasons why organizations fail to see results from their DEI efforts. 

DEI derailer #1: Creating initiatives based on assumptions

As previously mentioned, if organizations create DEI initiatives based on common assumptions of what DEI means, or what they think they understand about DEI, their efforts will fall short. 

DEI derailer #2: Focusing on standalone programs

It’s great to create programs based on diversity, but they shouldn’t be created just for the sake of checking a box – they need to be tied to corporate initiatives. 

Let’s take ERGs (employee resource groups) as an example. Many companies have various ERGs – popular ones include resource groups for the LGBTQ community, Black employees, and women. These groups provide a safe space where like folks can discuss issues specific to their identities and feel that sense of belonging needed to thrive at work. 

However, leadership should also work with these groups to move the needle forward with business goals: What recruitment practices can we put in place to attract members of the LGBTQ community? How can the organization be more inclusive of Black employees? What percentage of women in leadership do we currently have, and where does it need to be? These are the types of questions organizations should consider.

To be effective, DEI initiatives need to align with business objectives. 

DEI Derailer #3: Focusing on Behaviors

Focusing on changing behaviors isn’t enough for a strong DEI culture. Companies must incorporate a structural component to DEI initiatives that’s embedded across the organization.

The Impact of Solid DEI Initiatives and the Importance of Learning Cultures

On the positive side, organizations who effectively implement DEI into their cultures see strong benefits. Well-devised DEI initiatives maximize performance of individuals, teams, and the entire company. 

The organization is more likely to: 

• Capture new markets 

• See products become ideas

• Outperform on profitability

• Receive higher innovation revenue

In addition, diverse and inclusive teams make better decisions 87% of the time, and see the same percentage of effectiveness on the company’s business performance.

We see the same benefits from companies with strong learning cultures. Employees who work where there’s a strong workplace learning culture report being:

• More productive

• More likely to innovate

• More likely to stay at the company

• Part of a culture of belonging

Providing learning opportunities is part of an organization’s core DNA – and these opportunities should be essential, meaningful, and accessible…which is where DEI comes in.

Incorporate DEI Using the Four Core Methodology: Map, Assess, Learn, Measure

To incorporate DEI into learning culture and align both to strategic business objectives, Lumofy developed the Four Core Methodology outlined below. 

MAP

• Strategy: Map job competencies to the organization’s objectives and job requirements. 

• DEI element: Help organizations determine which DEI initiatives to prioritize and how to implement them. 

ASSESS

• Strategy: Assess the talent within your organization to determine strengths and gaps, and who fits best in which roles. Use psychometric analysis to determine learners’ aptitudes.

• DEI element: Determine where to focus your efforts to make the biggest impact on DEI initiatives. 

LEARN

• Strategy: Create customized, targeted learning paths based on assessments.

• DEI element: Develop inclusive people with an inclusive mindset. Be a role model and inspire others.

MEASURE

• Strategy: Measure progress and build an organization with potential to innovate. Provide targeted feedback in the form of coaching, webinars, and live sessions.

• DEI element: Leverage diversity within teams to achieve performance outcomes.

Using this methodology can help your employees to be more effective, help you attract the best talent, and build an inclusive and engaging culture where DEI is part of your core DNA. 

For a deeper dive into leveraging DEI for workplace learning, download the Lumofy webinar.

To learn more about incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion into your workplace, check out our DEI-based courses, or book a demo. 

Source

https://www.kornferry.com/insights/featured-topics/diversity-equity-inclusion/guide-to-dei-in-the-workplace/download-pdf

The post 3 DEI Derailers During the Great Resignation appeared first on OpenSesame.

As we continue to navigate the complexities of our modern world, it’s time to focus on taking the conversation further and dive deeper into what building an inclusive culture means. More importantly, how do we get beyond just conversations, how do we turn awareness into action?

Our ongoing DEI webinar series at OpenSesame assembles some of the brightest minds in DEI for discussions around how organizations can level up their workforces and build psychologically safe environments.

Are you measuring DEI progress with the right metrics? Take our DEI survey to find out.

Define your DEI anchor. 

“When it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion, it’s not something where you can fly in an expert for two hours, do one training and then you’re done,” said Tara Cooper, DEI consultant at OpenSesame. 

Achieving a true commitment to DEI takes time and practice. It’s okay if you don’t get it right on the first few tries. In order to hone in on an effective DEI strategy, it helps to define what your DEI anchor is as an initial step. An anchor for DEI is a key area or mission that you wish to focus your organization’s time and resources on. It helps you to set priorities and align on goals. The anchor can be socioeconomic, political or cultural in nature, but it gives you a lens through which to start building an action plan.

So leaders should take some time to self-reflect at both the professional and personal level. 

What should be the DEI vision for your organization?

Ensure you have support from leadership. 

The responsibility of promoting DEI within an organization cannot be assigned to just one person or consultant. In order to succeed, you need buy-in from leadership. Senior Leadership  buy-in is essential for the success of any DEI program. What is happening at the bottom typically won’t change if nothing is changing at the top. For organizations that are serious about improving the experience of underrepresented employees, senior leadership needs to take charge and drive the conversation. 

“Much of this work is pulling the wool back from peoples eyes and showing how insidious unconscious bias can be and how socialized we are to be discriminatory. We want people to slow down on their reactions to others and think about how they treat people,” says Cooper.

Start your organization’s DEI journey by accessing our DEI toolkit.

And it can’t be reduced to a mere, simple checklist. It is the responsibility of leadership to determine how deep the organization is willing to go and what they’re willing to invest in DEI. And that will look different for each organization. It depends where an organization is in its DEI journey. Are you at the level where you’re hoping to improve hiring practices? Or at a level where you’re requiring learning opportunities like unconscious bias training for all employees?

“There are trainings that aren’t super deep but their purpose is to just get conversations started. But if you’re wanting true transformational change, you’re using outside consultants, you’re taking those extra steps to ensure psychological safety and build that proper scaffolding,” says Cooper.

In addition to inclusive leadership training for managers, it’s important to seek advice from outside consultants and DEI subject matter experts. Bringing in a third-party helps to catch problems that leadership may not see and to execute a roadmap for the future.

Foster employee engagement and commitment. 

To effectively promote awareness and sensitivity towards DEI, organizations need to successfully harness the energy and curiosity of their employees in order to drive momentum. However, depending on where your workforce is in the DEI progress index some conversations with employees might feel new or uncomfortable. 

DEI should be a leadership directive, but says Cooper, it’s crucial that individuals are doing the work at every level of the organization. She also stresses the importance of affinity groups, also known as employee resource groups, for workers of marginalized identities. 

“I’m all about self-care. So if you need to have an affinity space to discuss the issues you need to discuss and build yourself up so you can be more productive in the workspace, then that’s what they need to be able to do.”

Affinity spaces sometimes come under fire for being “divisive” or a form of “self-segregation,” but Cooper encourages leaders who feel that way to look at the larger picture. The concept of affinity spaces are not new, as they tend to form organically and frequently occur in various settings.

“Think of all the instances where employees may separate into subgroups in an organization, the gatherings where it’s only men or only white people. If you only get nervous when the subset is around a certain race or gender, then you should question that.”

As organizations continue to embrace DEI initiatives in ever-increasing numbers, it is critical that employees fully comprehend their role in achieving DEI goals. To achieve this, dig deeper into what an inclusive workplace entails and the transformative impact it can have on your organization. In essence, your “why” must move beyond surface-level understanding and into a more profound exploration of the power of inclusivity, towards belonging.

The post How to Find Your Organization’s DEI Anchor appeared first on OpenSesame.

Now, as a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professional, one of my main goals is to teach or remind others to empathize. You don’t have to wear the same shoe size or like the same shoe style. However, what it does require is that you try your best to slip on their shoes and, for a moment, walk in them to the best of your ability. They might feel too loose or too tight, but that’s all part of the experience. 

Empathy makes us ask ourselves:

1. How would I feel if this happened to me if I were in a similar situation?
2. How would I want to be treated if I were them?
3. Have I ever experienced a similar emotion that can help me better show support through my actions?

As empathy guru, Brené Brown says in her book Daring Greatly, “Empathy doesn’t require that we have the exact same experience as the person sharing their story with us… Empathy is connecting with the emotion that someone is experiencing, not the event or the circumstance.” 

Now more than ever, we need people to practice connecting with others’ emotions. For example, according to a 2021 Gallup poll, even with the ongoing racial tensions in the United States, 42% of U.S. adults rated race relations between Black and White Americans positively. Moreover, due to the pandemic, women are leaving the workforce in droves. 80% of the women surveyed in a Deloitte Global report stated that their organizations have not provided work-life balance during a time of increased pressure, workloads, and responsibility. 

These examples highlight how some people are still unaware of others’ experiences, while others have no desire to put themselves in someone else’s position to connect with and understand their feelings. When there is a lack of empathy, it can usually be attributed to the fallacy that our separate existences do not impact each other. However, the truth is that we depend on each other’s existences daily, especially on our jobs and livelihoods. In fact, independent studies show that organizations are more successful and teams perform better in more diverse and inclusive work environments. Some results are higher profits, higher revenue, and higher retention. 

As a DEI professional, I often encounter people who fear that they will be made to feel ashamed of their identity, especially when being part of the dominant culture. Empathy does the exact opposite. It maintains the story of the realities some people are facing while reducing shame. Shame does not effectively change hearts and actions, but relating to and understanding others does. Shame also paralyzes, whereas understanding moves people to make changes in how they lead, how they make decisions, and how they create policies. Most importantly, they become aware of how their decisions and behaviors impact people differently. 

Empathy does not necessarily mean we agree on every point as we make organizational decisions. It does mean, however, we will have more inclusive and equitable workplaces because we have truly put ourselves in someone else’s shoes.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

DEI Resources

To learn more about topics to foster empathy, we recommend the DEI courses in OpenDoors: What Is DEI?, the Microaggression courses, and the Allyship courses.

April Allen is the Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at PeaceHealth and has acted as a consultant and trainer to executive and senior management on various DEI programs. She is also the best-selling author of the children’s books entitled, I Love Being Me and It’s Nice to be Nice, which helps children focus on embracing racial and ethnic diversity. April’s unique background includes a Juris doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in American Ethnic Studies and Political Science, and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Washington.

The post The Power of Empathy in DEI appeared first on OpenSesame.

Voices of OpenSesame Juntos Employee Resource Group (ERG): 

I spent most of my childhood summers visiting my abuela who lived in the foothills of a mountain in the southwestern part of the United States. I loved to run through the arroyos, eat from her apricot trees, and catch lizards who became my summer companions. Whenever I went inside her house, I was met with love from her big, warm hugs, her large plates of food with her homemade tortillas, and her affectionate “mijita.” Outside of her affectionate address, I was rarely met with one thing: Spanish. 

Even though my abuela was bilingual in Spanish and English, she never spoke Spanish with me. This was the same at home; my mom never spoke Spanish with me either. There are many contributing factors, with one being that I lived in a multicultural home, and my dad didn’t speak the language, nor was he Hispanic. Thus, our language at home was only English with a sprinkle of Spanish words and phrases. However, the main reason I never grew up speaking Spanish was because of the generation I was born into. 

My mom’s family is part of the Hispanic community in the U.S. who predates the United States itself. They lived on the land in the southwest that eventually became a state. My family never immigrated to the U.S., but were instead living in areas where “the border crossed us.” For my mom, she faced discrimination for speaking Spanish, especially in school, and was faced with all aspects of assimilation. My mom’s perspectives on Spanish grew from this experience and impacted how my sister and I would grow up without it. 

I went through my childhood never questioning my lack of Spanish and thought of it as something fun to listen to when overhearing my mom on the phone, for example. I even took high school Spanish because I thought, “Mom speaks it. It should be an easy class.” It wasn’t until I was older and when my abuela passed away that I began to truly contemplate the important relationship between language and cultural identity. Whenever I asked my mom why my sister and I never learned Spanish, she would always respond by saying, “I felt English was more important because I wanted you to have opportunities.”

Into my adulthood, I began to feel like something was missing, like I wasn’t a “real” Hispanic because I couldn’t speak the language. And from interactions with some Spanish-speaking Hispanics, that became more obvious as they would usually shame my mom for not teaching me our cultural language. But they didn’t understand what contributed to my mom’s decision. My generation didn’t grow up speaking Spanish. My sister didn’t. My first cousins didn’t. We were the result of the effects of discrimination and assimilation that our parents grew up with, where English trumped Spanish at every turn. 

Now, as an adult, I’ve been trying to learn my cultural language with the disheartening fact that I’ll never be a fluent Spanish speaker like my abuela’s generation or even my mom’s — as she jokingly calls it — “Spanglish” generation. I still question if I’m Hispanic enough. But with that comes an additional question: How do I self-identify now?

Latinx is one option.

The term Latinx is something I see and hear all the time. It’s in the news, in textbooks, on social media, and even in our company’s courses. However, I don’t use the term. Honestly, I don’t even like it. If there is one way I would not self-identify, it’s as Latinx. 

According to Pew Research, most Latinos don’t use the term. And for someone like my mom, along with 76% of the adult Latino population, they haven’t even heard of it. The term is more commonly known among young adults and college graduates. 

I can understand how adding an “x” is trying to make the term gender-inclusive. However, the “x” represents another form of erasure to me. My cultural language was taken from me because of the assimilation that tried to erase the language from my mom and her generation, and that assimilation met its goal with many in my generation. The addition of the “x” is just another reminder of that. 

The “x” doesn’t follow the grammatical conventions of the Spanish language, and that is the very reason for its use. The “x” attempts to erase the gendered conventions of a language spoken by over 550 million people — in the name of inclusion. However, there are other inclusive equivalents that I believe are more respectful to the Spanish language. There is a term that already exists in English: Latin, as in Latin music and Latin America. There’s even a Spanish version that fits its grammatical conventions, Latine. It uses –e instead of –o or –a. These are more favorable options that don’t try to erase the Spanish language. The “x” seems like a way to fix something that isn’t even broken. 

What’s truly broken is the continued prejudice and discrimination against Spanish speakers and the idea that if they don’t speak English in the U.S., they should go back “home.” But that ignores the reality of the U.S. having “the second largest population of Spanish speakers in the world,” and for people like my family, we are home. We’ve been home for generations. We’ve never left.

For various reasons — with some being very personal ones — not all of us may agree with or even like the term Latinx, while some do. This is because the Hispanic and Latino population is not monolithic. We all don’t identify in the same way, and that includes the terms we choose for ourselves and for being more inclusive.

So, how do I choose to self-identify? For me, it’s complicated, but I’ll always be my abuela’s mijita.

By a Member of Juntos ERG

To learn more about how you can propel your DEI initiatives, use the resources below:

Essential DEI Resources →

DEI Progress Survey →

ERG Curated Course List →

The post Why Some of Us Don’t Use the Term “Latinx” appeared first on OpenSesame.

An employee-run book club can be a great way for coworkers to share information, personal stories, ideas, and discuss DEI topics in depth, especially as it relates to the workplace. 

Employees can choose to participate and take turns leading discussions around specific chapters or themes. Whatever you decide, make sure you have people who are interested, accountable, and willing to have conversations that can help you build trust and create positive change within the workplace. 

How to Create and Run DEI Book Clubs

Running a DEI book club is not only a fun way to enjoy books and meet new people, it’s also a great way to learn new perspectives and participate in some healthy DEI conversations.

1. Figure out Who to Invite:
   • Whether you want to host a DEI Book Club for just you and your team or bring together a larger group of people, the book club should be open to all, however, it will be helpful to identify a group of committed readers to get the club going.
   • It can be daunting to find people to join your book club, but books really do have a way of connecting people.
2. Identify Your Form of Communication:
   • How often you meet may depend on the group or the books you choose. When to meet may need to be adjusted as your DEI book club develops. But all of that will be impossible to coordinate without a way to communicate with your fellow members.
   • Email, communication tools like Slack, social media, and texting are all valid options. Just make sure to choose one or you might find yourself hosting a book club that no one knows about, and that’s no fun at all.
3. Decide How Often You Will Meet:
   • The club’s regularly scheduled meetings should maintain momentum and strengthen the relationships between the club. The frequency of these regular meetings sets the club’s cadence. Set a pace that keeps the club working together fast enough to finish the book, but not so fast that they wear out before they cross the finish line.
   • If you go too long between meetings, the club will suffer. Members may start to drift apart between meetings. If you have too much time between meetings the club begins to head in different directions. 
   • You can use a free scheduling tool like www.doodle.com to find the ideal time for your members.
4. Decide Where Your Book Club Will Meet:
   • Some book clubs run both virtually and physically, either alternating online and in-person discussions or running both at the same time. Think about what will work best for your group of book lovers.
5. Think About How Members Will Access the Books:
   • You should also think about how everyone will access the book. You can have everyone get the book in the best version they prefer (Physical Book, E-Book, Audio Book) and reimburse them, if allowable at your organization.
   • Visit your local library to get access to the books.
   • Buy a few copies of the book and make them available for check out in your organization.
6. Identify the DEI Books to Select From:
   • It may be helpful to have a list of books to select from ahead of time. We’ve hand-picked DEI-related books to get you started:
     • Courageous Conversations About Race by Glenn E. Singleton
       • Buy on Amazon
     • The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Meyer
       • Buy on Amazon
     • We Can’t Talk about That at Work! How to Talk about Race, Religion, Politics, and Other Polarizing Topics by Mary-Frances Winters
       • Buy on Amazon
     • The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias by Dolly Chugh 
       • Buy on Amazon
     • Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
       • Buy on Amazon
     • How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
       • Buy on Amazon
     • White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo 
       • Buy on Amazon
     • We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders by Linda Sarsour
       • Buy on Amazon
7. Set Up the Discussion:
   • Once you start reading the book, it will be helpful to have access to discussion guides for the books. There are a number of wonderful resources available to help you guide your book club:
     • LitLovers contains over 3,000 book discussion guides, generic questions and information about how to talk about books
     • Reading Group Guides has over 4,000 discussion guides with reviews and questions
     • Check out the authors and publishers’ websites—many will have interesting news about the books, discussion guides and even author answers to book club questions
     • Check the back of the book—the kinds of titles that tend to be popular with book clubs increasingly come equipped with discussion questions printed at the end of the actual book
8. Access Book Insights:
   • OpenSesame has access to book insights for popular DEI courses.
   • The inability to retain information is a common problem and in fact, the forgetting curve shows that people forget 50 to 80 percent of what they learn after one day and 97 to 98 percent after a month. While constant practice is one way to ensure learning sticks, you can also use e-learning courses to reinforce the knowledge and skills gained by reading the book and participating in discussions. 
   • You can improve learning retention levels considerably by spacing out the courses assigned in the same cadence as your team meetings.  By accessing OpenSesame’s book insights, this will be a great way to reinforce knowledge. Proper retention of information in the DEI books plays a vital role in enhancing performance and behaviour change in the workplace. 

Sources:

https://www.epl.ca/blogs/post/how-to-start-a-book-club/ 

https://shegeeksout.com/recommended-books-to-start-a-dei-book-club-at-your-workplace  

https://blog.lucidmeetings.com/blog/how-often-should-you-meet-selecting-the-right-meeting-cadence-for-your-team 

https://trainingindustry.com/articles/e-learning/use-microlearning-when-learning-reinforcement-is-critical/

The post DEI Book Clubs with eLearning Insights appeared first on OpenSesame.

A father and his son are in a car accident. The father is killed and the son is seriously injured. The son is taken to the hospital where the surgeon says, “I cannot operate, because this boy is my son.”

This popular brain teaser dates back many years, but it remains relevant today; 40 to 75 percent of people still can’t figure it out. Those who do solve it usually take a few minutes to guess that the boy’s mother is the surgeon. Even with the best of intentions, when we hear “surgeon” or “boss,” the image that pops into our minds is usually a male.

The assumption is that when people realise that biases are widespread, they will be more likely to overcome them. However, new research suggests that if we’re not careful, making people aware of bias can backfire, leading them to discriminate more rather than less.

In several experiments, Professor Michelle Duguid of Washington University in St. Louis and Professor Melissa Thomas-Hunt of the University of Virginia studied whether making people aware of bias would lessen it. They informed some participants that stereotypes were rare and told others that stereotypes were common, then asked for their perceptions of women. Those who read that stereotypes were common rated women as significantly less career-oriented and more family-oriented. Even when instructed to “try to avoid thinking about others in such a manner,” participants still viewed women more traditionally after reading that a vast majority of people held stereotypes.

Professors Duguid and Thomas-Hunt conducted a similar study and told managers that stereotypes were either common or rare. Then, asked managers to read a transcript from a job interview of a candidate described as either female or male. At the end of the interview, the candidate asked for higher compensation and a nonstandard bonus. When the managers read that many people held stereotypes, they were 28%less interested in hiring the female candidate. They also judged her as 27% less likable. The same information did not alter their judgments of male candidates.

Based on these findings, Professors Duguid and Thomas-Hunt used a new approach to prevent bias awareness from backfiring.

Rather than merely informing managers that stereotypes persisted, they added that a vast majority of people try to overcome their stereotypic preconceptions. With this adjustment, discrimination nearly vanished in their studies. After reading this message, managers were 28% more interested in working with the female candidate who negotiated assertively and judged her as 25% more likable.

When we communicate that a vast majority of people hold some biases, we need to make sure that we’re not legitimating prejudice. By reinforcing the idea that people want to conquer their biases and that there are benefits to doing so, we send a more effective message: Most people don’t want to discriminate, and you shouldn’t either.

To break down the barriers that hold women back, it’s not enough to spread awareness. If we don’t reinforce that people need — and want — to overcome their biases, we end up silently condoning the status quo.

Enberin has conducted numerous experiments on challenging leaders to action to counteract bias by practicing new behaviours. We have found that setting leaders up to be accountable to each other on progress around these experiments – starts a positive wave of ‘peer group pressure’ – which creates the reinforcement of INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP behaviours. This approach is working!

Blog Author: Maureen Frank at Emberin
Maureen Frank is the Chief Disruption Officer at Emberin which is an organization that challenges leaders and organizations to get real about inclusion and diversity. Emberin is a global leading organization in diversity and inclusion training, working with over 250 of the largest organizations in the world. Maureen comes to the world of inclusion and diversity from a strong commercial background with a focus on ROI and results. Over the last 12 years, she is proud to have mentored over 32,000 participants from all over the world through the award-winning program at Emberin. To find out more about Maureen and Emberin, visit: https://www.emberin.com

The post Inclusive Leadership – A Story about bias appeared first on OpenSesame.

Many organizations have adopted or renamed their diversity and inclusion programs as “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” In this sense, equity addresses the disparities that historically marginalized and/or minority groups have experienced in society and that can carry over into the workplace or even arise in the workplace. This addition of “equity” to the broader concept reflects the important effect that social equity can have on organizations. In this context, “equity“ can refer to, for example, the following:

• • Social justice – Fairness and equality for all
  • Equal employment opportunity – Freedom from discrimination based on a personal characteristic, often defined by law
  • Fairness in employment conditions – Impartial and just treatment in the workplace

These concepts may be partly addressed by, for instance, an organization’s non-discrimination, equal employment opportunity, and/or affirmative action employment programs. Still, these programs may not respond to non-discrimination or equal opportunity for the range of diversity characteristics, especially where the law is silent.

These programs also may not focus on a hidden dimension (that we will discuss shortly) that continues to create inequity, such as personal and structural biases that continue to limit individuals from historically marginalized or minority groups. Nor might these programs address other issues of workplace equity. The fact that society continues to reveal new insights in how inequity manifests, especially with respect to these historically marginalized or minority groups, indicates that this is a continuing challenge, both for society and for organizations. For these reasons, “equity” fulfills an important role in the DE&I triad.

Many organizations incorporate “equity” objectives and elements to advance and support other DE&I program goals.

An organization’s equity-related goals can include efforts to:

• • Help address broader social equity as a means to: (i) Improve and expand an organization’s labor pool; and (ii) Improve employees’ own social conditions to lessen outside distractions that would otherwise reduce their focus and effectiveness at work.
  • Improve workplace fairness that can carry over from outside social equity issues. For instance, leaders who wince at news events on social issues may be unconsciously influenced in how they respond to related issues at work.
  • Exhibit an organization’s commitment to social equity as part of its broader commitment to customers and other constituents. For instance, consumers and communities increasingly expect that companies they buy from or host broadly reflect their demographic makeup.

The Critical Role of Inclusion 

Attracting and hiring a more diverse workforce only is effective if individuals are included in the organization’s activities. Once a broader diversity of staff are hired, the organization must find ways to include everyone (respective of roles and positions) in business activities to garner the benefit of the diverse experiences and perspectives that this staff brings. This inclusion of a more diverse staff means that projects, processes, and related decisions are infused with a stronger spirit of creativity and innovation due to a greater disparity of ideas and solutions. 

One challenge that an organization likely will face is the tension between attracting and integrating individuals with diverse characteristics into the organization’s unique culture. This effort to bring in “outside” perspectives while still reinforcing an existing culture that has led to the organization’s success creates a seeming dichotomy unless the effort is deftly handled. The most straightforward approach is to recognize the need for all workplace cultures to evolve as they integrate a wider range of perspectives, while still holding true to their essential principles. 

DE&I Resources

To learn more about this important topic, including the essential role of Diversity in DE&I, we recommend our core course, Diversity and Inclusion: Valuing Differences for Mutual Success, and the new Essential Guide to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion whitepaper.

About the Author

Jason Lunday is the Chief Compliance Officer at Syntrio, a global leader in governance, risk, compliance, and human resource solutions that help organizations manage risks, empower culture and accelerate performance.

The post The important roles of equity and inclusion in DE&I appeared first on OpenSesame.

Established in February of 1926 as National Negro History Week by historian Carter G. Woodson and Minister Jesse E. Moorland, founders of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), Black Americans nationwide were encouraged to learn more about their heritage and celebrate their achievements as a people.

National Negro History Week transitioned to Black History Month as the celebration’s popularity continued to gain momentum, particularly among black college students during the Civil Rights Movement. Black History Month was officially formalized by President Gerald Ford in 1976 “to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout history.”

Now that Black History Month is a recognized national observance, many organizations are searching for ways to celebrate and participate, and it can be a great time to kick start DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives. Here are some approaches your organization may consider for honoring Black History Month:

1. 1. Host a Black History Month event and invite a panel of DEI experts to discuss how DEI is foundational to healthy company culture.
   2. Encourage your employees to support Black-owned businesses and volunteer with local nonprofits, providing a list of suggestions and ways to participate.
   3. Organize a book club with weekly guided discussions

Facilitating a culture of on-going awareness relating to Black and BIPOC cultural dynamics beyond Black History Month is critical. Consider committing to a long-term strategy. OpenSesame can help your company make DEI part of your organization’s framework. We are committed to working with our customers and communities to use the powerful tools of training and education to help create more diverse, inclusive, and equitable environments. We invite you to check out our curated list of courses. For more information on how OpenSesame can help your organization, contact us at info@opensesame.com today.

The post Creating an inclusive culture beyond Black History Month appeared first on OpenSesame.

When overwhelmed by the news and the many injustices plaguing our country, especially faced by Black Americans, it feels impossible to know where to start. One Martin Luther King Jr quote that strikes at the heart of our mission and our purpose is “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?” At OpenSesame we strive to better ourselves and help our community with the spread of knowledge, this drive and purpose is reflected in our diversity statement: 

Become the Best Version of Yourself

We want OpenSesame to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve and the world we live in.

We know that a variety of perspectives and voices strengthen our ability to deliver the spark of learning to everyone. 

We hold ourselves accountable to create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive communities through continuous learning, personal growth, and working to support our customers.

We welcome you to bring your authentic self to our team and grow beyond your expectations. 

 

OpenSesame believes Black lives matter and we strive to be anti-racist. We are committed to working with our employees, customers, business partners, and communities to use the powerful tools of training and education to eliminate racism. We do not have all the answers but we currently strive to make a difference by:

• • Elevating Diversity, Equity & Inclusion courses to a top-level category in the OpenSesame catalog and hiring an expert in this field to manage this category. 
  • Continuing our commitment to the De La Salle North Catholic High School Corporate Work-Study program. “The School That Works.” Supporting systems that accelerate the advancement of students of color and other underrepresented communities. 
  • Increasing our investment into our own Step-into-Tech high school mentoring program. Early and significant exposure for students of color and other underrepresented communities to mentors and careers in technology.
  • Continuing our commitment as a founding member in the TechTown Diversity Pledge to create a more inclusive tech community in Portland and improve our recruiting and hiring practices to build a more diverse and inclusive work environment.

Make diversity, equity, and inclusion part of your organization’s framework. Get started by making DEI part of your training curriculum all year long with our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Monthly Training Calendar. 

With courses offered in multiple languages, and available on multiple devices, we help companies like yours develop the world’s most productive and admired global workforces. For more information on how OpenSesame can save you time and money by curating the right courses for your organization, contact us at info@opensesame.com today.

The post Striving to follow Reverend Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy appeared first on OpenSesame.

Why? Unconscious biases are shortcuts that help our brains compensate for overload, which can affect how we make decisions, engage with others, and respond to various situations and circumstances, but they often limit potential, inhibit performance, and can lead to poor decision-making. People perform best at work when they feel respected, included, and valued. 

There are three major bias traps that people fall into. 

These are circumstances when we are more likely to fall into biased thinking: 

• • Information overload– When we are bombarded with information our brains filter that information automatically but some of that information is actually useful and important. 
  • Feelings over facts– When we have strong feelings about something we tend to be driven by beliefs rather than facts. 
  • Shortcuts– By acting quickly we use shortcuts, but these time savers are based on bias and can be simplistic and counterproductive. 

How to impact change in your organization

1. 1. Identify bias- The first step to identifying bias is self-awareness. It’s important to recognize that bias exists in everyone and to think about how those biases might be in play with the decisions we make. 
   2. Cultivate connection- By being open we can create meaningful connections, see past bias, and value the people around us. Using empathy and curiosity we can learn more about our colleagues, and get to know them, their goals, and their challenges in a substantial way. 
   3. Choose courage- Effectively confronting bias creates a space where all are values and are able to contribute their best. 

By recognizing unconscious bias you can learn to see how those biases are affecting your decisions and move past them. Learn more and watch the webinar here. 

With courses offered in multiple languages, and available on multiple devices, we help companies like yours develop the world’s most developed and admired global workforces. For more information on how OpenSesame can save you time and money by curating the right courses for your organization, contact us at info@opensesame.com today.

The post Unconscious bias is impacting your organizational performance, whether you know it or not appeared first on OpenSesame.

• • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Courses to help you create a more inclusive work community. Training and education are powerful tools to help people become more open to new ideas and different perspectives as organizations strive to improve the diversity and inclusivity of their people, processes, and products.
  • 21st-Century Skills: Modern workforces need skills like collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving, and character qualities like persistence, curiosity, and initiative. Use this list to master the skills required to succeed in the 21st-century workplace.

• • Essential HR Compliance Toolkit: Find curated courses on topics including business ethics and code of conduct, cybersecurity, diversity and inclusion, and harassment prevention. 

With courses offered in multiple languages, and available on multiple devices, OpenSesame helps companies like yours develop the world’s most developed and admired global workforces. For more information on how OpenSesame can save you time and money by curating the right courses for your organization, contact us at info@opensesame.com today.

The post Tackle top business challenges head-on with a free trial from OpenSesame appeared first on OpenSesame.

Diversity. It can mean different things to different people. One thing is for sure though, it’s a must-have for businesses these days. It’s a no-brainer that diversity brings more viewpoints and solutions into the workplace, but it also goes beyond your current workplace. Thanks to communication technologies, business interactions have become more global and more mobile every day. There is no denying diversity is crucial, but how does it really make a difference? 

• • Two-Dimensional diversity (2-D diversity): 2-D diversity is when inherited diversity (gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc) is paired with experiential diversity (having worked in a foreign country, etc). 2-D diversity creates more communication, increases innovation and leads to teams working better together to solve business problems.
  • Recruitment: According to Glassdoor, two-thirds of people polled say diversity is an important element when choosing a company. 
  • Avoid turnover: Since employees value diversity so much, if they see a lack thereof in the workplace they may choose to leave. Lack of diversity can also be linked to a hostile work environment, leading employees to quit.     
  • Capture more of the market: Organizations are more global than ever- the more diversity, the easier it is to market your company around the world to people of different backgrounds, religions, ethnicities, ages, and sexual orientations.

Making Diversity Work

So you’ve hired a diverse workforce, all is well and done, right? It looks good on paper but that’s because the measurement was easy– it was a headcount. The trickier metric of diversity is inclusion. Numerous studies have shown that diversity doesn’t always drive inclusion. In fact, there is often backlash resulting from diversity without inclusion. A CTI study found these statistics to prove the backlash by researching sponsorship of senior-level managers of different ethnicities:

“Research on sponsorship and multicultural professionals, for example, shows that although 41% of senior-level African-Americans, 20% of senior-level Asians, and 18% of senior-level Hispanics feel obligated to sponsor employees of the same gender or ethnicity as themselves (for Caucasians the number is 7%), they hesitate to take action. Sponsors of color, especially at the top, are hobbled by the perception of giving special treatment to protégés of color and the concern that protégés might not “make the grade.” The result: Just 18% of Asians, 21% of African-Americans, and 25% of Hispanics step up to sponsorship (and 27% of Caucasians).”

From this, CTI came up with a method to measure and quantify inclusiveness, leading them to discover the four main levers that drive inclusiveness:

1. 1. Inclusive leaders: This type of leader is made up of six elements. Making sure team members speak up and are heard, creating a safe space to propose ideas, empowering teams to make decisions, taking advice and actually implementing feedback, and sharing credit for team success.
   2. Allowing authenticity: Research found that 37% of African-Americans and Hispanics say “they compromise their authenticity”, while this is true of 45% of Asians surveyed.
   3. Networking and visibility: For women and people of color, getting to the top requires overcoming the hurdle of sponsorship; a senior-level exec that sees the true value in them and can pull them up the ranks with advocacy for promotions and key assignments.
   4. Clear career paths: For women, LGBTQ individuals, and people of color, it’s hard to see the next move. There are a number of reasons for this, but a couple that CTI found are that they’re simply being passed over for high-level assignments and that 45% of women have to leave the workforce to take care of children, and more.

Diversity really is more than just altering a head count. It’s the ability to allow people with unique backgrounds to feel unified, in and out of the workplace. To learn more about improving and implementing diversity in the workplace, check out the 275+ inclusion and diversity courses on OpenSesame. Also, make sure to read the full Harvard Business Review articles to learn more about how diversity can drive innovation and how it doesn’t stick without inclusion. 

About the author: Parker Abena, a summer marketing intern at OpenSesame, is a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He looks forward to moving out to the PNW after school.

The post Diversity: Going beyond the headcount appeared first on OpenSesame.

Small successes amongst ongoing challenges

Organizations are embracing that societal awareness as an increasing number of employers have earned perfect scores on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, a study which rates workplaces on LGBT equality. In 2012, only 319 employers scored a perfect 100 percent on the Index, whereas in 2018, a record 947 employers scored a perfect 100 percent. This increase marked the critical move to support the LGBT community in the workplace.

Unfortunately, the LGBT community has hurdles beyond racial and gender markers to become comfortable and secure in the workplace. Earlier in 2018, a teacher in Miami, Florida claimed she was fired from her job solely for identifying as gay. With discrimination of that kind still prevalent in the workplace, it is important to encourage a tolerant and accepting work environment that fully supports non-discrimination practices.

Increase productivity with LGBT inclusivity training

LGBT inclusivity in the workplace is necessary for a more productive and diverse workforce. To quote the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, “It’s no surprise that many top-scoring businesses are also top-performing businesses. They know that creating inclusive workplaces and communities where their employees can thrive is an investment in their own competitive edge.” Therefore, it is also no surprise that fighting discrimination and encouraging tolerance is important for the success of the modern workplace.

Guarantee that your organization supports an LGBT-friendly workplace and become one of those employers considered the “Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality” in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index with LGBT diversity and inclusion courses through OpenSesame. Listed below are just some of the courses offered that train employees and managers on how to create a diverse, non-discriminatory, and LGBT-friendly workplace:

• • Anyone Can Be An Ally: Speaking Up for an LGBT Inclusive Workplace (also available in versions with Spanish and French subtitles)

  • Diversity & Inclusion: It’s Our Business [New Insights: LGBT Community]

  • Diversity & Inclusion: It’s Our Business [Understanding the “T” in LGBT: Gender Identity and Gender Expression]

  • Got Leadership? Respecting Your LGBT Colleagues

OpenSesame offers the most comprehensive catalog of elearning courses from the world’s top publishers. Contact OpenSesame today to speak with course curation specialist on how to meet the needs of a diverse workforce through elearning at info@opensesame.com

The post Supporting an LGBT inclusive workplace appeared first on OpenSesame.

In 1994, there were no female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies (Pew).

By 2015, women held 14% of the top five leadership positions in Fortune 500 companies (CNN).

In 2016, there were 21 female CEOs, or roughly 4% of the overall (Fortune).

This is, most certainly, progress.  

It can be tempting to view such advances for women in the workplace with satisfaction and even complacency.  Women are making it.

EXCEPT, women also make up 51% of the population of the United States.  They earn more than half of all bachelor’s degrees (57%), master’s degrees (60%), and doctorates (52%) (Catalyst).  Women represent 47% of the U.S. labor force.  But they only hold 14% of the top jobs.  

And, to make matters worse, in the past decade, women’s growth into managerial roles has stalled. Women outnumber men in lower and middle management, but have diminished representation in senior positions.

This inequity is not just a drag on female morale, it is bad business. According to a comprehensive global study of thousands of firms from over 95 countries, advancing women’s equality in the workplace could add $12 trillion to the global GDP (McKinsey). The presence of female top executives is consistently associated with greater company performance and profitability.  Data suggests that when profitable companies employed women in even 30% of leadership team positions, this corresponded with as much as a 15% increase in net revenue (Peterson).  This growth make sense.  A leadership team should reflect the population it serves.  A group with diverse backgrounds and experience leads to more thoughtful deliberations and decisions.  The natural result of a gender diverse team is expanded reach to both male and female customers, clients, and consumers.  True diversity grows the bottom line.  Gender diversity is not just equitable, it is profitable.  

Despite all of this, most businesses are not investing in women as leaders. 62% of all companies do not currently have leadership development programs for women (Brandon Hall Group), and the few that do tend to focus on work-life balance. So we stand at an important crossroads, with women poised to take on greater leadership within companies and businesses urged by global research that such female leadership is a sound financial investment. Governments, too, have begun to take action. Pay equity legislation and increased public scrutiny are driving more wage transparency.  Now, more than ever before, women are becoming aware of their collective power.

Organizations first must confront the unconscious biases embedded in hiring and promotion, where men are typically promoted based on potential, while women are advanced based on performance.  Organizations will need to challenge decades of assumptions that suggest men are better natural leaders, despite years of research that confirms both men and women make effective managers (Pew).  And these biases are not limited to men.  For example, both men and women prefer to hire men for positions in Science and Technology fields, even when female candidates have equivalent skills and resumes.

But, aspiring female executives women should not have to wait for corporate and societal changes for career advancement. Women can build skills they need to increase their success and work together to make the larger organizational changes. Based upon the findings of our book, The Orange Line: A Woman’s Guide to Integrating Career, Family, and Life, in which we interviewed over 100 female professional, mid-level workers from across the US, and from fields as diverse as government, manufacturing, sales, and medicine, there are three areas upon which women should focus:

1. Showcase their value.  We found that women often kept their heads down and got the work done.  The result?  Others were less aware of the value women were providing.  We teach women how to quantify their worth by tying it to the bottom line.  And once they understand the value their work brings to the organization, we offer techniques to share that value through confident self-promotion. Without hubris or bragging, women can share how their work has also brought benefit to others on the team.

2. Understand their own unconscious biases.  Negative assumptions about women in the workplace are not limited to men.  As women, we must uncover and reframe our own biases about our work performance and capabilities.  For example, our research suggests that women tend to see perfectionism as an asset.  Women, more than men, are likely to believe in a perfect standard for work that makes failures, even small ones, socially unacceptable.  Many women would rather aim low and overachieve rather than aim high and fall short.  In this way, perfectionism is actually a liability.  Our approach is to identify unconscious biases and reframe them so women can succeed.  For example, in the case of perfectionism, we teach new mantras – “Done is better than perfect.” “Be motivated by a passion for success rather than a fear of failure.”  “Delegate, delegate, delegate.”

3. Develop core proficiencies. Women are more than capable of shining in any organization.  But being a female leader also comes with its own set of challenges. In our courses, we hone in on the specific skills that successful women leaders point to as critical to career advancement, including thinking strategically about networking, mentorship, negotiating, and work-life balance.

As women take individual responsibility for building their own skills, they can also use this toolkit to help shift their team and elevate their peers.  Women might sponsor another woman – or man’s – leadership journey.  In this way, individual growth begets institutional change.  As a woman unearths her own biases and unlocks her potential, the organization can do the same.

Check out Orange Grove Consulting’s Women’s Leadership courses found on OpenSesame to get more women into your organization’s pipeline today.

About the Authors: Kelly Watson is Managing Partner of Orange Grove Consulting, an innovative training & leadership development consultancy focused on helping women and organizations eliminate outdated “rules” and structures so they can achieve wage and job parity. A seasoned Consultant in Organizational Development, Marketing, and Operations, Kelly works with clients such as The Walt Disney Company, Bobrick Washroom Equipment, and VCA Animal Hospitals.

Kelly is also the co-author of, “The Orange Line: A Woman’s Guide to Integrating Career, Family, & Life” which was published in May 2013.

Prior to her years of consulting, Kelly was VP Marketing for Telecom New Zealand USA where she launched two ventures: a long-distance telephone company and an international call center for the company. She has also held operational leadership roles at Merisel, Inc. a Fortune 500 technology company, including managing $5 million in inventory for their largest product lines.

A mother of three, Kelly coordinates the Junior Achievement program in the El Segundo Unified School District, teaching children about entrepreneurship and financial literacy. She also coaches and referees youth soccer, where she holds senior board positions for both AYSO and Strikers FC South Bay. Kelly also has co-chaired the El Segundo PTA Run for Education 5k race, completed several marathons, and plays pickup soccer.

Kelly holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada and an MBA from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where she was recognized with high honors as a member of both Beta Gamma Sigma and Alpha Sigma Nu.

The post 3 Skills for Women That Make Huge Organizational Change appeared first on OpenSesame.

Definition

What is stereotype threat? Claude Steele, professor at Stanford University and famous for his book Whistling Vivaldi, defined stereotype threat as, “a feeling of anxiety in a situation where a person has the potential to conform to a negative stereotype about his or her social group, whether that is race, gender, socioeconomic class or any other aspect of identity.” For example, a 2002 study conducted by Professors Kray, Galinsky, and Thompson showed that women pursuing an MBA faced stereotype threat related challenges in mixed gender negotiations. The presence of a negative stereotype in a particular industry can contribute to lower performance. Other examples of stereotype threat include African Americans’ low scores on standardized tests, inequality of women in leadership positions, and low representation of ethnic minorities in CEO positions.

Causes

What causes stereotype threat? Steele noted that stereotype threat can be triggered by low minority representation and feelings of inferiority inherent in certain types of organizational structures. In workplace settings, stereotype threat can prevent employees from applying for jobs, from asking for promotions, and from performing well within an organization. People challenged with stereotype threat recognize that there are negative expectations placed on them. Consequently, they use up cognitive resources to either prove or deny negative preconceived expectations. Work evaluations with little holistic metrics is one example of an organizational structure that can trigger stereotype threat along with undermining comments made by coworkers.  

Effects

Stereotype threat does not always have to be overt and pervasive. Studies have shown that simply knowing that fact that it exists can reduce performance. Moreover, studies from the American Psychological Association have demonstrated that stereotype threat can also lead to higher levels of disidentification and disengagement. However negative impacts of stereotype threat can also include:

• Anxiety

• Reduced effort

• Lower creativity, flexibility, speed

• Reduced working memory capacity

Ways to Combat Stereotype Threat at Work

There is no clear way to eliminate stereotype threat at work. However, several studies have suggested the following:

• Enhance job training to make people feel prepared and valued

• Positively shape the background information about a task

• Stress the importance of effort and motivation along with results

• Watch out for undermining signals

Stereotype threat can be tricky to identify and hard to fix. There are institutional and historical forces that contribute to the presence of stereotype threat. However, making sure that your business is aware of stereotype threat and taking steps to reducing its detrimental effects on employees can make a significant difference not only in morale, but also productivity.

The post Stereotype Threat in the Workplace: What Your Business Should Know appeared first on OpenSesame.

1. Hiring process

Employers may sometimes find themselves comparing candidates based on factors that are unrelated to their qualifications. Often, these biases are conscious and deliberate. However, it’s possible that some people unintentionally associate groups to individuals. It’s natural to avoid people that would impede on the company’s growth, but it’s important to view each candidate objectively, and to prevent the unconscious bias from negatively affecting your decision-making. Addressing your unconscious bias may allow you to create a more diverse and balanced workplace.   

Solution: Kanjoya is a company that creates technology that will allow employers to keep track of their recruiting and employment process. Its tools can detect intent and emotions in language, and can identify when unconscious bias is interfering. Addressing discrimination at the hiring stage will result in significantly better decision-making void of prejudice.

2. Workplace Environment

Having a balanced demographic representation doesn’t resolve this issue. Unconscious bias can exist in the form of harassment in the workplace. It is human instinct to utilize unconscious bias when interacting with others, as we use it to determine whether the situation is dangerous or not. However, employees will not be able to thrive in a hostile environment. In order to improve productivity, workers must set aside differences, and learn to be accepting of people regardless of their background.

Solution: It’s important to implement policies that will prevent future conflicts from occurring in the workplace. Your workers should know that they are in safe and welcoming environment, which can be done by requiring certain training courses. OpenSesame offers a wide range of courses focused on diversity promotion and harassment prevention.

3. Personal Confidence

In the past, certain groups have not had the same rights and privileges that others were inherently born with. This continues even today, and the disparities seen in everyday life have altered our perspectives about their roles and positions in society. It’s easy for your beliefs and goals to follow that of the social norm–however, these beliefs can negatively affect your career advancement, and hold you back from showcasing your true potential.

Solution: Companies should make an effort to invest in the minority groups that are typically underrepresented in the workplace, or are often subject to bias and harassment. They must get rid of old assumptions and beliefs and replace them with new ones. If you have employees that aren’t confident in their own abilities, no one else will be either.

Defying the unconscious bias is a difficult task. You’re not always able to detect it, and even if you do, it is so ingrained in our lives that reversing it is a challenge. If you’re starting to question your self-judgement, or you’re just curious, consider taking the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The results of this test could lead to a discovery of implicit associations you didn’t know you had.

The post Unconscious Bias in the Workplace appeared first on OpenSesame.

This act was a revolution but only one step in a continuous process; civil rights is an ongoing conversation. Today debates continue about gender, sexual orientation, relationship status, and so many other issues. If you work in HR, or are looking to hire, awareness is your first step towards success.

Since the Civil Rights Act, there have been several other legal actions on the topic of discrimination in the workplace. They include:

• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
• Pregnancy Discrimination Act in the 1970s
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• Civil Rights Act of 1991

These acts cover several different kinds of protected classes but have not ended the controversy. Wage inequality for women and minorities and discriminatory hiring based on sexual orientation are only a few of the issues still being debated today. Opinions, regulations, and laws regarding these issues differ in each state. The landscape of civil rights is ever changing as regulations evolve to meet new challenges in civil rights. Your job is to be aware of these changes and adapt accordingly.

What exactly does this mean for HR?

Civil rights issues are topics of controversy that directly affect your HR department. Because the government can’t police everyone, much of the responsibility for equality falls on companies and HR departments. For this reason your company needs to be aware of recruiting a diverse workforce, not just to keep with regulations, but also because of the different skill sets and perspectives employing a diverse population presents you. Companies that hire diversely are opening themselves up to talent they may miss out on otherwise.

The key to reaching a diverse population is instituting a diverse recruiting strategy and ensuring fair treatment in the workplace. This includes being aware of the laws and regulations in your state, focusing on hiring diversly, putting in place diversity training for management, putting in place diversity training for employees, and stressing the importance of respect to all employees.

An example of a company that is doing exceedingly well hiring diversely is AT&T. Here is a breakdown of their diversity strategy:

• Hiring from a variety of backgrounds
• Providing an inclusive work environment by offering performance-based rewards
• Making their senior leaders accountable for leading diversity initiatives
• Creating the role of ‘Chief Diversity Officer’
• Utilizing diversity training

AT&T knows having a diverse workforce is critical to their success, so they specifically seek out employees who present a variety of perspectives.

Focusing on diversity education may be the key to reaching that goal of equality that was started with the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. A simple way to do this is looking into implementing or improving your diverse hiring and culture-building strategy.

The passing of the Civil Rights Act was a predominant moment in our history, one of many such moments that have taken place since and are still to come. If you want to protect your company from legal action and ensure that you are recruiting the best talent in the market, it is vital that you are aware of the ever-changing civil rights landscape. Responsibility for diversity falls on everybody, but it starts with HR.

Photo: Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964. Martin Luther King Jr. looks on. (Public Domain)

The post Modern Civil Rights Debates: What They Mean for HR appeared first on OpenSesame.

Encourage Diversity in Your Workplace

Prepare for CBAP Certification

Learn Digital Photography Basics

Want to get our Course of the Week email?

The post Course of the Week Highlight: Diversity, Digital Photography, and More! appeared first on OpenSesame.

Three years on, despite the equality and diversity debate being aired daily in TV news reports, newspaper articles, radio broadcasts, it seems that many organisations still haven’t got the message that getting these practices wrong damages business, devalues employees, isolates customers and is costly in terms of legal cases and tribunals—and is illegal when discrimination is proven to have occurred.

Whether we view the UK’s Equality Act 2010 as “red tape” or “burdensome legislation”, the fact is it is now established as a landmark piece of UK Law for how organisations of any size act with “fairness” in their employment of people and the services they provide. Prior to the Equality Act we were faced with multiple and disparate pieces of legislation—each stand-alone Act dealing with individual elements or “strands” of equality and diversity. The Equality Act has certainly served the purpose of consolidating, clarifying and stabilising equality and diversity laws into a single more consistent Act. UK Case Law will hone the Act still further to cement it as a truly international benchmark in the global business world.

Established in 2002 as a specialist business, Equality Matters provides consultancy and training for organisations large and small to embed equality and diversity in policies, procedures, business practices and people development. What we have witnessed over the past three years since the Equality Act 2010 became law is a tangible divide between large organisations and typical SME’s (Small & Medium Enterprise). 

Discussions with our many clients have shown that large, corporate businesses generally have the budget and resources to embed equality and diversity “best practice” through training and consultancy. Many are seeing the positive effect of this investment right to the bottom line. In comparison, our consultations have highlighted that many SME businesses might have some apathy or ignorance of the law, or simply don’t have the budget, bandwidth or tools to ensure their businesses are inclusive and avoid discrimination in the employment and the services they offer. 

Furthermore, we’ve spoken with legal advisors who, not surprisingly, confirm that it is typical for a SME type businesses to call on their legal services only at the point when a case of discrimination threatens. This seems to suggest the SME business sector in particular is rather badly served with comprehensive, affordable, agile and appropriate training packages that can be implemented to understand and apply good equality and diversity.

Equality Matters’ answer to this challenge has been to create “The Difference is You” equality and diversity training programme, placing the emphasis that diversity change and compliance is in the hands of us all as individuals. Our training products can be used to train staff in large or small groups, induction, refresher training etc. Equally, the training is suitable for any size of organisation, UK or International, in the public or private sector.

We’ve encountered international companies who employ people and provide services in the UK. As such, these companies can often overlook their need to comply with UK Laws and the Equality Act 2010. Cases have been raised against global brands, such as Microsoft, for failing to comply.

Our “The Difference is You” programme in SCORM elearning format is modular and structured in its two parts: “Understanding Diversity” and “Applying Diversity”.

In choosing Equality Matters courses via OpenSesame the benefits will be:

• Comprehensive training that covers the equality & diversity landscape through “Understanding Diversity” and “Applying Diversity.”
• Alignment to the Equality Act 2010 with all potential forms of discrimination covered and important terms such as “Protected Characteristics” explored in detail.
• Embedding key principles of difference, respect and fairness.
• Embedding clear awareness of the social, legal and business cases.
• Realistic examples so that the user can see how things work in a familiar environment, at work or outside of work.
• Can be deployed to organisational LMS or training systems.
• 12 months to launch the course from date of purchase and 12 months to complete the course once launched.

The Difference is You training experience is augmented by video introduction and audio narration throughout by the UK TV (Red Dwarf, Coronation Street) and UK Radio (BBC 6 Music) personality Craig Charles as our Ambassador. For more information, visit the Equality Matters profile on OpenSesame.

Chris Pearson is Managing Director at UK based Equality Matters. Through our consultative process of understanding our customers aims to fully embrace equality & diversity change in their organisations, we set a course to being a specialist and wholly dedicated provider of equality & diversity “change” solutions. Our “The Difference is You” programme is comprehensive in ensuring managers and staff understand the equality & diversity landscape and its influences and in turn know how to act to avoid discrimination and the damaging impact on individuals and the organisation. If you are seeking a training and consultancy partner who will deliver on agility and consistency, with options to deliver training to meet your preferred style and with an impressive return on investment then Equality Matters should be your partner of choice. Connect with Chris on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

Image: Judy van der Velden via flickr

The post Equality & Diversity: Still a Difficult Formula to Resolve for Many Organisations appeared first on OpenSesame.

In addition to the culture and productivity benefits, diversity trainings also prevent discrimination in the workplace. A workforce educated on both the right and wrong ways to address diversity is more likely to act appropriately in certain situations. However, if we move beyond the course material and focus on the delivery of the material, is it possible simply offering elearning as a training medium can help prevent discrimination in the workplace? 

Defining Discrimination

Discrimination, like harassment, can be difficult to recognize unless it is happens to you. Since we are all raised in different environments with unique experiences, each of us possesses a personal “discrimination definition”. For example, as a woman, my definition of discrimination is mostly tied to my sex. For an older individual trying to reenter the professional world, discrimination may mostly be defined in terms of age.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) definition of discrimination has attempted to encompass many of personal “discrimination definitions”, stating unlawful discrimination occurs when someone, or a group of people, is treated less favorably than another person or group because of a particular set of characteristics. These characteristics can include but are not limited to:

• Race
• Color
• National or ethnic origin
• Sex
• Pregnancy or marital status
• Age
• Disability
• Religion
• Sexual preference  

The Challenges of Training

With hundreds of employees, each possessing their own discrimination definition and professional goals, how can you be sure your development and training opportunities aren’t violating either?

Consistency is important for avoiding discrimination in the workplace, both in communication and educational opportunities. Unfortunately, in-person training can make this difficult. For example, juggling calendars when trying to schedule a face-to-face training may result in a training being offered only once at the end of the work day. While the time slot may work for the majority of employees, an end of day training may exclude parents who leave early to pick up their kids. The scheduler may have made an honest mistake, but one that may appear as indirect discrimination to those workers. In another scenario, perhaps the trainer themselves possesses personal biases which prevent a consistent or respectful training. After all, trainers are human too and will be bringing their own experiences to the table whether it fits with your company culture or not.

Just as important as consistency is opportunity. Often time training programs will focus on the individual employee instead of the role or responsibilities. Assuming an employee would not be interested in a training because they’ve never spoken about professional development or because they have children are examples of discrimination.

The eLearning Solution

Not only do elearning courses offer a wide array of courses designed to educate workers on diversity and discrimination, but the medium itself addresses two of the core challenges trainers face—consistency and opportunity.

Purchasing elearning courses off-the-shelf provides companies with a lot more control and flexibility over their training programs. For example, OpenSesame allows buyers to preview courses before purchasing, to get a sense of the material but also make sure it fits within their company culture. Plus, online training means the course is delivered the same each and every time the course is launched. No need to worry about a presenters personal biases creating issues for your employees.

The elearning medium itself provides more opportunities for employees to participate in a company’s training or professional development program. To access courses, all an employee requires is access to the Internet and an Internet-enabled device (i.e.computer, phone, tablet). Additionally, courses can be accessed anywhere at anytime so employees can participate on their own time, at their own pace. Such flexibility avoids indirect discrimination related to work-schedules or those who like to review material multiple times.

No Matter the Medium, Review Your Training Program

While elearning as a training medium may alleviate some of the discrimination issue that can arise from face-to-face presentations, any professional development or training program can result in workplace discrimination if not regularly reviewed. Here are a few tips to consider when looking at your current program: 

Don’t make assumptions about who gets or wants training: Are there employees, job roles or departments who have never participated in training? Investigate whether this is due to a lack of opportunity by the company or personal choice.

Stick to skills and knowledge: Focus your training or development opportunities on what is necessary for the job, as opposed to a specific person. OpenSesame can help you develop a competency map to ensure you are purchasing courses according to your desired skill set.

Access: Allowing employees to take online training from home or their personal workstations can avoid discrimination based on a disability or accessibility issues. 

The post Can eLearning Help Avoid Discrimination in the Workplace? appeared first on OpenSesame.

Why does diversity matter?

Organizations with high workplace diversity often exhibit increased creativity and problem solving. Diverse values, skills, and experiences lead to different ideas. The more ideas there are, the easier it is to find the right solution. Additionally, organizations that embrace diversity are more open to change and can adapt and respond to client needs. Diversity initiatives can lead to not only improved customer service and problem-solving, but often result in increased employee productivity as well.

What is a diversity initiative?

Diversity initiatives are often confused with affirmative action (representation of certain groups of people) and Equal Opportunity Employment (laws and requirements that prohibit workplace discrimination). However, affirmative action and EEO are mandated by law whereas diversity initiatives are not.

The most successful diversity education programs are instituted across the entire company–every department and employee should be committed to the program. There should be a specific goals that are measurable and tied to the company’s overall business strategy. Many diversity initiatives focus on recruitment, general employee training and sales or marketing efforts.

Cultural Competence Approach

Cultural competence is the ability to successfully navigate diverse cultural backgrounds and accomplish goals by respecting each other’s differences. This approach to diversity education addresses four main components:

• Awareness of your own worldview: How conscious are you of your own prejudices? It is often hard for us to spot our own biases, but diversity education can help expose personal prejudices.
• Your attitude towards cultural differences: How do you react towards people of backgrounds different than yours? What is your ability to adapt your views of other people and other cultures? Role playing and scenarios are a good way to break down these biases and open discussion with others.
• Your knowledge of different cultures: The more knowledgeable you are about other people and cultures, the less likely you are to say something offensive. Furthermore, cultural knowledge can help with problem solving, management roles, traveling, and more. This may manifest as a monthly gathering for employees to share and celebrate each other’s cultures and traditions in a respectful way.
• Cross-cultural skills: Skills refer to the ability to navigate interactions with others. This means being aware of your communication style–your vernacular, tone and even speed. A turn-of-phrase used around your office in the U.S. could potentially offend a client overseas.

Start Your Own Initiative

You don’t have to wait for your office to institute a diversity education program. Start building your cultural competence as part of your personal development. Begin by asking yourself these questions:

What sort of words do I use when talking about others? Are you stereotyping without realizing it? How do you characterize others or groups of people?

What tone do you use when you speak to others? How does that tone change from person to person? Do you consistently find yourself getting frustrated with a certain age group, ethnicity, nationality or gender?

What conclusions do I draw about others during conversations? What assumptions are you making and why?

You can also use online training to further your education. The “Just Be F.A.I.R” course by Sollah teaches the importance of a diverse workplace and explains how to use that awareness to foster an accepting and efficient work environment.

For an introduction to cross-cultural competency, check out OpenSesame’s popular ej4 course “Developing Your Culture: Cross-Cultural Considerations”.

Image Credit: Mark Falardeau via Flickr

The post Diversity in the Workplace: Launching a Diversity Initiative appeared first on OpenSesame.