Effectively Implementing DEI Initiatives: Obtaining Buy-In from Staff
Establishing a DEI initiative is simple, however it can be hard to get buy-in from your staff. Often staff can feel as if initiatives and politics are being ‘pushed’ and that they aren’t able to speak up without being hauled into an HR office. The current political climate contains many actors that are extremely hostile towards the concept of DEI. They construct an image of DEI in the public imagination that shows it as a way to hire underqualified people and shut down free speech, when really DEI isn’t about any of that. Whilst employees’ hostility to DEI may be influenced by these actors, often they just see DEI as an added ‘hassle’; it’s another training session or course to complete alongside their workload with seemingly no connection to the job.
As an employer, you need to show your employees that DEI is an important part of their job, not a meaningless add-on requiring extra work. Often employees feel like they cannot speak openly during DEI training or about DEI policies. Typically, programmes are implemented without much education or consultation, leading to people feeling like they are being accused of being racist, sexist, etc.
We need to work against current pushback and work with employees against potential future annoyance. These people are your employees and working with them on DEI, rather than pushing it on them, will create a better environment for a successful DEI programme. Successful DEI policies will make employees more productive and satisfied, and improve business outcomes, so it is important to implement them correctly from the offset.
Why do people fall down these rabbit holes?
The people saying that DEI policies have gone too far are often saying this because they want to come to work, crack on, and get home. They might see DEI as an extra burden at work, something that creates more work and gets in the way. It’s essential to understand where their views come from so that we can show them that DEI is not the scary monster that has been constructed by political actors. We not only need buy-in from these people to further DEI initiatives but we also need them to feel comfortable in the workplace, otherwise our work environment will be dysfunctional. Diverse companies perform better. DEI creates an environment where employees can bring their ‘full selves’ to work and this, combined with a more diverse group of employees, allows for better creative problem solving amongst other things.
The world is currently an unpleasant place, people want understanding, control, and more than anything, someone to blame. Social media companies are profiting off these feelings; they trap people in silos and rabbit holes, making them click on enraging headlines. The ways in which we consume information have changed so much over the past 10 years, but DEI hasn’t caught up with that. We have to understand that our employees are people with lives outside of the workplace. They are going out to dinner, they are going to the gym etc. but also they are (most of the time) consuming a huge amount of news via social media, therefore making them vulnerable to mis- and dis-information. Podcast hosts like Joe Rogan, Steven Bartlett, and Alex Jones further this. They invite guests that make outrageous claims (e.g. that they can predict that date that you’ll die and whether you will get Alzheimer’s (despite not even having a medical degree)), and instead of questioning these bombastic claims on a factual basis they say something like ‘wow, that’s so interesting.’
A good example: pronouns
A lot of backlash has been generated by news coverage on pronouns. Right-wing politicians have convinced people that pronouns are part of ‘gender ideology’ and that they are harmful to children and wider society. This has certainly caused issues with DEI initiatives that support trans+ people, particularly if they use they/them pronouns. People have all sorts of arguments and to create acceptance it's essential to make them feel heard and then use facts and history to explain things. People often say that the singular they isn't correct, however it is (The postie damaged my parcel earlier, THEY shoved it through the letterbox but it was too big), and has even been used by Shakespeare. Show your employees that they/them pronouns aren’t scary; stress to them that they aren't expected to know someone's pronouns just by looking at them, but that it's important to ask if you are unsure and respect the pronouns you are asked to used. This gives employees understanding as to why a policy exists. Then, you need to explain the benefits of the policy: non-binary and trans people will feel comfortable coming to work and shop at your business meaning more profit. Additionally, it will encourage people to bring their full selves to work, allowing teams to function better.
Key tenets
Getting effective buy-in is tough, you need to try and follow all the advice above but it can be hard to factor everything into your approach. I have put together a list of key tenets you should follow when implementing a DEI programme.
Make people feel heard
Consult your team before implementing policies. By giving them opportunities to ask questions, you will create a greater understanding and acceptance of policies.
Be firm, but also don't shut a discussion down in ways that will cause people to dig themselves deeper into the views they already have, otherwise they will feel like they are being censored and this makes buy-in less likely.
The aim of this is to get people on side, show them that you are working together not against each other.
Involve everyone in DEI
Straight cisgender white men tend to feel like they aren’t involved in DEI at all, whether it’s consultation processes, meetings, or even just being given an explanation of why DEI is important.
You need to give people an opportunity to understand DEI in order to get buy-in.
This will stop people from dismissing DEI as ‘woke nonsense’ and allow them to understand why it’s important for them, their colleagues, and how it matters to their job role.
Survey your employees
Get training that is suited to your organisation. Frequently, organisations recruit agencies to deliver copy and paste training that makes no sense to employees because it’s not suited to their environment.
Ask your employees how they found the training. What could be different?
When doing training aim to generate discussions. Let people get to know each other and talk about experiences that relate to them, whatever their background.
Explain things clearly
Don’t talk down to your employees.
Focus less on buzzwords and more on using words everyone can understand. Don’t assume that everyone understands acronyms like DEI.
This list does not (and cannot) contain everything that you should consider, especially as every organisation is different. If you feel like this list is useful but want more help, please reach out to werk. and we can help you to advance your DEI approach.
